Science_In_Mind

Swiss entrepreneur gives Harvard $125 million for bioengineering research inspired by nature

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:00:26 GMT

A Swiss entrepreneur has given Harvard University $125 million for the second time in five years, to support a multidisciplinary bioengineering research institute that bears his name.

Using physics to understand human history

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:02:12 GMT

Archeology and physics: the two fields seem just about as different as can be. On Wednesday, William Griswold, an archeologist with the National Park Service, will explain how the two fields intersect, during a colloquium at Boston College’s Weston Observatory.

Scientists clone human embryonic stem cells -- finally -- but now seen as minor advance

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:49:01 GMT

On Wednesday, scientists from Oregon Health Science University finally declared success in the effort to clone human embryonic stem cells. The paper, published in the journal Cell, comes years after another team had falsely claimed to have accomplished the feat, but advances since then have made the work little more than a footnote.

Harvard researchers grow garden of nanoscience delights

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:46:33 GMT

The garden is marvelously lush, with hundreds of blossoming roses, tulips, lilies, and curvaceous, fungi-like plants. But these petals, twisting stems, and finely wrought leaves are invisible to the naked eye: Grown in the lab, this nano-landscape is best seen with an electron microscope.

NASA’s Kepler space telescope suffers failure that endangers planet-hunting mission

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:59:37 GMT

The Kepler Space Telescope, an instrument that altered our sense of our place in the universe by revealing that Earth-sized planets orbited other stars, has suffered a malfunction with a mechanism that helps point the telescope.

Should patients be told of unexpected risk factors lurking in their DNA?

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:18:29 GMT

When a national organization of genetic specialists took a stab at clarifying one of the biggest issues facing the integration of DNA sequencing into medicine in March, the bold guidelines seemed destined to stir up a hornet’s nest of controversy. Now, the response -- call it a backlash, call it a healthy back and forth -- has begun.

Harvard stem cell researchers find protein that rejuvenates aging mouse hearts

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:13:32 GMT

A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have discovered a protein that circulates in blood that can turn old hearts young, causing a mouse’s heart that has thickened and enlarged with age to revert back to a more youthful state.

Using fashion to teach innovation at Harvard

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:28:48 GMT

Innovation is supposed to be a panacea for the economy -- the engine that generates life-saving treatments and must-have products. But is the current system the best one to teach people to be innovative? That’s the question behind Harvard University professor Kevin Kit Parker’s project-based engineering classes.

One-third of new Howard Hughes-funded biomedical researchers from Massachusetts

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:56:21 GMT

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a major funder of biomedical research, announced its new class of investigators -- scientists whose salaries and research budgets are fully covered for five years. Of the 27 new scientists who have won the coveted spots, a third are from Massachusetts - more than any other region in the U.S., including the city’s rival across the country, the San Francisco Bay Area.

Social networks after an emergency: who did you text after the Boston Marathon bombings?

Sat, 04 May 2013 01:32:25 GMT

Researchers at Northeastern University are asking people to download an app that will help them understand how, exactly, we communicated and connected in the aftermath of a tragedy. Did we call the people we are in touch with most frequently, or were we flooded with voicemails and messages from people we haven’t spoken to in weeks?

Harvard researchers build robotic fly that lifts off

Fri, 03 May 2013 21:22:29 GMT

Harvard University researchers have for the first time replicated in a tiny, bug-like robot the agility of the common fly. With a gossamer body of micro-scale electronics, the penny-sized robot can lift off, hover, and maneuver.

Vast genome studies of leukemia, endometrial cancer point to new research directions

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:25:48 GMT

Two large research teams have produced exhaustive genomic studies that reveal the most detailed catalog yet of the mutations that drive two deadly cancers -- endometrial cancer and acute myeloid leukemia.

Yale University paleontologist describes new feathered dinosaur species

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:59:59 GMT

A telltale jaw fragment unearthed from a 75 million-year-old rock formation in Big Bend, Texas, has led to the identification of a new dinosaur species, Leptorhynchos gaddisi.

Genome of primitive-looking fish yields insight into evolution

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:42:25 GMT

Scientists have sequenced a primitive-looking fish called the coelacanth. The coelacanth has long been known by a popular nickname that makes biologists wince -- the “living fossil.”

Harvard to receive $50 million to speed translation of research into therapies

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:56:20 GMT

Harvard University has received a $50 million gift from businessman and alumnus Len Blavatnik to support a major initiative aimed at bridging the “valley of death” — the gap between basic biomedical research and the emergence of new therapies for patients.

Harvard researchers discover hormone that causes cells lost in diabetes to multiply

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:53:04 GMT

Harvard University researchers have discovered a naturally-occurring hormone in mice that increases the number of precious, insulin-producing cells found in the pancreas -- the beta cells lost during diabetes.

Harvard to shut primate research center where monkeys died, citing tough economic climate

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:30:44 GMT

The Harvard primate research center where four monkeys died because of animal care problems will be largely shut down by 2015, Harvard Medical School announced Tuesday afternoon. The university cited a tough economic climate for biomedical research funding and shifting long-term strategic plans. The announcement stunned outside researchers, because it comes a year and a half after Harvard began investing significant time and resources into the New England Primate Research Center in Southborough, to correct animal care and oversight problems.

Do patents hurt or hinder research?

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:15:50 GMT

It’s an argument frequently made by businesses: intellectual property protection is essential to spur the sort of innovation that results in new drugs and technologies. But is it true? A new study of two sets of genes sequenced during the Human Genome Project a decade ago suggest that even relatively modest intellectual property rights protecting gene sequences reduces scientific research and product development by 20 to 30 percent.

A rat kidney that works: Mass. General scientists make progress toward bioengineered organs

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 17:11:50 GMT

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital announced Sunday an important advance in the effort to build replacement organs: a bioengineered rat kidney that, when transplanted into a living animal, was capable of producing urine.

Early human ancestor had a distinctive gait, BU fossil study suggests

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:58:54 GMT

Most people can envision the tidy cartoon often used to illustrate evolution’s progression, from stooped-over, chimp-like pre-humans to modern people who stride around on two legs. But Jeremy DeSilva’s research, published Thursday in the journal Science, muddies the picture, suggesting that Australopithecus sediba had a body that was a compromise of sorts: built to walk upright, allowing it to preserve a distinctive foot that also allowed it to climb trees efficiently.

MIT-led mission to search for Earth-like worlds

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:15:45 GMT

Last week, NASA announced that Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists will lead a new $200 million mission to aid the search for such planets, called exoplanets, sending a refrigerator-sized telescope into orbit around the Earth in 2017. The spacecraft, called TESS, will be a powerful new tool for scientists, allowing them to scour hundreds of thousands of stars in a search for signs of exoplanets of the right size, temperature, and distance from their suns to support life.

Harvard investigation of stem cell scientific misconduct provides insight into secretive process

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:50:50 GMT

When a former stem cell researcher at the Joslin Diabetes Center was found by federal authorities to have committed scientific misconduct last year, the report detailing her wrongdoing was brief and succinct. The full report of the Harvard Medical School investigation, released to the Globe through a freedom of information request, provides deeper insight into how this particular case of misconduct was first detected and gives a sense of how the highly secretive investigations of serious, potentially career-ending allegations unfurl.

Local scientists on brain mapping dream team reflect on challenges, opportunity

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:55:13 GMT

In September 2011, a group of “nano” people focused on engineering materials at the smallest scales and “neuro” folks who study the black box of the brain gathered at Chicheley Hall outside London for a meeting. It was an unusual setting for a major US science initiative to start: on foreign soil, at a meeting of scientists who were outliers in each other’s worlds. But on Tuesday, President Obama announced announced $100 million in funding for an initiative called BRAIN.

Local scientists on brain mapping dream team reflect on challenges, opportunity

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:05:53 GMT

One way to curtail a wandering mind during class: more testing

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:34:45 GMT

You are sitting in a classroom, listening to a lecture. The subject may be something that you find genuinely interesting. But at a certain point, attention erodes. The information begins to wash over you. Nothing sinks in. Can science help? Cognitive psychologists who study how the mind works have begun applying their insights to teaching, searching for ways to structure classes that might stop people’s minds from wandering, improve their memory of course material, and deepen their comprehension.