Category: Science and Technology
- Sparking ideas and sprouting solutionsMarch 3, 2015
SPARK, a new initiative created by the Brandeis University Virtual Incubator Program, is offering $50,000 to help bring ideas and entrepreneurial ambitions to life. Preliminary proposals are due by Friday, March 6, 2015.
#TheDress effect: What you see isn't necessarily what's thereMarch 3, 2015Last week, a poorly lit picture of a dress sparked one of the fiercest debates in Internet history: Was it white and gold or blue and black? Now that the dust has settled, it’s time for a more important question: Why did people see the dress differently? ReAction asked biology professor Stephen Van Hooser to break down the science of the dress.
Shantanu Jadhav named Sloan Research FellowFeb. 25, 2015Assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience Shantanu Jadhav has won a prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship to explore memory and decision-making in mammalian brains.
Evolution may hold the key to rational drug designFeb. 20, 2015In the journal Science, Dorothee Kern outlines a new approach to studying cancer-causing proteins that may have a major impact on the development of rational drugs to fight cancer.
Coding something beautiful Feb. 19, 2015Joelle Robinson ’18 thrives on the creative process. For Robinson, it’s all about building something from nothing, and making it effective and affecting, whether it’s a computer program or a new play.
Jose Vargas ’15 brings astrophysics down to EarthFeb. 12, 2015In professor John Wardle's lab, Jose Vargas ’15 has seen further into the night sky than most people on Earth. After graduation, he will take his physics degree back to New York City and teach high school physics through Teach for America.
Feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian takes on gamingFeb. 3, 2015The outspoken advocate for gender equality in gaming was scheduled to deliver the Martin Wiener Lecture in Computer Science on Feb. 9. It was postponed due to the weather.
Why all-nighters don’t workJan. 23, 2015Graduate students Paula Haynes and Bethany Christmann in the Griffith Lab are unraveling the connection between sleep and memory.
Ethan Stein '15 launches cyber security company, eyes changing the worldJan. 15, 2015CyberSecurityPlan, the recently started venture of Brandeis senior Ethan Stein, is set to offer companies and organizations a stronger and safer defense against cyber attacks.
Professor Emeritus Stanley Deser awarded Einstein MedalJan. 14, 2015In May, the Albert Einstein Society will honor Deser's career and his groundbreaking formulation that offered a new approach to General Relativity.
Big news for little ciliaJan. 7, 2015Professor Daniela Nicastro and postdoctoral fellow Jianfeng Lin have captured the highest-resolution images of human cilia ever, providing new understanding of cilia and cilia-related diseases.
The hunt for dark matterJan. 7, 2015In 2015, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will reboot after two years of upgrades, with double the energy of its first run. The Brandeis High Energy Physics Group will be in the thick of it, exploring the newly discovered Higgs boson and hunting for supersymmetry, dark matter and extra dimensions.
Learning from past epidemics: What can smallpox tell us about Ebola?Dec. 2, 2014Leff Families Professor of History Michael Willrich discusses the parallels between the U.S.’s response to the smallpox epidemic at the turn of the 20th century and the current Ebola epidemic.
DNA's Wild West: Bounty hunters, outlaws vie for control of your genesNov. 17, 2014In two recent papers, professor Nelson Lau explored a biological system that hunts down and silences genetic parasites that may contribute to human infertility and other conditions.
Society for Neuroscience honors Eve Marder ’69 and Timothy O’LearyNov. 11, 2014Eve Marder ’69, the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience, and Timothy O’Leary, a postdoctoral fellow in the Marder lab, will be honored this weekend at Neuroscience2014, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference.
Wandering the Earth and stars with Isaac Steinberg ’15 Nov. 10, 2014Isaac Steinberg is an avid traveler, amateur astronomer and editor-in-chief of Wander: Brandeis Abroad, the student magazine supported by the Office of Study Abroad. For International Education Week, Nov. 9-14, Wander is presenting a student photo exhibit in the Shapiro Campus Center atrium.
Brandeis IBS announces creation of Hassenfeld Family Innovation CenterNov. 6, 2014Brandeis International Business School has received a $2.5 million gift to establish the Hassenfeld Family Innovation Center, which will to support faculty research while catalyzing innovation on campus.
Ebola in West Africa: The outbreak's impact and a look to the futureNov. 6, 2014Public health physician and adjunct professor Theo J.C. Lippeveld and director of the PhD Program at the Heller School and Chief Economist of the Global Health Bureau for USAID Allyala K. Nandakumar talked about Ebola in West Africa last week.
Improving with age: Regions of the brain strengthen over timeOct. 31, 2014New techniques in cognitive neuroscience are revealing regions of the brain that improve with age, reports assistant professor of psychology Angela Gutchess in the current issue of Science. BrandeisNow spoke with Gutchess about aging and how it changes our brains.
Brandeis to NASA: Developing tech to boldly go where no tech has gone beforeOct. 29, 2014Valerie Scott ’05, an inorganic chemist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, designs small technologies for space and planetary exploration.
Gabbay Award honors researchers who developed groundbreaking genomic tool Oct. 20, 2014Three researchers who developed a revolutionary tool that can target and modify specific genes in living cells will be presented with the 17th Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine on Oct. 27 at Brandeis.
Pioneering geneticist Frederick Alt ’71 wins 44th Rosenstiel Award Oct. 15, 2014Geneticist Frederick Alt ’71 will be awarded the 44th Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Biomedical Science by Brandeis University for his pioneering research exploring the mechanisms of genomic instability and its implications for the immune system and cancer cells.
White House neuroscience initiative funds researchOct. 7, 2014Professors Sacha Nelson and John Lisman ’66 were among the first researchers to receive funds from the National Institutes of Health under President Barack Obama’s BRAIN Initiative.
Study: Dengue fever vastly underreported in IndiaOct. 7, 2014The annual number of dengue fever cases in India is 282 times higher than officially reported, and the disease inflicts an economic burden on the country of at least US$1.11 billion each year in medical and other expenses.
What happens when good genes get lost?Sept. 30, 2014Sometimes, an important gene gets embedded in junk DNA by mistake and scientists have long wondered how those genes get activated. Now, Brandeis University researchers may have solved that mystery. Read how on ReAction: The Brandeis University Science and Research Blog
Obesity and stress pack a double hit for healthSept. 22, 2014If you’re overweight, you may be at greater risk for stress-related diseases like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer, according to a new study by Brandeis University.
New science and research blog brings Brandeis science out of the labSept. 16, 2014ReAction is a new science and research blog being launched today by the Office of Communications. Featuring videos, stories and photography, along with guest posts from students, faculty and alumni, ReAction is the place to learn about what’s hot — and cool — in Brandeis research.
Brandeis physicists unlock secrets of the 2-D world and edge closer to artificial cellsSept. 12, 2014Physicist Zvonimir Dogic's research into active nematic vesicles and the world of two-dimensional physics was recently featured in two of science’s most respected journals, Science and Nature.
Web conferencing service brings new opportunitiesSept. 9, 2014Blue Jeans web conferencing has connected the Brandeis community with a congressman in Washington and musicians in the Peruvian Andes.
Food for the future: A vision for New England farming and food productionAug. 29, 2014Brian Donahue, professor of environmental studies, and colleagues from across New England have published a perspective on the future of the region’s food needs.
- How To Spend All That Ice-Bucket Money? Multiple ALS Research Leads Heat UpAug. 22, 2014
Beyond the Ice Bucket: Brandeis scientists work to understand ALSAug. 21, 2014Professors Suzanne Paradis and Avi Rodal are unraveling the molecular mechanics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
Waltham High School students get hands-on experience in the labAug. 14, 2014Vivekanand Vimal, PhD '16, launched a program that brings local students to campus to work on research projects.
Decoding sleep, mapping quasars: A day in the life of undergraduate scientistsAug. 4, 2014Every summer, the labs at Brandeis hum with activity as dozens of undergrads work closely with faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows on research projects.
Former students, colleagues celebrate Art Wingfield July 24, 2014Nearly 100 colleagues, former students and friends gathered on campus to celebrate long-time professor Arthur Wingfield's storied career.
Alums, founders of YouVisit.com, serve as inspiration for studentsJuly 23, 2014Endri Tolka '03 and Taher Baderkhan '03 spoke with students about starting their company and showed off what they have in development — college tours with Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets.
Small steps and giant leapsJuly 17, 2014Brandeis' Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab has advanced our understanding of how humans can live and work in space, among many other achievements.
Revealing the secrets of sandJuly 16, 2014Bulbul Chakraborty, along with Corey O'Hern from Yale University and Robert Behringer from Duke University, have received a three-year, $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to develop the first predictive theoretical framework for macroscopic assemblies.
Students present at international environmental science summitJuly 15, 2014Three Brandeis University students recently presented research findings on nail salon air quality at the 2014 International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology in Houston.
High school students look at the Future of MedicineJuly 11, 2014Brandeis' Global Youth Summit on the Future of Medicine provides the country's top high school students with behind-the-scenes insight into the health care field.
Kondev receives $1M grant to enhance undergrad researchJune 30, 2014Jané Kondev is among a select group of scientist-educators who were awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor program grant, which provides $1 million over five years to support activities that integrate research with undergraduate education.
Uniting physics, business for the greater goodJune 17, 2014Camille Girabawe and Bernard Hishamunda are joining the laws of physics and the principles of business to improve lives, especially in their native Rwanda.
Sprout Grants encourage innovation, entrepreneurship June 16, 2014The winners of the 2014 Brandeis Virtual Incubator Sprout Grant Program will share $50,000 in funding to support the research and development of technologies that tackle epilepsy, cancer, clean energy, genetic engineering, the treatment of diabetes, and accessible science education.
- Unlocking The Brain: Are We Entering A Golden Age Of Neuroscience?June 13, 2014
Brandeis launches MS in eLearning design, technologyJune 5, 2014Brandeis has established a new master of science degree in online instructional design and technology in response to the growing national need for professionals highly skilled in the development of digital learning resources.
Neuroscience’s grand questionMay 21, 2014Eve Marder '69, the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience, and her lab have built a new theoretical model to understand how cells monitor and self-regulate their properties in the face of continual turnover of cellular components. They published their findings in the journal Neuron.
Brandeisians earn Fulbrights, Goldwater, Gates CambridgeMay 13, 2014Nine current students and recent graduates of Brandeis have earned nationally competitive scholarships. Most will continue their studies overseas, including in England, Honduras, Italy, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden, Tajikistan, and Thailand.
A new approach to treating Alzheimer’s diseaseApril 22, 2014A team of researchers from Brandeis University, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and Weill Cornell Medical College have devised a novel approach to the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on a complex that cleans up amyloid-beta fragments, which causes the plaque that interferes with brain function.
Don’t beat yourself up, you’ll live longerApril 3, 2014In a recently published paper, Brandeis University researchers report they found a connection between a self-compassionate attitude and lower levels of stress-induced inflammation. The discovery could lead to new techniques to lower stress and improve health.
Science Posse goes to WashingtonApril 1, 2014Brandeis President Frederick M. Lawrence, Vice Provost Irv Epstein and several current and former Brandeis students met with members of President Obama’s administration in Washington on March 31 to talk about Brandeis’ Science Posse program.
Musicians rock at audiovisual integration April 1, 2014Avi Aizenman ’13 asks, are musicians better at connecting sound and sight than non-musicians? She presented her thesis at the 2013 meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, and is now submitting her findings to a scientific journal. If the paper gets accepted, it will be her third published paper in two years.
A new dimension in understanding ciliaMarch 24, 2014Brandeis University researchers have developed a new model to study these tiny but vital cellular structures with more clarity and detail than ever before, providing a clearer picture on how cilia are shaped, structured and how they interact with their environment.
Congresswoman Clark visits Brandeis to learn about science education initiatives, meet with studentsMarch 21, 2014Massachusetts Congresswoman Katherine Clark was at Brandeis to learn more about its science education initiatives, meet with students, faculty and senior administrators, and to tour campus, including the Rose Art Museum.
- Visit Story Archive »
