Engineering & Technology

The trouble with Kepler

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

A malfunction aboard NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has jeopardized what has been one of the agency’s highest-profile missions, one that has revealed a galaxy rich with planets. The Gazette talked to Astronomy Professor Dimitar Sasselov, one of the mission’s principal investigators, about the implications.

Tags: Alvin Powell, Dimitar Sasselov, Engineering & Technology, Exoplanets, HarvardScience, Hubble-like rescue, Kepler space telescope, life, Milky Way, NASA

Posted in Alvin Powell, Dimitar Sasselov, Engineering & Technology, Exoplanets, HarvardScience, Hubble-like rescue, Kepler space telescope, life, Milky Way, NASA | Comments Off

Robotic insects make first controlled flight

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

The demonstration of the first controlled flight of an insect-sized robot is the culmination of more than a decade’s work, led by researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.

Tags: bioinspired engineering, Caroline Perry, Control, control systems, Engineering, Engineering & Technology, Flight, HarvardScience, Kevin Y. Ma, Pakpong Chirarattananon, Robert J. Wood, RoboBees, Robotic flying insects, robotics, Robots, Sawyer B. Fuller, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

Posted in bioinspired engineering, Caroline Perry, Control, control systems, Engineering, Engineering & Technology, Flight, HarvardScience, Kevin Y. Ma, Pakpong Chirarattananon, Robert J. Wood, RoboBees, Robotic flying insects, robotics, Robots, Sawyer B. Fuller, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering | Comments Off

Robot hands gain a gentler touch

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed an inexpensive tactile sensor for robotic hands that is sensitive enough to turn a brute machine into a dexterous manipulator.

Tags: Caroline Perry, Engineering & Technology, hands, haptics, Harvard Biorobotics Laboratory, HarvardScience, Leif Jentoft, Office of Technology Development, Robert D. Howe, robotics, Robots, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, tactile sensing, TakkTile, Yaroslav Tenzer

Posted in Caroline Perry, Engineering & Technology, hands, haptics, Harvard Biorobotics Laboratory, HarvardScience, Leif Jentoft, Office of Technology Development, Robert D. Howe, robotics, Robots, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, tactile sensing, TakkTile, Yaroslav Tenzer | Comments Off

Insignificant, with a lousy future

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss described a universe with mysterious particles popping in and out of existence, in which the discoveries of dark energy and dark matter have made mankind more insignificant than ever.

Tags: Alvin Powell, Big Bang, Cosmology, Dimitar Sasselov, Engineering & Technology, HarvardScience, Lawrence Krauss, Lizabeth Cohen, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

Posted in Alvin Powell, Big Bang, Cosmology, Dimitar Sasselov, Engineering & Technology, HarvardScience, Lawrence Krauss, Lizabeth Cohen, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study | Comments Off

Your own news platform

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

The information revolution seemed to hit another high gear last week in Boston, leaving authorities on information technology pondering the ramifications.

Tags: Alvin Powell, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Boston Marathon, Cellphone, David Liu, David Weinberger, Engineering & Technology, Internet, Judith Donath, Marathon Bombing, National, National & World Affairs, Twitter

Posted in Alvin Powell, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Boston Marathon, Cellphone, David Liu, David Weinberger, Engineering & Technology, Internet, Judith Donath, Marathon Bombing, National, National & World Affairs, Twitter | Comments Off

Water worlds surface

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

Astronomers have found a planetary system orbiting the star Kepler-62. This five-planet system has two worlds in the habitable zone — the distance from their star at which they receive enough light and warmth for liquid water to theoretically exist on their surfaces.

Tags: CFA, Dimitar Sasselov, Earth, Engineering & Technology, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, HarvardScience, Kepler-62, Lisa Kaltenegger, Ocean, solar system, The Astrophysical Journal, Water

Posted in CFA, Dimitar Sasselov, Earth, Engineering & Technology, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, HarvardScience, Kepler-62, Lisa Kaltenegger, Ocean, solar system, The Astrophysical Journal, Water | Comments Off

Putting the stars within reach

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

Two communications specialists at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have authored a guide to the universe, aiming to show people around a universe they say belongs to us all.

Tags: Alvin Powell, Astronomy, Book, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Engineering & Technology, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, HarvardScience, Kimberly Arcand, Megan Watzke, Universe

Posted in Alvin Powell, Astronomy, Book, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Engineering & Technology, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, HarvardScience, Kimberly Arcand, Megan Watzke, Universe | Comments Off

Stars align at astronomy reunion

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

Harvard astronomers past and present gathered in Cambridge Friday (April 5) for the first-ever reunion of the Harvard Astronomy Department.

Tags: Astronomy Department, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Engineering & Technology, exobiology, Exoplanet, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, HarvardScience, life, Nobel Prize, reunion, Sheraton Commander

Posted in Astronomy Department, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Engineering & Technology, exobiology, Exoplanet, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, HarvardScience, life, Nobel Prize, reunion, Sheraton Commander | Comments Off

Fine-tuning online education

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

Andrew Ho, research director of HarvardX and an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, spoke with the Gazette about a recent study that found that interspersing online lectures with short tests improved student performance.

Tags: Andrew Ho, Daniel Schacter, edX, Engineering & Technology, Graduate School of Education, Harvard, HarvardScience, Harvardx, Online classes, Online education, online teaching, Peter Reuell, Reuell, Teaching

Posted in Andrew Ho, Daniel Schacter, edX, Engineering & Technology, Graduate School of Education, Harvard, HarvardScience, Harvardx, Online classes, Online education, online teaching, Peter Reuell, Reuell, Teaching | Comments Off

Online learning: It’s different

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Harvard Gazette

By interspersing online lectures with short tests, student mind-wandering decreased by half, note-taking tripled, and overall retention of the material improved, said Daniel Schacter, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychology, and Karl Szpunar, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology.

Tags: Daniel Schacter, Engineering & Technology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, FAS, Harvard, HarvardScience, Karl Szpunar, Note-taking, Online classes, Online Learning, Online lectures, Peter Reuell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Psychology, Retention, Testing

Posted in Daniel Schacter, Engineering & Technology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, FAS, Harvard, HarvardScience, Karl Szpunar, Note-taking, Online classes, Online Learning, Online lectures, Peter Reuell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Psychology, Retention, Testing | Comments Off

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