Researchers unlock secrets of cell division, define role for protein elevated in cancer
Researchers at Princeton University have successfully recreated a key process involved in cell division in a test tube. Continue Reading →
Author: Catherine Zandonella
Selected Faculty Honors
Memberships and Fellowships Association for Computing Machinery: Fellow Thomas Funkhouser, David M. Siegel ’83 Professor in Computer Science, Emeritus; senior scholar (2018) Academia Europaea: Foreign Member Douglas Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Continue Reading →
Researchers studied the courtship behaviors of fruit flies to gain insight into how the brain creates “internal states” which culminate from mood, past experiences and other variables. Photo credit: Shutterstock
Neuroscientists develop models to identify internal states of the brain
Researchers studied the courtship behaviors of fruit flies to gain insight into how the brain creates “internal states” which culminate from mood, past experiences and other variables. Continue Reading →
The red-tinged peaks indicate cobalt atoms, which were added to an iron-based superconductor to study its properties.
Princeton scientists discover surprising quantum effect in an exotic superconductor
Superconductors are already in use in various capacities, but newer iron-based superconductors are an active area of investigation. Researchers led by a Princeton team have studied what happens to the superconducting nature of these materials when impurities are added. The results shed light on how superconductivity behaves in these materials Continue Reading →
Researchers at Princeton explored electrons in a magnetic material at room temperature and discovered that they engage in collective quantum behaviors called Weyl loops.
Left: Distribution of electrons on the surface of the topological quantum magnet. The sharp light-colored features are the quantum Weyl loops. Middle: A theoretical calculation related to the system's response to applied electromagnetic fields. The correspondence between the top and middle images reflects that the quantum Weyl loops are at the heart of the exotic electromagnetic properties of the topological quantum magnet.
Right: Photoemission spectroscopy snapshot of the quantum Weyl loops.
Image by M. Zahid Hasan's research team.
Princeton physicists discover topological behavior of electrons in three-dimensional magnetic material
In a room-temperature magnet, researchers find behaviors of electrons that mimic massless particles and anti-particles. Continue Reading →
The left panel shows a type of single-celled algae known as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with its chloroplast (purple) containing only a single pyrenoid (green). The SAGA1 mutant shown on the right displays several extra pyrenoids. Image credit: Alan Itakura
Princeton researchers explore how a carbon-fixing organelle forms via phase separation
A new study yields insights into how an organelle called the pyrenoid, which helps algae remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forms inside the cell via a process similar to how oil separates from water. Continue Reading →
Long-term co-infection of hepatocytes with HBV and HDV can be established in highly scalable cell culture system (SACC-PHH). Image shown is of SACC-PHH 28 days after HBV/HDV co-infection, with hepatocyte nuclei in blue, a Hepatitis B viral protein in red, and HDV genomic RNA in green. Image credit: Winer et al., Princeton University
How hepatitis B and delta viruses establish infection of liver cells
Princeton University researchers have developed a new, scalable cell culture system that allows for detailed investigation of how host cells respond to infection with hepatitis B (HBV) and delta virus (HDV). The paper describing their Continue Reading →
Mysterious Majorana quasiparticle is now closer to being controlled for quantum computing
As mysterious as the Italian scientist for which it is named, the Majorana particle is one of the most compelling quests in physics. Its fame stems from its strange properties – it is the only Continue Reading →
Danger avoidance can be genetically encoded for four generations
Princeton University researchers have discovered that learned behaviors in worms of the species C. elegans can be inherited for multiple generations, transmitted from parent to progeny via eggs and sperm cells. The paper detailing this Continue Reading →
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“Doing science,” rather than “being scientists,” more encouraging to those underrepresented in the field
Over the course of a school year, elementary school children lose confidence that they can “be scientists,” but remain more confident that they can “do science,” finds a new psychology study by researchers at New Continue Reading →
A model of the "humanized" version of mouse cyclophilin A shows the mutated parts of the protein as green sticks, and the protein's active site as purple sticks.
Credit: Jenna Gaska, Princeton University
New progress in developing an animal model of hepatitis C
Small differences in a liver cell protein have significant impacts on hepatitis C virus replication in mice and humans, findings that could facilitate the development of a mouse model of the infection. The report, led Continue Reading →
Artist's rendering, Shutterstock
For infection-fighting cells, a guideline for expanding the troops
T cells are like the special ops forces of the immune system, detecting and killing infected cells. When a new threat is detected, the cells ramp up from just a few sentry cells to a Continue Reading →
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A quantum magnet with a topological twist
Taking their name from an intricate Japanese basket pattern, kagome magnets are thought to have electronic properties that could be valuable for future quantum devices and applications. Theories predict that some electrons in these materials Continue Reading →
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“Doing science,” rather than “being scientists,” more encouraging to girls, new research shows
Asking young girls to “do science” leads them to show greater persistence in science activities than does asking them to “be scientists,” finds a new psychology study by researchers at New York University and Princeton Continue Reading →
Controllable electron flow in quantum wires
Princeton University researchers have demonstrated a new way of making controllable “quantum wires” in the presence of a magnetic field, according to a new study published online today in the journal Nature. The researchers detected channels Continue Reading →
Experimental treatment shows promise against triple-negative breast cancer in mouse study
By simultaneously tackling two mechanisms for cancer’s growth, an experimental therapy reduced the spread of triple-negative breast cancer in a study conducted in mice. The therapeutic agent, called Tinagl1, is based on a naturally occurring Continue Reading →
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A challenge to help kids
By Yasemin Saplakoglu A collaborative approach to sociology aims to target fundamental and perhaps overlooked issues to improve policies that affect the lives of disadvantaged children. The effort, called the Fragile Families Challenge, brings together Continue Reading →
New arts complex opens
By Staff The new 22-acre Lewis Arts complex includes spaces for the creation and performance of dance, theater, music and more. The new multi-building Lewis Arts complex on the south edge of campus significantly expands Continue Reading →
New journal highlights student research
By Yasemin Saplakoglu This spring marked the debut of the Princeton Undergraduate Research Journal, a peer-reviewed publication where students can publish original research findings. “The entire goal of research is to communicate new discoveries to Continue Reading →
Self-powered system makes smart windows smarter
By Sharon Adarlo A new solar cell technology could make it inexpensive to create and install smart windows that automatically vary their tint to augment lighting, heating and cooling systems in buildings. The new transparent Continue Reading →
Probing the genetic basis for dog-human relationships
By Pooja Makhijani A new study has identified genetic changes that are linked to dogs’ human-directed social behaviors and suggests there is a common underlying genetic basis for hyper-social behavior in both dogs and humans. Continue Reading →
Emily Carter awarded Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics
PHOTO BY DAVID KELLY CROW Emily Carter, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been named the recipient of the 2017 Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics of the American Physical Society. Continue Reading →
At Home in the World: Women Writers and Public Life, from Austen to the Present
Authors: Maria DiBattista, Charles Barnwell Straut Class of 1923 Professor of English, professor of English and comparative literature; and Deborah Epstein Nord, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and professor of English Publisher: Princeton University Press, Continue Reading →
Designing San Francisco: Art, Land and Urban Renewal in the City by the Bay
Author: Alison Isenberg, professor of history Publisher: Princeton University Press, September 2017 Designing San Francisco is the previously untold story of the formative postwar decades when U.S. cities took their modern shape amid clashing visions Continue Reading →
Peter and Rosemary Grant receive Royal Medal in Biology
PHOTO BY DENISE APPLEWHITE Peter Grant, the Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, emeritus, and B. Rosemary Grant, senior research biologist, emeritus, and a senior biologist in Continue Reading →
Historian of religion Elaine Pagels awarded National Humanities Medal
PHOTO BY MARK CZAJKOWSKI Elaine Pagels, an authority on the religions of late antiquity and the author of The Gnostic Gospels and Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, received the 2015 National Humanities Medal. Continue Reading →
New World A-Coming: Black Religion and Racial Identity During the Great Migration
Author: Judith Weisenfeld, the Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor of Religion Publisher: New York University Press, February 2017 When Joseph Nathaniel Beckles registered for the draft in the 1942, he rejected the racial categories Continue Reading →
Understanding the Digital World: What You Need to Know about Computers, the Internet, Privacy and Security
Author: Brian Kernighan, professor of computer science Publisher: Princeton University Press, January 2017 Computers are everywhere. Some of them are highly visible, in laptops, tablets, cellphones and smart watches. But most are invisible, like those Continue Reading →
Eight win Guggenheim Fellowships
PHOTO CREDITS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: TOP ROW: JOHN LUCAS, RICHARD SODEN, PETER HURLEY, HANNAH DUNPHY BOTTOM ROW: DAVID BROWN, NINA KATCHADOURIAN, DENISE APPLEWHITE, JILL DOLAN Eight Princeton faculty members have received 2017 Guggenheim Fellowships Continue Reading →
Tracy K. Smith named U.S. Poet Laureate
PHOTO BY DENISE APPLEWHITE Tracy K. Smith has been named the Library of Congress’s 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, for 2017-18. Smith is the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities and a Continue Reading →
Unscripted America: Indigenous Languages and the Origins of a Literary Nation
Author: Sarah Rivett, associate professor of English and American studies Publisher: Oxford University Press, October 2017 In 1664, French Jesuit Louis Nicolas arrived in Quebec. Upon first hearing Ojibwe, Nicolas observed that he had encountered Continue Reading →
Charles Fefferman awarded 2017 Wolf Prize in Mathematics
PHOTO BY WILLIAM CROW Charles Fefferman, the Herbert E. Jones, Jr ’43 University Professor of Mathematics, has been selected to receive the 2017 Wolf Prize in Mathematics awarded by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. Fefferman, Continue Reading →
The Little Book of Black Holes
Authors: Steven Gubser and Frans Pretorius, professors of physics Publisher: Princeton University Press, October 2017 Black holes, predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity more than a century ago, have long intrigued scientists and Continue Reading →
Students create exotic state of matter
By Bennett McIntosh IN THE SUMMER OF 2015, Princeton students Joseph Scherrer and Adam Bowman experienced something few undergraduates can claim: they built, from scratch, a laser system capable of coaxing lithium atoms into a Continue Reading →
Atom catcher: With lasers and magnets, Waseem Bakr traps atoms for study under the microscope
By Bennett McIntosh THE COLDEST SPOT on the Princeton campus is a cluster of a few thousand atoms suspended above a table in Waseem Bakr’s laboratory. When trapped in a lattice of intersecting lasers at Continue Reading →
Behind the curtain: Scandal, tragedy, art and politics at the Bolshoi
By Jamie Saxon ON THE NIGHT OF JAN. 17, 2013, a hooded assailant approached Sergey Filin, artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater Ballet, and flung battery acid in his face. The crime made international headlines Continue Reading →
Big answers from small creatures
A graduate student tracks the spread of viruses from bats to humans in Madagascar By Cara Brook IT IS SPRINGTIME in the Makira-Masoala peninsula of northeastern Madagascar, and the lychee trees are in full fruit. Continue Reading →
Exploring collective interactions of matter and antimatter
STRIP AWAY ELECTRONS FROM THEIR ATOMS and you get a plasma — a collection of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions. But at high energies around compact cosmic objects such as black holes, quasars Continue Reading →
Researcher probes the secret life of electrons
ELECTRONS DART within and between atoms far too quickly for current imaging techniques to observe their motion. To capture fast-moving objects without a blur, a photographer can use a camera flash to light up a Continue Reading →
In cells, self-destructive behavior suggests strategy for fighting cancer
SOMETIMES, TO SURVIVE, our cells destroy their own ribonucleic acid (RNA), the part of our genetic instruction code that helps turn genes into proteins. Cells do this as part of the first line of defense Continue Reading →
Bias in the machine: Internet algorithms reinforce harmful stereotypes
THE ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE (AI) SYSTEMS that suggest our search terms and otherwise determine what we see online rely on data that can be biased against women and racial and religious groups, according to a study led Continue Reading →
