A team from Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have managed to create an extremely tough gel that is capable of being stretched to 21 times its length. It is hoped that the gel, known as hydrogel, will be able to be used in replacing damaged cartilage in human joints.

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Post tags: cartilage, elastic, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, harvard university, human joints, hydrogel, SEAS, stretchy gel

A team of researchers from Harvard University led by George Whitesides have developed innovative, soft, silicone-based robots that have the ability to disguise themselves or change their color depending on the situation. The research team took their inspiration from creatures like starfish and squid, who naturally blend into their environment to hide from predators.

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Post tags: 3D printers, 3D printing, biomimicry, dynamic coloration, flexible robots, George Whitesides, harvard university, robots, science, science journal, soft robots

Even though large areas of the US are experiencing extreme drought conditions, aggressive summer thunderstorms have also swept across parts of the nation – and according to a team of scientists at Harvard University, those storms may be damaging the ozone layer. The Harvard scientists believe that rising levels of carbon dioxide and methane may be increasing the severity of these storms, and they may have found the first significant connection between climate change and ozone layer destruction.

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Post tags: atmospheric storms, CFCs, harvard university, ozone layer, ozone layer destruction, summer storms, water vapor

A team of researchers at Harvard University has created a novel hydrogen fuel cell that keeps running even after its fuel supply is exhausted. The solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) converts hydrogen into electricity, and it can also store electrochemical energy like a battery. This allows the fuel cell to produce power for a short time after it has run out of hydrogen.

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Post tags: alternative energy, batteries, fuel, harvard university, hydrogen fuel cell, power source, solid oxide fuel cells, uavs

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The decline of the bee population over the last few years has been blamed on many causes, but a recent Harvard University study gives “convincing evidence” that pesticide-laced corn syrup may be the cause of colony collapse. The study shows that odd behaviors such as abandoning hives, disorientation and confusion could be the direct result of farmers feeding their bees high-fructose corn syrup, which was not an issue until U.S. corn crops started to be sprayed with the pesticide imidacloprid eight years ago. Scarily, the first outbreak of Colony Collapse Disorder occurred just a year afterwards.

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Post tags: bee deaths, bee decline, bee population, Bulletin of Insectology, colony collapse, eco design, green design, harvard bee study, harvard university, neonicotinoid, parasitic diseases, sustainable design

Climate change deniers often sing the frustrating song that carbon dioxide emissions are harmless, but a groundbreaking study by scientists at Harvard, the University of Wisconsin, and Oregon State University has produced a paper which the authors claim to be the first to “definitively show the role carbon dioxide played in helping to end the last ice age.” CO2 concentrations rose from 185 parts per million to 260 ppm over the roughly 10,000 years during which the last ice age ended, according to Physorg. Compare that with our man-made emissions, which have raised CO2 concentrations by the same amount in the past two centuries alone, and we all have something to be very concerned about.

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Post tags: atlantic currents, carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, CO2 concentration, CO2 emissions, deglaciation causes, global warming, harvard university, Ice Age, jeremy shakun, melting ice caps, oregon state university, rate of carbon dioxide concentration, University of Wisconsin

Although Harvard’s school color is officially crimson, it seems as though it really should be green. The USGBC announced this month that Harvard University has completed a major milestone, having achieved 50 LEED certified buildings. Over the last 10 years, Harvard University has been actively renovating their historic buildings and constructing new buildings, all while working to make them as sustainable as they can. Harvard’s achievement marks them as the first institute of higher learning to have so many buildings certified. What’s even more impressive though is that they have 40 more LEED projects on the board or under construction right now.

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Post tags: "leed", "sustainable architecture", eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, harvard university, leed certification, most leed buildings, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, usgbc

We’ve covered a wide variety of urban agriculture projects in the past – the rooftop farm Brooklyn Grange, the Battery Conservancy’s new turkey-shaped farm, and futuristic vertical farms, to name a few. Our view of them has generally been positive, but perhaps urban farms deserve a second look. Edward L. Glaeser, PhD, a professor of economics at Harvard University recently put forth his radical view that urban farms reduce metropolitan density levels, and thus do more harm to the environment than good. But does his argument really hold water?

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Post tags: alternative agriculture, battery conservancy, Brooklyn grange, carbon dioxide emissions, edward glaeser, energy use, environmental design, food miles, green, Green Cities, green design, harvard, harvard economist, harvard university, rooftop farm, turkey farm, turkey-shaped farm, urban agriculture, urban density, urban farm, vertical farm, vertical farms

Imagine if all the debate over which chemicals were safe and unsafe for humans were suddenly settled. We’d know which products to buy and which to ban. Class action lawsuits filed by communities exposed to pesticides or runoff would be a snap to resolve. A new discovery announced today by researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute doesn’t get us all the way there, but it takes us significantly closer. It’s a laboratory-generated, breathing human lung-on-a-chip that mimics the way a real lung allows pathogens to enter the bloodstream.

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Post tags: epa, green design, harvard university, Health, lung, lung chip, lung-on-a-chip, nanotechnology, polymers, research, sustainable design, toxics, wyss institute