Tag: Joanna Aizenberg

  • Nation & World

    Investing in a sustainable future

    Harvard awards $1 million in grants to projects that aim to accelerate progress toward a healthier, more sustainable world.

    8 minutes
    People walking in the forest.
  • Nation & World

    A product idea with legs

    Dakota McCoy, in collaboration with David Haig, led a group of researchers at Harvard studying the black spider and its ultrablack coat with microlenses that could lead to innovations in solar panels and sunglasses glare.

    4 minutes
    Peacock spider.
  • Nation & World

    10 faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences

    Ten Harvard University scientists have been elected by their peers to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of “their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” Two Harvard scientists also received awards from the NAS.

    3 minutes
    National Academy of Sciences
  • Nation & World

    Filtering liquids with liquids

    Liquid-gated membranes filter nanoclay particles out of water with twofold higher efficiency and nearly threefold longer time to foul, and reduce the pressure required for filtration over conventional membranes.

    5 minutes
    Liquid-gated-membrane-composite
  • Nation & World

    American Academy announces 234th class

    Harvard faculty members were among the 164 influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors, and institutional leaders who were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in Cambridge on Oct. 11.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    American Academy of Arts and Sciences elects 204 new members

    The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced the election of 204 new members, including 16 from Harvard University.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    The watchword is innovation

    Innovation, whether it’s large, small, solo, or institutional, is an increasingly important part of Harvard, a university working to maintain its clearly defined sense of self and at the same time evolve to meet future needs.

    9 minutes
  • Nation & World

    New coating creates ‘superglass’

    A new transparent, bioinspired coating makes ordinary glass tough, self-cleaning, and incredibly slippery. It could be used to create durable, scratch-resistant lenses for eyeglasses, self-cleaning windows, improved solar panels, and new medical diagnostic devices.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Two Harvard teams win energy grants

    Two Harvard-led teams are among the 66 selected by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) that will receive a total of $130 million in funding through its OPEN 2012 program, which is designed to support innovative energy technologies.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Giving slime the slip

    A team of Harvard scientists has developed a slick way to prevent the troublesome biofilms from ever forming on a surface.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Now, ice won’t stick

    A Harvard team of researchers has invented a way to keep any metal surface free of ice and frost. The treated surfaces quickly shed even tiny, incipient condensation droplets or frost, simply through gravity.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Wyss Institute project targets sepsis

    The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard has been awarded a $12.3 million, four-year grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a treatment for sepsis, a commonly fatal bloodstream infection.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Plant offers slick strategy

    Adopting the pitcher plant’s slick strategy, a group of applied scientists at Harvard have created a material that repels just about any type of liquid, including blood and oil, and does so even under harsh conditions like high pressure and freezing temperatures.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    What’s in a liquid

    New 3-D nanostructured chip identifies unknown liquids instantly, offering a litmus test for surface tension.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Slimy secrets

    Harvard researchers have discovered that Bacillus subtilis biofilm colonies exhibit an unmatched ability to repel a wide range of liquids — and even vapors. The finding holds promise for developing better ways to eliminate harmful biofilms that can clog pipes, contaminate food production and water supply systems, and lead to infections.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    SEAS student awarded fellowship

    Emily Gardel, a Ph.D. candidate in applied physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been awarded a three-year Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Radcliffe names 48 new fellows

    The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has announced the 48 women and men selected to be Radcliffe Institute fellows in 2010–11.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Nature’s fine designs

    Nature and its bottom-up processes for creating robust and responsive materials are inspiring new generations of synthetic materials and creative design.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Researchers control the assembly of nanobristles into helical clusters

    From the structure of DNA to nautical rope to distant spiral galaxies, helical forms are as useful as they are abundant in nature and manufacturing alike. Researchers at Harvard’s School…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Scientists explore nature’s designs

    As a graduate student, Harvard physical chemist Joanna Aizenberg acquired a passionate curiosity about — of all things — sponges. She particularly liked the ones made of glass, whose apparent fragility belied the fact that they could withstand terrific pressure in the deep sea.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Finding ingenious design in nature

    “This,” Joanna Aizenberg says slyly, picking up a latticed tube from her desk in Pierce Hall, “is a glass house you can throw stones at.” The tube, tapered to a close at one end and festooned with a cluster of curious white fibers at the tip, resembles an upturned dog’s tail. It is, in fact,…

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Aizenberg named McKay Professor of Materials Science

    Joanna Aizenberg, a leader in the analysis of unique biomaterials that have evolved to carry out multiple functions in some organisms, has been appointed Gordon McKay Professor of Materials Science in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), effective July 1, 2007.

    3 minutes