Martin Karplus, the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, at Harvard University, passed away on December 29, 2024, at 94. A Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2013, his pioneering work in computational modeling advanced the understanding of molecular systems across chemistry, physics, and biology. His career spanned over half a century and included nearly…
A tribute to Dennis Frank Thompson, aged 84, was officially recorded by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 5, 2026. Thompson, who passed away on March 30, 2025, was born on May 12, 1940, in Hamilton, Ohio. He was the first in his family to attend university, graduating summa cum laude from the…
For around 60 years, immigrant doctors have played a crucial role in supporting healthcare in underserved urban and rural areas of the U.S., amid a shortage of primary care providers and the growth of government medical programs. Eram Alam explored this in her 2025 book “The Care of Foreigners: How Immigrant Physicians Changed U.S. Healthcare,”…
A study reveals that suicide rates among young adults and teens dropped following the federal agency’s simplification of the national crisis hotline phone number and an increase in resources. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, managed by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, replaced the previous 1-800-273-Talk number in 2022. This change…
Cognitive scientists Earl K. Miller from MIT and Lisa Feldman Barrett from Northeastern University argue that categorization is an intrinsic predictive mechanism the brain employs to address sensory overload efficiently. Their article in Nature Reviews Neuroscience questions longstanding beliefs about how the brain processes sensory information. Categories, defined as groups of similar items, are traditionally…
Lidar technology utilizes infrared light pulses to gauge distance and create detailed 3D maps, enabling self-driving cars to swiftly respond to obstacles. However, traditional lidar sensors are costly and cumbersome, with numerous moving parts that wear down over time, restricting their deployment. MIT researchers have introduced a breakthrough that could lead to the development of…
While automation and AI are often thought to broadly replace jobs, an MIT economist’s study highlights distinct patterns in the U.S. since 1980. Rather than maximizing productivity, companies have frequently used automation to target workers with a “wage premium,” those earning more than peers with similar qualifications. This has predominantly impacted non-college-educated workers who had…
Conservative and progressive law experts recently converged to discuss the legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging a chatbot’s cautionary advice. Kristi Jobson, assistant dean for admissions at Harvard Law School, relayed ChatGPT’s suggestion to keep the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society seated apart to avoid potential conflict. Abbott LaPrade, chair for the…
In 2024, Harvard University’s Office of the Provost launched the Catalyst Professorship to strengthen ties between academia and the private sector. This senior faculty position allows academics to engage in industry roles while maintaining their university commitments. Doug Melton, Boaz Barak, and Michael Brenner have been named as the inaugural Catalyst Professors. President Alan M….
MIT researchers, along with colleagues, have created a more efficient and user-friendly method for networking engineers to detect potential system failures before they result in significant issues, such as cloud service outages affecting millions of users. This approach reveals hidden vulnerabilities that could cause a shortcut algorithm to unexpectedly fail during deployment. The new method…
