All articles

  • Nation & World

    Spirited discussion brings some clarity to Obama’s strategy on Middle East

    In the final days before the U.S. presidential election, the two leading candidates were too busy dashing from one rally to the next in a few battleground states to make it to the reliably blue Bay State in person.

  • Arts & Culture

    How the ‘talking machine’ allowed music and dance to cross oceans

    In the late 1920s, with the advent of new technology, gramophone and “talking machine” companies were able to capture the sounds and rhythms of life in cities across the globe. From New York to Havana, Paris to Honolulu, labels like Victor, Gramophone Company, and Okeh competed to record vernacular music.

  • Campus & Community

    And into the night

    It was well after midnight, and America was more than an hour into the Obama era when 02138 erupted in a series of spontaneous, ravelike street parties. In Harvard Yard, revelers dressed up the sedate, seated bronze John Harvard in a cloud of red, white, and blue balloons, and propped on his still chest an…

  • Science & Tech

    Wildlife Conservation Society chief outlines scenarios

    From the complex social structure of elephant herds to the understanding that gorillas are susceptible to deadly “human” diseases to the impacts of climate change, conservationists are struggling to balance a suite of challenges unknown in past generations.

  • Campus & Community

    Home for the homeless: Community Gifts kicks off the season of giving

    It’s November again, signaling the cold autumn preamble to another lengthy Massachusetts winter. And here at Harvard, “giving month” has arrived — kicking off the annual Community Gifts Through Harvard campaign, a campuswide charitable initiative that draws much-needed dollars from generous faculty, staff, and retirees for various Massachusetts Bay charities during the month of November.…

  • Campus & Community

    At the Harvard Kennedy School

    The interest in this contest on the Harvard campus was apparent early at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. Their election night gathering, featuring returns showing on the forum’s large screen, was ticketed for the first time. Forum officials said that 1,500 applied for the 1,000 tickets available.

  • Campus & Community

    A special night at the Queen’s Head pub

    At 7 p.m., with election results still the stuff of dreams, Matthew Clair pitched in to inflate balloons at the Cambridge Queen’s Head at Loker Commons. The Dunster House senior, whose Brentwood, Tenn., family, he said, was the only one in town with an Obama sign on the front lawn, is president of the Harvard…

  • Campus & Community

    At Harvard Law School, and beyond

    One hundred and twenty seven years later, the Harvard Law School can claim it has another alumnus in the White House. On Nov. 4, Barack Obama became the second Law School grad to ascend to the nation’s highest office.

  • Campus & Community

    Clarke, inventive materials scientist, to join Harvard’s SEAS faculty

    David R. Clarke, an inventive materials scientist recognized worldwide for his outstanding contributions to the study of ceramic materials, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Materials in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), effective Jan. 1, 2009.

  • Nation & World

    Chall Lecture focuses on the future of literacy achievement gap

    Research shows that there have been positive trends in literacy achievement in the past 25 years. These gains, however, have not included a significant closing of the gaps between racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, a fact that represents a serious issue in education today.

  • Campus & Community

    Harvard Forest names Bullard Fellows

    The Harvard Forest has recently announced nine Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research for 2008-09. Established in 1962, the Bullard Fellowship program was created to support the study and advanced research of individuals looking to make important contributions as scholars or administrators in forestry.

  • Campus & Community

    Hu named professor of applied physics, electrical engineering

    Evelyn L. Hu, a pioneer in the fabrication of nanoscale electronic and photonic devices, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), effective Jan. 1, 2009.

  • Health

    Microbiologist Gary Ruvkun:

    Gary Ruvkun has made a career out of imagining the unimaginable, and of surrounding himself with like-minded thinkers who let the wheels of thought spin until they catch on something…

  • Campus & Community

    Harvard students caught up in election excitement

    On this year’s election night, the Harvard News Office cast its staff of writers and photographers out over the University to serve as witnesses. From the Kennedy School to the Queen’s Head pub, they recorded on notebook and film the tension, the growing enthusiasm, and the final nearly ecstatic pandemonium that marked this historic occasion.

  • Nation & World

    Election 2008 excitement

    Harvard students came together and tuned in to the national media at Election Night 2008 gatherings that ranged from small and quiet to large and loud, ultimately spilling into Harvard’s Yard and Square.

  • Health

    Survey finds disconnect between sexual problems in women and feeling of distress

    The largest such study ever published finds that, although about 40 percent of women surveyed report having sexual problems, only 12 percent indicate that those issues are a source of…

  • Science & Tech

    Evelyn Hu named professor of applied physics, electrical engineering in SEAS

    Evelyn L. Hu, a pioneer in the fabrication of nanoscale electronic and photonic devices, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering in Harvard University’s School…

  • Science & Tech

    David Clarke appointed as professor of materials in School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

    David R. Clarke, an inventive materials scientist recognized worldwide for his out-standing contributions to the study of ceramic materials, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Materials in Harvard University’s…

  • Health

    Gene scan of Alzheimer’s families identifies four new suspect genes

    The first family-based genome-wide association study in Alzheimer’s disease has identified the sites of four novel genes that may significantly influence risk for the most common late-onset form of the…

  • Campus & Community

    Paul Zofnass ’69, M.B.A. ’73 establishes GSD sustainability initiative

    Paul Zofnass ’69, M.B.A. ’73 has established a sustainability initiative at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) with a $500,000 gift.

  • Arts & Culture

    Houghton joins with libraries nationwide to celebrate artists’ retreat

    HCL Communications It’s been said great art often grows out of tragedy — in the case of Yaddo, an artists’ retreat in upstate New York founded in 1900, tragedy spurred the creation of hundreds of great works of art.

  • Arts & Culture

    The Nobel for literature: An insider’s view

    One of Per Wästberg’s best times as a college student in the 1950s was the night he got locked in Widener Library. “I got so enthralled [in the stacks], the library closed and I couldn’t get out,” Wästberg said with a laugh, noting that the floor of the library was nicer than his room at…

  • Campus & Community

    Effects of climate change vary greatly across plant families

    Drawing on records dating back to the journals of Henry David Thoreau, scientists at Harvard University have found that different plant families near Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., have borne the effects of climate change in strikingly different ways. Some of the plant families hit hardest by global warming have included beloved species like lilies,…

  • Science & Tech

    10 ways to help

    1. Drive less: Walk, bike, and take public transportation instead. Check out the Harvard Commuter Choice Program for information on ridesharing, discounts for MBTA passes, and more.

  • Campus & Community

    Women have national title hopes

    It has been a decade since the women’s ice hockey team won a national championship. Despite 10 years of ECAC and Ivy League dominance, the Crimson have been way too close to the top — way too often. Since the first year of the women’s NCAA tournament (2001), the team has reached the NCAA tournament…

  • Campus & Community

    Police reports

    Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Oct. 27. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu.

  • Campus & Community

    Mortimer John Buckley

    Mortimer John Buckley was born July 1, 1932 in Worcester, Massachusetts to an Irish immigrant family from near Killarney. Mort attended the College of the Holy Cross and then Boston University Medical School, later being named a distinguished alumnus of both schools.

  • Campus & Community

    Goldstone to receive MacArthur for international justice work

    The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will honor Justice Richard J. Goldstone, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, with the MacArthur Award for International Justice in May.

  • Campus & Community

    Men’s hockey draws high preseason expectations

    Highs and lows were thematic throughout the 2007-08 men’s hockey season. After losing to No. 11 Clarkson in the season opener, the Crimson won six of their next eight games — outscoring their opponents 23-10.

  • Campus & Community

    Korea Institute announces postdoctoral fellows for 2008-09

    The Korea Institute recently announced three postdoctoral fellows for Harvard’s 2008-09 Post-Doctoral Fellowship program in Korean Studies. Todd A. Henry and Se-Mi Oh were named as this year’s postdoctoral fellows for the Korea Foundation, and Jun Uchida was selected as the postdoctoral fellow for the Korea Institute-Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.