HarvardScience

Memories are made of this

404132862 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:05:54 -0500

PARISIEN, Haiti — Nearly a month after a massive earthquake devastated Haiti, paramedic Anthony Croese looked into the crowd outside a destroyed orphanage near Port-au-Prince and spotted an emaciated baby cradled in his father’s arms.

National Institute on Aging funds two new "Roybal Center" programs at Harvard

404132862 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:44:31 -0500

Harvard Medical School professor Nicholas Christakis, whose work focuses on social networks, and economics professor David Laibson, who examines how and why people make the decisions they do regarding savings and health behaviors, have been selected to receive five year Roybal Center grants, of about $1.5 million each, from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part

A molecule that destroys normal metabolism is found

404132862 — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:19:21 -0500

Overeating in mice triggers a molecule once considered to be only involved in detecting and fighting viruses to also destroy normal metabolism, leading to insulin resistance and setting the stage for diabetes, according to the results of a new study led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Open innovation challenge seeks solutions to type 1 diabetes

404132862 — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:30:36 -0500

The best scientific insights, which ultimately may lead to the solution of the world’s great puzzles, do not always come from the experts in the fields in question. Sometimes they come from outliers who approach a problem from an entirely new perspective — just as unknown English clockmaker John Harrison demonstrated that longitude could be determined by using an accurate timepiece and not, as almost all experts predicted, by the study of astronomy.

So suppose the intellectual power of the entire Harvard community, more than 55,000 faculty members, students, and staff members, in all of the University’s schools and affiliated hospitals, was applied to a medical problem?

For bonobos, it’s one for all

404132862 — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:05:21 -0500

Daycare workers and kindergarten teachers tend to offer young humans a lot of coaching about the idea of sharing. But for our ape cousins the bonobos, sharing just comes naturally.

Toy story

404132862 — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:24:29 -0500

Scientists have long studied how atoms and molecules structure themselves into intricate clusters. Unlocking the design secrets of nature offers lessons in engineering artificial systems that could self-assemble into desired forms.

Barefoot running easier on feet than running shoes

404132862 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:19:08 -0500

New Harvard research casts doubt on the old adage, “All you need to run is a pair of shoes.”

Scientists have found that people who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid “heel-striking,” and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts, equivalent to two to three times body weight, that shod heel-strikers repeatedly experience.

Blood tells old cells to act young

404132862 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:00:00 -0500

Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center (JDC) have taken a major step toward eventually understanding — and perhaps slowing — the aging process.

Genes linked to breast cancer drug resistance

404132862 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:47:41 -0500

Harvard researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered a “gene activity signature” that predicts a high risk of cancer recurrence in some breast tumors that have been treated with commonly used chemotherapy drugs.

Study finds decline in birthweight of full-term infants

404132862 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:00:36 -0500

Thirteen-pound babies may make headlines, but they aren’t the norm. In fact, U.S. infants are getting smaller, according to Harvard researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute’s Department of Population Medicine, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School (HMS). Their findings, published in the February issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, suggest that birth weights in this country have declined during the past 15 years.

Sperm competition, cooperation

404132862 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:11:33 -0500

Some mouse sperm can discriminate between their brethren and the competing sperm from other males, clustering with the closest relatives to swim faster in the race to fertilize an egg. But this sort of cooperation appears to be present only in some promiscuous species, where it affords an individual’s sperm a competitive advantage over that of other males.

Fishing for new medications

404132862 — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:00:00 -0500

A robust new technique for screening drugs' effects on zebrafish behavior is pointing Harvard scientists toward unexpected compounds and pathways that may govern sleep and wakefulness in humans.

Among their more intriguing findings, described this week in the journal Science: Various anti-inflammatory agents in the immune system, long known to induce sleep during infection, may also shape normal sleep/wake cycles.

Chronic sleep loss degrades nighttime performance

404132862 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:00:42 -0500

Although the exact function of sleep remains unknown, sleep is clearly necessary for optimal cognitive performance, learning, and memory. Sufficient sleep is also important for cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune functions. New findings by Harvard researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) show how as little as one night's sleep loss - or sleep loss over several weeks - combine with the body’s natural 24-hour rhythms to determine how well people perform at a given moment.

Light worsens migraine headaches

404132862 — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:40:41 -0500

Fossils may provide tantalizing clues to human history, but they also lack some vital information, such as revealing which pieces of human DNA have been favored by evolution because they confer beneficial traits — resistance to infection or the ability to digest milk, for example. These signs can only be revealed through genetic studies of modern humans and other related species, though the task has proven difficult.

Coronary artery disease more severe in HIV-infected men, study finds

404132862 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:49:45 -0500

Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found that relatively young men with longstanding HIV infection and minimal cardiac risk factors had significantly more coronary atherosclerotic plaques – some involving serious arterial blockage – than did uninfected men with similar cardiovascular risk.

Accelerator Fund boon to research

404132862 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:51:26 -0500

Sometimes, promising scientific findings aren’t enough, by themselves.

Life-science researchers at Harvard who’ve made new inventions with applied and commercial potential are often disappointed to learn that pharmaceutical, venture capital, or biotech firms aren’t interested in their work — and not because a discovery lacks merit. Instead, the glitch may be that the research hasn’t progressed far enough to establish proof-of-principle, which is imperative for industry to make a forward-looking decision to invest significant resources and develop it for commercial application.

Felice Frankel receives highest award granted by Photographic Society of America

404132862 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:20:03 -0500

Felice Frankel, a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Research Associate in Harvard Medical School's systems biology department has been awarded the Progress Medal of the Photographic Society of America (PSA), the organization's highest award.

Frankel received the award at the Society's 71st Annual Conference held at West Yellowstone, MT.

The citation accompanying the award states that Frankel was presented "The 2009 Progress Medal...for the innovative creation of images through synthesizing photographic artistry and computer technology to visually clarify scientific phenomena"

Natural flu-fighting protein discovered in human cells

404132862 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:21:43 -0500

Harvard researchers report having discovered a family of naturally occurring antiviral agents in human cells, a finding that may lead to better ways to prevent and treat influenza and other viral infections.

In both human and mouse cells the flu-fighting proteins prevented or slowed most virus particles from infecting cells at the earliest stage in the virus lifecycle. The anti-viral action happens sometime after the virus attaches itself to the cell and before it delivers its pathogenic cargo.