Tag: FAS
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Nation & World
New way to model molecules
Scientists from Harvard and Google have demonstrated for the first time that a quantum computer could be used to model the electron interactions in a complex molecule.
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Nation & World
Similar designs, 100 million years apart
A study found that both Rusingoryx atopocranion, a relative of the wildebeest, and hadrosaur dinosaurs evolved large bony domes on their foreheads, which were likely used as resonating chambers to warn of predators and communicate with others.
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Nation & World
Minding the details of mind wandering
A new study sheds light on important differences between intentional and unintentional mind wandering.
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Nation & World
The parrot knows shapes
Despite a visual system vastly different from that of humans, tests showed the bird could successfully identify both Kanizsa figures and occluded shapes. The findings suggest that birds may process visual information in a way that is similar to humans.
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Nation & World
Auditory cortex nearly identical in hearing and deaf people
The neural architecture in the auditory cortex — the part of the brain that processes sound — of profoundly deaf and hearing people is virtually identical, a new study has found. The study could point the way toward potential new avenues for treating deafness.
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Nation & World
A battery inspired by vitamins
Harvard researchers have developed a new class of battery electrolyte material based on vitamin B2 that could enable large-scale, inexpensive electricity storage for renewable power sources.
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Nation & World
Clues to camouflage
Chromatic aberration may explain how cephalopods can demonstrate such remarkable camouflage abilities despite being able to see only in black and white.
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Nation & World
The bionic cardiac patch
Harvard Professor Charles Lieber and other scientists conducted a study that describes the construction of nanoscale electronic scaffolds that can be seeded with cardiac cells to produce a bionic cardiac patch.
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Nation & World
Taking big bites of history
A Q&A with Jill Lepore, Harvard professor of history and author of “Joe Gould’s Teeth.”
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Nation & World
Harvard and Berklee to offer dual degree
Harvard University and Berklee College of Music announced a dual degree program that will let students earn a bachelor of arts degree at Harvard and a master’s degree at Berklee in five years.
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Nation & World
More time free from disability
Harvard researchers are among the co-authors of a new study saying that the increase in life expectancy in the past two decades has been accompanied by an even greater increase in years free of disability, thanks in large measure to improvements in cardiovascular health and declines in vision problems.
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Nation & World
Five named Harvard College Professors
Five faculty members have been selected as Harvard College Professors, five-year appointments that provide them with extra support for research or scholarly activities, a semester of paid leave, or summer salary.
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Nation & World
Bok Center celebrates 40 years
The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning celebrates its 40th anniversary with a conversation between President Drew Faust and President Emeritus Derek Bok and a symposium on educating.
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Nation & World
Boyd Irven DeVore dies at 79
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 3, 2016, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Boyd Irven DeVore, Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Professor DeVore played a major role in bringing evolutionary theory to the understanding of human behavior.
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Nation & World
Faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences
Five Harvard faculty members were elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Nation & World
Advancing ingenuity
Between academic discovery and product development lurks a lull in research funding that inventors call the “chasm of death,” where a prototype or a proof of concept can feel just…
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Nation & World
New weapons against agricultural pests
Using phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE) technology developed by Harvard professor David Liu and his co-workers, a team of researchers has evolved new forms of a natural insecticidal protein called “Bt toxin,” which can be used to help control Bt toxin resistance in insects.
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Nation & World
New view of germ cells
Cassandra Extavour is the author of a new study that points to a different mechanism as an ancestral process for specifying germ cells.
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Nation & World
For life expectancy, money matters
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that income is closely correlated with life expectancy, with the richest Americans living as much as 15 years longer than the poorest — and even the poor living longer in wealthy areas.
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Nation & World
Marks of distinction
Sixty-five FAS employees from 45 departments were recognized with the annual Dean’s Distinction Awards.
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Nation & World
Warmer weather, finer wines
By examining more than 500 years of harvest records, researchers found that wine grape harvests across France, on average, now occur two weeks earlier than in the past, largely due to climate change. While earlier harvests are normally associated with higher quality wines, researchers caution the trend likely won’t last.
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Nation & World
Study that undercut psych research got it wrong
A study last year claiming that more than half of all psychology studies cannot be replicated turns out to be wrong. Harvard researchers have discovered that the study contains several statistical and methodological mistakes, and that when these are corrected, the study actually shows that the replication rate in psychology is quite high.
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Nation & World
The shifts from climate change
Grasslands across North America will face higher summer temperatures and widespread drought by the end of the century, a study says, but those negative effects should be offset by an earlier start to the spring growing season and warmer winter.
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Nation & World
Kleckner receives Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal
Nancy Kleckner, the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology, has been awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal by the Genetics Society of America in recognition of her many significant contributions to our understanding of chromosomes and the mechanisms of inheritance.
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Nation & World
Field notes gathered by ear
Grammy-nominated saxophonist Yosvany Terry is bringing the music of his native Cuba to campus as a senior lecturer and leader of the Harvard Jazz Ensembles.
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Nation & World
Watching sensory information translate into behavior
A state-of-the-art microscope built by Harvard researchers will allow scientists to capture 3-D images of all the neural activity in the brains of tiny, transparent C. elegans worms as they crawl.