Biology

Explore breakthroughs in biology from Harvard and beyond—discoveries in genetics, ecosystems, health, and the science of life.

A woman jogs on a path beside a boy riding a bicycle, surrounded by trees.

To Promote Healthy Habits in Patients, Start With the Doctors

Why Harvard Medical School is training physicians to think more like coaches

by Jonathan Shaw

An axolotl with a pale body and pink frilly gills, looking directly at the viewer.

Regenerative Biology’s Baby Steps

What axolotl salamanders could teach us about limb regrowth

by Saima Sidik

A bioengineered virtual human heart overlaid with jellyfish-like structures, symbolizing cardiac designs inspired by jellyfish motion

From Jellyfish to Digital Hearts

How Harvard researchers are helping to build a virtual model of the human heart

by Olivia Farrar

A worm-like creature known as the "velvet worm" rears as if looking at the camera

Creepy Crawlies and Sticky Murder Weapons at Harvard

In the shadows of Singapore’s forests, an ancient predator lies in wait—the velvet worm.

by Olivia Farrar

Harvard's Andrew Knoll stands smiling at the camera, wearing a black shirt

Five Questions with Andrew Knoll

A paleontologist on how to understand Earth’s biggest extinction event

by Olivia Farrar

Professor David Liu smiles while sitting at a desk with colorful lanterns and a figurine in the background.

This Harvard Scientist Is Changing the Future of Genetic Diseases

David Liu has pioneered breakthroughs in gene editing, creating new therapies that may lead to cures.

by Veronique Greenwood

An illustration of a green leaf being hit by a beam of light and bouncing off the leaf and then becoming a color prisim

Harvard’s Plant Collection Meets Space Science

Light-based analysis of botanical collections link plants to Earth’s changing climate.

by Jonathan Shaw

Barbara Lawrence seated, wearing a textured blouse, in a portrait from the late 1930s.

Harvard’s Pioneering Mammalogist Barbara Lawrence

Brief life of an intrepid mammalogist: 1909-1997

by Jonathan Shaw

Leaf shapes of some of the various species of maples (genus Acer) on a black background

Learning the Trees of North America

A monumental new guide to North American species

by Jonathan Shaw

Against the background of a single neuron (orange), an axon (blue) emanating from another cell whorls itself into tangled balls.

Brain Mapping Suggests How Memories are Stored

A decade-long project to map a cubic millimeter of human brain reveals previously unimagined architectures.

by Jonathan Shaw

Benton Taylor with cottonwood saplings in a greenhouse at the Arnold Arboretum

Can Plants Sequester Enough Carbon To Slow Climate Change?

The world’s forests impound carbon below ground, a Harvard scientist shows, but for how long?

by Jonathan Shaw