Science & Tech

All Science & Tech

  • Imagine clothing that stretches or shrinks to fit you

    SEAS researchers have developed a material made from recycled wool can be 3D-printed into any shape and pre-programmed with reversible shape memory.

    Textile changes shape.
  • Differing diets of bonobo groups offer insights into how culture is created

    According to new study, bonobo hunting tendencies show proof of culture

    Bonobos together on a limb.
  • Where the wild things are — now that humans are locked down

    Researchers led by Christian Rutz, 2019–2020 Grass Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, are examining human impact on wildlife using data collected during the pandemic quarantine.

    White stork.
  • Synthetic lining in small intestine may help treat diabetes, obesity

    Researchers have developed a synthetic lining that could deliver drugs in a sustained way to the small intestine, offering hope for those suffering from lactose intolerance, diabetes, and obesity.

    Small intestine.
  • Cutting surgical robots down to size

    In a collaboration between Harvard and Sony, engineers have brought surgical robotics down to the microscale by creating a new, origami-inspired miniature manipulator to improve precision and control.

    The mini-RCM is controlled by three linear actuators.
  • How caffeine changed the world

    The seductive powers, dark history, health benefits, and harmful side effects of the world’s most-used drug, are included in Michael Pollan’s new audiobook, “Caffeine: How Coffee and Tea Created the Modern World.”

    Cups of coffee
  • Putting a crown on OMNIVAX

    A biomaterials-based infection vaccine strategy shows first promise in eliciting immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and could be applied broadly to stave off infectious disease.

    Omnivax protein.
  • 7 million face shields and counting

    The Wyss Institute made improvements to its face shields based on recommendations from area hospitals. Joining forces with a Mansfield, Mass.-based manufacturer, the institute’s face shields are now being produced at a rate of 400,000 a day.

    Dome shield.
  • Quieting the storm

    Acupuncture activates inflammation-regulating pathways, tames cytokine storm in mice.

    Person receiving acupuncture.
  • Linking sight and movement

    Harvard neuroscientists look at how movement influences vision and perception.

    Rat brain scan.
  • A new way to target resistant cancer

    Harvard University researchers have identified a unique characteristic of the resistant cancer cells, which could lead to an inhibitor can be repurposed and combined with chemotherapy to improve patient outcomes.

    Bone marrow showing leukemia cells.
  • Emily Balskus wins $1M Waterman Award

    Emily Balskus has won the Alan T. Waterman Award, the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious prize for scientists under 40 in the United States.

    Emily Balskus
  • How plants adapt to climate change

    Researchers at the Arnold Arboretum are studying how maple trees are adapting to climate change.

    Collecting from red maple trees.
  • In a warming world, New England’s trees are storing more carbon

    The rate at which carbon is captured from the atmosphere at Harvard Forest nearly doubled between 1992 and 2015, a 25-year study reveals.

    Prospect Hill tower that collects data.
  • New species in an urban ecosystem (read: solar panel)

    A new species of bacteria, one that makes its home on the relatively hot and dry surface of a solar panel, was discovered recently at the Arnold Arboretum, offering a lesson that nature’s reach extends even to the artificial.

    Researchers getting samples off solar panels.
  • A speedier solution for molecular biomedical research

    New quantum-classical algorithm brings nuclear magnetic resonance readings closer to “near-term” quantum computing.

    Abstract molecule network background.
  • This is what a scientist looks like

    Project aims to give young students real-life STEM role models

    Some of the researchers featured in the "I Am A Scientist" project.
  • Forestalling food waste

    With the goal of reducing food waste, a student-developed device predicts when an avocado will be ripe

    Avocados.
  • Mystery of the missing molecules

    When scientists moved from manipulating atoms to messing with molecules, molecules started to disappear from view. Professor Kang-Kuen Ni has figured out why.

    Professor Kang-Kuen Ni
  • Getting under the skin of psoriasis

    Researchers have created a treatment that when applied directly to the skin in a mouse model of psoriasis, significantly reduces levels of inflammation and symptoms of psoriasis without systemic side effects.

    IL-siRNA molecular dynamic simulation.
  • A versatile vessel for next-gen therapeutics

    The startup company Vesigen will develop and commercialize the drug-delivery technology created in the lab of Harvard Chan School Professor Quan Lu.

    Cells.
  • ‘Universal phenomenon’ shared by metastatic prostate tumors

    Prostate cancer progresses to a more-dangerous metastatic state by resurrecting dormant molecular mechanisms that had guided the fetal development of the prostate gland but had been subsequently switched off.

    Prostate cancer cells.
  • Getting to the bottom of goosebumps

    Researchers have found that the same cell types that cause goosebumps are responsible for controlling hair growth.

    The hair follicle under the microscope, with the sympathetic nerve in green and the muscle in magenta.
  • Better vaccines are in our blood

    New platform technology uses red blood cells to generate targeted immune responses in mice

    Syringe in vaccine bottle.
  • When a bird brain tops Harvard students on a test

    African grey parrot Griffin shows off his brain power, making students doubt their own.

    Irene Pepperberg with her parrot.
  • East Africa facing massive swarms of locusts

    Researcher looks to sequence the pest’s genome as part of push to find a safer alternative to dangerous pesticides

    Locusts filling the sky.
  • Is air conditioning helping spread COVID in the South?

    Harvard researchers, drawing on insights from tuberculosis research, say air conditioners may be a factor in COVID-19’s spread down South, and relatively inexpensive germicidal ultraviolet lights a weapon.

  • An expedition at the Arboretum

    The Arnold Arboretum’s new Expeditions Mobile App gives visitors an interactive experience with audio, text, and imagery — all in the palms of their hands.

    Visitors at Meadow Road in the Arnold Arboretum.
  • Nanofiber protects against extreme temperatures and projectiles

    Harvard University researchers, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center and West Point, have developed a lightweight, multifunctional nanofiber material that can protect wearers from both extreme temperatures and ballistic threats.

    Para-aramid nanofibers.
  • Lockdown? What lockdown?

    Cellphone mobility data shows that most Americans have put the coronavirus lockdown in the rearview mirror and are moving about at nearly the same rate as they were before the pandemic began, according to a Harvard epidemiologist who studies such data.

    Runners and mask on ground.