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Health
New obesity-related genes identified
A large international consortium has made significant inroads into uncovering the genetic basis of obesity, adding six new genetic variants to the two already linked to higher body mass index (BMI) in previous studies. Most of the newly discovered genes had never before been suspected of having a role in body weight and, curiously, many…
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Health
Pain is more intense when inflicted on purpose
Researchers at Harvard University have discovered that our experience of pain depends in part on whether we think someone caused the pain intentionally. Participants in a study who believed they were getting an electrical shock from another person on purpose, rather than accidentally, rated the shock as more painful than those receiving the same shock…
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Science & Tech
Robotic radical hysterectomy has advantages
New technologies now allow surgery to be performed with less impact on patient quality of life. As the trend toward minimally invasive surgery grows, robotic-assisted surgery has become an appealing tool for gynecologic oncology surgeons. However, to date, there is little data to confirm the benefits of this technology. New research from Brigham and Women’s…
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Science & Tech
Idle computing power may ID candidate molecules for efficient solar panels
The world today uses enough power to illuminate 150 billion light bulbs for a year. According to some estimates, by 2050, demand will double, creating irreversible climate change without reductions in humanity’s carbon output.
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Campus & Community
Algebra, topology expert Lurie named professor of mathematics
Mathematician Jacob Lurie, whose expertise ranges across algebraic geometry, topology, and algebra, has been named professor of mathematics in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2009.
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Science & Tech
Modeling the forest … and the trees
When building computer models of the ecosystems that cover the earth’s surface, it is tempting to incorporate sweeping generalizations in your calculations.
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Science & Tech
Researchers study glaciers on Earth’s coldest desert
It’s December, and undergraduate Jenny Middleton bundles up to face the cold. While all across campus, students, and faculty don their winter gear, Middleton is not preparing for the New England winter; she is preparing for an expedition through the Earth’s coldest desert: the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica.
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Science & Tech
Climate options must include ‘all of the above’
Climate change has so much momentum behind it that “either/or” discussions about options are meaningless because it’ll take all we can do just to arrest carbon dioxide at levels double those in preindustrial times, a top climate scientist said Dec. 11.
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Nation & World
Government of India gives $4.5M to support grad students
The government of India has given Harvard University $4.5 million to support fellowships for graduate students from India. The gift recognizes the accomplishments of Harvard Professor of Economics and Philosophy and Thomas W. Lamont University Professor Amartya Sen and his work for social and economic justice across the globe. It also recognizes the work of…
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Campus & Community
HGSE group brings civics back into curriculum
As schools around the country work to meet academic requirements in reading and math set by the No Child Left Behind Act, some educators worry the trend ignores a critical part of a child’s learning: civic and moral education.
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Campus & Community
Du Bois Institute awards four with medals of honor
The W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, Harvard’s highest honor in African American Studies, was presented on Friday (Dec. 12) to Ingrid Saunders Jones, Richard L. Plepler, Tamara Robinson, and Tavis Smiley, at a ceremony at the Harvard Kennedy School to honor their outstanding “contributions to culture, art, and the life of the mind.”
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Nation & World
Semester’s series ends with daylong panels
Sixty years ago this month, the United Nations released to a war-shocked world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a catalog of norms understood to apply to all human beings.
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Campus & Community
Lawrence Lessig receives two Harvard appointments
Renowned legal scholar Lawrence Lessig has been appointed to the faculty of Harvard Law School, and as the faculty director of Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics.
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Health
New label-free method tracks molecules and drugs in live cells
A new type of highly sensitive microscopy developed by Harvard researchers could greatly expand the limits of modern biomedical imaging, allowing scientists to track the location of minuscule metabolites and…
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Health
Supply of board-certified emergency physicians unlikely to meet projected needs
The number of physicians with board certification in emergency medicine is unlikely to meet the staffing needs of U.S. emergency departments in the foreseeable future, if ever. In the December…
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Arts & Culture
Seidel honored with Crystal Quill Award
Steve Seidel, the Patricia Bauman Arts in Education professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), received the Crystal Quill Award from the Shakespeare Festival/LA Nov. 20 in Los Angeles. The Shakespeare Festival/LA is an arts organization that uses professional theater traditions to “enchant, enrich, and build community.”
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Arts & Culture
Author McGowan is honored as ‘2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year’
Can parents raise moral children without religion? Greg Epstein M.T.S. ’07 thinks so. He’s the Humanist chaplain at Harvard, and has just finished writing a book due out next fall. Its title: “Good Without God.”
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Campus & Community
Police reports
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Dec. 8. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
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Campus & Community
In brief
Requests for HSPH Distinguished Alum Award nominations; Holiday gifts for those in need
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Campus & Community
Newsmakers
Alfred Goldberg, cell biology professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS), recently received a $15,000 cash prize as the recipient of the 11th annual Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award for Biotechnology and Medicine from Brandeis University.
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Campus & Community
Darman memorial service, dedication on Dec. 16
There will be a memorial service honoring Richard Darman ’64, M.B.A.’67 from 11 a.m. to noon on Dec. 16 at the Memorial Church. Darman, who died Jan. 25, was a member of the faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) where he received the Carballo Award for Excellence in Teaching and Distinguished Public Service, having…
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Campus & Community
HUHS continues to offer flu vaccination clinics
Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) is conducting free vaccination clinics.
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Campus & Community
Zeph Stewart
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on November 18, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Zeph Stewart, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Stewart was an effective and beloved teacher.
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Campus & Community
Harvard welcomes 2008-09 Fulbright Scholars
Twenty-nine foreign scholars and professionals have been named Fulbright Scholar Program grant recipients for the 2008-09 academic year. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, participating governments, and host institutions in the United States and abroad, these grants allow scholars from across the globe to lecture or conduct research at the University.
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Campus & Community
New high-tech ID cards to be distributed around University
Beginning this week and continuing through the early winter of 2009, Harvard is distributing new, high-technology ID cards to the University community. The Harvard ID card is used in more than 400 systems across campus, and the new card will make those systems more secure by segregating key information and encrypting it in card-based technologies…
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Campus & Community
Sports in brief
Harvard’s All-American cornerback Andrew Berry ’09 was honored as one of 15 finalists for The Draddy Trophy by the National Football Foundation (NFF) on Tuesday (Dec. 9) at the 19th annual NFF Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York.
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Campus & Community
New shelter will protect bicycles
Bicyclists across the University have a new way to protect their rides. University Operations Services’ Transportation Services and CommuterChoice recently unveiled a covered bike shelter near the newly completed Francis Avenue parking lot close to the Divinity School.
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Campus & Community
Plummer, Noble honored at Memorial Church
It was only last year that a crowded room in Salem, Mass., chuckled as the Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes of the Memorial Church remarked that the city had erected a statue of “Bewitched” actress Elizabeth Montgomery — an irony as her sole relationship to Salem was her role as a TV witch. Salem’s real…