During a recent talk at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, author Lauren Groff surprised her interviewer by confessing that she writes and publishes poetry under a pseudonym. Responding to a question from fellow author Gish Jen, who moderated the first Virtual Radcliffe Book Talks session, Groff laughed and said, “I do write poetry and I publish…
As the United States marked its 250th anniversary, geneticists also had a reason to celebrate. The National Institutes of Health recently declared that the “All of Us” Research Program has become the largest global database combining health and genomic data. Initiated in 2015 during the Obama administration, the project aims to gather genetic and health…
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on campaign finance is unlikely to cause significant changes for political parties, according to Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a professor at Harvard Law School. However, it might enable wealthy donors to more easily circumvent individual giving limits. Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo struck down spending limits,…
The brain’s wiring is constantly evolving. Neural pathways are reshaped as we engage with the world and acquire new knowledge. At MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research and York University, scientists are using brain activity analysis and computational modeling to understand these changes better. McGovern Institute postdoc Lynn Sörensen, MIT Professor James DiCarlo, and York…
Researchers in tissue engineering aim to create living organs and tissues from cells to replace damaged body parts. While artificial livers, kidneys, and muscles have been successfully grown, replicating complex blood vessel networks has been elusive. Without these networks, artificial tissues can’t function properly. MIT engineers have discovered a method to control blood vessel growth…
