Featured series 
Year: 2014
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Health
Broad’s landmark study discovers new cancer genes
A landmark study across many cancer types reveals that the universe of cancer mutations is much bigger than previously thought. By analyzing the genomes of thousands of patients’ tumors, a Broad Institute-led research team has discovered enough new cancer genes to expand the list by 25 percent.
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Nation & World
Market reaction
Once a risky and bold idea, Harvard Business School’s overseas FIELD program now is a foundational and transformative piece of the M.B.A. curriculum for students and faculty.
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Campus & Community
Neil Patrick Harris is Man of Year
Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the oldest theatrical organization in the United States, has named Emmy Award-winning actor Neil Patrick Harris its 2014 Man of the Year. Harris joins Dame Helen Mirren, who was named Woman of the Year last week.
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Health
Some secrets of longevity
The average life expectancy in the United States has fallen behind that of other industrialized nations as the American income gap has widened. Also, particular health habits, including weight control, nutrition, and exercise, clearly influence the effects aging among segments of the U.S. population.
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Campus & Community
Q&A with Rakesh Khurana
Rakesh Khurana, the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School and co-master of Cabot House, will become dean of Harvard College on July 1. In a question-and-answer session, he discussed how his career and tenure as House co-master helped prepare him for the tasks ahead.
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Science & Tech
Warmth from the woods
At the 3,700-acre Harvard Forest, three wood-fired boilers are providing scientists with a new tool to expand their understanding of climate change, while generating sustainable energy as well.
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Arts & Culture
At one with Thoreau
Scot Miller’s photographs from the Maine wilderness, inspired by Thoreau’s “Maine Woods,” are on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
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Health
A splash with the spleen
A group of Harvard Medical School students is using the viral success of tongue-in-cheek video on the spleen to promote science education, launching a contest for younger students to make organ-themed music videos.
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Campus & Community
Keys to a good life
Three Harvard scholars offered their thoughts on what it means to lead a good life in today’s complex world in advance of a London talk sponsored by the Harvard Alumni Association.
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Campus & Community
New Harvard College dean
Rakesh Khurana, Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School and co-master of Cabot House, has been named the new dean of Harvard College.
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Health
‘Junk?’ Not so fast
Research by Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists shows that much lincRNA, which had been generally believed useless, plays an important role in the genome.
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Nation & World
Snow days don’t subtract from learning
School administrators may want to be even more aggressive in calling for weather-related closures. A new study conducted by Harvard Kennedy School Assistant Professor Joshua Goodman finds that snow days do not impact student learning.
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Nation & World
Harvard and MIT release working papers on open online learning
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today released a series of working papers based on 17 online courses offered on the edX platform. Run in 2012 and 2013, the courses drew upon diverse topics — from ancient Greek poetry to electromagnetism — and an array of disciplines, including public health, engineering, and law.
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Health
Vitamin D could slow MS progression
For patients in the early stages of multiple sclerosis (MS), low levels of vitamin D were found to strongly predict disease severity and hasten its progression, according to a new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) investigators in collaboration with Bayer HealthCare.
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Campus & Community
Author Atwood to receive Harvard Arts Medal
Author, poet, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood, A.M. ’62, will receive the 2014 Harvard Arts Medal on May 1.
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Campus & Community
Helen Mirren named Woman of the Year
Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals has announced Academy Award-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren is its 2014 Woman of the Year.
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Health
Inconsistent? Good
Though variability is often portrayed as a flaw to be overcome, Harvard researchers now say that, in motor function, it is a key feature of the nervous system that helps promote better or more successful ways to perform a particular action.
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Nation & World
Bridging troubled waters
Harvard crisis-management expert Herman “Dutch” Leonard talks about the challenges facing N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and retailer Target after recent damaging news revelations.
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Campus & Community
‘The weapon of love’
On Sunday, the eve of the national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., an authority on King’s preaching will deliver a sermon at Harvard on behalf of the martyred icon of civil rights, who had deep ties to Harvard and to New England.
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Health
‘Beige’ cells key to healthy fat
“Beige fat” cells found in healthy subcutaneous fat in mice play a critical role in protecting the body against the disease risks of obesity, report Harvard researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who say their study findings may have implications for therapy of obesity-related illness in humans.
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Campus & Community
‘Brain candy,’ with beer
Science met the community Monday night at The Burren pub in Davis Square, Somerville, when Harvard Biology Professor David Haig talked about huddling and the importance of conserving body heat among mammals and birds.
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Health
Something doesn’t smell right
Harvard scientists say they’re closer to unraveling one of the most basic questions in neuroscience — how the brain encodes likes and dislikes — with the discovery of the first receptors in any species evolved to detect cadaverine and putrescine, two of the chemical byproducts responsible for the distinctive — and to most creatures repulsive…
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Health
Fin to limb
New research brings scientists closer to unraveling one of the longest-standing questions in evolutionary biology — whether limbs, particularly hind limbs, evolved before or after early vertebrates left the oceans for life on land.
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Nation & World
‘Hot Stove’ simmering
A Harvard Business School working paper analysis looks at what matters for Major League Baseball teams trying to cash in on their Japanese star players.
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Science & Tech
Explaining the Higgs
A Q&A with science Professor Lisa Randall, author of a new book explaining the significance of the Higgs boson, and why its discovery matters.
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Health
Discovering where HIV persists in spite of treatment
HIV antiviral therapy lets infected people live relatively healthy lives for many years, but the virus doesn’t go away completely. If treatment stops, the virus multiplies again from hidden reservoirs in the body. Researchers may have found HIV’s viral hiding place — in a small group of recently identified T cells with stem cell-like properties.
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Campus & Community
Men’s basketball defeats Dartmouth, 61-45
The Harvard men’s basketball team used a 16-2 run to pull away in the second half as it opened the “14-Game Tournament” with a 61-45 win over Dartmouth Saturday at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion. The Crimson will host Princeton and Penn on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
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Science & Tech
Rethinking the roots of altruism
In a new study, Harvard researchers find that inclusive fitness — for decades a standard tool in understanding how altruism evolved — often leads to incorrect conclusions.
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Campus & Community
New horizons for HarvardX
HarvardX, the University-wide initiative supporting faculty experimentation in teaching and learning through technology, will launch 14 new and returning online offerings through the winter and spring.
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Science & Tech
Measuring electrons
In making the most precise measurements ever of the shape of electrons, Harvard and Yale scientists have raised serious doubts about several popular theories of what lies beyond the Higgs boson.
