No, I don’t mean Matthew McConaughey. A few weeks ago, our first interstellar visitor flew nearby Earth and now is on its way back out of our solar system. While these types of extra-solar system objects have long been expected to exist as a bi-product of planet formation in nearby solar systems, this is the first ever detected – an event scientists have been waiting decades for. Continue reading Saying goodbye to our first interstellar visitor
The world is currently experiencing its sixth mass extinction event. Species are disappearing at an estimated 1000x the expected normal rate of extinction (roughly 5 species per year). Conservation efforts around the world are trying to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, but they are hindered by the lack of hard evidence linking conservation spending to biodiversity improvements. A team led by University of Oxford researchers … Continue reading Conservation spending proven to make a difference
A first link between chronic stress, genetics, and mental illness has recently observed in mice. Researchers have discovered that the genes of mice exposed to chronic stress change over time. Modifications were most associated with genes related to a variety of mental illnesses, such as depression, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia.1-3 How exactly are genetics, stress, and mental illness related? DNA, serves as instructions for cells and is broken up into … Continue reading How stress can change your DNA
CRISPR 2.0 is causing quite the ruckus in the scientific community. Why? Imagine that you had written a note in permanent marker, but later decided you wanted to change a single word. Without the ability to erase, your options would be limited, and further changes might make the note illegible. New CRISPR technologies, or “base editors,” behave as molecular erasers. These molecular erasers enable you to very precisely … Continue reading CRISPR 2.0: Genome engineering made easy as A-B-C
Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, November 8th Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Michael Miyagi and Malinda McPherson At first glance, it seems like we all know what sex is. But there are many scientific subtleties to sex. In this lecture we will begin by providing an evolutionary context for sex, probing why sex drive is so strong and important, … Continue reading November 8 – This Is How We Do It: From Sex Evolution to Sex Education
Albert Einstein predicted the observation of gravitational waves from the merger of black holes over a century ago. This astrophysical phenomenon remained elusive, however, until their detection at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the summer of 2015. This Nobel Prize-winning discovery added a new technique to the observational astronomy tool box and propelled LIGO onto the public scene. Since their initial discovery, gravitational waves have been … Continue reading Neutron star collision provides a glimpse of the future of astrophysics
The LIGO collaboration has reported the merger of two neutron stars. Another collaboration (Virgo) was able to detect the signal. Scientists were able to make a tighter estimate on where the merger happened. The merger suggests gravity propagates at the speed of light, proves that photons (light particles) are even closer to massless than previously measured, and heavy elements like platinum might primarily come from colliding stars instead of supernovae. Continue reading Ripples in Spacetime from Colliding Stars detected by LIGO-Virgo Collaboration
Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, November 1st Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Nava Gharaei, Kalki Jukreja, and Jenny Zheng All the cells in our body have the same DNA, and yet a stomach cell is able to digest food while a heart cell pumps blood. Similarly, genetically identical individuals have the same DNA, yet they develop into unique individuals … Continue reading November 1 – What Genes Cannot Tell: The role of epigenetics in determining who we are
Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, October 25th Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Emily Kerr and Justin Teesdale Over the last few years, electricity generation from renewable sources has grown at a remarkable pace and is projected to almost double by 2025. As we rely more on these green energy sources, how do we transform a power source that only … Continue reading October 25 – Here Comes the Sun: Harnessing the power of renewable energy
Developing cancer drugs is challenging. Often, scientists will find a drug that kills cancer cells in a petri dish but fails to act on an actual tumor. Ravid Straussman from the Weizmann Institute of Science and Todd Golub from Harvard Medical School think that in situ, bacteria can protect cancer cells from drugs. To test their theory, Staussman and Golub mixed some healthy skin cells with cells from a … Continue reading Bacteria May Help Protect Cancer Cells