New research shows that synthetic silicate nanoplatelets can stimulate stem cells into bone cells without the need of additional bone-inducing factors. Researchers from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) are the first to report that synthetic silicate nanoplatelets (also known as layered clay) can induce stem cells to become bone cells without the need of [...]

Researchers have identified a protein in the blood of mice and humans that may prove to be the first effective treatment for a form of age-related heart failure, finding in mice that hearts reduced in size and thickness and resembled healthy hearts of younger mice when the protein GDF-11 was injected. Two Harvard Stem Cell [...]

Scientists have identified a way to flip a genetic switch off to halt tumor growth, demonstrating a potential new therapy in mice that impacts tumor growth in a significant way. Approximately 90 percent of cancers start within tissues that form the inner linings of various organs. Decades of accumulated genetic mutations can, on occasion, induce [...]

A new study and video details the first controlled flight of robotic RoboBees. Last summer, in a Harvard robotics laboratory, an insect took flight. Half the size of a paper clip, weighing less than a tenth of a gram, it leapt a few inches, hovered for a moment on fragile, flapping wings, and then sped [...]

A research team led by Harvard University physicists has measured the magnetic moment of single particles of matter and antimatter with unprecedented precision. As described in a March 25 paper in Physical Review Letters, the team — led by Gerald Gabrielse, the George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics, and including postdoctoral fellows Stephan Ettenauer and [...]

In a new study, a team of scientists from the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital provide scientific evidence showing that exposure to new activities may delay onset of dementia from Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies have shown that keeping the mind active, exercising, and social interactions may help delay the onset of dementia in Alzheimer’s patients. [...]

In a newly published study, an international team of scientists has identified a molecular pathway that appears to be essential for the growth and spread of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children. In their report in the February 28 issue of Cell, they show that blocking this pathway—which involves interactions between tumor [...]

Researchers at the Wyss Institute have completed the first clinical study of a new rapid neuroassessment device they developed to quantitatively measure neuromuscular performance and are currently conducting a study with athletes in the Boston area to determine the sensitivity of the technology in diagnosing concussions. Doctors routinely track their patients’ hand-eye coordination to monitor [...]

Using small explosions produced by a mix of methane and oxygen, scientists at Harvard University have developed a soft robot that can leap as much as a foot in the air. The technology may prove useful for future robots designed to avoid obstacles during search and rescue operations following a disaster. They can already stand, [...]

A new study from scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that vitamin D could protect against type 1 diabetes. Adequate levels of vitamin D during young adulthood may reduce the risk of adult-onset type 1 diabetes by as much as 50 percent, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health [...]

A newly published study investigates the role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, or EMT, with cancer progression and treatment response in breast cancer patients, providing researchers with a new biologic understanding of breast cancer invasion and metastasis. A process that normally occurs in developing embryos—the changing of one basic cell type into another—has also been suspected of [...]

Two newly discovered TERT promoter mutations were found to be even more common than BRAF mutations in melanoma, collectively occurring in 71% of the melanomas examined. Two mutations that collectively occur in 71 percent of malignant melanoma tumors have been discovered in what scientists call the “dark matter” of the cancer genome, where cancer-related mutations [...]