Featured series 
Year: 2010
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Health
Newborns need for vitamin D
The vitamin D levels of newborn babies appear to predict their risk of respiratory infections during infancy and the occurrence of wheezing during early childhood, but not the risk of developing asthma. Results of a study in the January 2011 issue of Pediatrics support the theory that widespread vitamin D deficiency contributes to risk of…
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Health
Mixed messages
A comparative analysis found wide disparities in the results of four common measures of hospital-wide mortality rates, with competing methods yielding both higher- and lower-than-expected rates for the same Massachusetts hospitals during the same year.
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Health
Placebos work — even without deception
Patients who were knowingly given placebos for irritable bowel syndrome experienced significant symptom relief when compared with controls.
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Campus & Community
Chinese scholars celebrate Gates
Specialists in African-American and American literature from across China gathered on Dec. 11 and 12 at the Beijing Foreign Studies University to commemorate the 60th birthday of Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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Health
Seeing double
By comparing the DNA of modern elephants from Africa and Asia to DNA extracted from two extinct species, the woolly mammoth and the mastodon, researchers have concluded that Africa has two — not one — species of elephant. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very different animals, the forest elephant…
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Health
The face looks familiar
People’s ability to recognize and remember faces peaks at ages 30 to 34, about a decade later than most other mental abilities, a new study says.
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Campus & Community
Waves and the waggle dance
In a lecture, titled “Good Vibrations: How We Communicate” and hosted by Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Howard Stone, Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University and a former Harvard faculty member, enticed children and their families into the world of physics and biology.
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Campus & Community
Library Board names executive director
The Harvard Library Board today (Dec. 20) named Helen Shenton as the first executive director of the new Harvard Library, turning to a veteran of the British Library to develop a more coordinated management structure for the oldest library in the Western Hemisphere.
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Health
Dairy fat may help not harm
Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health and collaborators from other institutions have identified a natural substance in dairy fat that may substantially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
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Health
Female chimps treat sticks as dolls
Researchers at Harvard University and Bates College say female chimpanzees appear to treat sticks as dolls, carrying them around until they have offspring of their own. Young males engage in such behavior much less frequently.
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Nation & World
Working with WikiLeaks
In the age of WikiLeaks and other web whistleblowers, traditional journalists still have an important role to play in publishing government secrets in an effective and responsible way, said Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times. He was joined at the Nieman Foundation on Dec. 16 by a group of concerned journalists and…
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Arts & Culture
Art in the making
Barberini Faun, a rare plaster model at Harvard Art Museums, offers lessons in how ancient classical sculpture was restored in the 17th century.
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Campus & Community
President Faust’s statement on DADT
President Drew Faust’s statement on “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal.
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Arts & Culture
The landscape of slavery
Harvard historian and Radcliffe fellow Walter Johnson explored the intersecting landscapes of slavery in a talk at the Radcliffe Gymnasium.
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Health
The nose knows
Harvard researchers have shed light on how the sense of smell works to induce behavior, linking patterns of electrical spikes in the brain to behavior in laboratory animals.
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Campus & Community
Native American honored
The Harvard Foundation on Dec. 16 proudly unveiled the portrait of Caleb Cheeshahteamuck, a member of the Wampanoag tribe, and the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, in 1665.
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Nation & World
Quashing a voice, attacking a Nobel
A Nobel Peace Prize for jailed Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo brought a flood of criticism from China’s ruling Communist Party. The reaction shows China’s dedication to maintaining its “moral authority” at home, said Bao Pu, publisher of a new book of Liu’s essays.
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Science & Tech
Oh, the humanity
Using digitized books as a “cultural genome,” a team of researchers from Harvard, Google, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the American Heritage Dictionary, unveil a quantitative approach to centuries of trends.
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Campus & Community
Paul Farmer appointed University Professor
Harvard names humanitarian leader Paul Farmer a University Professor, awarding him its highest faculty honor.
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Arts & Culture
With the band
Karen Woodward Massey, director of education and outreach at FAS Research Administration Services (RAS), has always needed a creative outlet from her “right-brain” work. From ingénue roles to a staff cover band, the Grateful Deadlines, one thing remains the same: She has a ton of fun along the way.
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Science & Tech
By the numbers
Thanks to the digital revolution, Harvard is developing a legion of cyberspace fans in the world of social media.
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Arts & Culture
Students go Dada over project
A group of Harvard undergrads collaborated on period artworks that grace the Loeb’s lobby for the A.R.T.’s avant-garde musical “The Blue Flower.”
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Health
Sick to death
Harvard School of Public Health researchers are mounting a major study of chronic disease in four African nations, which organizers hope will provide a foundation for understanding and treating chronic ailments like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
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Health
Across 160 years, Darwin speaks
The discovery of an unknown 1848 letter by the great naturalist sheds light on a murky part of his life, and on a friendship that eventually went awry.
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Campus & Community
Room for improvement
After two losing seasons, Harvard hockey coach Ted Donato is confident in his team’s strengths and winning ability.
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Arts & Culture
The Shock of the Global: The 1970s in Perspective
Disco, drugs, and decadence? Not that 1970s. This book, by Harvard mainstays Niall Ferguson, Charles Maier, and Erez Manela focuses on the decade that introduced the world to the phenomenon of “globalization,” as networks of interdependence bound peoples and societies in new and original ways.
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Campus & Community
Administrator by day, singer by night
Karen Woodward Massey, director of education and outreach at FAS Research Administration Services (RAS), has always needed a creative outlet from her “right-brain” work. From ingénue roles to a staff cover band, the Grateful Deadlines, one thing remains the same: She has a ton of fun along the way.
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Campus & Community
Harvard College Librarian, Nancy Cline, to retire
After nearly 15 years of exceptional service, Nancy M. Cline, the Roy E. Larsen Librarian of Harvard College, will retire at the end of this academic year.
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Campus & Community
Don’t just stand there
It’s easy enough to say you value diversity, but honoring that goal can be tricky in context. A workshop on bystander awareness offered strategies on what to do when diversity is challenged in the workplace.
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Arts & Culture
Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care
Augustus A. White III, a pioneering black surgeon and the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Distinguished Professor of Medical Education, and contributor David Chanoff use extensive research and interviews with leading physicians to show how subconscious stereotyping influences doctor-patient interactions, diagnosis, and treatment.