Tag: In the Field
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Nation & World
Culprit caught in gamma-ray burst mystery
Gamma-ray bursts have long puzzled astronomers. “The hunt for the source of gamma-ray bursts has been a detective story as challenging as any faced by the famous Lieutenant Columbo. We…
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Nation & World
New online approach builds community around medical cases
A new suite of Internet tools is boosting student-faculty interaction in an engrossing twist on traditional case-based teaching at Harvard Medical School. Called ICON, for “interactive case-based online network,” the…
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Nation & World
Harvard researchers take aim at asthma
Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in America, afflicting about 15 million people and causing 5,000 deaths annually, according to the National Institutes of Health. Asthma rates…
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Nation & World
New type of matter may have been found
In orbit around Earth, a satellite called the Chandra X-ray Observatory surveys the universe for sources of X-rays. Using Chandra, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has observed…
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Nation & World
Your community may be harmful to your health
In 1996 the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention reported that 50 percent of all cancer risk could be eliminated though a modified diet, increased exercise, limited alcohol intake and cessation…
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Nation & World
When worlds collide
Astronomers believe the a mega-merger in the galaxy known as Arp 220 triggered the formation of huge numbers of new stars, sent shock waves rumbling through intergalactic space, and could…
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Nation & World
New earthquake mapping system could save lives
“The earthquake-hazard maps currently in use are based on the premise that the closer a building is to a large fault, the better designed it should be,” says Harvard earthquake…
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Nation & World
Jungle ordeal leads to surprise treasure
William Saturno was hot, frustrated, low on food, low on water, and low on patience when he sought shade in a trench dug by looters at the San Bartolo archaeological…
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Nation & World
Scientists predict calmer weather ahead
When the Sun is more active, it has bad effects on our planet. For instance, energy from solar eruptions changes the orbits of satellites, causing them to spiral back to…
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Nation & World
Even stars use sunscreen!
Mira variable stars are named after the red giant star Mira (omicron Ceti) in the constellation Cetus the Whale. Variable stars brighten, then dim, then brighten again. While astronomers have…
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Nation & World
Pollen production — and allergies — may rise significantly over next 50 years
Ragweed, which flourishes along roadsides and in disturbed habitats throughout North America, produces one of the most common allergens. A study by Harvard researchers found that ragweed grown in an…
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Nation & World
State of U.S. public health drinking water reliable
“Over the last century, the U.S. has set the world standard for ensuring a reliable, relatively safe drinking water supply to the general public,” said Ronnie B. Levin, a research…
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Nation & World
Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs grows rapidly
In the first analysis of patterns of direct-to-consumer advertising before and after 1997 guidelines issued by the Food and Drug Administration, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard…
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Nation & World
SPH professor finds Taliban inmates dying, in need of care
Jennifer Leaning is a professor in the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Population and International Health. She is also one of Physicians for Human Rights’ founders. In January…
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Nation & World
Chandra scores a double bonus with a distant quasar
In one set of observations of quasar PKS 1127-145, researchers found an X-ray jet that extends over a length of at least a million light years. The jet reveals explosive…
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Nation & World
Pigment plays role in Xenopus development
Harvard Medical School researchers have discovered that a pigment contained in the egg of the South African claw-toed frog is indispensable for development. Witout the pigment, called biliverdin, which is…
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Nation & World
Powerful mutagen found in Massachusetts water
Mutagen X, a by-product of chemicals used to disinfect public water supplies, is not monitored or regulated in the U.S. water supply. A new report from researchers at Harvard’s School…
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Nation & World
Submillimeter array opens one of astronomy’s last frontiers
Exploring one of astronomy’s last frontiers at a site near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the submillimeter array (SMA) project offers a unique opportunity for astronomers to observe…
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Nation & World
Chandra finds ghosts of eruption in galaxy cluster
Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory recently discovered relics of an ancient eruption that tore through a cluster of galaxies. The discovery implies that galaxy clusters are the sites of…
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Nation & World
Structure in dust around Vega may be signature of planet
Vega, located 25 light years away in the constellation Lyra, is the brightest star in the summer sky. Observations of Vega in 1983 with the Infrared Astronomy Satellite provided the…
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Nation & World
Economic growth in Colombia: A reversal of “fortune”?
Between 1950 and 1980, the Colombian economy grew at a respectable average rate of 5 percent. Between 1980 and 2000, that average rate of growth fell to 3 percent. Why?…
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Nation & World
Indivisible territory and ethnic war
Monica Duffy Toft is assistant professor of public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and assistant director of the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard’s…
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Nation & World
Trying to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV
Harvard AIDS Institute researchers in Botswana are trying to help HIV-infected mothers and their infants. In the rural area of Molepolole, where AIDS Institute researcher Shahin Lockman lives and works,…
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Nation & World
Chandra captures Venus in a whole new light
Researchers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have made the first X-ray images of Venus, Earth’s sister planet.
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Nation & World
Atmosphere detected on distant world orbiting another star
One-hundred-and-fifty light years away from Earth, in the constellation Pegasus, is a star known as HD 209458. Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a research team was able to detect the…
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Nation & World
HIV-1 infected children benefit greatly from combination therapy
Combination therapy including protease inhibitors has been available since 1996 for adults with HIV-1 infection. The therapy has slowed the progression of HIV-1 and drastically reduced the rate of mortality…
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Nation & World
Atmospheric chemists fly high and low for novel carbon dioxide measurements
Political leaders throughout the world have taken notice of the increasing levels of carbon in the atmosphere and have begun negotiations on how to mitigate “greenhouse” gases through accords such…
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Nation & World
It’s easy being green
Eleven interns worked on seven projects across Harvard University for three months in the summer of 2001. The internships were sponsored by the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, in collaboration with…
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Nation & World
Chandra discovers eruption and pulsation in nova outburst
The brightening of Nova Aquila was first detected by optical astronomers in December 1999. Although this star is at a distance of more than 6,000 light years, it could be…