Featured series 
Year: 2007
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Nation & World
Sports Briefs
Free tix for hoops, hockey University employees with a valid ID are eligible to receive a pair of free tickets to the following Harvard athletic events: women’s basketball vs. Holy Cross (Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.); men’s basketball vs. University of California, Irvine (Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.); men’s hockey vs. Clarkson (Jan. 12 at…
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Nation & World
Flu vaccinations offered
Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) is offering free flu shots to members of the Harvard community.
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Nation & World
Bonsai collection highlights age, beauty
The foliage is green and youthful, but the twisted, gnarled trunks show the trees’ age. But that’s the point, of course.
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Nation & World
Seabed microbe study leads to low-cost power, light for the poor
A Harvard biology professor’s fascination with seafloor microbes has led to the development of a revolutionary, low-cost power system consuming garbage, compost, and other waste that could provide light for the developing world.
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Nation & World
Newly discovered type of cell death may end up inhibiting tumor growth
Sometimes healthy cells commit suicide. In the 1970s, scientists showed that a type of programmed cell death called apoptosis plays a key role in development, and the 2002 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine recognized their work. As apoptotic cells degrade, they display standard characteristics, including irregular bulges in the membrane and nuclear fragmentation.
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Nation & World
Slow reading in dyslexia is tied to disorganized brain tracts
Dyslexia marked by poor reading fluency — slow and choppy reading — may be caused by disorganized, meandering tracts of nerve fibers in the brain, according to researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Their study, using the latest imaging methods, gives researchers a glimpse of what may go wrong…
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Nation & World
Blood stem cell’s roles could help clarify pathogenesis
No other stem cell is more thoroughly understood than the blood, or hematopoietic, stem cell. These occasional and rare cells, scattered sparingly throughout the marrow and capable of replenishing an entire blood system, have been the driving force behind successful bone marrow transplants for decades. Scientists, for the most part, have seen this as the…
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Nation & World
Brain systems less coordinated with age
Some brain systems become less coordinated with age even in the absence of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from Harvard University. The results help to explain why advanced age is often accompanied by a loss of mental agility, even in an otherwise healthy individual.
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Nation & World
Increasing growth hormone release reduces abdominal fat
Treatment with an investigational drug that induces the release of growth hormone significantly improved the symptoms of HIV lipodystrophy, a condition involving redistribution of fat and other metabolic changes in patients receiving combination drug therapy for HIV infection.
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Nation & World
Phi Beta Kappa elects 48 seniors
The following seniors, listed below by their Houses, were nominated to Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) in the latest round of elections, held this past November.
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Nation & World
CPL honors Yacoobi with 2007 Gleitsman Award
The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at the Kennedy School of Government presented the 2007 Gleitsman International Activist Award to Sakena Yacoobi on Dec. 4. Yacoobi is the founder and executive director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), which she established in 1995 to provide teacher training to Afghan women, to support education for…
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Nation & World
Gift to KSG to help advance social justice
Officials at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) recently announced that the late Alan L. Gleitsman has left a bequest of $20 million to the School in order to advance his longtime passion: the pursuit of social justice. The gift is to serve as an endowment at the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at the…
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Nation & World
The importance of early education
Forty-six years ago, a working-class town in Michigan began a program that changed lives. “Mind-blowing,” one scholar called it at Harvard last week.
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Nation & World
Scholar uses Singer sewing machine to parse cultural, economic development
Harvard historian Andrew D. Gordon ’74, Ph.D. ’81 specializes in modern Japan and has written or edited a handful of breakthrough books on big labor, big steel, and big management.
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Nation & World
Young global leaders unite at Kennedy School in mini-United Nations
The group was diverse, talented, and cross-cultural: cabinet ministers, high-powered CEOs, and influential journalists sitting side by side addressing some of the most pressing issues facing the globe. A mini-United Nations.
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Nation & World
Gorbachev calls for new move to eliminate nukes
Former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev called for a renewed commitment to eliminate the world’s nuclear weapons Tuesday (Dec. 4), saying the current generation of world leaders cannot coast on disarmament treaties of the past.
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Nation & World
Galbreth ’08 named Marshall Scholar
Megan Galbreth, a senior in Lowell House, has been named a 2008 Marshall Scholar. The award entitles Galbreth to two years of study at Oxford University, where she will pursue an M.Phil. in English Language and Literature.
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Nation & World
Talent scouts
Late one morning in mid-November, William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 looked for his seat on a jetliner at Boston’s Logan Airport. Moving down the aisle, magazine in hand and wheeling a carry-on, he had the weary certainty of a seasoned traveler.
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Nation & World
Even in healthy elderly, brain systems become less coordinated
Some brain systems become less coordinated with age even in the absence of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from Harvard University. The results help to explain why advanced…
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Nation & World
Slow reading in dyslexia tied to disorganized brain tracts
Dyslexia marked by poor reading fluency — slow and choppy reading — may be caused by disorganized, meandering tracts of nerve fibers in the brain, according to researchers at Children’s…
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Nation & World
Charlesview and Harvard agree to land exchange
The Charlesview Inc. board of directors and Harvard University have signed a purchase-and-sale agreement that will enable the construction of a new apartment complex for Allston’s Charlesview residents on Harvard-owned property located a half-mile from the current complex in Barry’s Corner.
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Nation & World
Three from Harvard selected as Rhodes Scholars
Two Harvard seniors and a recent graduate have been chosen as Rhodes Scholars. Clara L. Blättler of Brookline, Mass., and Shayak Sarkar, of Edinburg, Texas, were among the 32 Americans chosen for the prestigious scholarship that funds two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. Sammy K. Sambu has been…
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Nation & World
Faculty Council
At its fifth meeting of the year on Nov. 28, the Faculty Council considered proposals for mandatory course evaluations and for restructuring and renaming the joint Ph.D. program in Information, Technology, and Management, and voted on the proposed Harvard Summer School Courses of Instruction for 2008. The council next meets on Dec. 5. The preliminary…
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Nation & World
Standing committees of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Upon the recommendation of the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), Harvard President Drew Faust has approved and announced the following Standing Committees. Standing Committees of the faculty are constituted to perform a continuing function. Each committee has been established by a vote of the faculty, and can be dissolved only by…
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Nation & World
This month in Harvard history
Nov. 11, 1951 — On Armistice Day (now Veterans’ Day), an overflow crowd jams the Memorial Church for the dedication of the World War II Memorial wall, bearing the names of those from the Harvard family who gave their lives in service to the nation. The guest preacher is the Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill,…
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Nation & World
Police reports
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Nov. 26. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online athttp://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
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Nation & World
In brief
Harvard Trademark Program launches new site The Harvard Trademark Program has announced the launch of its new Web site,http://www.trademark.harvard.edu.
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Nation & World
Newsmakers
Ryan Travia recognized for Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisers program Harvard’s Director of Alcohol and Other Drug Services Ryan M. Travia was named one of five “National Outstanding Advisers” at a national convention held in Atlanta earlier this month. The annual event was sponsored by an international network of colleges and schools dedicated to promoting…
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Nation & World
Four named to Institute of Politics advisory committee
Harvard University’s Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Kennedy School of Government has announced the appointment of four experienced political practitioners to the institute’s senior advisory committee. The committee is responsible for guiding and advising institute staff toward fulfillment of the IOP’s mission of inspiring young people to careers in politics and public service.