Science and Technology

Driven by a love of marine life and the memory of his grandfather, Peter Baek set out this summer on a six-week sailing voyage to study a delicate ecosystem south of the Equator.

Warming water over the past 150 years is causing declining fish stocks in Lake Tanganyika, a large freshwater lake that supplies food for millions of Africans.

Using a laboratory device that can deliver concussive impacts to cell cultures and image the aftermath in real time, researchers from Brown are gaining new insight into how brain cells react to trauma.

The creation of a new polymer morphology in a material called PLA could lead to better medical implants and drug-delivery devices.

The research, published in Nature, has implications for our understanding of the early solar system.

Without simple repeating sequences of the DNA “letters” GA on the X chromosome, distinct genders could never have evolved, at least in flies and mosquitoes.

The new research sheds light on the surprisingly complex collective movements of bacteria in confined spaces.

The new device could be useful in future terahertz communications networks, which would have a much higher data capacity than current cellular and wireless networks.

Computer models developed by Brown University mathematicians help to describe an underappreciated function of the spleen.

An updated thermal model for Pluto suggests that liquid water beneath the dwarf planet’s ice shell may not be frozen yet.

Research led by a Brown University physicist reveals a way to include small-scale dynamics into computer simulations of large-scale phenomena, which could make for better climate models and astrophysical simulations.

Developed by computer scientists at Brown, the new software could help web developers to optimize content and make websites more user-friendly.

Brown University will launch a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence in Computational Biology of Human Disease to expand its research using sophisticated computer analyses to understand and fight human diseases.

Skin, eye and hair pigmentation requires a delicate balance of acidity within the cellular compartments where melanin is made – that balance is partly regulated, scientists now know, by a protein called TPC2.

Wilson Cusack, a senior computer science concentrator, developed a text-message-based trading platform that helps connect farmers and buyers. With a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he’ll pilot the project in the West African nation of Ghana.

A recently unearthed film from 1974 documents an early foray into the digital humanities by two Brown professors.

The same scientific quest for which Erika Edwards won recognition from President Obama on May 5 had two months earlier led her and 12 students up dusty mountainsides in the world’s driest desert.

Nurturing stem cells atop a bed of mouse cells works well, but is a non-starter for transplants to patients – Brown University scientists are developing a synthetic bed instead.

A simple chemical conversion could be another step toward making cheap, efficient and stable perovskite solar cells.

Having spent the last eight months designing and building their own racecar, an interdisciplinary team of Brown undergraduates is about to put their 115-mph racer to the test.

A new set of experiments sheds light on how much heat is created when ice is deformed, which could help scientists understand the possibility of a subsurface ocean on one of Jupiter’s moons.

Scientists studying the biology of aging have found dozens of genes common to worms, flies, mice and humans that are all affected by the same family of proteins.

A new catalyst combining copper nanoparticles with a special type of graphene could lead to a greener way of producing ethylene, a key commodity chemical.

Neuroscientist Diane Lipscombe will lead the multidisciplinary brain science center as its new director effective immediately, Brown Provost Richard Locke announced today.

Scientific concepts like the human microbiome, genetic splicing or conductive polymers sound complicated, but in the SciToons series Brown University students and faculty members make them fun and easier to understand.

From preschoolers to professors, thousands of attendees are expected on Saturday to check out robotic technologies developed in the Ocean State and beyond.

New research shows why some large landslides travel greater distances across flat land than scientists would generally expect, sometimes putting towns and populations far from mountainsides at risk.

Bats need sensitive hearing to function effectively, yet live immersed in an intense clamor of sound – a new study shows that the noisy background doesn’t reduce their hearing sensitivity, which is a rare immunity in nature.

In two new studies inspired by the clamor of bats in flight, Brown undergraduates have made key contributions and ultimately come to regard research as a trajectory in their careers.

For her studies on how distraction affects motor learning and action, National Science Foundation recognizes Assistant Professor Joo-Hyun Song with a CAREER award, which she’ll use to advance her research.

Yuanyuan ‘Alvin’ Zhou, an engineering graduate student, has been honored with the “Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad.”

A new fellowship program in the School of Engineering aims to draw top postdoctoral scholars and groom them to be leaders in academia.

Brown University researchers have developed a method for making super-wrinkled and super-crumpled sheets of the nanomaterial graphene. The research shows that the topography can enhance some of graphene’s already interesting properties.

Reflecting demand in the economy, Brown’s graduate programs in biomedical engineering and biotechnology have more than quintupled their enrollment in four years.

Brown University engineers have devised a way to focus terahertz radiation using an array of stacked metal plates, which may prove useful for terahertz imaging or in next-generation data networks.

With movies, hands-on demonstrations, lectures and panels, an art exhibit, and a huge research poster session a dizzying array of opportunities awaits members of the public and the Brown University community who want to learn about brain science.

So complex are patterns and variations in the vein structures of leaves that botanists struggle to take advantage of them when trying to classify a specimen within the plant kingdom. A new study shows that computer vision technology can provide automated assistance by “learning” how to use venation to assign leaves to their proper family and order.

Knowing how cells move through different tissues in the body could be useful in treating conditions from cancer to autoimmune disorders. A new technique developed by Brown researchers can track cell movement in complex environments that mimic actual body tissues.

A group of Brown students and faculty members traveled recently to Argentina to study the region's geology and to learn about the global tectonic processes that push and pull the continents around the globe.

Stefanie Tellex, assistant professor of computer science, was one of 126 new fellows for 2016, announced today by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Brown University researchers may have discovered what’s responsible for discrepant findings between dozens of fundamental studies of the biology of aging. A drug commonly used in research with C. elegans worms, they report, has had unanticipated effects on lifespan.

Brown University botanist Erika Edwards has earned a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. She’s invited to the White House this spring to accept the honor.

A large clinical trial for which Brown University neurology Chair Dr. Karen Furie served as principal neurologist, found that a drug that controls insulin resistance was helpful in preventing heart attacks and second strokes in patients.

Sydney Levin and Michael Villaseñor of the New York Times came to campus on Monday, Feb. 15 to discuss the paper's new foray into virtual reality.

A technique called plasmonic interferometry has the potential to enable compact, ultra-sensitive biosensors for a variety of applications. A fundamental advance made by Brown University engineers could help make such devices more practical.

Science trounced the Intelligent Design “alternative” to evolution in Kitzmiller v. Dover in 2005, but ideological or religious attempts to warp science education on issues like climate change and evolution continue. At the 2016 AAAS annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Brown University biologist Kenneth Miller and other veterans of the Dover case discussed how to stand up for science.

Alan Usas, formerly the CIO at the Yale School of Management and assistant vice president for Computing and Information Services at Brown, will oversee Brown's Executive Master in Cybersecurity.

Students from all over the country and around the world gathered this weekend for Hack@Brown, a marathon of computer coding and app building. Student organizers aim for an event that's open and inviting to students from all backgrounds and skill levels.

Cells reach a state called senescence when they stop dividing in response to DNA damage. This change can matter greatly to health, but scientists do not yet have a clear picture of how this change impacts the genome. A new Brown University study shows that a cell’s chromosomes become physically reconfigured at senescence, leading to significant differences in what genes are expressed.

A completely made-over undergraduate teaching laboratory asks the question, “Will open-ended research and high-tech collaboration make biology more exciting and engaging for students?”