Featured series 
Month: April 2008
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Nation & World
Potent new strategy for mapping animal species shakes up tree of life
Since the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” efforts to trace evolutionary relationships among different classes of organisms have largely relied on external morphological observations.
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Nation & World
Arnold Arboretum launches SHIP initiative
Today (April 10) the Arnold Arboretum launched the online component of its SHIP (Seed Herbarium Image Project) initiative, which utilizes high-resolution digital photography to document the morphology of seeds and associated fruit structures. The culmination of more than two years of planning and preparation, the project is a unique digital resource for scientists, horticulturists, and…
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Nation & World
An ocean of bad tidings
Jeremy B.C. Jackson earned his first chops as a scholar by studying the ecological impacts of an event that unfolded over the last 15 million years: the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, dividing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and setting off profound evolutionary oceanic and terrestrial changes.
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Nation & World
Astronaut, volunteer Stephanie D. Wilson honored
NASA astronaut Stephanie D. Wilson ’88 was awarded the Women’s Professional Achievement Award at the 11th annual Harvard College Women’s Leadership Awards ceremony held April 3 at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. Additionally, Harvard senior Katherine Beck received the Women’s Leadership Award. Both honors were presented by the Harvard College Women’s Center.
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Nation & World
Ancient science, modern lens
Hanging on the wall in Boylston 232, between windows overlooking the southern edge of Tercentenary Theatre, two small photographs present an intricate view of distant, colorful nebulae. Mark Schiefsky, professor of the classics, captured both images with his telescope. He has been revisiting the hobby of astrophotography as of late, an old passion from his…
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Nation & World
Columbia, Nieman name Lukas Prize Project Awards
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University have announced this year’s winners of the Lukas Prize Project Awards. The awards, established in 1998, recognize excellence in nonfiction books that exemplify the literary grace and commitment to serious research and social concern that characterized the distinguished work…
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Nation & World
HKS names 2008 Neustadt, Schelling Award winners
A former prime minister and physician, and an eminent pioneer in the field of decision analysis are recipients of the 2008 Richard E. Neustadt and Thomas C. Schelling Awards. The awards will be presented May 15 during a private dinner at the Charles Hotel hosted by Dean David T. Ellwood of the Harvard Kennedy School…
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Nation & World
Nieman Foundation to administer Bingham Prize for journalism
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard has announced that it will oversee the management of the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism. The annual award honors outstanding newspaper or magazine investigative reporting of stories of national significance where the public interest is being poorly served.
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Nation & World
Zoellick wants to ‘retool’ the World Bank
World Bank President Robert Zoellick reiterated his call to retool the organization to better meet the new set of development challenges across the globe during a discussion Thursday night (April 3) at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard Kennedy School.
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Nation & World
Stilgoe predicts the return of railroad
The golden age of the railroad ended in the mid-20th century, when Americans switched from Pullman cars to Chevys and eventually 747 jetliners. Yet, to John R. Stilgoe, Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Graduate School of Design, trains are anything but passé. Based on analyses of…
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Nation & World
Self discusses gender, feminism, privacy
Brown University cultural historian Robert O. Self — a Radcliffe Fellow this year — made a name for himself with his book “American Babylon” (Princeton University Press, 2003). He was the first scholar to connect the civil rights struggle with postwar white flight to the suburbs, and the tax incentives that made suburbanization possible.
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Nation & World
Jeremy R. Knowles
Jeremy R. Knowles, an eminent chemist and longtime leader of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, died today (April 3) at his home in Cambridge, after a struggle with cancer.
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Nation & World
This year’s HAA Global Series leads to China
In March 2008 Harvard President Drew Faust traveled to Shanghai, China, for the sixth Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Global Series.
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Nation & World
Seminar calls Iraq conflict America’s first ‘credit card war’
The five-year-old Iraq conflict is America’s first “credit card war.” And like anyone who has run up a huge credit card bill knows, a credit card debt can turn into a crushing burden with long-term consequences. This, too, will be a legacy of the Iraq War.
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Nation & World
Khan winners at Gund Hall
An exhibition featuring the winning projects of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture will run through May 21 in the gallery at Gund Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). The Aga Khan Program at the GSD and the Humanities Center at Harvard University organized the exhibition, in collaboration with the Aga Khan Award for…
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Nation & World
Shapiro offers guidance on humanities, career path
First-year students joined Robert Shapiro ’72, member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard and president of the Peabody Essex Museum, for a career conference in the Humanities Center on April 2. The event was the third in a series of conferences titled “Humanities: A Way in the World” that explore how concentrating in the…
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Nation & World
Office for Arts announces spring 2008 grants
More than 800 students will participate in 27 projects in dance, music, theater, and multidisciplinary genres at Harvard this spring, sponsored in part by the Office for the Arts (OfA) grant program. Grants are designed to foster creative and innovative artistic initiatives among Harvard undergraduates.
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Nation & World
Filmmaker literally deconstructs classic, avant-garde movies
For filmmakers, the visual image is vital. But movie producer Rebecca Baron is more interested in what you can’t see.
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Nation & World
Martorell conducts his own sort of life class at Fogg
Shortly after unpacking his bags and setting up his easel, Antonio Martorell is ruminating on the philosophy of art. “The materials, as such, are as important as subject matter. They become subject matter themselves — they are matter and they matter.”
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Nation & World
‘Embracing our own being’
Controversial pop artist Jeff Koons brought his unique perspective to the Carpenter Center Thursday night (April 3), speaking about his work and philosophy to an invited audience of just over 200.
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Nation & World
Reprogrammed adult skin cells treat Parkinson’s disease in animal model
Researchers at the Whitehead Institute and Harvard Stem Cell Institute(HSCI) have reported successfully reducing symptoms in a Parkinson’s disease rat model by using dopamine producing neurons derived from reprogrammed adult…
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Nation & World
A Genetic Cause for Iron Deficiency
The discovery of a gene for a rare form of inherited iron deficiency may provide clues to iron deficiency in the general population – particularly iron deficiency that doesn’t respond…
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Nation & World
Suboptimal sleep, TV watching correlate with overweight in infants and toddlers
Infants and toddlers who sleep less than 12 hours a day are twice as likely to become overweight by age 3 than children who sleep longer. In addition, high levels…
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Nation & World
Jeremy Knowles, eminent chemist, Harvard leader, 72
SUBHEAD By XXXXXXXXX Harvard News Office –> Jeremy R. Knowles, an eminent chemist and longtime leader of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, died April 3 at his home in…
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Nation & World
Louise Ivers: A higher purpose
It was January 2008 and the baby – the youngest of four children – had been brought into the clinic Ivers heads at Boucan Carré, Haiti, after a period of vomiting and not eating well.
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Nation & World
This month in Harvard history
April 25, 1674 — The Harvard Corporation orders that “freshmen of the Colledg shall not at any time be compelled by any Senior students to goe on errands or doe any servile work for them. And if any shall præsume to send them in times injoyned for study both the sender and the goer shall…
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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 March 3. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
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Nation & World
In brief
PDK TALK TO EXPLORE LEADERSHIP, LAST CALL FOR ARTISTS, FREE TICKETS FOR YING SWAN SONG, DUMBARTON OAKS SET TO REOPEN
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Nation & World
Association for Women in Psychology honors Caplan
Paula J. Caplan, lecturer on studies of women, gender, and sexuality at Harvard, has received a distinguished career award from the Association for Women in Psychology at its annual conference in San Diego last month. At the conference, Caplan delivered a lecture titled “Defying Authority: The Liberation and Poignancy of Challenging the Status Quo.”