All articles


  • Campus & Community

    Singing in the rain

    Students from a first-year think tank led a successful effort to plant a pair of rain gardens on campus.

    Tia Akins in the rain garden
  • Nation & World

    Bacow sits down with lawmakers

    Larry Bacow visited the nation’s capital this week to meet with members of Congress to discuss a range of University priorities, including the effects of federal immigration policy on faculty and students at Harvard and at universities across the nation. The visit comes on the heels of a letter Bacow sent to Secretary of State…

    Harvard President Larry Bacow speaking in Washington, D.C.
  • Science & Tech

    Are we alone in the universe?

    Harvard astronomer Laura Kreidberg studies the atmospheres of extrasolar planets to search for signs of life.

    Center for Astrophysics astronomer Laura Kreidberg framed by a metal structure
  • Health

    Better screening for lung cancer

    Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have identified markers that can distinguish between major subtypes of lung cancer and accurately identify lung cancer stage. Their work could eventually help physicians decide whether lung cancer patients need standard treatment or more aggressive therapy.

    Person lying in a CT scanner
  • Campus & Community

    Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative announces third class of mayors

    The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative announced the third class of 41 mayors from around the world who will participate in a yearlong education and professional development program.

    Group photo of participants
  • Health

    Want to live past 100?

    A two-day symposium organized by Professor of Medicine Steven Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School examined the scientific, nutritional, and health-related aspects of aging.

    Two people sitting on a bench
  • Health

    Study: Doctor burnout costs health care system $4.6 billion a year

    Physician burnout is costing the U.S. health care system an estimated $4.6 billion annually, according to new research from an international team led by a Harvard Business School researcher.

    Illustration of a doctor reflecting tied up in paperwork
  • Campus & Community

    One thing to change: Everyone should vote

    Archon Fung, the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, thinks about the major changes that would take place if every person in America voted.

    Fung in his office
  • Science & Tech

    Plague genomes show extent, diversity of massive Roman-era pandemic

    New research from an interdisciplinary team of researchers shows an early plague pandemic reached post-Roman Britain and had unexpected genetic diversity.

    Michael McCormick standing with a tree
  • Work & Economy

    Going West

    Harvard’s Zittrain speaks at a Palo Alto silicon valley event, describing the University’s role in founding and research vis à vis technological advances – and ethical issues – in the world of computers and the proliferation of tech start-ups.

    Jonathan Zittrain giving a presentation
  • Arts & Culture

    A colorful figure

    In historian Philip Deloria’s new book, “Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract,” he re-examines the art of his “eccentric” great-aunt, particularly her 134 “personality prints,” three-panel pieces inspired, in many cases, by artists and celebrities including Babe Ruth, Gertrude Stein, and Amelia Earhart.

    Top panel of "Cornelia Otis Skinner" by Mary Sully overlays female characters in a Russian doll pattern.
  • Health

    Spare the medical resident and spoil nothing

    Hours of medical residents were capped at 80 per week in 2003 after a string of patient injuries and deaths, spurring fears that doctors-in-training would be less prepared for independent practice than before. A new study suggests their warnings were largely unjustified.

    Doctor and assistant looking at a clipboard
  • Science & Tech

    A product idea with legs

    Dakota McCoy, in collaboration with David Haig, led a group of researchers at Harvard studying the black spider and its ultrablack coat with microlenses that could lead to innovations in solar panels and sunglasses glare.

    Peacock spider.
  • Nation & World

    Simmer nears boil in Hong Kong

    The Gazette spoke with China expert Anthony Saich, director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, about the protests and about what the future might hold for Hong Kong.

    A mass of protesters march in Hong Kong.
  • Science & Tech

    Spreading seeds of life

    Scientists at the Institute for Theory and Computation have made a comprehensive calculation suggesting that panspermia could happen, and have found that as many as 10 trillion asteroid-sized objects might exist that carry life.

    Idan Ginsburg at Harvard College Observatory.
  • Science & Tech

    Soft robots for all

    The first soft ring oscillator gets plushy robots to roll, undulate, sort, meter liquids, and swallow.

    Hand holding oscillators
  • Science & Tech

    Polarizing apposite

    A portable, miniature camera that can image polarization in a single shot has potential applications in machine vision, autonomous vehicles, security, atmospheric chemistry, and more.

    Polorization graphic illustration
  • Science & Tech

    So you think he can dance?

    Snowball the dancing cockatoo is the subject of a study by Radcliffe fellow and Tufts neuroscientist Ani Patel, who suggests the bird’s ability to move in time to music is connected to the way humans groove to a beat.

  • Campus & Community

    One thing to change: Less driving, more thriving

    Lisa Randall, the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, remembers when one shut-down street brought Harvard’s campus together, and wonders how that could apply to cities.

    Randall in her office
  • Health

    Debunking old hypotheses

    Biology Professor Cassandra G. Extavour debunks old hypotheses about form and function on insect eggs using new big-data tool

    Cassandra Extavour in her office
  • Arts & Culture

    A new way to read

    Stephanie Burt’s new book is a guide to understanding an art form that for many feels difficult to access. She talks about creating a “travel guide” for poetry.

    Stephanie Burt in her office
  • Health

    The vegans are coming, and we might join them

    Led by vegetarian tech companies looking to mimic and replace meat and other animal products, going vegan is on the verge of going mainstream.

    Package of lab-grown meat.
  • Campus & Community

    The simple joy of pets

    Phillips Brooks House program brings dogs to a local rehab center to interact with residents.

    Man holding small dog
  • Science & Tech

    Single letter speaks volumes

    Scientists have used an optimized version of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system to prevent hearing loss in so-called Beethoven mice, which carry a genetic mutation that causes profound hearing loss in humans and mice alike.

  • Science & Tech

    Combing out a tangled problem

    A new technique speeds creation of nanowire devices, boosting research into what’s happening inside cells.

    Charles Lieber
  • Nation & World

    Water, life, and climate change in South Asia

    In his latest book, Sunil Amrith, the Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and chair of the Department of South Asian Studies, describes the ageless link between water and prosperity in South Asia and examines the new challenges of climate change.

    Images of raindrops on a windshield in India
  • Health

    Reeling in rising distracted driving deaths

    Crashes caused by distracted drivers are believed to have been the biggest cause of a 14 percent rise in traffic fatalities since 2014. The Harvard Chan School’s Center for Health Communication is mounting an anti-distracted driving campaign this fall to make headway against a problem that has proven resistant to change despite efforts by government,…

    Cars in traffic
  • Campus & Community

    John H. Shaw steps down

    John H. Shaw, the Harry C. Dudley Professor of Structural and Economic Geology, steps down at the end of June, having served as chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences since 2006.

    John Shaw against a black and rainbow background
  • Science & Tech

    Oceans away

    A new NASA-funded program will study water worlds and environments to understand the limits of life as part of the search for life on other planets.

    Fish in the ocean
  • Campus & Community

    Executive education with a soul

    For the second year in a row, Harvard Divinity School offers an executive course that draws on history and religious traditions around the world to help participants become agents of change.

    Two women speaking to each other