Campus & Community

An outdoor museum, rooting for the away team, and an alt-rock anthem

Photo illustration by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff

July 15, 2025

2 min read

Chan School professor recommends 3 ways to get your blood pumping

Part of the
Favorite Things
series

Recommendations from Harvard faculty

Gaurab Basu is an assistant professor of environmental health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an assistant professor of medicine and global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Place to walk

Arnold Arboretum

I think it’s a tremendous source of pride for the University and a gift to the whole Commonwealth. I love going there and immersing in the ecological richness that we can find on our marvelous planet. This outdoor museum shows us what a gift it is to be in nature, to have such diverse and splendid living things all around us. I look at the remarkable trees that tower around me and think of all they have seen, and how they have endured, and they give me wisdom on how to right my relationship with nature. My visit to the Arboretum also inspired me to connect with the city of Cambridge’s Department of Public Works and get 10 trees planted on our neighborhood street.

Tip for West Coast transplants

Watching California sports teams … in Boston stadiums

Growing up in the Bay Area, watching San Francisco sports teams (which did quite well in the ’80s and ’90s) was a big part of my childhood, and created a lot of memories with my dad, who passed away last year. Now, my 8-year-old son and I traverse to Fenway Park and TD Garden to cheer on the Giants and Warriors as they come into town to play. We try to hit the right chord — we are not those annoying fans rooting against the home team, but we proudly wear our team’s colors and quietly slap each other on the knee when we make a good play. Go Steph Curry!

Workout song

“Dreams” by The Cranberries

The sound of Dolores O’Riordan’s voice on this enchanting song still gets me to go just a bit faster on my runs around Fresh Pond and helps me touch a bit of magic.

— As told to Sy Boles/Harvard Staff Writer