Stories

Startups commercializing foundational research developed in Harvard labs have created various solutions to address climate and sustainability issues, tackling global challenges in industries ranging from cooling buildings to less resource-intensive agriculture and technologies powering our electric grid.

Harvard Medical School professor Jessica Whited is studying the ability of axolotls to regrow limbs with the ultimate goal of discovering how to stimulate limb regeneration in human patients.

A U.S. District Court in Boston struck down the federal government’s cancellation of $2.2 billion in research funding to Harvard.

Harvard President Alan M. Garber AB '77, PhD '82 urged students and faculty to embrace disagreement as necessary to the vitality and advancement of meaningful institutions at the first Morning Prayers of the academic year.

Funded by alumni, Brain Science Initiative grants promote new approaches to treat the condition and discover underlying causes.

Through an alumnus gift, the department will invite prominent mathematicians to teach, give lectures, and engage with students and faculty.

Harvard researchers have created a soft, wearable robotic device that provides personalized movement assistance for individuals with upper-limb impairment, such as stroke and ALS patients. The latest version of the robot is able to learn each user’s unique movements and provide support for daily activities like eating and drinking.

Traumatic brain injuries vary in severity from mild to life-threatening, but neurologists have limited tools to assess them. A Harvard startup is developing a softer alternative to rigid neural probes that could be inserted into the brain without causing damage.

A new Harvard Medical School study shows that lithium shields the brain from neurodegeneration and maintains the normal function of all major brain cell types—providing a new theory of the disease and a new strategy for early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.

Recent federal funding cuts are hitting climate research hard. The losses will hamper progress, Harvard environmental scientists say, but they won’t stop it.

A new collaboration between Harvard and Berkeley, the Green Industrial Strategy Project is exploring how governments and companies can develop strategies that enhance economic competitiveness and facilitate global decarbonization in a world of intensifying geo-economic competition.

A Harvard atmospheric modeling team has created an online platform that could help communities identify areas in need of controlled burns or other fire management strategies, with the goal of preventing future uncontrolled fires and, more specifically, reducing smoke exposures.

Using NASA laser technology from the International Space Station, a new Harvard study reveals the impact of climate change on global tropical forests with greater depth and breadth than ever before.

Climate change is altering the Earth’s smells and how we perceive them. Experts gathered at Harvard Radcliffe Institute to explore—and try to remedy—this sensory deficit.

Harvard research leads to a new law giving states profits from clean energy, which will be particularly beneficial for rural communities in the American West. 

Climate Up Close—a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that includes climate scientists from Harvard—discusses climate change at community centers across the U.S., where they with presentations designed to foster open dialogue and trust between scientists and American communities. 

Applying the skills she developed at Harvard, Kirsten Van Fossen SB ’12 is exploring how to employ electrochemistry to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into usable, sustainable fuel.

Inspired by his upbringing, public policy expert Dustin Tingley studies how the transition to renewable energy impacts communities by merging data with insights from people’s lived experiences.

Spectral biology pioneer Jeannine Cavender-Bares PhD ’00 uses light to analyze plants—including the 5.5 million specimens in Harvard’s collection—to understand biodiversity and the changing climate.

For his senior capstone project, mechanical engineer Brice Austin SB ’25 developed a prototype of a liquid window, which uses layers of fluid to more efficiently heat and cool buildings.