Month: October 2022
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Uniting Harvard on climate progress – Harvard Gazette
GAZETTE: How will the institute strengthen Harvard’s role in tackling the challenges faced due to climate change? STOCK: Let me stress that we are starting from a position of strength. Our faculty include international leaders in the fields of climate science, environmental and climate law, international climate negotiations, engineering, environmental humanities, energy system modeling, business sustainability, and…
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Britain was recolonised by two distinct populations after last Ice Age | HeritageDaily
Scientists have obtained the first genetic data from Palaeolithic human individuals in Britain, and the oldest human DNA from the British Isles thus far, indicating that the UK was recolonised by two distinct populations after the last Ice Age. Researchers from the Natural History Museum, University College London (UCL), and the Francis Crick Institute, obtained…
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Harvard researchers provide stronger proof of plate tectonics billions of years ago – Harvard Gazette
For example, the researchers can now argue against phenomena called “true polar wander” and “stagnant lid tectonics,” which both can cause the Earth’s surface to shift but aren’t part of modern-style plate tectonics. The results lean more toward plate tectonic motion because the newly discovered higher rate of speed is inconsistent with aspects of the…
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Math enthusiasts take aim at STEM glass ceiling | MIT News
A good math problem is like a walled, secret garden, according to Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) head and MIT Professor Asu Ozdaglar, who was addressing an audience of middle and high school female-identifying mathematics contestants at the 14th annual Math Prize for Girls (MP4G) event. “Many people walking around the outside…
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Researchers discover lost fragments of the Hipparchus Star Catalogue | HeritageDaily
Researchers from the CNRS, Sorbonne Université and Tyndale House (affiliated with the University of Cambridge) have discovered fragments of the Hipparchus Star Catalogue, composed by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus during the 2nd century BC. The Star Catalogue was written between 170 and 120 BC by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus and is the oldest known attempt…
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Aramont Fellowships spotlight and support pathbreaking initiatives – Harvard Gazette
Laser-driven electron propagation. Nanoelectronics implanted through animal embryos. Developing faultless quantum computers. These are just a few examples of the research supported by the Aramont Fund. The award — celebrating its fifth anniversary of contributing to high-risk, high-reward research across the University — funds the work of outstanding early-career faculty and postdoctoral scholars nominated by…
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New Harvard and MIT study warns of misinterpreting Webb data – Harvard Gazette
NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is expected to tell the story of the universe with unprecedented clarity over the next decade. But what if we misread the details? In a study published in Nature Astronomy, researchers from Harvard and MIT warn that the models astronomers use to decode light-based signals from the atmospheres…
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NASA To Host Briefing on InSight, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Findings – NASA Mars Exploration
Scientists from two Mars missions will discuss how they combined images and data for a major finding on the Red Planet. InSight’s Final Selfie: NASA’s InSight Mars lander took this final selfie on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The lander’s solar panels have become covered with dust since…
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How fungi make potent toxins that can contaminate food
Food contaminated with fungi can be an inconvenience at best and life-threatening at worst. But new research shows that removing just one protein can leave some fungal toxins high and dry, and that’s potentially good news for food safety. Some fungi produce toxic chemicals called mycotoxins that not only spoil food such as grains but…
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How NASA keeps astronauts safe on spacewalks
TO ALEXEI LEONOV, the colors in space were much more beautiful than those on Earth. No photograph could match what the late Russian cosmonaut experienced while floating hundreds of miles above his home planet in 1965: the distant curve of blue suspended in the deep black of space; the sunset as lines of reds, greens, and…