Year: 2005

  • Campus & Community

    Simple test predicts heart attack

    White cell counts can be easily measured by inexpensive, widely available tests, raising the possibility of lowering the toll of heart disease fatalities, the leading cause of death among women…

  • Health

    High cholesterol levels accelerate growth of prostate cancer

    The findings, published in the April 1, 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, are in keeping with population studies that have linked prostate cancer with high cholesterol levels.…

  • Campus & Community

    Decoding the babel of brain cells

    If brain cell messages could be separated from the “noise” of other brain activity and clearly understood, researchers would be closer to repairing damage caused by a number of nervous…

  • Health

    Explosion of child obesity predicted to shorten U.S. life expectancy

    A review by obesity researcher David Ludwig of Children’s Hospital Boston, epidemiologist S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues concludes that obesity now reduces average…

  • Science & Tech

    Prof. Lene Hau: Stopping light cold

    In 2005, Professor Lene Hau did something that Einstein theorized was impossible. Hau stopped light cold using atoms and lasers in her Harvard lab.

  • Health

    Largest twin study of age-related macular degeneration finds genetics and environment play large role in disease

    Researchers led by Johanna M. Seddon, M.D., at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health conducted the largest study of twins of…

  • Health

    Weight status of children ages 8 to 15 predicts obesity and high blood pressure in adulthood

    “We have known that kids who are overweight or obese have a higher risk for being overweight or obese as adults. But in this paper, we show that even children…

  • Health

    Preventive removal of both breasts reduces chance of breast cancer in women at elevated risk

    “Prophylactic mastectomy appears very effective in preventing breast cancer but choosing this procedure is a complex decision,” said Ann M. Geiger, PhD, lead author of the study. “Prophylactic mastectomy prevents…

  • Campus & Community

    Vicious circles

    One of the many final snowfalls of the season dusts the surfaces of the tables outside of Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square.

  • Campus & Community

    Libraries’ site shows contents of journals

    As of March 1, the Harvard Libraries Web site features a new service to provide e-mail alerts based on the tables of contents (TOC) for new issues of approximately 15,000 print and electronic journals purchased or licensed by the Harvard Libraries. The new TOC service, powered by software from TDNet, may be accessed from a…

  • Campus & Community

    Dackerman named curator of prints

    Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums, announced Friday (March 4) the appointment of Susan Dackerman as the new Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints at the Fogg Art Museum. Dackerman will assume the position on July 5, after the retirement of the incumbent, Marjorie B. Cohn,…

  • Campus & Community

    Divinity School hires Islamic scholar Baber Johansen

    Baber Johansen – one of the worlds most eminent scholars of Islamic studies and a leading specialist, in particular, on topics of Muslim law – has accepted a tenured position at Harvard University as professor of Islamic religious studies in the Faculty of Divinity, effective July 1.

  • Campus & Community

    Ringing in the new

    Heterophony, polyvocality, and sound diffusion are not terms that typically come up in casual conversations about music. But these elements are the stock in trade of contemporary music, a genre that was on dazzling display at Paine Concert Hall last weekend (March 4 and 5) as some of its most acclaimed composers and practitioners performed…

  • Campus & Community

    Israel’s Shalom champions moderation

    Silvan Shalom, Israels deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, opened his address to a standing-room-only crowd at the Kennedy School Monday (March 7) by quoting John F. Kennedy: In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of danger. I…

  • Campus & Community

    DeWolfe Howe Fund seeks proposals for 2005-06

    The Mark DeWolfe Howe Fund for Study and Research in Civil Rights-Civil Liberties and Legal History is now accepting proposals for either the coming summer or for the 2005-06 academic year. The annual income from the fund – approximately $20,000 to be distributed as either a single grant or in several grants – will be…

  • Campus & Community

    Stolen Lives: Trafficking of women

    Gathering for what moderator Swanee Hunt, director of the Women and Public Policy Program, called a grim subject, a group of experts met in the Kennedy School Forum to talk about the trafficking of women and girls worldwide and what, if anything, can be done to stop it.

  • Campus & Community

    Freestyle and substance

    Distance freestyler John Cole 05 closed out his final year as a member of Harvards swimming and diving team in dazzling, record-setting fashion this past weekend in Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL) championship action at Blodgett Pool. Of course, after his latest string of victories (the upperclassman took first in the individual 500-, 1,000-, and…

  • Campus & Community

    Sports in brief

    Women’s hoops edge Dartmouth, 70-67, for slice of Ivy title Junior Maureen McCaffery and senior Reka Cserny sparked a 29-6 second-half run to propel the Harvard women’s basketball team past…

  • Campus & Community

    Summers announces new funds to ‘green’ campus

    In an effort to make Harvard the nations top university purchaser of renewable energy, Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers announced a new renewable energy fund to promote the development of renewable energy on campus.

  • Campus & Community

    Task Force on Women in Science to sponsor forums

    The Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering is sponsoring two upcoming forums for female postdoctoral fellows of the Harvard community. All female postdoctoral fellows from the University are invited to attend, share their thoughts, and give concrete suggestions on how Harvard can improve the postdoctoral experience for women and better equip women for…

  • Campus & Community

    In brief

    Bradley Welch to play Harvard Organ Society’s celebrity series In association with Harvard University Art Museums and the Memorial Church, the Harvard Organ Society will present a recital by world-renowned…

  • Campus & Community

    Newsmakers

    Chen wins Weintraub Award Irene A. Chen, an M.D. candidate in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Harvard Medical School, has been named one of 15 graduate students nationwide selected…

  • Campus & Community

    Low-dose aspirin shown to reduce risk of first stroke in women

    In a long-awaited clinical trial conducted among nearly 40,000 initially healthy middle-aged American women, regular use of low-dose aspirin over a 10-year period was found to reduce the risk of stroke 17 percent. However, among the same population, researchers from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) also found that low-dose aspirin did not benefit most…

  • Campus & Community

    Experts in disaster response to discuss tsunami aftermath

    The tsunami that hit Southeast Asia on Dec. 26 created one of the largest swaths of destruction meted out by a natural disaster in historical memory. This catastrophe galvanized an unprecedented outpouring of international aid in terms of funds and organizational efforts, providing an opportunity to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of international humanitarian…

  • Campus & Community

    Stone recognized for AIDS work

    Film and television actor Sharon Stone will receive the Harvard Foundations 2005 Humanitarian Award when she delivers the annual Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Lecture at the Memorial Church on Monday (March 14) at 7 p.m.

  • Campus & Community

    All history is local

    Drawing a line between areas where people use the term hoagie rather than po boy or water fountain instead of bubbler is the kind of problem that concerns linguists who study regional speech differences.

  • Campus & Community

    Douglas Feith: Democracy gains foothold in Middle East

    Democratic institutions are gaining a foothold in parts of the Middle East, according to U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. But only time will tell if the institutions flourish and if so, how those democracies will look compared with ours, Feith told an audience at the Kennedy School Forum March 3.

  • Campus & Community

    President holds office hours today

    President Lawrence H. Summers will hold office hours for students in his Massachusetts Hall office on the following dates:

  • Campus & Community

    Police reports

    Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending March 14. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor.

  • Campus & Community

    Spring memorial service set for biologist Ernst Mayr

    A memorial service for Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology Emeritus Ernst Mayr will be held April 29 at 2 p.m. in the Memorial Church. Widely considered the worlds most eminent evolutionary biologist, Mayr joined Harvards Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1953 and led Harvards Museum of Comparative Zoology from 1961 to 1970.