All articles

  • Campus & Community

    More than one crowning achievement

    Kelsey Beck ’14 was crowned Miss Boston 2012. The Harvard student will compete in the Miss Massachusetts pageant June 29-30 in Worcester. In the meantime, she balances classes and extracurricular activities.

  • Health

    Writing the book of cancer knowledge

    The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia is an academic-industry collaboration resource that marries deeply detailed cancer genome data with predictors of drug response, information that could lead to refinements in cancer clinical trials and future treatments.

  • Campus & Community

    A peek into Harvard classrooms

    The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is launching a new video series, called “Harvard’s Great Teachers,” which will highlight Harvard’s world-class faculty and offer a sampling of the exciting and innovative teaching experienced by Harvard students.

  • Health

    Pondering health, at home and abroad

    The world is in the midst of a global health transition, with the population growing older and primary health threats coming from chronic, not infectious, diseases, according to speakers at an Advanced Leadership Initiative think tank.

  • Nation & World

    Japan’s mistakes

    Assurances of the safety of Japan’s nuclear industry lulled the government and the public into a false sense of security that was shattered a year ago when a massive earthquake and tsunami rocked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the head of a panel that reviewed the disaster told a Harvard audience March 26.

  • Science & Tech

    Buckling under pressure

    Inspired by a spherical toy that expands and collapses, researchers at Harvard and MIT have created a new type of engineered capsule, called a “buckliball,” that exploits the phenomenon of buckling. The buckliball is the first morphable structure to incorporate buckling as a desirable engineering design element.

  • Science & Tech

    Planet starship

    Seven years ago, astronomers boggled when they found the first runaway star flying out of our galaxy at a speed of 1.5 million miles per hour. The discovery intrigued theorists, who wondered: If a star can get tossed outward at such an extreme velocity, could the same thing happen to planets? New research shows that…

  • Arts & Culture

    Artist touts ‘primacy’ of images

    The beauty of art, says William Kentridge in his Norton Lectures, is that it makes “a safe place for uncertainty.”

  • Campus & Community

    Record for financial aid

    Harvard College will increase financial aid for undergraduates to a record $172 million for the next academic year.

  • Nation & World

    Q&A on health care reform

    Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe offers his analysis of this week’s hearings before the Supreme Court on mandatory coverage.

  • Campus & Community

    Eyes on the future

    Harvard’s 30-member Board of Overseers works to ensure Harvard’s tradition of excellence is carried into the future.

  • Campus & Community

    24 juniors elected to Phi Beta Kappa

    Twenty-four juniors were recently elected to the Harvard College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), Alpha Iota of Massachusetts.

  • Science & Tech

    In a drying Amazon, change looms

    If the Amazon becomes drier, as predicted by climate models, the forest will see a shift toward tree species that are drought tolerant and, in some cases, will lead to a savannah’s mix of trees and grasses, Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor Guillermo Goldstein says.

  • Campus & Community

    Paulus honored for directing excellence

    The American Repertory Theater Artistic Director Diane Paulus is the recipient of the Drama League’s 2012 Founders Award for Excellence in Directing.

  • Campus & Community

    Innovative clusters

    A few visitors got a first glimpse of how Old Quincy House will look after completion of the renewal process next year, thanks to a tour of a full-scale mockup of the soon-to-be-renovated accommodations.

  • Nation & World

    The ethical letter of the law

    Professor Howard Gardner challenges aspiring lawyers at Harvard Law School to think about the ethics of their profession.

  • Science & Tech

    New frontier in archaeology

    Jason Ur, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, worked with Bjoern Menze of MIT to develop a system that identified ancient settlements based on a series of factors — including soil discolorations and the distinctive mounding that results from the collapse of mud-brick settlements.

  • Campus & Community

    Faculty Council meeting held March 21

    At the March 21 meeting of the Faculty Council, its members heard reports on proposed updates to the Handbook for Students, the FAS’s plans for implementing the University’s conflict of interest policy, Harvard College admissions, and the Library.

  • Campus & Community

    Pinkett Smith named Woman of the Year

    As a part of its Celebration of Black Women program, the Harvard Black Men’s Forum has selected acclaimed actress Jada Pinkett Smith as Woman of the Year.

  • Campus & Community

    Toft named Fulbright scholar

    Monica Toft, associate professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, has been selected for a 2012-2013 Fulbright U.S. scholar grant.

  • Health

    Insight on triple-negative breast cancer

    Scientists from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and their colleagues have found a genetic marker that predicts which aggressive “triple-negative” breast cancers and certain ovarian cancers are likely to respond to platinum-based chemotherapies.

  • Campus & Community

    HKS presents Neustadt and Schelling Awards

    Amartya Sen, one of the world’s most eminent economists and philosophers, has been named one of the recipients of the 2012 Richard E. Neustadt and Thomas C. Schelling Awards.

  • Arts & Culture

    The making of Memorial Hall

    Harvard alumni started discussions about a memorial in May 1865, as the Civil War ended. By December they had chosen a design. Memorial Hall was to be an ornate Gothic Revival structure, with 5,000 square feet of stained glass, a 210-foot tower, intricate slate roofing, and gargoyles sheathed with copper.

  • Science & Tech

    A vision of computing’s future

    In 1978, while a student at Harvard Business School, Dan Bricklin conceived of VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet program for personal computers. The result helped to spark a digital revolution in business and made desktop computers a must-have item in many offices.

  • Science & Tech

    ‘A timeout from your regular life’

    Scientist Benny Shilo left his developmental biology lab to spend a year as a fellow at Radcliffe, where he explores the intersection of art and science to foster greater public understanding.

  • Campus & Community

    The hub of the post-College universe

    As undergraduates turn their thoughts to life after Harvard, the Office of Career Services helps them to prepare for work and graduate school. The office acquaints students with the options available to them after graduation, from jobs and internships, to professional school, to international fellowships and travel.

  • Campus & Community

    A chaplain without robes

    A Divinity School student reflects on his calling, how it has defined him and makes him different, and where it might lead.

  • Nation & World

    A welcome home

    After more than a decade away, Professor Eric Maskin returned to the Economics Department this semester to a warm reception — and with a Nobel Prize in tow.

  • Campus & Community

    A look inside: Quincy House

    Harvard’s Housing Day came full force to Quincy House, as students colorfully welcomed new residents.

  • Health

    Whirlybirds and maple syrup

    Perhaps botany, not boxing, is the real sweet science. Harvard Forest researchers are seeking to illuminate maple tree dynamics, investigating a possible link between autumn “mast seeding” and the sugar content of spring sap.