Tag: Faculty of Arts and Sciences

  • Nation & World

    A revised portrait of psychopaths

    A study suggests that while psychopaths do feel regret, however, it doesn’t affect their choices.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Advance in high-pressure physics

    Nearly a century after it was theorized, Harvard scientists have succeeded in creating metallic hydrogen. In addition to helping scientists answer some fundamental questions about the nature of matter, the material is theorized to have a wide range of applications, including as a room-temperature superconductor.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Spotting speedy brain activity

    Using ultra-fast MRI scans, scientists are able to track rapid oscillations in brain activity that previously would have gone undetected, a development that could open the door to understanding fast-occurring cognitive processes that once appeared off-limits to scientists.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Diamonds are a lab’s best friend

    Using the atomic-scale quantum defects in diamonds known as nitrogen-vacancy centers to detect the magnetic field generated by neural signals, scientists working in the lab of Ronald Walsworth, a faculty member in Harvard’s Center for Brain Science and Physics Department, demonstrated a noninvasive technique that can show the activity of neurons.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Harvard students, meet the Stone Age

    Students taking part in a new freshman seminar class learn to appreciate the sophistication of Neanderthals by manufacturing their own stone tools from scratch.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Giving thanks for each other

    FAS Giving Thanks garners more than 4,000 notes of appreciation for faculty and staff.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    What do we know about suicide? Not nearly enough

    Despite decades of research aimed at understanding suicide, scientists are no better at predicting self-harm than they were a half-century ago.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    No letup for Nobel winner

    Oliver Hart, the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences, takes on an old question in a new paper — what should the goals of a public company be?

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Becoming her fullest self

    Sarah Lewis ’97 talks to the Gazette about returning to Harvard to join the faculty of the History of Art and Architecture.

    6 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Teaching computers to identify odors

    Using a machine-learning algorithm, researchers were able to “train” a computer to recognize the neural patterns associated with various scents, and identify whether specific odors were present in a mix of smells.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    On becoming a man: Transgender in the workplace

    The Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ summer Diversity Dialogue, “Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace,” gave voice to the transition and how to make it come together.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Finding biological barcodes

    Two recent studies have shown that cells early in development can be marked with a genetic barcode that later can be used to reconstruct their lineage.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    How the brain develops

    In an effort to get a clearer picture of how the brain and the connections between its regions change throughout development, Harvard scientists and researchers from three other universities will share a $14 million grant to support one of the most comprehensive brain-imaging studies ever undertaken.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    New way to model molecules

    Scientists from Harvard and Google have demonstrated for the first time that a quantum computer could be used to model the electron interactions in a complex molecule.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Similar designs, 100 million years apart

    A study found that both Rusingoryx atopocranion, a relative of the wildebeest, and hadrosaur dinosaurs evolved large bony domes on their foreheads, which were likely used as resonating chambers to warn of predators and communicate with others.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Minding the details of mind wandering

    A new study sheds light on important differences between intentional and unintentional mind wandering.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The parrot knows shapes

    Despite a visual system vastly different from that of humans, tests showed the bird could successfully identify both Kanizsa figures and occluded shapes. The findings suggest that birds may process visual information in a way that is similar to humans.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Auditory cortex nearly identical in hearing and deaf people

    The neural architecture in the auditory cortex — the part of the brain that processes sound — of profoundly deaf and hearing people is virtually identical, a new study has found. The study could point the way toward potential new avenues for treating deafness.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Clues to camouflage

    Chromatic aberration may explain how cephalopods can demonstrate such remarkable camouflage abilities despite being able to see only in black and white.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The bionic cardiac patch

    Harvard Professor Charles Lieber and other scientists conducted a study that describes the construction of nanoscale electronic scaffolds that can be seeded with cardiac cells to produce a bionic cardiac patch.

    3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    More time free from disability

    Harvard researchers are among the co-authors of a new study saying that the increase in life expectancy in the past two decades has been accompanied by an even greater increase in years free of disability, thanks in large measure to improvements in cardiovascular health and declines in vision problems.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Unconventional wisdom

    Professor Michael Puett has brought his popular undergraduate class on Chinese philosophy to a wider audience with “The Path.”

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Curating a visual record

    Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, assistant professor of the history of art and architecture and African and African-American studies, guest edited the magazine Aperture, producing an issue called “Vision & Justice,” the first on African-Americans, race, and photography for the magazine.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    In anti-lynching plays, a coiled power

    Magdalene “Maggie” Zier turned her senior thesis about anti-lynching plays into a live performance at Harvard Law School.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    A mother and son at trails’ end

    Harvard’s Commencement on May 26 will be twice as meaningful for Jane Brown when she shares the milestone with her son Harry Stone.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    From around the world and across Harvard

    The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study has named 50 fellows for the 2016-17 academic year. Eleven of the incoming class are Harvard faculty.

    2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Radio heads

    A dedicated group of students work hard to make WHRB, Harvard’s 24-hour radio station, run 365 days a year.

    5 minutes
  • Nation & World

    The eyes tell

    A new study shows that gaze-following develops in monkeys in a way that’s nearly identical to humans, suggesting that the behavior has deep evolutionary roots.

    4 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Five named Harvard College Professors

    Five faculty members have been selected as Harvard College Professors, five-year appointments that provide them with extra support for research or scholarly activities, a semester of paid leave, or summer salary.

    8 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Funding the future

    The Star Family Challenge makes grants every year to high-risk, high-reward research efforts that might not receive funding through other programs. This year’s recipients are Edo Berger, Katia Bertoldi, Edward Glaeser, Talia Konkle, and Bence Ölveczky.

    9 minutes