Science & Tech

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics scientist Jonathan McDowell answers questions on the Orion test run and prospects for getting to Mars.

Journalist Walter Isaacson and College students talk about the achievements and challenges for women in the field of computer science, including pioneer Grace Hopper.

Nobel winner Steven Weinberg brought his thoughts on a “theory of everything” to the Physics Department’s Lee Historical Lecture.

Geneticists David Reich and Nick Patterson detailed recent work on human migrations that led to the populations of today’s Europe.

Author Walter Isaacson’s new book is “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution.” Here is an excerpt about computing pioneer Grace Hopper from his book.

On Friday, leaders in the field of navigation converged on Radcliffe’s annual science symposium to discuss findings in everything from brain science to animal navigation to the psychology of how a lost person behaves — which can give rescuers important cues about where to look.

A Harvard Divinity School conference focused on climate change reduction efforts as moral choices.

Steve Ballmer was joined by President Drew Faust and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) Dean Cherry Murray at an iLab event to formally announce that the University will increase its computer science faculty by 50 percent over the next few years, to 36 from 24.

The Digital Lab for the Social Sciences is designed to serve as an online clearinghouse where social scientists can find study participants.

New research illuminates the mixing with Neanderthals in early human prehistory, narrowing the window of time when they crossbred to between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago.

Scientist Peter Del Tredici collaborated with artist Teri Rueb on a mobile sound tour of Bussey Brook Meadow.

This month, the Harvard Physics Department and swissnex Boston, a cultural and technological exchange effort by the Swiss consulate, are sponsoring a photo exhibit that focuses on the people of CERN — laughing, napping, and thinking — and the sometimes ordinary-looking places where they unearth the extraordinary.

In a study reported in Nature Biotechnology, a team of Harvard scientists and engineers has developed a new surface coating for medical devices using materials already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The researchers noted that the coating repelled blood from more than 20 medically relevant substrates (glass, plastic, and metal) and also suppressed biofilm formation.

Professors Jody Freeman and Richard Lazarus came together to discuss the legal future of the nation’s most ambitious action on climate change to date.

A team of scientists from Harvard University and MIT has developed a theoretical model of a material that could one day anchor the development of highly efficient solar panels.

Best-selling author Walter Isaacson ’74 talks about the history of the computer and the Internet.

A tool developed by Professor David Johnston and colleagues might help shed light on biogeochemical cycling in oxygen minimum zones.

THATCamp forum allows practitioners of digital humanities to define their concerns, devise solutions for them.

A new study of heat waves found a strong correlation between excess deaths and poverty, poor housing quality, hypertension, and impervious land cover.

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb talked about the search for intelligent life in a lecture at the Science Center.

At science and cooking lecture, chef Mark Ladner explained his unusual process for making tasty pasta without gluten.

Harvard’s Robert Stavins discusses the importance of flexible rules that allow national carbon markets, if established under a future climate agreement, to link, which would increase efficiency and cut costs of reducing carbon emissions.

A new course at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is bringing students up to speed on biomedical engineering, preparing them to contribute to University research, pursue summer internships, or take an idea conceived in the classroom to the next stage of development.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto from its rank as a planet. But after an hourlong debate between planetary science experts on what constitutes a planet, an audience packed into Harvard’s Phillips Auditorium voted to restore it to its place.

A new resource provides both experienced and aspiring researchers with the intellectual raw materials needed to design, build, and operate robots made from soft, flexible materials.

A team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University sees biofilms as a robust new platform for designer nanomaterials that could help clean polluted rivers, manufacture pharmaceutical products, fabricate new textiles, and more.

New research from the lab of David Reich challenges the prevailing view among archaeologists that there were no major influxes of new peoples into Europe after the advent of agriculture.

Silicon has few serious competitors as the material of choice in the electronics industry. Now, Harvard researchers have engineered a quantum material called a correlated oxide to perform comparably with the best silicon switches.

A new device inspired by the human spleen and developed by a team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering may radically transform the way doctors treat sepsis.

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has been awarded a first-phase, follow-on contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to further develop its Soft Exosuit ― a wearable robot — alternative versions of which could eventually help those with limited mobility as well.