Science

Discover the scientific breakthroughs and engineering innovations being pioneered across Harvard’s labs and centers.

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

Images from the Encyclopedia of Life include these examples. James Hanken plans to allow amateur ecologists to upload their own photographs to the catalog. Above, a smooth snake (<em>Coronella austriaca</em>)

World-Wide Web of Life

James Hanken of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and other scientists launch an ambitious project to chronicle all life on earth.

by Paul Gleason

Mechanical engineer Emilie Dressaire

A Durable Bubble

Mechanical engineering student Emilie Dressaire studies tiny bubbles that can last up to a year and replace fat droplets in ice cream.

by Paul Gleason

Tail of the panther chameleon, <em>Furcifer pardalis</em>, of Madagascar. The same species appears on the cover (below, right). Chameleons do not change color to match their backgrounds, but to communicate excitement, anger, fear, and other emotions.

Animals Speak Color

Kit Reed introduces an exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History that reveals the different roles color plays in the animal and plant kingdoms.

by Christopher Reed

Decoding Diabetes

Elizabeth Gudrais reports on how discoveries in genetics, cell metabolism, and the study of small molecules point the way to new therapies and perhaps a cure for diabetes.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

High windows overlooking a courtyard reflect the Museum of Comparative Zoology. The low granite curbs among the trees frame skylights.

Labs, Size Large

The new Northwest Science Building at Harvard

Viral delivery of a three-transcription-factor cocktail has transformed pancreatic exocrine cells (blue) into scattered insulin-producing beta cells (red). A preexisting islet, or grouping of beta cells, is outlined at the upper left.

Stem-Cell Progress

Harvard researchers at the Stem Cell Institute achieve major breakthroughs.

Tiktaalik Resurfaces

In today’s New York Times, science writer John Noble Wilford reports on new findings (to be published tomorrow in the journal Nature) about Tiktaalik roseae, a fossil fish that...

Martin Chalfie ’69, Ph.D. ’77, and Roger Y. Tsien ’72 Share Chemistry Nobel Prize

Fundamental work on the green fluorescent protein, isolated from jellyfish, is now a basic tool used to study biological processes...

$125-Million Gift for Bioengineering

Hansjörg Wyss, M.B.A. ’65 has given the University $125 million—the largest donation in its history—to create a research institute for biologically inspired engineering...

This unorthodox de-mining team avoids most of the traditional pitfalls. Metal detectors give too many false alarms, fooled by bullets or other debris. Hand-held ground-penetrating radar machines are too expensive. Dogs weigh enough to trigger mines, injuring or killing themselves and their handlers.

Man, Mongoose, and Machine

Standing outside a Sri Lankan army base in the spring of 2007, Thrishantha Nanayakkara mapped an entire minefield without once setting foot in it.

by Paul Gleason