Month: November 2011

  • Nation & World

    The ripple of fiscal problems

    Eurozone’s ongoing problems create a ripple effect in developing nations, says World Bank president.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Jobs wanted

    Parts of the U.S. economy have been recovering for more than a year, but American jobs haven’t yet returned along with renewed profits. Harvard experts offer insights into what large-scale unemployment means for the nation, and what policymakers and others can do to fix a balky system.

    12 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A song cycle reborn

    Rick Burkhardt and his team of collaborators recast the song cycle by Austrian composer Franz Schubert to both deepen and lighten the experience of his somber work “Winterreise.” It is at the A.R.T. from Dec. 7 through Jan. 8.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Relief for stem cell transplant patients

    In a study that seems to pivot on a paradox, scientists at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have used an immune system stimulant as an immune system suppressor to treat a common, often debilitating side effect of donor stem cell transplantation in cancer patients. The effect, in some cases, was profound.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Guiding lights

    In a scientific first that could shed light on how signals travel in the brain and how learning alters neural pathways, scientists at Harvard have created genetically altered neurons that light up as they fire. The work may also lead to speedier drug development.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Friends of alum endow new fellowship

    Friends of Henry Hubschman, HLS ’72, M.P.P. ’73, have set up a fellowship in his memory at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Charles M. Williams dies at 94

    Harvard Business School (HBS) Professor Emeritus Charles M. Williams, a renowned authority on commercial banking and a master of the art of case method teaching who influenced the lives and careers of thousands of M.B.A. students and executives around the world, died of congestive heart failure on Nov. 17. He was 94.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Harvard men win Battle 4 Atlantis

    The Harvard men’s basketball team bested Central Florida, 59-49, in the championship game of the inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis tournament Nov. 26.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Imaging instruction

    Harvard researchers have developed a “primer” to identify some of the most useful probes for super-resolution imaging. As described recently on Nature Methods’ website, the work also identified the key characteristics that are important for imaging, giving researchers a framework for evaluating other probes, or even designing custom-made molecules to use in imaging.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A road map to cleaner energy

    A new report by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs recommends transforming the U.S. energy picture by nearly doubling funding for U.S. energy technology research and instituting incentives for adopting cleaner technologies, such as a cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Rebuilding the brain’s circuitry

    Harvard scientists have rebuilt genetically diseased circuitry in a section of the mouse hypothalamus, an area controlling obesity and energy balance, demonstrating that complex and intricately wired circuitry of the brain long considered incapable of cellular repair can be rewired with the right type of neuronal “replacement parts.”

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Alleviating radiation sickness

    A combination of two drugs may alleviate radiation sickness in people who have been exposed to high levels of radiation, even when the therapy is given a day after the exposure occurred, according to a study led by scientists from Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and Children’s Hospital Boston.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Canned soup linked to higher BPA levels

    A new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health has found that the volunteers who consumed a serving of canned soup each day for five days had a more than 1,000 percent increase in urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations compared with the group who consumed fresh soup daily for five days. The…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A season of helping

    The 2011 campaign for Harvard Community Gifts is under way, with a blend of Harvard traditions and new opportunities.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Faust digs Gen Ed

    President Drew Faust paid a visit Nov. 17 to the popular undergraduate course anthropology 1010: “The Fundamentals of Archaeological Methods and Reasoning.” Faust’s attendance was inspired by a special meeting of the course at the Harvard Ceramics Studio, where students learned how pottery is made, and got to try their hands at making their own…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    From marsh to Yard

    Students digging in Harvard Yard uncovered a major feature in the final days before the site had to be filled: a stone-lined trench that likely began the conversion of the marshy area to the high and dry land of today.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Rhodes to success

    Four Harvard seniors — Sam Galler, Spencer Lenfield, Brett Rosenberg, and Victor Yang — were named 2012 American Rhodes Scholars, one of the most prestigious academic awards in the world, with just 32 selected annually.

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Gingrich opposes campaign limits

    Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, speaking at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, says the political system would run more smoothly if campaign donors could contribute what they wish.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Where wild food matters

    A postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Center for the Environment, Christopher Golden, is the lead author of a paper. It says that in societies where people rely on bush meat for important micronutrients, people’s lost access to wildlife could hurt children’s health

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Connie Wong to talk leadership

    On Dec. 15 Connie Wong will present “Inclusive Leadership: Managing Successful Teams,” as part of the FAS series Diversity Dialogues.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Early Action returns

    A total of 4,245 students have applied, and this year’s applicant pool is considerably more diverse ethnically and socioeconomically than that of any previous Early Action cycle.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Anita Hill looks back, and ahead

    Legal scholar Anita Hill discussed her experience during the 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the civil rights work that it inspired.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Harvard Innovation Lab Opens in Allston

    The lab includes academic space, such as classrooms and meeting areas for both undergraduate and graduate students. It also provides public areas and meeting rooms designed to foster project work, as well as business development resources for Allston-Brighton and greater Boston — a population full of entrepreneurs that Harvard seeks to both help and tap…

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Harvard wins The Game, 45-7, over Yale

    Harvard fell behind by a touchdown before flexing its muscle as the Ivy League champion Crimson cruised past Yale, 45-7, at Yale Bowl in the 128th edition of The Game.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Slowing ALS symptom progression

    Harvard researchers find that treatment with dexpramipexole — a novel drug believed to prevent dysfunction of mitochondria, the subcellular structures that provide most of a cell’s energy — appears to slow symptom progression in the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Four seniors named Rhodes Scholars

    Four Harvard undergraduates are among the 32 American men and women chosen as Rhodes Scholars on Saturday. They will begin their studies at the University of Oxford next October.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Harvard responds to tragedy in New Haven

    Harvard expresses sympathy regarding the tragic death this morning before the Harvard-Yale football game and concern for those injured.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Actually, the star’s a turkey

    Visiting Professor Pamela Diggle took listeners into the botanical roots of Thanksgiving dinner, illustrating how nature’s everyday trials forced plants to come up with unusual — and delicious — ways to survive.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Introducing the i-lab

    The Harvard Innovation Lab officially opened to the public Nov. 18. The ribbon cutters included President Drew Faust and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Harvard and slavery

    A student research project and a resulting booklet and website bring to light some troubling connections to the College in the 18th and 19th centuries.

    5 minutes