Climate Change Week @ CCB
To honor climate week (Sept. 23-29), we celebrate CCB's recent research and actions that help fight this issue today, tomorrow, and beyond. For more information about Harvard's broader efforts, visit the Tackling Climate Change site.
Ending 'dead zones'
How a biofriendly fertilizer could offer a greener way to grow plants By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy Every year, a “ dead zone” the size of Massachusetts sprawls across the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River, which travels through the nation’s farm belt...
Break it up
How an elusive catalyst makes unusual reactions happen By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy Though the recipe for soap — insert an oxygen atom into a carbon-hydrogen bond — sounds simple, carbon-hydrogen bonds are as hard to pull apart as gum stuck in hair. But...
An umbrella to combat warming
Research examines the possibility of spraying tiny particles into the stratosphere to block the sun a bit and cool the planet By Anna Gibbs Every morning, the Keutsch Research Group gathers for a meeting. Eight engineers and chemists give updates on their...
Addressing uncertainties in solar geoengineering
Researchers launched a new project to explore how particulate matter interacts with the Earth’s upper atmosphere Originally published by the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Harvard University researchers have launched a new project, the...
Aziz and Gordon win Eni Award
Professors honoured for their research into energy storage By Leah Burrows Michael Aziz, the Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Roy...
Dilek Dogutan earns award to reinvent Harvard's landscape
Dogutan plans to green campus landscape practices in collaboration with the Office for Sustainability and Facilities, Maintenance and Operations Every year, the Harvard University President's Administrative Innovation Fund invites staff members to submit...
New HBO documentary features Dan Nocera
Produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, the film reveals never-before-seen solutions designed to slow down our escalating environmental crisis Last night, HBO premiered the documentary " Ice on Fire," a film produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (also the narrator)...
Natural competition
The Nocera Lab's artificial and bionic leaves could transform our energy industry By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy We take leaves for granted. Crowded forests, hardy houseplants, and the nurturing sprouts that pop up in our gardens, all rely on the powerful...
New organic flow battery brings decomposing molecules back to life
“Zombie” molecules dramatically increase battery lifetime By Leah Burrows After years of making progress on an organic aqueous flow battery, Harvard University researchers ran into a problem: the organic anthraquinone molecules that powered their ground...
Beyond the cloud
With molecular data storage, cat videos could outlast us all By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy From books to floppy disks to magnetic memory, technologies to store information continue to improve. Yet threats as simple as water and as complex as cyberattacks...
No laughing matter
The warming Arctic permafrost may be releasing more nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, than previously thought By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy About a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere is covered in permafrost. Now, it turns out these permanently frozen...
Solving climate change
Daniel Nocera and Jarad Mason earn two of seven internal grants to research creative ways to undercut climate change This story was originally published in the Harvard Gazette Seven research projects in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities will...
Solar panels for yeast cell biofactories
First yeast biohybrid system using an adaptable light-harvesting semiconductor approach opens the door to more efficient and versatile biomanufacturing By Benjamin Boettner, Wyss Institute Genetically engineered microbes such as bacteria and yeasts have...
Meet “Methuselah"
Organic Mega Flow Battery transcends lifetime, voltage thresholds By: Leah Burrows | July 23, 2018 View the original article Highlights: Harvard researchers have demonstrated the longest-lasting high-performance organic flow battery to date. Nicknamed the...
Besting Nature
Artificial leaves convert sunlight into fuel at a rate that could efficiently power remote locations Source: Scientific American After slipping a thumb-size silicon microprocessor into a small beaker filled with water, Daniel Nocera turns on a light...
Golden Catalysts
How Cynthia Friend plans to revolutionize chemical production to lower energy costs worldwide By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy Imagine you give a child a push on a swing. She pumps her legs to gain momentum, but your push helps her accelerate. A catalyst has a...
Expanding the reach of the bionic leaf
BY Alvin Powell, Harvard Staff Writer With eye on population growth, postdoc teams with Silver, Nocera on project to aid agriculture in developing world As the global population rises toward 10 billion, the planet is headed for a food shortage, with some...
Competing to Be Green
The Office for Sustainability employs pizza and snacks to incentivize faculty and students to implement green initiatives and reduce energy consumption. But, with CCB labs focused on environmental sustainability, green technology development, and climate...
Severe Storms and Ozone Loss in the Midwest
The Midwest knows storms. The region experiences more heavy rain, hail, high winds and so-called climate disasters than any other region in the United States ( Source: National Centers for Environmental Information). Frequent, severe storms--made more...
Artificial Leaf Named a 2017 Breakthrough Technology
The artificial leaf, an innovation from Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy Daniel Nocera and Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology Pamela Silver, promises to transform the world of energy technology. In fact...
