Month: December 2014

  • Nation & World

    Year born may determine obesity risk

    Framingham Heart Study, PNAS Early Edition, Harvard Medical School Investigators working to unravel the impact of genetics versus environment on traits such as obesity may also need to consider a new factor: when individuals were born.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Bacteria ‘factories’ churn out valuable chemicals

    A team of researchers led by Harvard geneticist George Church at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard Medical School has made big strides toward a future in which the predominant chemical factories of the world are colonies of genetically engineered bacteria.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The personal Civil War

    Drawn from a series of family correspondence, letters, diaries, and journals, a new exhibit at the Schlesinger Library offers firsthand accounts of men, women, soldiers, and slaves caught up in the Civil War.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A key urban intersection

    Harvard researchers are pushing for a closer look at links between green spaces and health in cities.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Growing support for dietary restriction

    A new study led by Harvard researchers identifies a key molecular mechanism behind the health benefits of dietary restriction, or reduced food intake without malnutrition.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Reader favorites for 2014

    In 2014, the Harvard Gazette featured major news from the University. From treatments for diabetes and depression to snapshots of Commencement, the Gazette captured the essence of the Harvard community.

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Using weights to target belly fat

    A Harvard study found that men who did 20 minutes of daily weight training had less increase in age-related abdominal fat than men who spent the same amount of time doing aerobic activities.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Help with ‘the best things in life’

    The Eleanor and Miles Shore 50th Anniversary Fellowship Program for Scholars in Medicine provides support for junior faculty amid life’s crunch time, when demanding research labs, children at home, and other duties all clamor for attention.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Taking the Harvard Corporation’s temperature

    Bill Lee reflects on his first six months as senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, and on challenges and opportunities facing the University in the months and years to come.

    8 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Vietnam, the ongoing memory

    For students so young, an old war — captured in a history and literature course on Vietnam this fall — continues to have resonance and to provide “a punch in the gut.”

    10 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Getting to the finish

    Ninety-one College seniors were honored at the Midyear Graduates Recognition Ceremony at Knafel Center on Dec. 5.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Confronting despair with hope

    Naomi Klein, author and syndicated columnist, says she hopes that once people understand the enormity of climate change, it will spark conversation on how they can chart a path to deal with it.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Kepler ‘rising from the ashes’

    Despite a malfunction that ended its primary mission in May 2013, the Kepler spacecraft is alive and working. The evidence comes from the discovery of a new super-Earth using data collected during Kepler’s “second life.”

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Danielle Allen named to Harvard posts

    Political theorist Danielle S. Allen has been appointed both to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as a professor in the Government Department and to Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics as its director.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The old, made new

    The Harvard Semitic Museum, hosting a retrospective exhibit on its long history and founder David Gordon Lyon, is refurbished, reordered, and increasingly ready for the future.

    9 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Shareholder report available Dec. 18

    The 2014 Annual Report of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, a subcommittee of the President and Fellows, is now available on the Shareholder Responsibility Committees’ website.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    U.S.-Cuba ties: In from the cold

    Harvard faculty members react to the surprising news from President Barack Obama that the United States plans to end 50 years of diplomatic and economic sanctions against Cuba.

    14 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Leading role for Murthy

    With Harvard’s Vivek Murthy confirmed as the next surgeon general, health experts shared their views on areas where his focus and influence are most needed.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Grading 10 top world leaders

    The director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center evaluates a new survey of citizens from 30 countries, including China, and how they rank the performances of the world’s best-known political leaders.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Deceiving with the truth

    A recent HKS and HBS working paper studies the art of leveraging the truth to gain the upper hand in negotiations.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A spark for young minds

    Harvard undergrads joined a showcase of work they helped develop as part of the Ed Portal’s mentoring program.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Back into the dark

    Harvard physicists look toward new frontiers as they anticipate the restart of the Large Hadron Collider and their ATLAS experiment in spring 2015.

    11 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Getting schooled

    A recent Harvard Business School survey on U.S. competitiveness looks at how business is engaged with helping boost K-12 public education and whether these efforts are effective.

    8 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Taming the ticking mind

    Author and economist Sendhil Mullainathan talks about the research behind “Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives.”

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Where ideas trump devices

    At the annual CS50 Fair, students of history, literature, music, and more create tools to share knowledge across fields.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    In racial protests, a continuing ripple effect

    As protests around the nation continued in the wake of decisions by grand juries in Missouri and New York not to indict police officers in the deaths of two unarmed black men, hundreds of Harvard community members expressed their own anger, frustration, and desire for changes in the criminal justice system with a range of…

    11 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Pointing toward Athens 2.0

    Harvard will partner with Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and The Boston Globe for a new, weeklong festival of big ideas and bold solutions next October.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Diversity in religion

    Particularly at the holidays, managers need to be sensitive and aware, while welcoming diversity, speaker says.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Sacvan Bercovitch, 1933-2014

    Harvard’s Sacvan Bercovitch, an influential scholar of Puritan America, dies at 81.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Glimpsing Dublin from the wine-dark sea

    Humanities 10, a new two-semester offering, is a big class on the big books, with time out for small seminars.

    10 minutes