Featured series 
Year: 2018
-
Nation & World
A nation nearer to the grave
Against a backdrop of recent jumps in drug overdose deaths and suicide, McLean Hospital psychologist R. Kathryn McHugh discusses the opioid crisis and increasing suicide deaths with the Gazette.
-
Nation & World
The mystery of the medicine man
A paper published earlier this year argues that shamanism develops as specialists compete to provide magical services to people in their communities, and the outcome is a set of traditions that hacks people’s psychological biases to convince them that they can control the uncertain.
-
Nation & World
Life, with another ingredient
In a paper published in PNAS, Jack W. Szostak, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard, along with graduate student Seohyun (Chris) Kim, suggest that RNA could have started with a different set of nucleotide bases. In place of guanine, RNA could have relied on a surrogate, inosine.
-
Nation & World
A year in, University Accessibility Committee outlines progress, goals
Last fall, Harvard’s Office of the Provost convened the first meeting of the University Accessibility Committee to share successful practices. The committee identified three main areas for its work: the student experience, digital technology, and on-campus facilities.
-
Nation & World
Richard Pipes, 94
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on December 4, 2018, the following tribute to the life and service of the late Richard Edgar Pipes was placed upon the permanent records of the Faculty.
-
Nation & World
Warner Berthoff, 93
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on December 4, 2018, the following tribute to the life and service of the late Warner Bement Berthoff was placed upon the permanent records of the Faculty.
-
Nation & World
This fall, a library for all
This fall, for the first time, all students enrolled at the Extension School have access to the same library services and spaces as students in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
-
Nation & World
A lesson for every listener
Members of the Harvard community heard different messages as Malala Yousafzai accepted the 2018 Gleitsman Award.
-
Nation & World
New congressional members at Harvard
Fresh from their 2018 midterm victories, 63 newly elected members of Congress spent two days at Harvard Kennedy School this week engaging with students and getting an intensive primer from faculty and special guests on what to expect when they take their seats in January.
-
Nation & World
Even among the insured, cost of illness can be devastating
Professor Robert Blendon of Harvard Chan School led discussion of a new poll that shows devastating costs in serious illness even among patients with health insurance.
-
Nation & World
10 dental grads give a nation something to smile about
Rwanda has a population of more than 12 million people and fewer than 40 registered dentists. This past fall, 10 graduates with a bachelor’s degrees in dental surgery joined their ranks, thanks in part to Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
-
Nation & World
Merkel named Harvard Commencement speaker
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be the principal speaker at the Afternoon Program of Harvard’s 368th Commencement.
-
Nation & World
Sebelius sees steady march toward universal health coverage
Former health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius gave the keynote at a Harvard Medical School event marking the 30th anniversary of the Department of Health Care Policy.
-
Nation & World
In San Diego, Bacow stresses learning, New teaches poetry
Harvard President Larry Bacow talked with alumni and discussed the power of higher education with high school students in San Diego as he continued his visits around the country.
-
Nation & World
Replacing hard parts in soft robots
Harvard scientists have created a soft valve that could replace “hard” valves and lead to the creation of entirely soft robots. The valve’s structure can also be used to produce unique, oscillatory behavior.
-
Nation & World
Yes, you can change the world, says Bryan Stevenson
When lawyer and social activist Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, spoke at the Kennedy School Tuesday, his topic was nothing less than changing the world, something that he urged everyone in the capacity crowd to think of as both a responsibility and a possibility.
-
Nation & World
Lies we can’t live without
NYU philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah will draw from his new book, “The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity,” when he visits Harvard Medical School to deliver the 2018 George W. Gay Lecture.
-
Nation & World
The view from inside Facebook
Monika Bickert, the head of global policy management for Facebook, discussed the social media giant’s policies and evolution with Harvard’s Jonathan Zittrain.
-
Nation & World
New Marshall scholars gaze ahead
Four Harvard seniors, among the students selected this week as Marshall scholars, ponder their future. Their scholarships pay for two years of advanced study at a college or university of their choice in the United Kingdom.
-
Nation & World
Getting from no nuclear to slow nuclear
Environmental fellow Michael Ford and climate scientist Daniel Schrag say that improved nuclear power could play an important role in U.S. energy production midcentury and beyond.
-
Nation & World
New faculty: Teju Cole
Teju Cole, author of “Open City” and “Every Day Is for the Thief,” will teach creative writing as the first Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice.
-
Nation & World
Four Harvard seniors headed to UK
Four Harvard seniors have been awarded Marshall Scholarships to cover two years of postgraduate studies in the U.K.
-
Nation & World
Finding perspective in the unexpected
Midyear graduates share lessons learned, both at Harvard and during time away.
-
Nation & World
Reading teeth
By examining the teeth of Neanderthal infants, a team of researchers was able to glean insight into nursing and weaning behavior as well as winter and summer cycles. The study even found evidence that the Neanderthals had been exposed to lead — the earliest such exposure ever recorded in any human ancestor.
-
Nation & World
A model of efficiency
Renovation complete, HouseZero opens as an office space with an ambitious goal: to produce more energy than it uses over its lifetime. It’s also a research tool for the Harvard Center for Green Building and Cities.
-
Nation & World
How mammals grew diverse
Using a detailed, musculoskeletal model of an echidna forelimb, Harvard scientists are not only shedding light on how the little-studied echidna’s forelimbs work, but also opening a window into understanding how extinct mammals might have used those limbs.
-
Nation & World
Shining a light on quantum bits
A Ph.D. student working in the lab of Professor Mikhail Lukin, co-director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Initiative, has demonstrated a method for engineering an interaction between two qubits using photons.
-
Nation & World
From Harvard to the IMF
The International Monetary Fund’s new chief economist, Harvard’s John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics Gita Gopinath, reflects on the tough tasks ahead.
-
Nation & World
Journalist, novelist, witness
Geraldine Brooks discussed her work as a war correspondent and her Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction during a visit to Houghton Library sponsored by the Harvard Review.
-
Nation & World
Lurking in your favorite song, the law
Professor and author Derek Miller discusses the origins and history of copyright law and the goals of the Music Modernization Act.
