Year: 2007

  • Nation & World

    Gene variation may elevate risk of liver tumor in patients with cirrhosis

    A genetic  variation appears to significantly increase the risk that individuals with  cirrhosis of the liver will develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a liver tumor that is the third leading cause…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Turning on cells with magnetic switches

    Harvard scientists have figured out how to turn cells on and off using magnets, an advance with potentially broad applications as researchers around the world work to find new ways…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Harvard researchers achieve stem cell milestone

    Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have successfully turned back the clock on human skin cells, causing them to revert to an embryonic stem cell-like state from which they can become…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Sulfur dioxide may have helped maintain a warm early Mars

    Sulfur dioxide (SO2) may have played a key role in the climate and geochemistry of early Mars, geoscientists at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggest in…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Microchip-based device can detect rare tumor cells in bloodstream

    A team of investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems (BioMEMS) Resource Center and the MGH Cancer Center has developed a microchip-based device that can isolate, enumerate and…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Living in disadvantaged neighborhood equivalent to missing a year of school

    Childhood exposure to severely disadvantaged communities is linked to decreased verbal ability later in childhood, a lasting negative effect that continues even after moving out of the neighborhood, according to…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Discovery of a key molecular switch regulating cancer stem cells

    The role of stem cells in tumor development has, unexpectedly, been one of the biggest stories in cancer research over the past few years. These aren’t  embryonic stem cells, but…

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Cabaret lecture, satirical chansons

    Robert Darnton describes the political power of street songs, the “newspapers” of 18th century France, while French mezzo-soprano Helene Delavault sings her heart out.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    French history is taught, sung in ‘cabaret lecture’

    In 18th century Paris, political gossip and courtly intrigue swirled through the city as smoothly and deliciously as well-aged wine. To stay current, most citizens turned not to newspapers but to street songs, popular tunes that were improvised and modified as affairs developed.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    New survey of public attitudes on cold and cough medications for children

    A new survey from NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health examines the public’s views of over-the-counter children’s cold and cough medications in the wake…

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Researchers discover second light-sensing system in human eye

    New research on blind subjects has bolstered evidence that the human eye has two separate light-sensing systems — one that perceives the familiar visual signals that allow us to see…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Chimps in wild appear not to regularly experience menopause

    A pioneering study of wild chimpanzees has found that these close human relatives do not routinely experience menopause, rebutting previous studies of captive individuals which had postulated that female chimpanzees…

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Beyond early admissions

    Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia scout the Southeast in a joint recruitment trip, advertising affordability and economic diversity.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Brandt appointed dean of Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

    Allan M. Brandt, who holds appointments in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the Medical School, has been named dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) at Harvard, effective Jan. 1.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Female lower back has evolved to accommodate strain of pregnancy

    According to a new study by researchers at Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin, women’s lower spines evolved to be more flexible and supportive than men’s to increase…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Trafficked

    Slight and soft-spoken, the dark-eyed girl called Gina looks into the camera and speaks of her ordeal in a flat, disembodied voice, chronicling a story relived a thousand times. “The…

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Harvard announces sweeping middle-income initiative

    Harvard President Drew Faust and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith today announced a sweeping overhaul of financial aid policies designed to make Harvard College more affordable for families across the income spectrum through major enhancements to grant aid, the elimination of student loans, and the removal of home equity…

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Transitivity, the orbitofrontal cortex, and neuroeconomics

    You study the menu at a restaurant and decide to order the steak rather than the salmon. But when the waiter tells you about the lobster special, you decide lobster…

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    From neuroscience to childhood policy

    The Center on the Developing Child, founded in July 2006 to promote healthy child development as “the foundation of community development, economic prosperity, and a secure nation,” has been putting…

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Chute on graphic narratives — they’re not just comic books anymore

    The title of Hillary Chute’s Nov. 29 lecture, “Out of the Gutter: Contemporary Graphic Novels by Women,” has a double meaning. It refers to the elevation of graphic narratives — comics — from the lowest, most disreputable level of artistic expression to a form worthy of New York Times best-sellerdom, literary prizes, and academic attention.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    This month in Harvard history

    Dec. 13, 1856 — A(bbott) Lawrence Lowell, Harvard’s future 22nd President, is born in Boston.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Police reports

    Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Dec. 3. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    In Brief

    PBH launches gift drive for area children The Phillips Brooks House (PBH) launched its annual holiday gift drive on Dec. 3 in an effort to collect hundreds of gifts for children in Boston and Cambridge. Running through Dec. 14, the drive will provide books, games, toys, art supplies, and sports equipment to children whose parents…

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Newsmakers

    Olupona to accept prestigious Nigerian National Order of Merit Professor of African and African American Studies Jacob Olupona has been awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit prize for 2007. The president of Nigeria, Umaru Yar’Adua, will confer the award in the nation’s capital city of Abuja today (Dec. 6). The National Order of Merit…

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Emerald walks, Sox tickets up for bid at auction

    A walking tour of Dublin and a pair of Red Sox tickets are just two of the items up for bid at the annual Summer Internship Fund auction scheduled for today (Dec. 6) at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG). The silent auction, featuring dozens of items, will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by a…

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Robert Dorwart

    Robert Dorwart was an academic of the highest rank and a physician committed to understanding and improving the lives of those who could not access quality health care.

    7 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Classicist, Loeb Library trustee Stewart dies at 86

    Distinguished American classicist Zeph Stewart, who was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities Emeritus at Harvard University, passed away at his home in Watertown, Mass., on Dec. 1 at 86.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    ‘The diverse ways history can be written’

    Relocating to a foreign city for a new job can be stressful in the most congenial circumstances. Trying to depart your home country in the middle of a Communist coup? As Serhii Plokhii, Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, can tell you — that’s downright complicated.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Donald Pfister chosen as new dean of Harvard Summer School

    Donald Pfister, Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany at Harvard University and curator of the Farlow Herbarium, will become dean of the Harvard Summer School effective Jan. 1, 2008, announced Michael Shinagel, dean of Continuing Education and University Extension in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). He succeeds Robert Lue, professor of the practice…

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    David Maybury-Lewis, eminent anthropologist and scholar, 78

    David Maybury-Lewis, a Harvard anthropologist who served as a tireless advocate for indigenous cultures and peoples, died Dec. 2 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 78.

    7 minutes