For nearly 100 years, die-hards have been saying goodbye to winter by speeding down the slopes and water skiing over massive puddles.

This rare natural phenomenon washes over the Dolomites at dawn and dusk when the sun's rays reflect off the craggy peaks in steamy shades of hot pink and wildfire red. The revered towers and cliffs illuminate, transporting visitors back to when the ancient Unesco World Heritage-listed mountains were a coral reef ascending from the sea. And soon, these spectacular sunsets will light up for the entire world when the Dolomites co-host the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics and Paralympics. But for now, y...

On an exceptionally warm July day in 2022, certified mountain guide Andrea Milani took a lunch break from rock climbing near the Italian Dolomites' Passo Fedaia ascent. As he ate pizza with two friends, helicopters circled and ambulance sirens wailed in the distance. A massive chunk (80m wide and 25m high) had just broken off nearby Marmolada glacier, triggering an avalanche of ice, snow and debris. Milani's two friends who'd finished that descent just hours before meeting him were the lucky one...

On a mile-high terrace, I took my seat at an old wooden table, shed a layer, and slid on my ski goggles to look up at the sun. A paraglider on skis was dipping between the peaks of Tofana and Cristallo in Cortina’s Ampezzo Valley. This is winter in Northern Italy.It’s pink rock spires at sunset over an Aperol Spritz and antipasto, or apple strudel if you prefer. And it’s an adrenaline rush: On that day this past January, I’d just skied to the mid-mountain Restaurant Col Drusciè down what will be...

Harsh temperatures and unpredictable high-altitude soil have strengthened the roots of the Alps, and the farmers living there are as resilient as the food they grow. Here, people have survived the unimaginable: In 1916, more than 200 Austro-Hungarian World War I soldiers lived at 12,000 feet for a year inside Italy’s Marmolada Glacier, in a city of ice tunnels they dug by hand, rationing bread and meat, and, when they could get it, a soft sweet bundt cake called gugelhupf to ease their pain.Thos...

Earlier this month, relentless 90-mile-an-hour Santa Ana winds sent wildfires tearing through Greater Los Angeles, taking more than two dozen lives, flattening neighborhoods and decimating biodiversity. Urban sprawl, a lack of winter rain, excessive vegetation around homes, insufficient water systems and, of course, climate change all contributed to the massive blazes. Human-induced climate change has led to a 172 percent increase in burned areas since the 1970s, and resulting intensifying heat...

From the classic double-baked biscotti to a mountain of bite-sized, honey-covered fried dough balls know as struffoli, Italian sweets have always been a Christmas staple for my Italian family and for families throughout history. There was nothing better than finding a little box of nougat torrone at the bottom of my stocking under a pile of Jordan almonds, which it turns out were eaten in Rome back in 177 BC.The way I remember my Sicilian nonnie was at the head of the table, surrounded by glass...

Dark sky sanctuaries. Floating nightclubs. Blueberry farms. Indigenous-owned lodges. These are just some of the facets of Afar’s list of top 25 places to go in 2025. This year’s list features some of the world’s most fascinating and lesser-visited countries, regions, and cities where you won’t find crowds of travelers angling for the same Instagram Reel. From Chios, Greece, and Columbus, Ohio, to Guyana and Jordan, these destinations are bound to inspire another year of joyful and intentional tr...

Between the late 1800s and early 1900s, my great-grandfather Frank Fiorentino was one of 5.5 million people who moved out of Southern Italy to escape the mob, poverty, and disease—and they've been leaving ever since. While tourists flock to Venice and the Amalfi Coast, half of Italy’s small towns are already in an advanced state of abandonment or almost completely depopulated, according to the Italian government. The country designated 2024 the Year of the Italian Roots in the World to draw 80 m...

On the island of Laeso in Denmark, one man is reviving the lost art of eelgrass thatching and, in doing so, bringing attention to a plant that has great potential

By the time Mai Knudsen was 33, she was a civil engineer at the top of her game. She'd "made it" by most definitions of success – except her own. "Work was so stressful," she said. "I was spending my weekends doing nothing just to cope before going back on Monday. I felt my life should be different." One visit to the town of Klitmøller in north-west Denmark was all it took. She traded her demanding life in Copenhagen for a seaside home overlooking dunes and surf, turning the first floor of her h...

No one expected breakdancing—the street dancing style that incorporates head spins and freeze moves—to ever become an Olympic sport. Even members of the World DanceSport Federation, the governing body of competitive dancing, were surprised to learn in 2020 that “breaking,” as it is called, had been added to the lineup for the 2024 Games in Paris. “It was a shock to everybody,” says Martin Gilian, a member of the World DanceSport Federation, and one of nine judges who will score the Olympic break...

There’s really no place like the United States. You can revel in landscapes as varied as the 337 million people who live here. You can visit new national landmarks and glamping spots on one trip and savor local wines and Andy Warhol artworks on the next. And after that, there’s still so much more to try: sunning on sugar-sand beaches, digging for your own diamonds, feasting at acclaimed restaurants in surprising locales, and relaxing in beautiful green spaces. To get you started, we’ve spotlight...

Sometimes you can't help but feel lucky to be alive. The recent total eclipse was only visible from a handful of ski resorts across the world – all of them in the north-eastern US and Canada – and on 8 April I got a perfectly clear 55F (13C) bluebird ski day on top of a mountain in the US state of Maine. The icing on the cake was a 2ft surprise snowstorm a few days earlier, frosting the mountain in a sparkly white for soft spring turns and reflection under the big sky. I had driven deep into t

Growing up on his family fjord farm on an unimaginably steep Norwegian mountainside, Magne Åkernes learned to live with risk at every turn—especially around a crack hidden in the rockface. “When I was little, we used to break the peat moss growing over a crack so people and animals wouldn’t fall in,” Åkernes, now 90, tells me through a translator in his living room in Norway. “We took stones and dropped them in to listen for how far they fell.” In 1958 his family was the last to vacate the fam

We drop anchor and I learn the trick to the perfect shuck—gently work the knife into the back hinge—and slurp the freshest oyster I’ve ever tasted. The mollusk was harvested minutes earlier from the lineup of floating cages beside our boat in this secluded section of Maine’s Casco Bay. “There’s a freshwater spring off Upper Goose Island that drains out right into the farm and cuts the salinity, so our oyster is much more bright and balanced, with a light cucumber finish,” says Cameron Barner, a

Utah just added another notch in its glorious belt of red desert landscapes, storied rock arches with petroglyphs, and deep-reaching canyons. On top of the state’s Mighty Five national parks—Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion—there’s another reason to visit Utah: Its dark skies. The city of Moab was deemed an International Dark Sky Community on June 6. That makes 26 certified International Dark Sky Places in Utah―the highest concentration in the world. While urban light

On a July evening in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, I wade in the waves with a pink flamingo for as long as I can, watching for hatchlings from sea turtle eggs buried deep in their nests on shore. The national park that makes up 97 percent of this remote Pacific archipelago closes to all human activity at 6 p.m., and my guide, Jhosellyn Aguas, a native of the region who doubles as a park ranger, makes sure we’re out of there on time. I book it back to my Hurtigruten expedition ship, narrowly avoi

The lobster roll is a classic and beloved New England sandwich, featuring fat hunks of delicious lobster meat stuffed into a grilled, split-top hot dog bun. To find Maine's top specimens, we spoke to Heather Strout Thompson, a fourth-generation lobsterman (a gender-neutral term in Maine) from the town of Harrington, who's among a growing number (now 15%, up from 8% 10 years ago) of females in this male-dominated industry. "Fishing is in our blood," says Thompson. "It's the only thing I've ever d...

Grand Teton National Park and the surrounding area has become a year-round outdoor haven for all ages. The springtime and fall are especially great times to go: From March through May, visitors can see wildlife transition from winter to spring. Yet the fall shoulder season offers wildlife sightings too and is just as beautiful, with bright yellow aspens, surprise snowstorms for early-bird skiers, and all the biking and hiking you could dream of in one of the country’s youngest mountain ranges.

Since the 1970s when astronomers first noticed the negative impact of light pollution, urban light has only gotten worse—in the past decade by 10 percent a year. Everything from the LEDs in lamp posts to neon signs on buildings is interrupting a rhythm of light and dark that is vital to the natural ecosystems of wildlife—to hide from predators or migrate—and even to our own sleep cycle. To dim the man-made night lights, in 1988 astronomer David Crawford and physician Tim Hunter had a bright ide

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem offers plenty to see, including volcanic plateaus, alpine valleys, and mountain ranges—and thanks to the volcanic caldera hidden beneath the ground, geothermal features you won’t see anywhere else on Earth. The 3,472-square-mile park in Northwestern Wyoming (and small sections of Montana and Idaho) is also home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48, including the famous reintroduced wolves. In short, there are many reasons Yellowstone National

Oysters and their farmers are making a big splash in Maine’s waterways—and it’s all for the good. It’s in the low 40s—freezing for April—and the rain is picking up, but Hillevi Jaegerman doesn’t seem to notice. On a fishing boat in a cove on Yarmouth’s Royal River, Jaegerman is in bright orange cover-alls—no coat—whipping back one of her braids and manually cranking a big slimy cage out of the water. The winch is broken, but the oysters are ready for harvesting. Jaegerman, co-owner and manager

Wyoming is sprawling, with more than 100 mountain ranges—and as it’s the least populous U.S. state, there’s plenty of room to roam. The key is knowing which mountain town to make your home base, be it somewhere in the Tetons or the Bighorns, or perhaps the Washburn Range and the Red Mountains of the world’s first national park, Yellowstone. “Any mountain town worth its salt also has a compelling history with the right mix of drama and charm,” said Ryan Hauck, executive director of Cody Yello

There must have been 50 of them, staring straight at us like they expected a treat—their slippery, barrel-shaped bodies beaching on the rocks and playfully bobbing up and down on the choppy saltwater. “You can identify seals by the shape of their heads. The harbor seal’s is smaller and looks more like a dog,” says Brian Skerry. “The grey seal’s looks more like a horse.” He would know. Skerry has spent a good chunk of his adult life on or under the water, photographing aquatic animals. Short of having gills, he belongs in the ocean.

The Lost Sierra Route will connect—and ideally help revitalize—15 mountain towns by bringing biking, hiking, and trail tourism to this scenic alpine region. When it’s completed, the new 600-mile Lost Sierra Route will wind along the rugged ridgeline of 15 Northern California and Nevada mountain towns, from Truckee to Susanville. With the first section of the trail expected to open in 2023 (and the entire path slated for completion by 2030), outdoor enthusiasts will be able to go hiking and biki

The goal is to protect one-third of the country’s land by 2030 in an effort to combat climate change. Through an oversized window streaked in raindrops, I make out tiny cottages with snowy grass rooftops as a crackly voice announces, “We’re stuck on ice.” It’s late May, practically June, and to the beeping of the tour bus in reverse I imagine what it’s like for nearly half of Norwegians living seasonally off the grid in these modest wooden holiday “hyttes,” tucked perfectly into the alpine moun

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the first national park in the United States and one of the most famous in the National Park System—Yellowstone. The nearly 3,500-square-mile wilderness is situated mostly in Wyoming with parts of the park extending into Montana and Idaho. It is known for its mountains, meadows, and forest landscapes, its otherworldly natural hot springs, geysers, and lava formations, and its wildlife. But this year has also been a very challenging one for Yellowstone, wh

These days, we’re all searching for trips that will have a positive impact on both ourselves and the planet. For the sustainably minded traveler, beaches are some of the best places to get the best of both worlds, especially as the effects of climate change threaten the livelihood of our coastlines. So next time you choose your trip, why not go where you can minimize your impact or even help the planet? Consider partaking in civic science with your feet in the sand and scenic water views.

Why are there so many thermal wonders in the western United States? Look to the mountains. Of the country’s 1,661 natural hot springs, more than a thousand of them have bubbled up near fault lines out west—many found among Wyoming’s 109 mountain ranges, from the Tetons to the Bighorns, the Snowys to the Sierra Madres. For hundreds of years, the region’s Indigenous tribes, including Cheyenne, Ute, and Arapaho, have soaked in mineral-rich thermal springs for warmth and healing. By the time Wyomin

Some of the United States’s 63 national parks certainly shine in the winter—Yellowstone is particularly gorgeous and Bryce Canyon even hosts a three-day winter festival—but in general, summer brings a sense of vibrancy and life unseen during other periods of the year. During a season full of camping and road trips, quite a few parks, both well-loved and lesser-known, stand out across the country. But don’t just take it from one AFAR editor. Here’s a curated list of seven national parks to visit

By the time Mai Knudsen was 33, she was a civil engineer at the top of her game. She'd "made it" by most definitions of success – except her own. "Work was so stressful," she said. "I was spending my weekends doing nothing just to cope before going back on Monday. I felt my life should be different." One visit to the town of Klitmøller in north-west Denmark was all it took. She traded her demanding life in Copenhagen for a seaside home overlooking dunes and surf, turning the first floor of her h...

This March, Kyle Ḵaayák'w Worl will resume the push-up position and hop on his fists for an excruciating 60 yards (55m) to beat his personal best and the world record his father held for decades. But, he tells me, credit for the "knuckle hop" goes to his Indigenous ancestors who got on all fours disguised in animal skin to harpoon seals sunbathing on ice floes when the light eventually returned to the Arctic in the spring. "There are only two creatures in the Arctic that walk on two feet and th

In 2017 I almost gave up skiing. The boots I’d loved for three solid years had failed me almost overnight. I’d hop off the chairlift and five minutes later, my feet would cramp, my toes would go numb, and pain would shoot up my arches. Blues felt like blacks. I was bailing after lunch. Embarrassment aside, the discomfort was excruciating. The longer I skied and the steeper the terrain, the worse it got. So I sought out two of the best ski-boot fitters in New England: Lyndall Heyer and Carol Bea

When it comes to ski resorts, bigger isn’t always better. Case and point: Saddleback Mountain in Maine. These old-school mountains will take you back to the simpler days of skiing. Every year it seems another round of resorts gets gobbled up by the downhill megacorps—the Vails and the Boynes. But instead of following the masses to over-hyped Michelin-starred restaurants, boujee hotels, and onto supercharged lifts at the corporate mountains, why not head to independently owned ski areas with a

Europe’s eternally charming Alps region, spanning France, Monaco, Switzerland, Italy, Lichtensten, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia, is on many travelers’ wish lists for a reason. (Hello, gorgeous snowy peaks, endless fondue, après cocktails, and hot springs.) If you’re yearning for an alpine experience closer to home, get your fix in several U.S. ski towns with a distinctly European past and aesthetic. How did these Alps-inspired ski hubs come to be? In the 1930s, a small group of Germans and Aus

No one expected breakdancing—the street dancing style that incorporates head spins and freeze moves—to ever become an Olympic sport. Even members of the World DanceSport Federation, the governing body of competitive dancing, were surprised to learn in 2020 that “breaking,” as it is called, had been added to the lineup for the 2024 Games in Paris. “It was a shock to everybody,” says Martin Gilian, a member of the World DanceSport Federation, and one of nine judges who will score the Olympic break...

Even a climatologist couldn’t have predicted this year’s record-breaking snowpack. For the western region of the United States, this past winter told a story of extremes—and served as a reminder that global warming isn’t all rising temperatures. This winter, California’s Mammoth Mountain, South Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly and Kirkwood resorts, and, in Utah, hills from Alta and Snowbird to Brighton were slammed with up to over 800 inches of snow, landing them on a growing list of ski resorts breaking

In a ski lodge basement at Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine, the contents of Natalie Rines Terry’s locker sit exactly as they were left last spring after she passed away from natural causes, on April 22, 2020, at 96 years old. There’s a snowflake beanie, a fleece, and a commemorative pin. Not far away, her official gravestone reads “Sugarloafer Since 1951, Lifetime Member of PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America).” Beginning in the late 1930s, Rines Terry skied with grit through a time when gi

Still wondering if cross-country skiing is hard? Hardly. Here’s your cheat sheet to getting started. Cross-country skiing debuted at the inaugural Olympic Winter Games in 1924, a decade before Alpine skiing, but you don’t have to be a superhero in spandex to go ski touring. That image of a cross-country skier covered in sweat, falling over the finish line, may not have helped the sport’s popularity—but during the pandemic, everything changed. As individuals rediscovered their love for being out

Seth Wescott glides off the chairlift into whipping winds above the frosted treeline. He releases his boots and slings a snowboard emblazoned with an old-school insignia over his shoulder. You could make out that Winterstick trident from the top of Sugarloaf’s nearby ice-covered tower. Wescott trudges up the Snowfields to the summit and back down over rocks and between tree stumps until he’s standing alone in a quiet playground of natural snow, and his only friend around is the wild and remote side-country terrain of Burnt Mountain and Brackett Basin. He straps back in, and he flies.

Not only will there be great late-season skiing and snowboarding, but these mountains are going all out this spring with music, food, festivals, and competitions. Get out your T-shirts and sunscreen because spring skiing is back. After the 2020 ski season was cut short by the start of the pandemic and 2021 remained muted by health and safety protocols, this ski season can finally close out with all the live music, pond skimming, grilling, and giveaways you can imagine. From the spring equinox (

It’s a toss-up, Jimmy Quimby tells me, between the day in 2003 when Saddleback Mountain hired him and last January when, in the final hour and after years of failed and fraudulent attempts, Maine’s third-largest ski area sold for $6.5 million to Boston-based Arctaris Impact Fund. Those are the moments that define his lifetime on the mountain.

The main ingredient in chocolate, cocoa, often is grown in less-than-optimal conditions for the environment. A new push in Madagascar, where the finest cocoa is produced, aims to make chocolate production more sustainable.

At moonrise, Lorraine Coyle likes to climb the five flights of stairs to the gallery deck of the lantern room at Borden Flats Lighthome located 1,500 feet off the coast of Massachusetts. “The flag is flapping in the wind, seagulls fly by at eye level, and there’s nothing like the sound of a foghorn,” says Coyle, a New Yorker and frequent guest at this offshore lighthouse at the mouth of the Taunton River. Built in 1881, Borden Flats once guided steamships into the bustling textile mill port of

On a windy January afternoon, our boat covers the nine miles from Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina to its offshore mooring in a swift 35 minutes, plunging five feet down and back up over waves that look like rolling hills in Vermont. We have come to Graves Light Station on a good day. A few years ago, the mooring was ripped out of the ocean floor by a gale, and a breaker dragged Dave Waller’s boat, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter he bought used, into the shoal below the lighthouse. “We cut off the cab

The salt air fills my lungs, awakening memories my mom shared of sailing in a small wooden boat on this same route from Port Clyde with her family as a child. I learned for myself, seven years ago, that it was everything she’d promised. On the coastline ahead, each new view of lobster boats, umbrellas over open-air easels, the jagged cliffs, and wild rambling gardens emerges more beautifully than the last. And again, I grab my bag and walk off the ferry up the dusty path to Monhegan’s Island Inn.

Denmark, made up almost entirely of islands, is one of the most sustainable and socially responsible countries in the world, recognized for its innovative and progressive approaches to renewable energy and climate change adaptation. It’s home to the cleanest waste-to-energy power plant in the world, CopenHill, which has a ski slope atop the recycled steel, concrete, and aluminum building, and GreenKayak, a nonprofit that rents kayaks for free to those willing to remove trash from the Copenhagen...

Back on Monhegan for his yearly visit, Orca Bates Melenbacker reflects on becoming one of Jamie Wyeth's favorite subjects. Twelve miles out to sea from either Port Clyde or Boothbay Harbor in the lobster fisher’s paradise and artist colony of Monhegan Island, cast away from almost everything, even the houses have big personalities. They hold stories of generations, some that are still being written. Up a dusty narrow road, a bright blue door pops out from an old white cottage, the only house a

Over the past two decades, the Libra Foundation has turned a campus with a notorious past into an agricultural and recreational marvel. Cows were grazing in the fields of Pineland Farms long before its cheeses lined refrigerator shelves in grocery stores across 48 states and its beef filled New England freezers. But for much of the twentieth century, many of the workers on the farm were not there by choice. Built in 1908 as the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded to house people with development

Inside the luxury suite at the Voyager Station, which could follow Pioneer and open as soon as 2027, according to Orbital Assembly. In addition to being afforded some epic views, guests of the modular space station would dine and walk around—thanks to artificial gravity. Of all the sweeping views in all the dream destinations, this one might be the most universally awe inspiring: If all goes as planned, in 2025, space tourists will be gazing out their hotel windows at Earth. “The four-person c

She tells me everything’s riding on this tiny house and two more tucked a stone’s throw away along a pond in the woods of Maine, since her world-renowned 44-seat restaurant , named one of Time Magazine’s Greatest Places in 2018, hasn’t reopened in COVID. Private cabin dining will start this spring, and eventually transition into overnight glamping, as part of French’s COVID plan to keep business going. Over the past year, outdoor patio lunches and a few dinners, and popular farmer’s and online m

“The most important tool when you’re building boats is your eye. The same goes for writing,” says Temple, who earned an English degree from Bates College in 2002. “In both cases you can really tell whether it feels right.” Why Temple chose the boat building side of the family business is written on a plank nailed onto the barn: “If a man must be obsessed by something, I supposed a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble.” The words are borrowed from “The Sea and the Wind That Blows,” an essay by Temple’s great-grandfather and longtime Mainer, the late, great writer E.B. White. Joel White is E.B White’s son, and Martha White is his granddaughter.

What has the mob in the paddock so docile isn’t entirely clear at first: it could be Eleanor Kinney, or the white bucket she is swinging in front of the flock. The 13 sheep crowd in as Kinney reaches for a handful of oats, a treat on Hart Farm in Bremen. “They are very vocal; they talk to me all the time,” says Kinney, who is flaxen-haired and petite. “Luna is my bottle baby. As a lamb, she wasn’t nursing so I’d come out every night with a headlamp on to feed her, and she’d come running. Lily is the matriarch, and Agora is the friendliest. Winter is the most beautiful.”In a week, Winter’s coat, like the others’, will be shorn and dyed with marigolds and indigo from the yard so Kinney’s daughter, Eloise Kelly, can weave scarves and blankets from the yarn while away at college. Kinney sets down the bucket of feed by the gate, walks toward the barn, and the flock follows. For six years this loyal, collective “carbon neutral lawn mower” has been roaming her 650 acres—the land that’s not conservation forest—overlooking Biscay Pond.

They were half-siblings pulled apart as kids and placed in separate households, one winding through a reel of foster parents, the other living with her grandmother. For the most part, they went about their separate lives—until they met at summer camp. Their story isn’t as lighthearted as the one we watched in The Parent Trap, but it ends well. It unfolds at a place where waiting lists don’t apply, and a bigger paycheck won’t get you in.

Hannah Gray has fabricated equipment for scientists tagging whales in Antarctica, guided a boat lowering a research robot into a West Coast deep-sea canyon, and faced pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and she always returns home to Belfast to await the next challenge.

The Kennebunks are picture-perfect coastal towns between Portland and Maine’s southern border that deliver ocean views and plenty of dining options. Start your weekend trip at the Cape Arundel Inn and Resort, a luxurious seaside Victorian mansion that stands out among many on Kennebunkport’s famed Ocean Avenue. Sit by the fireplace with a glass of champagne before heading into town for dinner at the Lost Fire Patagonian Grill and Bar. Celebrated Argentinian chef Germán Lucarelli’s rustic elegan

It’s hard to imagine a wiser escape during a pandemic than the mountains in Maine. At Sugarloaf, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of social distancing space, your world becomes hills, trees, and lakes. Problems reduce to the roots under the tire of your mountain bike, balancing on a rock in the river, and the distant roar of ATVs.

Just off the access road, not far from ski-bum meccas and rental shops, across a bridge over river rock, a dormer peaks up from a bend in Vista Road. Only upon turning down the driveway on the flipside of that curve does it become clear that the humble roof attaches to a 4,500-square-foot contemporary log chalet. Inside that peak, 23-foot ceilings and a wall of windows provide a prime view of the main attraction off the backside of the hidden house: Sunday River. Framed by white birch trees and pines, which were also used throughout construction of the five-bedroom log cabin, sit sweeping views of the mountain’s gnarliest run, White Heat, on the most westerly of its eight peaks, Whitecap. In the winter the barren view extends to trails on Locke and Barker. But the mountain, just two miles away, is only half of the draw of this Newry home.

We are thrilled to invite you to read the inaugural Annual Report of Northeastern University’s new Impact Engines. In their short time, as classes and traditional research carried on, a movement has emerged to accelerate discovery by testing new ideas out in the field first. Read on about how, outside the limitations of traditional funding, Impact Engine collaborations are taking global problem solving to new heights, starting in our communities.

The State of AI in Maine Report (editorial/creative director and lead writer)

A crucial partnership with the Carlos Slim Foundation transformed the understanding of a rare kidney disease—and paves the way for its first potential treatment for it.

The original paper co-authored by Khera and others, published in 2018 in Nature Genetics, showed how polygenic scores can accurately estimate genetic risk for five common diseases and identify high-risk individuals who would otherwise go undetected. The researchers then expanded the concept to obesity in a follow-up paper in Cell in 2019, noting that inborn risk begins to affect health as early as four years of age. In both papers, the researchers showed that an algorithm they developed could es

What makes their colors pop — almost glow — is the contrast with the tiny spider’s super-black velvet patches, according to a recent paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B by Dakota McCoy, a Ph.D. student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a researcher in the lab of George Putnam Professor of Biology David A. Haig. McCoy’s research is the first to suggest that the highly absorbent, anti-reflective black surface is characterized by an array of bumps known as “microlenses,” reminiscent of those found in man-made anti-reflective materials.

A new study by Harvard Medical School researchers sheds light on the molecular repertoire of neurons responsible for encoding sound in the inner ear, which could inform efforts to develop therapeutic strategies to treat or protect against hearing loss. Reporting in Cell on Aug. 2, a team led by Lisa Goodrich, professor of neurobiology at HMS, shows that the class of neurons responsible for transmitting information from the inner ear to the brain is composed of three molecularly distinct subtype

Broad researcher Sam Riesenfeld wields machine learning to show how the nervous and immune systems work together to regulate allergic reactions.

By availing patient data to scientists all around the world, the Count Me In initiative is advancing efforts to understand—and eventually, treat—cancer.

Patient with severe disease is symptom-free after gene therapy knocks down BCL11A, restoring fetal hemoglobin production Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center reports positive results treating sickle cell disease in its first patient, using a novel gene therapy approach that induces production of fetal hemoglobin while silencing production of the abnormal sickle form of adult hemoglobin. The research team, led by David A. Williams, MD, will share findings in the trial’

As a child’s growing brain responds to environmental cues such as light or sound, the connections between neurons are strengthened or weakened. Until now, scientists have been in the dark about the molecular mechanisms involved during this largely uncharted period of brain development. Reporting in a study published online in Neuron, researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified the essential role that a protein called Fn14 plays in strengthening or weakening neural connections in mice

The Broad is testing drugs already approved as safe to see if they can be repurposed for cancer and other diseases.

If meteorologists could have predicted the exact path and strength of Hurricane Sandy, more people might have moved their families and possessions to safer ground. Similarly, if scientists like Professors William Lotko and Simon Shepherd could forecast the path of radiation hurled into space by solar storms, operators of satellites, spacecraft, planes, and various other vulnerable technological systems could adapt as needed. EYES ON THE SKY: Professors William Lotko and Simon Shepherd, left

A woman recently came to Bradley McGregor, MD, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in severe pain with extreme fatigue. Her squamous cell bladder cancer, a rare type for which traditional treatment is generally less effective, had advanced, and it appeared that she had no other options. But timing is everything. McGregor was conducting a 16-month clinical trial exploring the effectiveness of an immunotherapy combination drug in patients with advanced rare genitourinary cancers. She b

Erin Colman never expected to go from planning a wedding with the man she loved to planning his funeral, but that nightmare became a reality. Colman met John Waskiewicz in Boston eight years ago and the two were friends for six years before finally dating. Things got serious quickly and they were set for a 2018 summer wedding in Vermont, near where they loved to ski.

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Susan F. Smith Center for Women's Cancers has grown its basic research, early clinical studies, and combination trials to improve outcomes for all patients with gynecologic cancers. Our investigators are exploring the cutting edge of cancer science, studying how to overcome drug resistance, designing a blood test to detect ovarian cancer at its earliest stages, investigating new ways of attacking disease subtypes through targeted treatments, and more. With Dana-Farber’s unique position as a world leader in both cancer research and clinical care, your support is helping put these important scientific findings into action.

Scientists will be able to predict earthquake magnitudes earlier than ever before thanks to new research by Marine Denolle, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS). “For large-strike slip earthquakes like those that occur on the San Andreas Fault, which are likely to rupture for about 50 seconds, we would be able to predict the final magnitudes 2 to 5 seconds after getting the first seismic wave,” said Denolle, senior author of the study that appeared recentl

03/13/20 – BOSTON, MA. – Second-year doctoral student Nicole Langlois works in the Clark Lab on DNA nanosensors to help study chemical processes in the human body in the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex on March 13, 2020. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University For many PhD students, figuring out which career path to take is like a science experiment. It’s a good thing Nicole Langlois PhD’23, chemistry, specializes in problem solving.She came to Northeastern’s PhD program w...

New research on autism has found, in a mouse model, that drug treatment at a young age can reverse social impairments. But the same intervention was not effective at an older age. The study is the first to shed light on the crucial timing of therapy to improve social impairments in a condition associated with autism spectrum disorder. The paper, from Boston Children’s Hospital, the University of Texas, Harvard Medical School and Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, was published today in Cell

Discovering new cancer treatment can sometimes be a matter of connecting the dots between new pathways and old drugs. That was the case in a new paper in the TKTK issue of Clinical Cancer Research co-authored by Kent Mouw MD, PhD, co-director of Dana-Farber’s Bladder Cancer Center. Mouw and his team found a promising way to treat a subset of bladder cancers for patients who can’t tolerate the standard of care — cisplatin chemotherapy. His preclinical findings could lead to a new treatment option

In May 2017, a 12-year-old female fell off her bicycle with no immediate signs of injury. A day later, she began complaining of shoulder pain on her left side, where she’d fallen. X-rays taken at an ER near her home in North Carolina were normal. Clinicians diagnosed the patient with a possible sprain and sent her home in a sling. Over the next few months, the patient’s pain persisted despite multiple follow-up appointments with a local orthopedist. With no prognosis, her arm grew weaker and sh

Community health worker supervisor Dyson Francis Seven, left, sits with Nelesi Phirimoni, her sister Agness Dyson and Nelesi's son Charles Phirimoni, during a visit to the family's home in Kalimezako Village in Malawi. Nelesi had an extended stay at PIH-supported Neno District Hospital following the birth of her seventh child, and PIH has continued to accompany the family with food and financial support. Partners In Health staff often talk about the five “S’s” essential to quality health care:

Lessons from an innovative Ebola screening and isolation unit for pregnant women, created five years ago in West Africa, could inform maternity care and save lives during the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a new study shows. A Partners In Health team opened the groundbreaking isolation unit in November 2014 at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation. The need for the unit

October 29, 2019 – Fine particulate matter in the air. Prescription drugs taken by pregnant women. Radiation from CT scans. From before people are born to the time they reach adulthood, they are exposed to countless environmental factors that can influence their long-term health—and possibly the health of their children. Scientists are just starting to piece together the genetic and biological effects of these exposures across generations. On October 18, dozens of experts gathered in the Snyder

Christophe Millien has distinct memories of delivering babies from women laboring on the cement floor of a dilapidated hospital in Lascahobas, Haiti. When he began working there as Partners In Health’s (PIH) medical director in 2008, basic necessities like beds, electricity, and running water were in short supply. An ultrasound machine, NICU, or sterile operating theater were nowhere to be found. When a patient required an emergency cesarean section, the OB/GYN had to refer her to another hospital. Millien recalls at least one patient who died of a hemorrhage en route to surgery—all because the hospital simply didn’t have funds to build the space or buy the supplies clinicians needed. Over time, Millien advocated for his patients and saw conditions improve at Lascahobas. PIH collaborated with Haiti’s Ministry of Health to support staff, purchase equipment, improve the building’s crumbling infrastructure, and create a more organized system for providing care. Finally, Millien had an operating room where he could perform lifesaving surgeries. But it wasn’t until 2013 that Millien saw the most transformative change. That’s when PIH opened University Hospital in Mirebalais, a 30-minute ride south from Lascahobas. The 300- bed state-of-the-art teaching hospital now houses six operating theaters, a maternal health clinic, NICU, reference laboratory, and more—all of which patients access for free. Millien transferred to University Hospital in 2013 and assumed his new role as director of obstetrics and gynecology. It was a world away from where he began in Lascahobas. There, he and his colleagues had the stuff, space, and systems they needed a social justice organization working to make health care a human right

Widely used screening tools proved highly effective in identifying patients suffering from depression in rural communities in Chiapas, the poorest state in Mexico, according to a study conducted by clinicians and volunteers working with , as Partners In Health is known locally. The 2014 study was the first time such tools, known in the mental health field as the PHQ-2 and the PHQ-9, had been used in a rural, marginalized community in Mexico, and indicates how powerful these brief screening tool

A mother recently carried her feverish 3-year-old boy two hours into Dambe Health Center in the hills of the remote district of Neno in southern Malawi. She left with medication for his new diagnosis, one Malawians hear often: Malaria. They’d caught it early this time. If the boy had been sick several years earlier, before the clinic’s opening, the scenario would have played out much differently. The mother might not have been able to take her son to the doctor in the first place. It would’ve t

A recently published study showed strong success for treating hepatitis C with new antiviral medicine in Rwanda, potentially creating a model for broader treatment plans across the region. Several of the study’s co-authors are affiliated with Partners In Health, which is locally known as and has worked in Rwanda since 2005. The 2017, PIH-led study tracked 300 patients who had 12 weeks of treatment at Rwanda Military Hospital in the nation’s capital, Kigali, and resulted in successful treatment

As HIV care advanced following the introduction of antiretrovirals, clinicians observed a curious phenomenon: Some patients’ health unexpectedly got worse, rather than better, shortly after they began treatment. It seemed that HIV treatment awakened patients’ immune systems, allowing them to fight ailments that previously had lain dormant, or unchallenged, because HIV had suppressed their body’s ability to respond. This led some doctors to think patients were getting sicker, when actually, they

Education Development Center’s 2009 Annual Report, winner of the Association of Education Publishers’ national Beacon Award.

A decade ago Agosto Borges dropped out of school and began working full-time for his father, a fisherman. He was in primary school. This isn't uncommon in Timor-Leste, the poorest country in Asia. Then a year ago, Borges became one of hundreds of 16-to-30 year olds chosen to join EDC's Preparing Youth for Work project.

None of her fellow students teased Maria Smolina, 13, just because she had to sound out simple test words, or because she confused her pronouns. They didn't think it unusual that she still can't get used to the taste of peanut butter or macaroni and cheese. Inside this classroom at Milford's Stacey Middle School, filled exclusively with "English language learner" students, Smolina was enough at ease to share an essay she wrote about her arrival in the United States two years ago. "My mother wa

Education Development Center’s 2010 EDC Update, winner of the Association of Education Publishers’ national Beacon Award. (My articles include A.F. footer).