To commemorate the late Susan Wojcicki, a pioneering tech executive and former YouTube CEO, Harvard has named a library in her honor at the Science and Engineering Complex. The dedication of the Susan Wojcicki Library took place earlier this spring, attended by Harvard’s President Alan Garber, other university officials, faculty, students, and the Troper Wojcicki…
President Sally Kornbluth shared her awe at the remarkable science and engineering at MIT during a live discussion with Slate’s Lizzie O’Leary. She discussed the vital role of curiosity-driven science, the significance of basic research for the nation’s future, and her thoughts on AI and education. Kornbluth also joined in singing the Williams College song…
Researchers globally are striving to enhance qubits, the tiny fundamental units of quantum computers. These qubits are extremely delicate, making them prone to errors that can reduce the efficiency of the devices. A new cluster tool at MIT.nano is set to empower scientists to further improve qubit performance. Recently, people passing by MIT.nano may have…
Recent research indicates that both animals and humans have intricate interactions with bacteria within and around them. The gut microbiome in humans has been linked to conditions like depression and Parkinson’s disease. A study by neuroscientists from The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT aims to understand how the bacterial microbiome affects brain…
Relaxor ferroelectrics have long been integral to technologies such as ultrasounds, microphones, and sonar systems due to their distinct atomic structures. Until now, direct measurement of this structure has been elusive. A team from MIT and other institutions has successfully mapped the three-dimensional atomic structure of a relaxor ferroelectric for the first time. Their findings,…
Activating a gene within a cell can trigger a ripple effect along the DNA, altering its physical structure, according to research from MIT. This study reveals that these ripples can either enhance or suppress adjacent genes. The winding or unwinding of nearby DNA, influenced by the gene sequence order, usually activates genes upstream and inhibits…
The availability of quality caregivers has been a challenge, and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 caused a 10 percent decline in nursing home staff across the U.S. This has escalated from a mere staffing issue to a more severe nursing-care crisis. “We have an aging population, care for them is labor-intensive,…
In modern medical settings, dermatologists may rely on AI models to evaluate skin lesions for cancer risk. However, if these models exhibit bias towards certain skin tones, they might not accurately assess risk for all patients. Bias in AI, especially related to model training data and architecture, remains a significant challenge. This is particularly crucial…
Photographer Niles Singer from Harvard captured images for the Nation & World segment titled “Call for ‘historical truth’ in our narrative of Nazi defeat.” Jochen Hellbeck, a historian from Rutgers University, urges recognition of the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Hitler. According to Harvard writer Max Larkin, the common narrative of World War II often…
Nearly half of American homes have a dog, according to a Pew Research survey. The majority of these pet owners view their dogs as family members. But how did dogs transform from wild creatures to beloved companions? Erin Hecht, leading The Canine Brains Project at Harvard, suggests that dogs likely domesticated themselves. She explains that…
