They’d been in the collections of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) since the 1870s when they were first discovered. Nestled in among the largest collection of trilobites, the unique fossils rested in drawers until 145 years later when  Sarah Losso, PhD candidate in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) at Harvard, began combing through the collection of trilobites as part of her dissertation.

“I started my PhD going through all of these thin sections of...

Read more about Unveiling ancient secrets: 3D preservation of trilobite soft tissues sheds light on convergent evolution of defensive enrollment

A team of researchers led by L. Mahadevan, Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and of Physics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), developed a theoretical framework tha can reproduce and predict the patterns associated with gastrulation in a chicken embryo.

Gastrulation is one of the most important phases in early embryonic development. It is a operation of self-organization that requires coordinated movements...

Read more about Researchers show how changes in cellular activity can drive changes in embryonic development

Professor L. Mahadevan, Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and of Physics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), led a team of researchers that trained a machine to paint like Jackson Pollock.

The team asked if 3D-printing could apply Pollock's distinctive techniques to quicky and accurately print complex shapes. The team combined physics and machine learning to develop a new 3D-printing technique that...

Read more about Reverse engineering Jackson Pollock

Congratulations to IB Concentrator Ashwin Sivakumar (Scott Edwards Lab) winner of the 2023-24 Jacob Wendell Scholarship Prize.

The Jacob Wendell Scholarship Prize, which was established in 1899 by bequest of Jacob Wendell, is awarded to a Harvard College sophomore identified by the selection committee as the most promising and broad-ranging scholar in his or her class, without reference to financial need. 

Professor Bence Ölveczky has joined the crew of the 70-foot yacht, the Washington, DC, to take on the most dangerous leg of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race! The crew will race from Cape Town, South Africa to Freemantle, Australia. That leg of the race passes through some of the world's most dangerous waters.

Ölveczky, a neuroscientist in OEB, is no stranger to the sea! He has been sailing for most of his life. His father was a national champion and professional sailor trainer for the Tokyo Olympics. ...

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Professor Andrew Davies joined conservation scientist Fiona "Boo" Maisels from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) on the final episode of the Congo Basin season on Mongabay Explores Podcast.

The researchers discuss the ecological benefits of forest elephants, why they are crucial for forest health, and...

Read more about Forest elephants the 'functional glue' in the Congo rainforests

Yangfan Zhang, postdoctoral fellow in Professor George Lauder's lab, featured in the Journal of Experimental Biology Spotlight on Researchers. Zhang and Lauder recently published the commentary, "... Read more about Postdoc Yangfan Zhang featured in Journal of Experimental Biology

Amphibians, the first vertebrates to inhabit land 360 million years ago, are facing existential threats due to climate change, habitat destruction, and disease.

Postdoctoral researcher Sonali Garg and associate Sathyabhama Das Biju co-authored a new study published in Nature that assesses the global status of amphibians. Garg and Biju are experts in frog biology and have documented more than 100 new frog species across India, Sri Lanka, and other parts of the subcontinent. Garg,...

Read more about Saving the frogs from existential threats

In a study published in Nature, researchers, led by postdoctoral researcher Karma Nanglu, describe a 480-million-year-old cephalod from Morocco that shows the earliest example of ocean bottom dwellers making their home in dead bodies.

Dead bodies in the ocean drift to the bottom where they become home to bottom dwellers, the practice dates back to 530 million years ago. During the Paleozoic era, however, it became much harder to track the interspecies interactions. Nanglu and co-authors,...

Read more about 480-Million-year-old fossil reveals ancient seafloor communities

Professor George Lauder teamed with scientists from Yale University and the University of Florida to host three students for an eight week summer program called Accessible Sharks. The program is part of the NSF funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and was designed specifically for students with disabilities.

Lauder hosted Dakota Law, a rising senior in engineering sciences at Smith College. Law, who has an invisible disability, had never worked in a lab or held a shark. But, by the end of the eight-week program she was proudly displaying a chain catshark to...

Read more about Interdisciplinary summer program makes sharks accessible for students

Palaeozoic fossils of whip scorpions are extremely rare, with only seven species fully described. In a new study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, PhD candidate Richard Knecht (Naomi Pierce...

Read more about Two new Palaeozoic whip scorpion species discovered

Postdoctoral researcher Isobel Ronai (Extavour Lab) recipient of the 2023 Life Sciences Research Foundation early-career award. The award aids early-career postdoctoral researchers as they investigate questions surrounding human health and disease. Ronai is honored for her proposal entitled, "Developing tick control strategies to prevent Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases."

Congratulations to Professor Peter Girguis, recipient of the 2023 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration.

Professor Girguis is honored for his prolific career dedicated to increasing understanding of the animals and microbes that thrive in the deep sea and in advancing deep-sea exploration to expand humanity’s understanding of the natural world. His primary focus is to understand how marine organisms have adapted to their habitats and how they...

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In the latest episode of Human Footprint on PBS, host Shane Campbell-Staton (PhD 15') visits OEB Professor and Curator of Herpetology James Hanken. The episode, “The Replacements”, explores the surprising science and unexpected histories of five animal and plant species that made allies of humans, and grew to dominate the planet alongside us. 

Professor Hanken explains why the African Clawed Frog, or Xenopus, joined the ranks of The...

Read more about Human Footprint features Jim Hanken

Congratulations to postdoctoral fellow Mark Little (P Girguis) awarded National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for his proposal, "Viral-microbial founder effects, gene transfer, and adaptation on successional coral reefs."