Science & Tech

Science & Tech

Finding Water in Space

Brown researchers are at the forefront of the search for water in outer space. What's the big deal about water?
Science & Tech

Reversing Addiction

Brown researchers and alumni are attacking the opioid crisis with weapons crafted in a variety of disciplines.
Science & Tech

Lost In Space

Brown undergrads are sending a mini-satellite to the International Space Station to test batteries.
Science & Tech

RoboCat

Researchers from Brown and Hasbro are exploring the use of animatronic robots to remind senior citizens to take their pills.
Science & Tech

The Cost of Skepticism

Scientists advance climate prediction models as the U.S. lags behind.
Science & Tech

Meet Dr. Microbe

Your microbiome—the bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites that live in your body—could save your life someday.
Science & Tech

The Science of Silence

Meditation and mindfulness meet neuroscience in a young academic concentration.
Science & Tech

It Takes a Community

Physician Ruben Amarasingham ’95 tackles the challenge of improving communication in health care.
Science & Tech

Water Everywhere

Patrick Rynne ’05 is obsessed with water. What water means to each of us is at the core of Waterlust, which describes itself as a “purpose-driven brand” devoted to the research and protection of marine environments.
Science & Tech
Rebecca Kartzinel surrounded by plants

The Mad Skills of Plants

"My parents tell a story of a hike when I was little, before I could read. They let me run ahead and found me flipping through a field guide to plants, trying to match the flower based on the pictures. It’s pretty good evidence that I’ve always been inclined towards plants and flowers."
Science & Tech
Tori Kinamon

Resistance Fighters

Decades of antibiotic overuse have created superbugs that have developed resistance to our drugs with chilling speed.
Science & Tech
Illustration of Charles Darwin, test tubes, and a Catholic rosary.

Alone Among Animals

Can evolution really account for human consciousness?
Science & Tech
Illustration of robot and human hands

Control Issues

Coursework and research look at how to build better robots—and how to make sure they don’t take over.
Science & Tech
Photo of Mary Lou Jepsen ’87, ’97 PhD

Peering Inside the Body

A new device could revolutionize medical imaging.
Science & Tech
Photo of Ellen Stofan ’85 ScM, ’89 PhD

Head in the Stars 

A pioneer for women studying space reaches out to a new generation
Science & Tech
Illustration of woman adding a lot of salt

Pondering the Palate

How everything from our environment to our mood impacts what goes on in our mouths
Science & Tech
Illustration of Dominique Shelton holding binoculars

The Privacy Pro

An Internet law pioneer, she’s now a gatekeeper for personal data
Science & Tech
Illustration of David Markey ’18

Word Man

Alexa, how can I improve my vocabulary? David Markey ’18 has an app for that.
Science & Tech
Brain science illo showing nervous system, dna marker, and a fly

On the Neural Frontier

Mapping the body’s most complex organ in surprising new ways.
Science & Tech
Illustration of a robot

Robots Gone Rogue

New in cyber insecurity: hackable research robots
Medicine & Health
Professors and students simulate a neonatal blood draw

Figure It Out!

A biomedical engineering class addresses real-world problems
Science & Tech
Illustration of Kathleen Scanlon ’12 ScM, ’16 PhD

Eye on the Sky

A soldier-scientist’s dreams take flight
Science & Tech
Photo of Ayanna Howard

The Ideal Robot

Beyond functional to “part of the family”
Science & Tech
illustration about Big Data

The Skinny on Big Data

It may allow corporations to know more about you than you’d like—but it can also be a force for good.
Science & Tech

Pathology Breakthrough?

Betting on AI to revolutionize how we detect and treat serious disease
Science & Tech

Continental Scale

Beth Conover ’87 heads up a new policy center with far-reaching conservation goals
Business & Entrepreneurship
Photograph of red King Children glasses lined up together

Seeing Stars

A new eyewear company that lets customers design the glasses
Science & Tech
Drawing of Gwen Lighter ’91 in a flying device

Up, Up, and Away

A competition for personal flying machines
Science & Tech
Photograph of students welding the sculpture

Forever Light

The sun will trace an infinity symbol on a new campus sundial
Science & Tech
Illustration of a human fetus

No Accident

Human conception can happen a little too easily—or it can seem almost impossible.
Science & Tech
In a vintage photo, Christine Braun ’70 works with a light pen

World Wide Beginnings

The web’s roots at Brown
Science & Tech

Puzzling Days

Powerful brains at work for the annual MIT Mystery Hunt
Science & Tech
portrait of Adi Melamed '19 and Aaron Mayer '18

Hi-Tech Ethics

Can CS majors save the world? The founders of a student startup think so.
Science & Tech
Ariel Deutsch standing outside an old NASA hangar

Apollo 2019

A planetary science grad student on the 1969 moonwalk that fuels her lunar studies
Science & Tech
Jessica Meir ’99 poses in her spacesuit

Space Flight

Jessica Meir ’99 takes her first giant leap to the International Space Station
Science & Tech
The Root AI team displays their agricultural machinery

Robo-Farmer

Can artificial intelligence make growing crops sustainable?
Science & Tech
Illustration of pregnant woman holding her belly

Adios, Amniocentesis?

Testing for genetic abnormalities with a simple swab of the cervix
Science & Tech
Illustration of fruit flies with bottle and bowl of fruit

Reprogramming Mother Nature

Experiments with coding animal genes stand to teach us a lot about ourselves.
Science & Tech
Illustration of Julie Esdale ’09 PhD

Digging for Answers

An archaeologist finds clues in the wilds of central Alaska
University News
Photo of Jill Pipher, Brown University's vice president for research

Every Bright Mind

Jill Pipher, Brown’s vice president for research, on how Brown is opening new frontiers.
Science & Tech
Image of author Ted Chiang ’89

Alien Worlds

A new book of short stories from award-winning author Ted Chiang ’89
Science & Tech
Illustration of John Daley of American Forests by Meg Moore

Speaking for Trees

As head of American Forests, Jad Daley ’90 looks to the woods to help solve climate change.
Science & Tech
Illustration by Brian Stauffer

Code Red

Is that tech job worth taking?
Science & Tech
Illustration by Najeebah Al-Ghadban

Speak, Memory

Why do we remember, why do we forget, and why can’t we forget when we want to?
Science & Tech
Doll in the likeness of Nalini Nadkarni

Explorer Barbie

Boots made for walking and other amazing accessories
Science & Tech
Image of caterpillars at the Caterpillar Lab by Sam Jaffe

Charismatic Crawlers

Sam Jaffe ’07 and his Caterpillar Lab
Science & Tech
Illustration by Pete Ryan

Climate Partners

A scientist and a lawyer make it easier to use lawsuits as a weapon against global warming.
Science & Tech
Minecraft campus

Minecraft campus

A digital version of Brown’s College Hill brings the community together during COVID-19
Service & Advocacy
Illustration by Adam McCauley

Masks, Meals, Viral Medium

The campus pitches in
Education
Illustration by Scott Bakal

Epidemics 101

Students taking BIOL 0940A could never have dreamed how personally relevant the course would soon become.
Science & Tech
West Africa's 2014 Ebola crisis

COVID-19 Crash Course

How Brown and a leading global health organization teamed up to swiftly push a user-friendly coronavirus management training package out into the world.
Science & Tech
Screenshot of Topos

Disparate Data

The COVID-19 Compiler predicts trouble spots and trends
Science & Tech
Kimberly Kowal Arcand

Cosmic Tales

A storyteller for the stars
Science & Tech
Professor Scott Frickel

Buried Knowledge

“Undone science” refers to data that have been ignored while other research gets done. Partly in the name of racial justice, some Brown folks are working to bring that information to light.
Science & Tech
Jessica Meir ’99 plays with a water droplet in space

Safe Space

Astronaut Jessica Meir ’99 on being at zero gravity and zero risk of COVID-19
Science & Tech
Ainissa Ramirez TED talk

The Feedback Loop

How our inventions have changed our culture
Science & Tech
Portrait of Sharon Lo ’16

The Ethics Team

At Microsoft, Sharon Lo ’16 ponders how products can harm society
Science & Tech
Natasha Vargo

No Lunch Breaks

A chemist’s COVID schedule
Science & Tech
Dr. Ashish K. Jha

Welcoming Dr. Ashish Jha

New dean emerges as policy leader amidst global pandemic.
Science & Tech
Jezero Crater on Mars

Mission to Mars

Brown PhDs play key roles in the search for signs of life on the red planet
Science & Tech
photo of a pool of honey

You Just Need a Few Common Household Items...

Oh, and an Arduino board, a Venturi sensor, Navier-Stokes equations, plus Bernoulli.
Science & Tech
Image of researchers Cole Triedman ’21 and Cartie Werthman ’21

Follow the Money

Students make national news by exposing who’s been funding the movement to deny climate change.
Science & Tech
Image of Carey Jaroes of Purell

Keeping Germs Away

Purell’s CEO on the crazy demand for hand sanitizer
The Arts
Image of Jamer Hunt

The Man Who’s Everywhere
University News
Image of magnolia in front of UHall Brown University image by John Abromowski / Brown University

Brighter Days

Hungering for contact, celebration, and a feeling of lightness.
Ever True
Image of 2021 Brown graduates by Nick Dentamaro

Passages

The vaccine, commencement, and the passing of Vartan Gregorian.
The Arts
Image of Michael Slaby

System Overload

A new book offers strategies for strengthening our democracy through information technology
Science & Tech
Image of Doug MacDonald at Yellowstone Lake

Manufactured Wilderness

Creating Yellowstone Park meant evicting longtime Native American residents
Science & Tech
President Christina Paxson

Seeking an Alzheimer’s Cure

Brown establishes a new Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research.
Science & Tech
Image of Kevin Roose in a subway station

The AI Guy

How to preserve one’s career—and humanity—in our new, robot-driven world.
Science & Tech
Illustration of doctors and medicine by Raymond Bresinger

Can We End Alzheimer’s?

Treatment, much less cure, has been elusive. Brown scientists are on the case.
Education
Image of Professor Marianna Kessimian and Clara Pritchett

Separating Fat from Fiction

A student-driven course on “fatphobia” examines both science and stigma.
Science & Tech
Image of Stephanie Tompkins

Rapid Research

DARPA’s new director on innovation and ethics
Politics & Law
Illustration of Freddie O’Connell by Eric Hanson

Emerald Cities

A pair of Brown alums–turned–local-officials lead the way on green energy.
Science & Tech
Image of Mark Agostini on a beach

Dinosaurs!

Five minutes with Mark Agostini ’18 AM
Science & Tech
Image of Electric School Bus

Can School Buses Go Electric?
Science & Tech
Conceptual illustration of Venus by NASA

The Brown Planet

Two upcoming NASA missions to Venus are led by Brown-educated scientists.
Science & Tech
Image of Daniel Sherrell in the Outback of Australia

“The Problem”

A new book contemplates life decisions in the face of climate change.
Science & Tech
Image of George Braly flying a plane

Flying Clear

Aerospace engineer George Braly ’70 has finally succeeded in getting the lead out of airplane fuel.
Science & Tech
Illustration of various brains in people

Frontal Lobes and Fun

Neuroscience 10 continues to tickle the grey matter of future scientists—and everyone else.
Science & Tech
Illustration of kid swinging on a swing

The Latest on Distraction

The rise in ADHD diagnoses has researchers asking what’s behind it—and whether it's really such a bad thing
Science & Tech
Image of Eswar Prasad

Cashing Out

Digital currencies are on the rise, says Eswar Prasad ’86 AM in his new book
Politics & Law
Image of Leslie Richards in the street

Getting There

The CEO of Philly’s transit authority is figuring out ways to improve riders’ lives
Medicine & Health
Image of a tree in wetlands by Jesse Burke

Raise or Raze

If storms and floods threaten your home, do you raise it or abandon the site?
Science & Tech
Illustration of Bruce Trask by Andrew Colin Beck

Access to Capital

The new Dream Exchange, the first Black-owned stock market, aims for diversity and inclusion
Science & Tech
Image of Bonnie Waltch on the set of Earth Emergency

Can We Refreeze the Chicken?

An acclaimed new film by Bonnie Waltch ’82 demonstrates the scary self-reinforcing mechanisms of climate change.
Science & Tech
Image of ancient footprints in New Mexico

Ancient Tracks

New Mexico footprints alter the timeline for human habitation in the Americas.
Science & Tech
Image expedition team cooking dinner in Guatemala

Women Scientists Making a Difference
Medicine & Health
Image of Dr. Tyler Berzin at the Harvard Science Center fountain

Deep Seeing

A unique collaboration between two Brown alums can help doctors better identify cancer before it occurs.
Science & Tech
Image of Katey Lesneski underwater planting fragments of coral in a Bahamas reef.

Reef Support

A company that helps coral adapt gets a boost from the inaugural Earthshot Prize
Science & Tech
Image of David Lobell standing in a corn field

How Math Might Save Dinner

Satellite imagery and data analysis may help feed the world and save the trees.
Politics & Law
Illustration of pig with forks aiming toward it.

All the Pigs in China

To make good food choices these days, you have to sort out global trade, politics, and environmental issues. Even experts can’t do it.
University News
Image of a Brown researcher holding test tubes with a computer in the background.

Growing Research

Advancing knowledge and understanding in the service of society
Medicine & Health
Illustration by Raymond Biesinger of a news "plant" with bubbles of disinformation coming out of the smokestack.

Rx for “Information Disorder”

Disinformation is making us sick, literally. Asking the right questions and training the right people may be the cure.
Humanities & Culture
Illustration by Tim Cook of two Native American's looking at one another.

No More Excuses

U.S. histories often neglect to mention the millions of enslaved Native Americans. A Brown database aims to help change that.
Science & Tech
Image of Kim Cobb

Tackling Climate Change

The new director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society shares her insights on climate science and solutions.
Science & Tech
Illustration by Andy Martin of robots dancing

Making Robots Dance

At the intersection of choreography and engineering, a course looks at how robots move—and whether we’re programming them toward good or evil.
Science & Tech
Image of Gaurab Ghakrabarti at Solugen surrounded by scientific equipment and test tubes.

Change Catalyst

Gaurab Chakrabarti ’10 may just transform the chemical industry
Science & Tech
photo of hands shucking oysters

Shell Game

Ronny Krishana ’95 hopes to restore NY’s status as the world’s oyster capital.
Science & Tech
Image of two people knee-deep in water harvesting oysters with an oyster cage in the foreground.

Shell Game

Ronny Krishana ’95 hopes to restore NY’s status as the world’s oyster capital.
Science & Tech
Image of a worker for the Civilian Conservation Corps watering a recently planted pine tree at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in 1936.

Ecology and Inequality

Can we restore damaged ecosystems while also attending to human rights?
Science & Tech
Illustration by Ola Niepsuj of a person sleeping under an open window with an owl sitting on a branch outside.

Rest Easy

An expert on why good sleep often eludes us
Science & Tech
Image of David Grinspoon wearing a dark hat and glasses looking away from the camera.

What’s Out There?

David Grinspoon ’82 helps NASA investigate unexplained phenomena
Science & Tech
Illustration by Carol E. Underwood of a mammal climbing down a branch.

Grand Design

Is anatomy destiny?
Service & Advocacy
Image of Lindsay Yazzolino upside down in a zero gravity test.

Flight Plan

Advocating for disability inclusion in space
Science & Tech
Image of an ice glacier in the Antarctica.

Ice-Breaker

As glaciers collapse, a community comes together.
Science & Tech
photo from the deck of the Mālama, heading into the wind

Ocean’s 11

Charlie Enright ’08 and Mark Towill ’11 of the 11th Hour Racing Team on winning the Ocean Race while trying to save the seas.
Science & Tech
Image of Ben Herzog in a lab holding a heart pump in his outstretched hand.

Spinal Success

A new implant system helps monitor and heal fused vertebrae
Medicine & Health
Image of Tony Thaweethai and Andrea Goldin Foulkes standing in front of a wall of windows looking at the camera.

Do You Have Long Covid?

A team of researchers has published a definition and a list of symptoms.
Science & Tech
Illustration by Adam McCauley of two cars with the earth between them as tires.

Electric Switch

Alan Taub ’76 hopes to turn Motor City into E-Motor City.
Science & Tech
An image of Suresh Venkatasubramanian in front of a white board with hands wide

Artificial Intelligence Is as Unfair as We Are.

A new course asks how we can harness AI without teaching it all of our biases and automating oppression.
Medicine & Health
An Illustration by Lorenzo Gritti of students in chairs with laptops and large talk bubbles above in the shape of Covid spikes.

“Coping with Covid” 101

A new course on the psychology of pandemics offers a scientific take on Covid-related mental health issues and a place for students to process.
Medicine & Health
Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer of a food stepping on electronics.

Who’s at Risk?

Researchers address high suicide rates with app-based tools and culturally aware interventions.
Science & Tech
An image of Justin Baker sitting at his desk with a monitor and window behind him.

Psychosis Test

Tracking mental illness with technology
Medicine & Health
Image of three kids sitting at desks with a window behind them. Photo by Nanda Amelia.

A Crisis for Children

A letter from the Editor
University News
photo of seismic monitor recording motion

Earthquake!

A letter from the Editor
Science & Tech
Image of Farrah Simpson

Physics & Belonging

A Black mentor made the difference
Science & Tech
Image of Kelly Benoit-Bird looking down a manhole with a hard hat on.

Unseen Depths

Research using sonar helps reveal life in a hidden marine world
Business & Entrepreneurship
Close-up image of Kiera Peltz

Coding Evangelist

The Coding School gets students hooked on STEM
Science & Tech
portrait of Michael Blanpied in the classroom

Fault Tolerance

After decades of research, a reliable earthquake prediction system remains elusive as ever. Michael Blanpied isn’t worried.
Science & Tech
Illustration of dogs in a field with a blue sky.

What’s Fido Thinking?

Brown’s canine cognition lab is not just a walk in the park.
Medicine & Health
Illustration by Michela Buttignol of a woman with illustrated cells and a blood drop.

Patients Who Were “Never Prioritized”

Sickle cell, which primarily affects Black people, has been ignored for years. Researchers are coming up with better ways to treat it.
Science & Tech
Image of a student using the Kiosk system inside Brown Uronarti Regional Archaeological Project, Sudan.

Digital Dig

Archaeology’s free field recording program—alum-created and Brown-subsidized
The Arts
Illustration by Tim Cook of individuals reading books.

Share the Knowledge

A roundup of topical new books by Brown faculty
History
Image of the spines of books from Larry Tye, Brianna Craft, and Eric Jay Dolin

Fresh Ink for November–December 2024

Reviewed by Edward Hardy
Issues

Topics
Departments