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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Harvard undergraduate discovers novel atomic cluster
Eighteen-year-old Kevin Chan, a member of the Harvard College Class of 2004, used a supercomputer to discover a novel arrangement of atoms that had been missed by other scientists studying…
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Why antimatter matters so much
In 1995, experimenters made nine or 10 atoms of antihydrogen at the Center for European Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland. Since then, researchers have sought a method for making more…
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Study suggests pacemaker and defibrillator recalls on the rise
As more heart patients receive pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) generators, more recalls are being issued for the devices, according to a study led by a Harvard Medical School instructor…
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Study examines hazardous seating of children in fatal motor vehicle crashes
A recent study by Harvard School of Public Health scientists examined how often adults placed children in the rear of vehicles, and what factors affected that placement. The study, led…
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In Dayton, parents’ satisfaction increased by moving children to private schools
Parents in Dayton, Ohio, reported increased satisfaction after they moved their children to private schools. A private scholarship program sponsored by Parents Advancing Choice in Education (PACE), a non-profit organization in Dayton, helps low-income families afford private education.
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Study finds parents of chronically ill children avoid switching to HMOs
The incentive to switch health plans is usually a lower cost to the patient. So if parents of chronically ill children want to retain their old health plans instead of…
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Some video games contain more violence than parents expect
If a video game is rated “E” for “suitable for everyone,” that is supposed to be a signal to parents that the game is acceptable for their children. But a…
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Dating violence linked with teen pregnancy, suicide attempts
About one in five girls experience physical or sexual dating violence, according to a new study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the Boston University School of…
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Stellar apocalypse yields first evidence of water-bearing worlds beyond our solar system
The first evidence that planetary systems beyond our own contain water, a molecule that is an essential ingredient for known forms of life, was discovered recently by using the Submillimeter…
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Preventing cervical cancer in developing nations
Cervical cancer kills approximately 190,000 women each year, most of them in developing nations. It is the third most common cancer world wide. Women who live in more affluent nations…
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New way to ‘see’ DNA
Research by Harvard scientists was driven by the need to make extremely small holes that mimic the pores in human cells through which different molecules must pass to keep the…
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The skin’s the thing for conserving a building’s energy
It has been estimated that a third of the world’s energy is consumed by buildings, a third by transportation, and a third by industry. With gasoline prices rising and electrical…
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School segregation on the rise despite growing diversity
Nearly 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared Southern segregated schools to be unconstitutional, resegregation is happening again. And it is occurring despite the nation’s growing diversity. According to…
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New report highlights safe, secure method for managing spent nuclear fuel
A joint Harvard University/University of Tokyo team of nuclear energy, nonproliferation, and waste management experts concludes in a new study that technologies are available to store spent nuclear fuel from…
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No-fault compensation for medical injury proposed
Three jumbo jets filled with patients crashing every two days — that’s the analogy for the number of patients estimated to die annually from medical injury in the U.S. A…
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Anatomy of the low-income homeownership boom in the 1990s
The rate of home ownership in the United States has grown to an unprecedented 67.7 percent since the 1990s. Low-income ownership has grown in particular. According to a study by…
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Never-before-seen look inside the world of cancerous tumors
Harvard researchers working at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Radiation Oncology unit have used a powerful new microscope to see inside cancerous tumors. The microscope is so powerful that it can see…
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National environmental policy during the Clinton years
Researchers at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government examined the environmental policy record of former President Bill Clinton. Environmental quality improved overall during the decade, the researchers found, continuing a trend…
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Eighty-five percent of immigrant children separated from families during migration
An ongoing study of more than 400 children who have immigrated to the United States shows that 85 percent of them experience separation from one or both parents during the…
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Offshore investment funds: Monsters in emerging markets?
Less moderated by tax consequences, and less subject to supervision and regulation, offshore investment funds are alleged to engage in trading behaviors that are different from those of their onshore…
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Housing market resilient in slowing economy
The housing market has not been affected by a slowing economy, according to a report, The State of the Nation’s Housing: 2001, released in June 2001 by the Joint Center…
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Children from working-class families twice as likely to be depressed adults
Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds have an elevated risk of depression throughout their lifetimes, even if they become more professionally successful than their parents. That’s the conclusion of a study…
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Astronomers detect dust disks around very young brown dwarfs in the Orion Nebula
The results of recent observations by an international team of astronomers suggest that brown dwarfs share a common origin with stars. Brown dwarfs are more similar in nature to stars…
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Star factory near galactic center bathed in high-energy X-rays
A team of astronomers, including some from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has looked into the core of our own Milky Way galaxy and discovered a new phenomenon. The “cauldron”…
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Chandra sees wealth of black holes in star-forming galaxies
Three independent teams of research scientists, including one from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to find what they suspect are groups of mid-mass black holes…
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Depiction of alcohol, tobacco use in G-rated animated films still high
Alcohol and tobacco use is depicted as normal behavior in nearly half of G-rated animated feature films. While researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that this is…
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A quasar’s identity may simply be in eye of beholder
A quasar is a super-massive black hole; quasars are among the most energetic objects in the Universe. Most quasars are extremely bright in optical light, but about 10 percent of…
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Oldest mammal is found
When dinosaurs ruled the world, scampering around their feet were platoons of diminutive insect-eating animals, part reptile, part something new. When the giant reptiles and many other animals were wiped…
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Students tackle Harvard Square parking problems
A group of students who studied parking problems in Harvard Square issued wide-ranging recommendations, including installing wireless access-control gates at the more than 50 lots across the University, increasing parking…
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Bringing back the ancient muses
The epic verse of Homer, the love poems of Sappho, the tragedies of Sophocles, and the comedies of Aristophanes – all were accompanied by music. Yet that music – its…