Featured series 
Year: 2009
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Nation & World
Study finds genetic links to age of first menstrual period, menopause
Newly identified gene variants associated with the age at which females experience their first menstrual period and the onset of menopause may help shed light on the prevention of breast and endometrial cancer, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease.
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Nation & World
Glutamine supplements show promise in treating stomach ulcers
Nearly 20 years ago, it was discovered that bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori were responsible for stomach ulcers. Since then, antibiotics have become the primary therapy used to combat the…
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Nation & World
Researchers identify the brain’s on-off switch for fear
Harvard researchers at McLean Hospital have identified a particular protein in the brain that serves as a trigger for the body’s innate fear response. This discovery suggests a potential target…
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Nation & World
On the road in the fifth century: Visions of heaven, hell
During the fifth century, travelers began to depart China more frequently than ever before, venturing outward from medieval cities to explore lands in Central and South Asia. A range of individuals eagerly took to the road, writing extensively about their journeys and returning home with elaborate accounts.
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Nation & World
The Arsenale
“Provocative” — one of the most-used words to describe art — may be an understatement for “The Arsenale,” the thesis exhibition for students in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, held at the Carpenter Center.
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Nation & World
Not so elementary, my dear Watson
For more than a century, Sherlock Holmes, the most famous creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has captivated mystery fans, literary scholars, and researchers of virtually every stripe. But, as dozens of Doyle scholars and Sherlockians showed during a recent three-day symposium at Harvard, the Holmes stories represent only a small part of Doyle’s contribution…
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Nation & World
This month in Harvard history
May 26, 1902 — The Harvard Corporation approves the construction of a temporary addition to the south side of Boylston Hall. Completed over the summer and measuring 83 by 33 feet, the add-on consists of a single large laboratory for elementary-chemistry classes and a general-use basement. The addition opens in the fall, with a stucco…
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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 May 11. 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
REISCHAUER INSTITUTE SEEKS PAPERS
The Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies is now accepting submissions for its 2009 Noma-Reischauer Prizes in Japanese Studies, given to the undergraduate and graduate students with the best essays on Japan-related topics. The submission deadline is June 30, and $3,000 will be awarded for the best graduate student essay and $2,000 for the…
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Nation & World
Semitic Museum to host tour of ‘The Houses of Ancient Israel’
The Semitic Museum will host a lunchtime tour of “The Houses of Ancient Israel: Domestic, Royal, Divine” on May 21 at 12:15 p.m., offering a view of life in an ancient Near Eastern agricultural society. The exhibit — which displays family dwellings, palaces, and temples — is arranged in terms of the different types of…
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Nation & World
Eck delivers Gifford Lectures
Diana Eck, Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society and member of the faculty of divinity, recently traveled to Scotland to deliver a series of Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh (April 27-May 7). The lecture series, which was established in 1888 through the endowment of Lord Gifford to four Scottish Universities…
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Nation & World
ROWLAND INSTITUTE NAMES TWO NEW JUNIOR FELLOWS
The Rowland Institute at Harvard has selected two new junior fellows for the institute’s fellowship program:Christopher T. Richards, a teaching fellow and research assistant in organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard, and Yuki Sato, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Nation & World
HOLOCAUST MUSEUM NAMES SULEIMAN SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE
The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has named Susan Rubin Suleiman to be the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the museum for 2009-10.
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Nation & World
PAULUS NOMINATIONS, RECOGNITIONS
American Repertory Theater Artistic Director Diane Paulus’ production of “Hair” has been nominated for eight Tony Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, and four Outer Critics Circle Awards (including Best Director), in addition to several Drama League Awards.
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Nation & World
Japanese government honors Professor Edwin A. Cranston
The government of Japan announced its decision to award Edwin A. Cranston, professor of Japanese literature, the decoration of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, on April 29.
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Nation & World
Still ‘two cultures’ but who’s on top?
Fifty years ago a simple lecture sparked a global debate with lasting implications. On May 7, 1959, British physicist and novelist C.P. Snow declared that the gap between “two cultures,” that of the sciences and the humanities, was a destructive divide hampering the effort to find solutions to the problems of the world.
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Nation & World
Looking for subatomic insights in Minnesota
After years of planning, officials broke ground this month for a new high-energy physics experiment that will probe the behavior of one of the basic particles that make up the universe: the neutrino.
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Nation & World
Bhabha to receive honorary degree, jury Biennale
Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Humanities Center Homi K. Bhabha will receive an honorary degree from the University of Paris VIII-Vincennes-Saint Denis on May 28.
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Nation & World
Kepler starts search for other Earths
As NASA’s Kepler space telescope this week begins scanning the Milky Way for planets that might harbor life, scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) are keeping their fingers crossed and waiting for the data to start flowing.
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Nation & World
Marshall service on Friday
A memorial service for Martin V. Marshall, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School (HBS), will be held on May 15 at 2 p.m. in the Class of 1959 Chapel on the HBS campus.
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Nation & World
Spiral swimmers may be new workhorses
Harvard researchers have created a new type of microscopic swimmer: a magnetized spiral that corkscrews through liquids and is able to deliver chemicals and push loads larger than itself.
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Nation & World
Embryo’s heartbeat drives blood stem cell formation
Biologists have long wondered why the embryonic heart begins beating so early, before the tissues actually need to be infused with blood. Two groups of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston (Children’s) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) — presenting multiple lines of evidence from zebrafish, mice, and mouse embryonic stem…
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Nation & World
Omeljan Pritsak
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 5, 2009, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Omeljan Pritsak, Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Pritsak’s work transformed our understanding of East Slavic history.
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Nation & World
HBS teams share dreams for success
In a series of presentations in Burden Auditorium, teams of students recently presented their ideas and dreams for entrepreneurial success at the final round of Harvard Business School’s (HBS) 13th annual Business Plan Contest.
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Nation & World
Jeremy Randall Knowles
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 5, 2009, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Jeremy Randall Knowles, Amory Houghton Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and former Dean of the FAS, was placed upon the records. Knowles set the standard for selfless service and was a…
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Nation & World
Business School’s Milton P. Brown, retail and marketing expert, 90
Harvard Business School (HBS) Professor Emeritus Milton P. Brown, an expert in retailing and marketing who for almost half a century influenced thousands of M.B.A. students and executives through his skills as an extraordinarily talented teacher, died on April 25 in Exeter, N.H. He was 90 years old.
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Nation & World
Weissman internships will support 50 students abroad
This summer, the Weissman International Internship Program will send a record 50 students abroad as interns, working in 25 countries across the globe. The interns will engage in a wide range of private and public sector opportunities, including ventures in art and architecture, business, environmental sustainability, foreign policy, human rights, international development, journalism, public health,…
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Nation & World
Twenty-four elected to Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Beta Kappa recently elected 24 students from the Class of 2010 to the Harvard College chapter of Alpha Iota of Massachusetts.
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Nation & World
Waldheim appointed professor, chair of landscape architecture
Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design Mohsen Mostafavi announced the appointment of Charles Waldheim as professor of landscape architecture and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at GSD, effective July of this year.
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Nation & World
Religion key to foreign policy, says HKS speaker
As President Obama and his new administration seek to redirect U.S. foreign policy back toward more emphasis on diplomacy and less on the use of force, they should not overlook Orthodox Christianity as a resource.