Science
AI Is Changing Healthcare. Harvard Medical School Is Following Suit.
The Harvard Medical School started offering a month-long introductory course on AI in healthcare for students on its Health Sciences and Technology track — the first of its kind offered at a medical school.
European Court Invalidates Harvard Biotech Patent in Three Countries
A top European court ruled against Harvard last week in a patent dispute against biotech company NanoString Technologies, invalidating one of the University’s two disputed patents in three European countries.
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Lays Off 87 Workers in Restructuring Effort
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced on Oct. 10 that it laid off 87 employees as part of a strategic restructuring.
Cerebellum Only Necessary for Some Muscle Memory, Harvard Researchers Find
In an August study, researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences discovered a new distinction between long and short-term motor memories — a class of memories developed through repeated physical movements.
‘Share the Universe’: Harvard Astronomy Club Holds Rare Comet Viewing
Dozens of students gathered at Harvard’s Loomis-Michael Observatory on Thursday and Friday for a rare viewing of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, a “naked-eye visible comet” that researchers say is unlikely to return for at least 80,000 years.
Kip Thorne, 2017 Nobel Laureate, Talks Black Holes During Inaugural Hawking Lecture
Hundreds packed Science Center Hall B to watch Kip S. Thorne, a professor of theoretical physics at Caltech and a 2017 Nobel Prize laureate, discuss black holes and wormholes during the inaugural Hawking Lecture on Friday.
Harvard-Led Researchers Are Creating an Air Quality Sensor Inspired By Dog Noses
Researchers led by Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences professor Joanna Aizenberg are developing a new air quality sensor inspired by a dog’s nose that promises more specificity than existing products.
Human and Evolutionary Biology Dept. Holds Focus Groups on Renaming Concentration
Harvard’s Human Evolutionary Biology department is holding focus groups to seek student feedback on potential name options.
Harvard’s Wyss Institute Gives Startup License to Use Newly-Developed Biomaterials
Attivare Therapeutics, a startup founded by researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, received a license from the Wyss Institute to use biomaterials developed at Harvard to create treatments for tumors that do not respond to existing immunotherapies.
Harvard Museum of Natural History Hosts National Fossil Day
The Harvard Museum of Natural History welcomed visitors on Sunday for its third annual National Fossil Day event since the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing children and adults to learn about paleontology by interacting with artifacts from the museum's collections.
Brigham and Women's Hospital Researchers Find Nasal Spray Protects Against Respiratory Illnesses
Researchers found that a drug-free nasal spray protected against airborne respiratory illnesses — including Covid-19, influenza, viruses, and pneumonia — in a preclinical study published by Harvard Medical School-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Sept. 24.
Canadian Biotech Company to Supply MDMA for McLean Hospital Clinical Trial
Toronto-based MDMA manufacturer PharmAla Biotech signed a contract to supply researchers at McLean Hospital, an HMS-affiliated psychiatric teaching hospital, with the drug for a pending clinical trial, PharmAla announced in a Oct. 2 press release.
The Nobel Laureate Harvard Didn’t Want
On Monday, one Harvard professor was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. But if Victor R. Ambros had not been denied tenure more than three decades earlier, it could have been two.
HMS Researchers Introduce AI Tool for Drug Repurposing
Harvard Medical School associate professor Marinka Zitnik and her lab announced the development of TxGNN, an artificial intelligence model which is able to suggest new treatment applications of existing drugs using neural networks.
Former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky To Headline 2024-25 Belfer Center Senior Fellows Cohort
Rochelle P. Walensky — who led the Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the Covid-19 pandemic — will headline the 2024-25 cohort of senior fellows at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.
HMS Professor Wins Prestigious Lasker-DeBakey Award for Work on GLP-1
Harvard Medical School professor Joel F. Habener won the 2024 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his work on the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), the Lasker Foundation announced last Thursday.
Developers Press Pause on New Allston Labs
Real estate firms are hitting the breaks on laboratory development in Allston. A nearly billion-dollar project from National Development to redevelop a TV studio at 1170 Soldiers Field Rd. to build new offices, lab space, and housing is not moving forward, according to a person familiar with the process.
Harvard Reopens 60 Oxford St. as New Quantum Building
Science at Harvard is taking a quantum leap with the opening of the Goel Quantum Science and Engineering Building.
David Charbonneau, Professor in Search of Planets in Outer Space, Wins $1 Million Kavli Prize
Harvard Astrophysics professor David Charbonneau won the 2024 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics in June, sharing a $1 million prize with MIT professor Sara Seager for their discoveries of exoplanets — planets located outside Earth’s solar system.
‘It’s Not Gotten Worse’: Harvard Renovates Science Center Lecture Halls to Tepid Student Reactions
Harvard renovated the Science Center’s lecture halls, lobby, and a selection of first-floor classrooms over the summer. Some students said they didn’t notice.
Harvard’s CS50 Course to be Offered at Oxford this Fall
Beginning in October, Oxford University will launch its own online version of Computer Science 50, Harvard’s flagship introductory computer science course taught by David J. Malan ’99.
Harvard Kennedy School Public Impact Analytics Science Lab Receives $3 Million From DOD
The Public Impact Analytics Science Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School received a nearly $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense on Sept. 1 for a project that will leverage artificial intelligence to create personalized treatments for melanoma.
Harvard Sues Samsung in Federal Court Over Patent Infringement
Harvard sued tech giant Samsung over patent infringement claims on Monday, alleging the company’s chip technology violates two patents owned by the University.
‘Hyped Just About Right’: How the AI Boom is Reshaping Research at Harvard
As ChatGPT took the world by storm, many raised concerns about how it might help students cheat themselves out of learning. But a year and a half later, AI is changing the work of professors perhaps even more.
Harvard Researchers and Amazon Collaborate to Launch Boston’s First Quantum Network
Harvard physicists took a giant step towards full-scale quantum internet networks this month, creating the longest quantum network so far with cables running between Boston and Cambridge.