Science & Tech
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Journey to a key front in climate-change fight
Amazon immersion fosters partnerships, offers students, researchers hard look at threats to economic security, environment of rainforest as Earth warms
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A birder’s biggest enemy in rainforest: complacency
Senior integrative biology concentrator spots 121 species during research, teaching intensive in Amazon
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Redefining the good life
Climate activist urges people to counter a culture run on fear and fossil fuel
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Blue, green, gold: Why eyes of wild cats vary in color
Study traces iris diversity to gray-eyed ancestor
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An idea with legs
Research suggests the scuttling sea robin may serve as evolutionary model for trait development, including in humans
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How well do you know your dog?
Take our quiz based on new Netflix documentary featuring Harvard researcher
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The high price of workplace stress
Experts discuss findings from a new Harvard T.H. Chan School survey about how workers say their jobs affect their health, and what companies can and should be doing to help.
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Eternal light, up for grabs
Martin Elvis of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics warns that a loophole in the Outer Space Treaty leaves open the possibility of a race for resources on the moon.
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Microscopy taps power of programmable DNA
With a super-resolution microscopy, a team of researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute has leveraged the power of programmable DNA.
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Turning the brain green
Harvard neurosurgeon Ann-Christine Duhaime thinks a better understanding of the brain’s reward system might help encourage greener living.
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The power of babble
Babies need conversational stimulation for their intellectual development, and a piece published in JAMA Pediatrics hopes to advise parents and pediatricians on how and when to best nurture that development.
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Unveiling Jupiter’s mysteries
In less than a week, the spacecraft Juno will reach Jupiter, culminating a five-year, billion-dollar journey. Its mission: to orbit and peer deep inside the gas giant and unravel its origin and evolution. One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Jupiter is how it generates its powerful magnetic field, the strongest in the solar system.
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Nature as storm defender
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study’s new program “Next in Science” brought together early career scientists to present their research to Harvard and the public. The event, which included speakers from the University of Glasgow and the Sea Education Association, offered a preview of Radcliffe’s October ocean symposium, “From Sea to Changing Sea.”
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Tackling carbon emissions in China
A Beijing symposium co-sponsored by the Harvard China Project and the Harvard Global Institute explored the possibility of China adopting a carbon tax as a way to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The Gazette spoke with economist Dale Jorgenson, the Samuel W. Morris University Professor, and Chris Nielsen, the executive director of the China Project, about the symposium and the broader issues involved.
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On demand, and now on schedule
Joshua Meier ’18, a computer science and chemistry concentrator at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, launched TaxiLater, an iPhone app that lets users arrange an Uber pickup hours, days, or even months in advance.
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Defending breakthrough research
Harvard initiates patent infringement suits to protect inventors’ rights in computer-chip technology.
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Fishing gaps called malnutrition threat
Declining fish catches around the world have set off concerns about malnutrition, especially among the poor.
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Behind China’s viral curtain
A study by Professor Gary King and two former graduate students points to an effort by the Chinese government to use social media to discourage anti-government action.
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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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Keeping up with the weather
CIO Bryson Koehler outlined the Weather Company’s data-driven overhaul in his keynote at the Harvard IT Summit.
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Bionic leaf turns sunlight into liquid fuel
A cross-disciplinary team at Harvard has created a system that uses solar energy to split water molecules and hydrogen-eating bacteria to produce liquid fuels.
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Discovering soil-less farming
Jiyoo Jye, a recent student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, created a research archive of her discoveries, progress in soil-less agriculture.
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The Sustainability Science Program at 10
The Sustainability Science Program celebrates its 10th birthday by welcoming back previous fellows to discuss progress in the field and the challenges ahead.
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RoboBees can perch to save energy
A RoboBee equipped with an electrode patch is supplied with a charge, allowing it to stick to almost any surface, from glass to wood to a leaf. The patch requires about 1,000 times less power to perch than it does to hover, extending the operational life of the robot.
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Putting the Glass Flowers in new light
The famed Glass Flowers gallery will reopen May 21 after the most extensive renovation in its history.
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Printing metal in midair
Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed a laser-assisted direct ink writing method that prints microscopic metallic, free-standing 3-D structures in one step.
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The high costs of imported pests
Scientists from Harvard Forest joined a group of experts calling for new regulations and stepped-up surveillance to stem a flood of invasive forest pests whose costs are borne by U.S. homeowners, cities, and towns.
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Biodiesel one slick solution, but more to come
By turning waste fryer oil into biodiesel, Harvard undergraduates turned a chemistry class into a living lab for understanding the multifaceted problems posed by global climate change and sustainable development.
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Targeting the ills of climate change
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry helped launch a new Harvard climate change and global health initiative Thursday, saying that climate change impacts almost always affect human health.
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For groups in conflict, genes matter
Visiting professor Sasha Kimel examined whether information about genetic links can influence groups in conflict.
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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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Pursuing sustainability
William Clark, co-author of a new book on sustainable development, discusses connecting science and practice, balancing conservation with use.
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Sustainability front and center for Cousteau
Philippe Cousteau talked about carrying on the family legacy of environmental advocacy in delivering the Extension School’s Lowell Lecture.
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The complex relationship between heat and ozone
If emission rates continue unchecked, regions of the United States could experience between three and nine additional days of unhealthy ozone levels each year by 2050, according to a new study from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
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Guardians of the sky
After a flood threatened to destroy the Harvard College Observatory’s trove of glass plate negatives, staff members and students from around the University showed up to help move the plates to safety.
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Hawking at Harvard
Acclaimed theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking discussed the mysterious qualities of black holes during his lecture at a packed Sanders Theatre.