Six years ago, when Isaac Kohlberg became Harvard’s senior associate provost and chief technology development officer, he began the process of restructuring and transforming Harvard’s technology transfer program into a dynamic model focused on proactive technology and business development, built around a new Office of Technology Development (OTD). No longer would Harvard’s scientists and engineers simply be expected to come to OTD seeking help patenting new discoveries. Instead, a new team of OTD staff members would embed itself within, and roam the halls of, the University’s Schools, exploring labs, engaging with researchers, and forging relationships with the faculty in an effort to identify potentially patentable inventions and emerging discoveries that hold commercial potential. But one thing that Kohlberg quickly discovered was that patenting discoveries wasn’t the only challenge. Even more daunting was propelling new inventions and discoveries off the laboratory shelves and into commercial development, so that they could be advanced to the point where they would be attractive candidates for partnering with industry, and therefore be of interest to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and venture capitalists. “We had to find a way to get these discoveries and inventions across what has come to be known as ‘the valley of death,’ ” Kohlberg said recently, “the period in which they are still too basic and early to be of interest to industry, and money to develop them is virtually impossible to come by. We didn’t want to leave potentially lifesaving, world-changing discoveries languishing in the lab, wilting on the vine.” So four years ago, OTD launched the Technology Development Accelerator Fund, a $10 million revolving account, raised from Harvard alumni, including most notably the anchor donor, Len Blavatnik and the Blavatnik Family Foundation , to be used as a bridge across the “valley,” the development gap.

Six Palestinians were injured today in a severe accident between a taxi and a civilian car near the Etzion District in Judea & Samaria. Combined forces of the IDF were alerted, and rushed to the scene of the accident–including ambulances of the Etzion Brigade, IDF paramedics and Magen David Adom medics.

Six Palestinians were injured today in a severe accident between a taxi and a civilian car near the Etzion District in Judea & Samaria. Combined forces of the IDF were alerted, and rushed to the scene of the accident–including ambulances of the Etzion Brigade, IDF paramedics and Magen David Adom medics.

Overnight, IDF soldiers patrolling along the Israel-Egypt Border identified a number of suspects who had infiltrated into Israel. The soldiers called on them to stop, and when the suspects failed to comply, the soldiers

A new paper published in the Royal Society ’s Biology Letters journal, shows that early experimental studies of the peppered moth , as taught to many American high school students, are “completely correct,” co-author James Mallet , Distinguished Lecturer on Organismic and Evolutionary Biology , said. The research is particularly noteworthy, Mallet said, because it settles a decade-long controversy about whether the moths are a good example of natural selection at work. Though the moths are typically a mottled black-and-white color, scientists in England at the time of Queen Victoria began seeing increased numbers of all-black moths following the start of the Industrial Revolution . Studies later showed that the moths had benefited from the black color because they were better able to camouflage themselves against the trunks of soot-stained trees. Later research also showed that, as air quality improved, the moths’ evolution reversed course, and the number of black insects fell dramatically. Despite decades of research that showed the moths evolved in response to their environment, doubts began to surface in the late 1990s as some in the scientific community suggested that earlier studies weren’t very rigorous. Those criticisms were quickly picked up by creationists and intelligent design advocates, who used those doubts as evidence that natural selection itself was an incorrect explanation of the observed evolution. With results showing that darker moths face, on average, approximately 10 percent more predation by birds than lighter moths, the new paper — the culmination of an exhaustive, six-year experiment conducted by the late Michael Majerus , a professor of genetics at the University of Cambridge — should ultimately settle those doubts, Mallet said. “[The higher predation rate] shows a biased predation pressure against the melanic [darker] variety,” Mallet said. “The birds simply didn’t see the other moths as often because they blend in extremely well. That means natural selection is favoring the lighter-colored moths. When the trees were covered in soot, the light-colored moths were selected against. Now, on lighter trees, it’s the dark moths that are selected against.” As one of the first researchers to raise questions about earlier peppered moth studies, Majerus had meticulously designed and conducted the years-long experiment, but died before he was able to publish his findings. As one of the first researchers to raise questions about earlier peppered moth studies, Michael Majerus, a professor of genetics at the University of Cambridge, had meticulously designed and conducted the years-long experiment, but died before he was able to publish his findings. Image courtesy of James Mallet The massive study began with annual measurements of the moth population in a wooded area near Cambridge University. Based on those results, Majerus then released light and dark moths in a ratio that exactly matched that found in nature, Mallet said. Beginning several hours before dawn, moths were randomly released in a series of spots — such as on tree trunks, where large branches met the trunk, or on limbs — where they typically rest during the day. Once the insects settled into position, Majerus spent two hours observing the area and recording whether the moths stayed in place or disappeared, having been eaten by birds. Based on those observations, he was able to conclude that the darker moths face a greater rate of predation against today’s clean bark. “We felt this research was incredibly important so we analyzed the data he had gathered, and wrote it up for publication,” Mallet said. “This was one of the largest experiments ever conducted on natural selection. It convincingly shows that the peppered moth is one of the best-understood examples of how natural selection can cause rapid evolution.” The paper was published Feb. 8 in the Royal Society ’s Biology Letters journal.