Posts about Harvard
animals bacteria Career Cats commentary cool curiouscat economy Energy Engineering engineering education engineers evolution experiment food fun Funding government green Health Care human health innovation K-12 kids Life Science medical research MIT nature ocean physics Products Research Robots Science science education science explained science facts science webcasts scientific inquiry Students Technology university research USA water webcasts

I Always Wanted to be Some Sort of Scientist

Posted on October 17, 2011  Comments (0)

A nice simple post by a soon to be Dr. of Genetics and Molecular Biology on what being a scientist is like for her. I like her take, which I think is much more accurate than some of the generalities people use. The main reason people (men or women) become scientists because they want to be scientists.

photo of almost-Dr. Caitlin

Photo the almost-Dr. Caitlin

The truth is science requires you to be social. We share ideas, techniques, and equipment. A good scientist knows her limitations and uses someone else’s expertise when her own is not enough. The modern scientist communicates not only through conferences and journals, but also through blogging and Facebook.
…
When a non-scientist (usually my parents or some other close relative) asks me about what I do, they inevitably want to tie it back to how I’m curing a disease and saving the world. I am not curing a disease or saving the world.

I study science because it’s cool. I study basic science — asking questions for the purpose of learning the answer. That doesn’t mean what I do isn’t important. Lots of ground-breaking medical advances have been made just because someone asked a question no one else thought to ask.
…
To all you ladies fighting the good fight in other fields, keep at it, because the numbers are going up for women with advanced degrees.

I’ve always wanted to be some sort of scientist. When I was in elementary school I wanted to be a paleontologist because dinosaurs are awesome (and so was “Jurassic Park”). When I was 11, I read the Hot Zone and knew I wanted to be a biologist. Though there were times that I flirted with the Dark Side, i.e., medical school, but mostly only because when my teachers figured out I was good at science they said go to medical school. No one even suggested becoming a scientist.

Great stuff. Good Luck, Caitlin.

Related: Movie Aims to Inspire College Students With Tales of Successful Minority Scientists – Kids on Scientists: Before and After Talking to Real Live Scientists – Women Choosing Other Fields Over Engineering, Math, Physics and Computer Science

sOccket: Power Through Play

Posted on October 8, 2010  Comments (3)

In a fun example of appropriate technology and innovation 4 college students have created a football (soccer ball) that is charged as you play with it. The ball uses an inductive coil mechanism to generate energy, thanks in part to a novel Engineering Sciences course, Idea Translation. They are beta testing the ball in Africa: the current prototypes can provide light 3 hours of LED light after less than 10 minutes of play. Jessica Matthews ’10, Jessica Lin ’09, Hemali Thakkara ’11 and Julia Silverman ’10 (see photo) created the eco-friendly ball when they all were undergraduates at Harvard College.

photo of sOccket creators: Jessica Matthews, Jessica Lin, Hemali Thakkara and Julia Silverman

sOccket creators: Jessica Matthews, Jessica Lin, Hemali Thakkara and Julia Silverman

They received funding from: Harvard Institute for Global Health and the Clinton Global Initiative University. The

sOccket won the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award, which recognizes the innovators and products poised to change the world. A future model could be used to charge a cell phone.

From Take part: approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide use kerosene to light their homes. “Not only is kerosene expensive, but its flames are dangerous and the smoke poses serious health risks,” says Lin. Respiratory infections account for the largest percentage of childhood deaths in developing nations—more than AIDS and malaria.

Related: High school team presenting a project they completed to create a solution to provide clean water – Water Pump Merry-go-Round – Engineering a Better World: Bike Corn-Sheller – Green Technology Innovation by College Engineering Students

Watch a June 2010 interview on the ball:
Continue reading →

E.O. Wilson: Lord of the Ants

Posted on March 30, 2009  Comments (2)

This is a great webcast on E.O Wilson‘s career studying ants and animal behavior from NOVA.

Not only is the scientific knowledge very interesting it again shows that challenging conventional wisdom, while part of the scientific method, does not mean it is an easy process for those pioneers. From his web site:

In 1971 Wilson published his second major synthesis, The Insect Societies, which formulated the existing knowledge of the behavior of ants, social bees, social wasps, and termites, on a foundation of population biology. In it he introduced the concept of a new discipline of sociobiology, the systematic study of the biological basis of social behavior in all kinds of organisms. In 1975 he published Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, which extended the subject to vertebrates and united it more closely to evolutionary biology. The foundational discoveries of sociobiology are generally recognized to be the analysis of animal communication and division of labor, in which Wilson played a principal role, and the genetic theory of the origin of social behavior, which he helped to promote and apply in his 1971 and 1975 syntheses. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis was later ranked in a poll of the officers and fellows of the international Animal Behaviour Society as the most important book on animal behavior of all time, and is regarded today as the founding text of sociobiology and its offshoot, evolutionary psychology.

Related: Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration
by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson – Huge Ant Nest – Symbiotic relationship between ants and bacteria – Royal Ant Genes – posts on ants – Encyclopedia of Life

How Cells Age

Posted on November 29, 2008  Comments (4)

How Cells Age

A new study by Harvard Medical School researchers reveals that the biochemical mechanism that makes yeast grow old has a surprising parallel in mice, suggesting it may be a universal cause of aging in all organisms.
…
In young organisms, SIRT1 effectively doubles as a gene-expression regulator and a DNA repairer. But when DNA damage accumulates—as it does with age—SIRT1 becomes too busy fixing broken DNA to keep the expression of hundreds of genes in check. This process is so similar to what happens in aging yeast that its discoverers believe it may represent a universal mechanism of aging.

Harvard researchers gain new insight into aging

Aging may be a case of neglect — an absentee landlord at the cellular level that allows gene activity to go awry, according to a study published today.

Scientists have long known that aging causes gene expression to change, and DNA damage to accumulate. But now, research led by Harvard Medical School scientists explains the connection between the two processes in mammals.

The paper, published in the journal Cell, found that a multi-tasking protein called SIRT1 that normally acts as guardian of the genome gets dragged away to DNA fix-it jobs. When the protein abandons its normal post to work as a genetic handyman, order unravels elsewhere in the cell. Genes that are normally under its careful watch begin to flip on.

“What this paper actually implies is that aspects of aging may be reversible,” said David Sinclair, a Harvard Medical School biologist who led the research. “It sounds crazy, but in principle it should be possible to restore the youthful set of genes, the patterns that are on and off.”

The study is just the latest to draw yet more attention to sirtuins, proteins involved in the aging process

Aging is fascinating. By and large people just accept it. We see it happen to those all around us, without exception. But what causes biological aging? It is an interesting area of research.

Related: lobsters show no apparent signs of aging – Our Genome Changes as We Age – Millennials in our Lifetime? – Radical Life Extension – posts on cells

$400 Million More for Harvard and MIT

Posted on October 2, 2008  Comments (1)

$400 million endowment for the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT

“Today the Broad Institute is the world’s leading genomics and biomedical institute, and we’re now making a $600 million bet that the Broad will be the place where the greatest scientific discoveries take place,” Eli Broad said at today’s ceremony.
…
In its short history, the Broad Institute’s accomplishments include cataloging and identifying genetic risk factors for diseases such as type 2 diabetes and autism; discovering new therapeutic targets for cancer, malaria, and other diseases; and applying genomic tools to better understand and treat human pathogens like tuberculosis.
…
The Broads’ gift is the largest to support biomedical research at a university anywhere in the world. The Broads initially invested $100 million in 2003 as a way to test the institute’s new approach to biomedical research. By 2005, the Broad Institute had already made significant accomplishments and progress, and the Broads invested a second $100 million. Their endowment of $400 million today will allow the Broad Institute to transition to a permanent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with both Harvard and MIT still at the heart of it, continuing to help govern the institute.

Many countries would love to create a world class center of biomedical research. And several are trying. Boston sure seems to be staking a claim that it will be one of those centers of excellence. The economic benefits of that to Boston will be huge.

Related: Harvard Plans Life Sciences Campus – $1 Billion for Life Sciences in Massachusetts – China’s Gene Therapy Investment – $600 Million for Basic Biomedical Research from HHMI – Edinburgh University $115 Million Stem Cell Center

S&P 500 CEOs are Engineering Graduates

Posted on June 30, 2008  Comments (3)

2007 Data from Spencer Stuart on S&P 500 CEO shows once again more have undergraduate degrees in engineering than any other field.

Field
% of CEOs
2007 2006 2005
Engineering 21 23 20
Economics 15 13 11
Business Administration 13 12 15
Accounting 8 8 7
Liberal Arts 6 8 9
No degree or no data 3 3



The report does not show the fields for the rest of the CEO’s. 40% of S&P CEOs have MBAs. 27% have other advanced degrees. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Princeton and Harvard tied for the most CEO’s with undergraduate degrees from their universities at 12. University of Texas has 10 and Stanford has 9.

Data for previous years is also from Spencer Stuart: 2006 S&P 500 CEO Education Study – Top degree for S&P 500 CEOs? Engineering (2005 study)

Related: Engineering Education Study Debate – posts on science and engineering careers – Science and Engineering Degrees lead to Career Success – The Future is Engineering

$1 Billion for Life Sciences in Massachusetts

Posted on June 17, 2008  Comments (0)

Petri dish for economic growth

So far, the signs are good. The bill commits $500 million for research facilities, infrastructure improvements, and other capital projects; $250 million for tax credits; and $250 million for research grants. The plan is flexible enough to support research at private institutions while making major investments at public universities. Patrick and legislators fended off the most flagrant attempts to divert money into political pet projects with little direct relevance to the biotech industry, such as $49.5 million for a science building at a state college with no graduate science programs.

As I have mentioned many times the centers of scientific excellence are important for economic success. Massachusetts has some great advantages with MIT, Harvard, many biotech companies… but still must continue to focus on staying a center of excellence.

Related: Harvard Plans Life Sciences Campus – China’s Gene Therapy Investment – $600 Million for Basic Biomedical Research – Singapore woos top scientists with new labs – Economic Strength Through Technology Leadership

Harvard Course: Understanding Computers and the Internet

Posted on August 6, 2007  Comments (3)

Harvard Extension School – Computer Science E-1: Understanding Computers and the Internet

This course is all about understanding: understanding what’s going on inside your computer when you flip on the switch, why tech support has you constantly rebooting your computer, how everything you do on the Internet can be watched by others, and how your computer can become infected with a worm just by turning it on. In this course we demystify computers and the Internet, along with their jargon, so that students understand not only what they can do with each but also how it all works and why. Students leave this course armed with a new vocabulary and equipped for further exploration of computers and the Internet. Topics include hardware, software, the Internet, multimedia, security, website development, programming, and dotcoms. This course is designed both for those with little, if any, computer experience and for those who use a computer every day.

Nice job. via: Learn How The Darn Thing Works … from Harvard

Related: University of California, Berkeley course videos – Technology Talks at Google – Engineering and Science Webcast Libraries – Lectures from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

Harvard Plans Life Sciences Campus

Posted on January 15, 2007  Comments (2)

Harvard Unveils Plans for 250 Acre Stem Cell and Life Sciences Campus:

During the first 20 years of the expansion, Harvard would build 4 million to 5 million square feet of buildings and create at least 5,000 jobs, university officials said. Construction in Allston could begin this summer when Harvard hopes to break ground on a 500,000-square-foot (46,450-square-metre) science complex that will house the school’s stem-cell researchers and other institutes. The science complex, university officials said, would be the nucleus for new interdisciplinary research and is expected to go a long way toward boosting Boston’s economy by encouraging partnerships with biotechnology firms that may displace the region’s long-fading manufacturing base.

5,000 jobs is a huge number (even looking out 20 years). Manufacturing is still a huge economic factor (for the USA and the world) but investing in creating science and engineering centers of excellence is critical in determining where strong economies and good jobs will be 30+ years from now. They don’t explain what those 5,000 jobs are, but it seems that thousands could be for science and engineering graduates. The value of that to Boston’s economy is huge.

Related: Engineering the Future Economy – Diplomacy and Science Research – Increasing American Fellowship Support for Scientists and Engineers – The Future is Engineering – China’s Economic Science Experiment – China’s Gene Therapy Investment – Singapore Supporting Science Researchers

The Inner Life of a Cell – Animation

Posted on September 8, 2006  Comments (5)

Animation of the inside of a cell
The Inner Life of a Cell, an eight-minute animation created for Harvard biology students… illustrates unseen molecular mechanisms and the ones they trigger, specifically how white blood cells sense and respond to their surroundings and external stimuli.

The online video is beautiful, see – Cellular Visions: The Inner Life of a Cell. Update: Unfortunately the webcast links on that page are not working but you can see a longer version than was available via: Inner Life of a Cell – Full Version.
Continue reading →

Harvard Elevates Engineering Profile

Posted on May 25, 2006  Comments (1)

Harvard is planing to move engineering education to the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (via Engineering is Becoming a Liberal Art).

The Technology Mosaic by David Epstein:

as Paul S. Peercy, dean of engineering at the University of Wisconsin and chair of the Engineering Dean’s Council at the American Society for Engineering Education put it: “I used to say, ‘look around, everything except the plants are engineered.’ Now I say, ‘look around, everything and some of the plants are engineered.’”

From Harvard’s announcement:

President Lawrence H. Summers. “It marks our recognition of the profound importance of technology and applied sciences for every aspect of our society. It makes visible our commitment to major new resources and faculty positions in this vital area, and our dedication to educating a new generation of technologically-literate students.

In order to provide adequate coverage of modern engineering and applied science for students and to be in the vanguard of emerging research areas, the school plans to increase the university’s engineering and applied sciences faculty by about 50 percent in the coming years.

  • Recent Comments:

    • Robert Jackson: How much do petroleum engineers with no experience start out with in Germany
    • Yasmeen: These are really terrible facts which are disturbing the balance of nature… but still people...
    • Ed: A very cool innovation indeed. It would be great if we had them in 15 years but with budget cuts and...
    • Limon Ahmed: The Animation is very nice and interesting. Thank you so much for showing us the way of How a...
    • Mae Picker: Very interesting animation, especially on the part where the virus reproduces itself to...
    • Timothy Matias: “for someone who is trying to talk about education, you seem to not understand that...
    • Jamaal Talsky: nice site…robots of the human or dog kind possibly first will come sooner than we...
    • Donnie: Hong Kong is a city in China…… The stupidity of my country continues to amaze me.

  • Recent Trackbacks:

  • Links