Featured series 
Tag: Faculty of Arts and Sciences
-
Nation & World
Breaking down backbones
Harvard scientists are using the fossil record and a close examination of the vertebrae of thousands of modern animals to understand how and when specialized regions in the spines of mammals developed.
-
Nation & World
Uncovering the economics of foot-binding
A recent study is suggesting that the real underpinnings of foot-binding may have been economic.
-
Nation & World
Imaging leap rewarded with $3M
Harvard Professor Xiaowei Zhuang has been named the recipient of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences in recognition of her pioneering work in the development of super-resolution microscopy techniques.
-
Nation & World
$100M gift will support sciences and math
A Harvard alumnus and his wife made a gift of $100 million to support the University’s Science Center, enhance mathematics scholarship, and provide unrestricted resources for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
-
Nation & World
Study signals a limit to cancer’s complexity
New findings on cancer driver mutations creates hope for targeted therapy. “It appears there is a limit to cancer’s complexity,” says one of the study’s researchers, Martin Nowak of Harvard University.
-
Nation & World
New faculty: Lauren Williams
The Gazette sits down with Lauren Williams, the second woman to be tenured in Harvard’s Math Department and the Seaver Professor at the Radcliffe Institute.
-
Nation & World
Pitcher plants build own communities
Harvard research has shown that the “miniature ecosystems” housed in pitcher plants from opposite sides of the world are strikingly similar, suggesting that there may be something about the plants themselves that drives the formation of those communities.
-
Nation & World
For teens who feel it all, a research-backed explanation
When teenagers seem to be experiencing conflicting emotions at the same time and struggling to make sense of them all, it may be because they are.
-
Nation & World
You say John, I say Paul. But what does stylometry say?
Who wrote “In My Life,” John or Paul? Harvard statistician Mark Glickman helps provide research-backed answer on authorship of Beatles classic.
-
Nation & World
Understanding insect damage over time
A study used herbarium specimens to track insect eating patterns across more than a century and found that four species collected in the early 2000s were 23 percent more likely to be damaged than those collected in the early 1900s.
-
Nation & World
Examining aftershocks with AI
Sparked by a suggestion from researchers at Google, Harvard scientists are using artificial intelligence technology to analyze a database of earthquakes from around the world in an effort to predict where aftershocks might occur. Using deep-learning algorithms, they developed a system that, while still imprecise, was able to forecast aftershocks significantly better than random assignment.
-
Nation & World
Movement monitor
A team of researchers from the Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, and the University of Tübingen is turning to artificial intelligence technology to make it far easier than ever before to track animals’ movements in the lab.
-
Nation & World
Learning catalysts’ secrets
Cynthia Friend, who recently received a multimillion dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, is well positioned to help “change the face and carbon footprint of the chemical industries sector,” one of her team’s goals.
-
Nation & World
Mike Smith recalls his road traveled, and outlines path ahead
In a Q&A session, Mike Smith, who just stepped down as dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, reflects on his tenure and what may lie ahead.
-
Nation & World
What a difference a year of data science makes
After a successful first year, the Harvard Data Science Initiative puts its focus on five new research areas and four new fellows.
-
Nation & World
Tracking rivers to read ancient glaciers
In a new study, Harvard researchers say they may be able to estimate how glaciers moved by examining how the weight of the ice sheet altered topography and led to changes in the course of rivers. The study is described in a paper published in Geology.
-
Nation & World
Solving the problem of the calculus whiz
New Harvard research challenges conventional wisdom on what it takes to excel in calculus.
-
Nation & World
Praise for Gay as a scholar and a leader
Scholars and staff welcomed the appointment of Claudine Gay as the new Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
-
Nation & World
Deep into the wild
Researchers used “deep learning” to identify images captured by motion-sensing cameras.
-
Nation & World
Claudine Gay named FAS dean
Claudine Gay will become the next Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow announced.
-
Nation & World
Mining Facebook data for science
An organization co-created by Harvard scientists is set to release a massive trove of Facebook data, strictly for research purposes.
-
Nation & World
Game-changing game changes
Games that can change based on players’ actions help Harvard’s Martin Nowak and his fellow researchers to understand the evolution of cooperation.
-
Nation & World
Personality pressure
Harvard researchers demonstrated a link between individual variation in risk-taking behavior and survival of animals in changing environments.
-
Nation & World
Declaration of authenticity
Researchers, including Harvard’s Emily Sneff and Danielle Allen, have learned much more about a Colonial-era copy of the Declaration of Independence.
-
Nation & World
How to feel the heat
A team of researchers was able to show how sensory neurons in the face detect temperature, and how this information is later passed on to the hindbrain of zebrafish, where it is processed to produce behavior.
-
Nation & World
We solved the problem! Now let’s unsolve it.
Harvard researcher Daniel Gilbert’s “prevalence-induced concept change” speaks to humankind’s conflicted relationship with progress.
-
Nation & World
New group of Harvard College Professors
Robin Bernstein, Lawrence Bobo, George Lauder, Yukio Lippit, and Amy Wagers have been named Harvard College Professors.
-
Nation & World
Raj Chetty returning to Harvard
Economist Raj Chetty, who left Harvard for Stanford in 2015, is returning to Harvard this summer to become the inaugural William A. Ackman Professor of Economics, and continue his work on American inequality.
-
Nation & World
When wandering minds are just fine
While most of the psychological literature calls mind wandering a detrimental “failure of executive control” or a “dysfunctional cognitive state,” a new study led by Paul Seli, a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow working in the lab of Dan Schacter, suggests that in some cases there’s no harm in it.
-
Nation & World
Eye-popping arachnids
Harvard researchers examined mysteries of color in the spider species Phoroncidia rubroargentea.
