Stem cells are the fundamental source of all the bodys tissues, the template from which bodily cells are derived. As cells die off or are damaged, the hundreds of thousands of stem cells in the human body give rise – constantly – to new tissue. Injuries as simple as the scalding of the mouth with a hot beverage and as grave as the compromising of the immune system during chemotherapy require the activity of stem cells to repair cellular damage.
The reigning league champion Harvard mens tennis team inched closer to a repeat performance this past Saturday (April 17) with a not-so-slight 7-0 shutout of visiting Penn. Still perfect in league play, the Crimson (18-6, 4-0 Ivy) – who also downed Princeton, 5-2, a day earlier – next face Brown, also 18-6, 4-0 Ivy, this Friday (April 23) in Providence in a match-up that will likely have title implications.
Edward Elwyn Jones, currently acting University organist and choirmaster, has been appointed the seventh Gund University Organist and Choirmaster. The Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, announced Jones appointment at the Easter morning service.
Last Friday evenings (April 16) presentation at Harvard Divinity School by the Rev. Dr. Mel White, the former dean of the largest gay and lesbian church in the world (the Dallas Cathedral of Hope), was billed as a lecture on Religion, Homosexuality and Marriage: Why We Cant Wait. But it was really a rallying cry.
Current thinking on how most communicable respiratory infections are spread – by large droplets over short distances or by coming in contact with contaminated surfaces (face-to-face) – needs to be reconsidered, according to Donald Milton, lecturer on occupational and environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of a perspective in the April 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The perspective coincides with the report by Yu et al. in this issue on airborne transmission of SARS.
The children who inhabit the world of award-winning author, educator, and activist Jonathan Kozol 58 dont wear designer clothing, dont have parents who drive around in SUVs, and dont vacation at Disney World. They live in extreme poverty in the inner cities in places like New York and Los Angeles and often endure chronic asthma, hunger, and homelessness as a way of life. For 40 years, Kozol has worked with these poor children, their parents, preachers, teachers, and principals – and spoken out against the inequities of this countrys public school systems.
Stem cell therapies have the potential to do for chronic diseases what antibiotics did for infectious diseases. It is going to take years of serious research to get there, but as a neurologist, I believe the prospect of a penicillin for Parkinsons is a potential breakthrough that we must pursue. As in other areas of creative endeavor in science, the answers will come only with careful experimentation.
Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations and 2001 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, will be Harvards 2004 Commencement speaker at the Afternoon Exercises on June 10.
At its 11th meeting of the year (April 14) the Faculty Council discussed with Dean of the College Benedict Gross (mathematics) and Professor Jennifer Leaning (faculty of public health) the implementation of the recommendations made last year by the Committee to Address Sexual Assault at Harvard (the Leaning Committee). Dean Julia Fox (Harvard College) and Susan Marine (director of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response) were present for this conversation.
April 4, 1907 – Nathan Marsh Pusey, Harvard’s future 24th President, is born in Council Bluffs, Iowa. April 15, 1912 – The luxury liner “Titanic” sinks in the North Atlantic.…
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending April 10. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor.
Marking the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegregated Americas schools, Harvard Law School (HLS) turned its attention Tuesday night (April 13) to Justice of the United States Thurgood Marshall, who as legal director for the NAACP successfully argued the Brown case. Yet with a panel of eight HLS faculty members who clerked for Marshall, the event painted a far richer portrait of the civil rights leader than is well known. The panelists shaded his august jurisprudential legacy with personal recollections of Marshall as a boss and mentor who told salty stories, gambled with passion, and called his clerks knuckleheads.
Two music department faculty honored G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music Kay Kaufman Shelemay was elected fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research. The academy represents the oldest organization…
Defender Belitsos earns league accolades For her recent efforts against the attack, sophomore midfielder Elaine Belitsos of the Harvard women’s lacrosse team was named the Ivy League’s Defensive Player of…
National interfaith leader and best-selling author the Rev. Mel White will address the conflict between religious and gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender (GLBT) communities at three events this weekend (April 16-18) at Harvard. White is the founder of SoulForce Inc., an interfaith movement committed to ending spiritual violence against GLBT people.
As sales of recorded music drop precipitously, the music industry has pointed a blaming finger at the dramatic growth of file sharing among individuals who search, share, and download music files from each other. Surely if consumers can get their favorite songs for free, the reasoning goes, theyre not making tracks to the nearest record store to pay $18 for a CD.
Americas intelligence community stands at a critical crossroads. So says Jack Grierson, the Kennedy Schools CIA officer in residence, who recently retired after 30 years with the agency.
Detailed results of the estrogen-alone study within the Womens Health Initiative (WHI), which was terminated in early March 2004, are providing some of the first answers to questions about the efficacy of estrogen alone to prevent chronic disease in healthy, postmenopausal women who have had a hysterectomy. WHI researchers, including investigators at Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH), have shown that after 6.8 years of study on more than 10,000 women nationwide, estrogen-alone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women increased the risk of stroke, reduced the risk of hip fracture, and had minimal effect on the risk of heart disease and breast cancer. In addition, the research suggests that women who start estrogen earlier in life may receive more heart health benefits than those who start later in life. These findings are published in the April 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The tour of Harvard Square left little doubt in Jody Pintos mind that this was a neighborhood full of well-loved buildings and important historical sites.
When Harvard Law School (HLS) Dean Elena Kagan charged the faculty with enhancing the intellectual life of the Law School, many of them convened conferences, booked speakers, and hosted seminars on legal issues of the day.
The Clothesline Project was designed as a way for survivors of sexual violence to air out their dirty laundry – a way for survivors of a crime that is often kept silent to let their voices be heard.
The Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe at the Kennedy School of Government has announced the creation of its first faculty research grant program. Grants of up to $15,000 will support advanced research by Harvard faculty members on issues of critical importance to Southeastern and East-Central Europe. Grants can be applied toward research assistance, travel, summer salary, and course buyout.
Kokkalis Program supporting summer research grants The Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe is now accepting applications for summer research and internship grants. Students currently enrolled in undergraduate, graduate,…
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