Year: 2013

  • Health

    Linking insulin to learning

    Work led by Yun Zhang, associate professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, shows how the pathway of insulin and insulinlike peptides plays a critical role in helping to regulate learning and memory.

    3 minutes
  • Health

    Dying stars source of life?

    Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have found that even dying stars could host planets with life — and if such life exists, they believe we might be able to detect it within the next decade.

    3 minutes
  • Arts & Culture

    100 years of Harvard University Press

    This year marks the 100th anniversary of Harvard University Press (HUP), and as part of a yearlong celebration Houghton Library is hosting an exhibition of HUP publications, correspondence, and other materials.

    3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Lung-on-a-Chip wins prize

    Wyss Institute Founding Director Donald Ingber received the NC3Rs 3Rs Prize from the U.K.’s National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research for his innovative Lung-on-a-Chip.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    Lessig remembers Swartz

    In remarks at Harvard Law School, Professor Lawrence Lessig eulogized Internet pioneer Aaron Swartz and proposed a closer examination of minor versus major cyberspace crimes and what he called “extremism in prosecuting computer laws.”

    5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Warren E.C. Wacker dies

    Warren E.C. Wacker, former Henry K. Oliver Professor of Hygiene Emeritus, died on Dec. 29, 2012.

    1 minute
  • Nation & World

    The Hong Kong model

    Anson Chan, the former chief secretary for administration for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, outlined her hopes for a more democratic China when she delivered the Rama S. Mehta Lecture at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

    4 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Scherzinger honored for advocacy

    Nicole Scherzinger, an advocate for people with special needs and breast cancer research, and a classically trained opera singer, was awarded the Harvard Foundation’s most prestigious medal Feb. 23 at the 28th annual Cultural Rhythms festival.

    3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    In the Pink Zone

    Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion was bedecked in a paler shade of crimson on Saturday for the Harvard-Yale women’s basketball game in honor of the Pink Zone, an event to raise awareness and support in the fight against breast cancer.

    1 minute
  • Health

    Weight and mortality

    In January, when the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a meta-analysis of 100 studies that probed the relationship between body mass index and mortality — studies that found slightly overweight people have lower all-cause mortality than normal weight and underweight people — media around the globe trumpeted the news.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Among millions, a blank slate

    The Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, spawns a city of millions virtually overnight — and with it, a thriving ecosystem of commerce large-scale and small. Harvard Business School researchers traveled to India to search for the festival’s unlikely lessons in infrastructure, governance, and informal networks.

    9 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Faith not in God, but in humanity

    Comedian, actor, and (perhaps) politician Eddie Izzard ruminated on infallibility and the Golden Rule as he accepted the sixth annual Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism.

    4 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    The power of penguins

    A student spends an unforgettable summer working with African penguins.

    4 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Aid fuels record applications

    Driven by historic levels of financial aid, the number of applications to Harvard College remained high this year. Applications reached a record 35,022, the third consecutive year with numbers near 35,000. Last year 34,303 applied, and two years ago 34,950 did.

    3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Nicole Scherzinger Artist of the Year

    Talented recording artist, television personality, and philanthropist Nicole Scherzinger has been named the Harvard Foundation’s 2013 Artist of the Year.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Shifting perspectives in gun debate

    NRA President David Keene and Jonathan E. Lowy presented their views on gun policy during visits to Harvard.

    7 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    New leader in teaching, learning

    Robert A. Lue has been named the Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, placing him at the forefront of efforts to rethink teaching and learning, both on campus and off.

    4 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Frank Aguilar of HBS dies at 80

    Harvard Business School (HBS) Professor Emeritus Francis J. Aguilar, an authority on strategic planning and general management who also made his mark on generations of students as a gifted and caring teacher, died on Feb. 17.

    2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Birth of an actor

    Tommy Lee Jones discusses his first glimpse of the foreign turf of New England, and a hard choice he had to make on arriving: Should he focus on football or acting?

    1 minute
  • Science & Tech

    Money, marriage, kids

    There may be a formula for happiness after all, says Daniel Gilbert, Harvard professor of psychology and best-selling author of “Stumbling on Happiness,” who presented an impressive array of scientific research from the disciplines of economics, psychology, and neuroscience to assess his mother’s recipe for happiness.

    4 minutes
  • Arts & Culture

    A teaching treasure trove

    As plans for renovating the Harvard Art Museums progress, officials offer a look at what the refurbished facility will hold.

    6 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Crimson move into first place in Ivy League

    Harvard men’s basketball moved into sole possession of first place in the Ivy League after beating Princeton 69-57 on Saturday, following a Friday night win over Penn, 73-54.

    1 minute
  • Science & Tech

    Weather warning

    A report co-authored by Professor Michael McElroy and D. James Baker, a former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, connects global climate change, extreme weather, and national security.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    How to sidestep sequestration

    Gazette staff writer Colleen Walsh spoke with budgeting expert Linda J. Bilmes, a Harvard Kennedy School senior lecturer in public policy, about the looming government sequestration, and some possible ways to avoid it in future.

    11 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Perspective at the Forum

    One forum, one stage, and one podium — it’s potentially deadly territory for photographers to document night after night. Yet over the years, four Harvard University Photographers — Jon Chase, Rose Lincoln, Stephanie Mitchell, and Kris Snibbe — have made the most of the multitiered space of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard…

    6 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Sunstein a University Professor

    Cass Sunstein, regarded as one of the most influential legal scholars of his generation, has been named a University Professor, Harvard’s highest honor for a faculty member.

    4 minutes
  • Health

    Wonders of attraction

    Naomi E. Pierce talked about her research on symbiosis as part of the “Evolution Matters” lecture series.

    4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    A clarion call for science

    Harvard President Drew Faust called for the scientific community to unite in its efforts to press Congress for continued federal research support during a speech to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

    4 minutes
  • Arts & Culture

    James Wood’s lighter side

    James Wood, Harvard professor and New Yorker critic, talked to the Gazette about his new book, “The Fun Stuff,” losing himself in music, and a looser approach to fiction.

    8 minutes