Tag: Faculty of Arts and Sciences

  • Health

    Health leaders push for better cancer care in developing countries

    Once thought to be a problem primarily in the developed world, cancer is now a leading cause of death and disability in poorer countries. Almost two-thirds of the 7.6 million cancer deaths in the world occur in low- and middle-income countries.

    3–5 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Competing for a mate can shorten lifespan

    “Love stinks!” the J. Geils band told the world in 1980, and while you can certainly argue whether or not this tender and ineffable spirit of affection has a downside, working hard to find it does.  It may even shorten your life. A new study by Harvard researchers shows that ratios between males and females…

    2–4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Quantum networks advance with entanglement of photons, solid-state qubits

    A team of Harvard physicists led by Mikhail D. Lukin has achieved the first-ever quantum entanglement of photons and solid-state materials.  The work marks a key advance toward practical quantum networks, as the first experimental demonstration of a means by which solid-state quantum bits, or “qubits,” can communicate with one another over long distances. Quantum networking applications such as…

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Exercise, calorie restrictions can rejuvenate older synapses

    Harvard researchers have uncovered a mechanism in mice through which caloric restriction and exercise delay some of the debilitating effects of aging by rejuvenating the connections between nerves and the muscles that they control.

    3–5 minutes
  • Health

    Warnings of suicidal intent

    Two powerful new tests developed by Harvard psychologists show great promise in predicting patients’ risk of attempting suicide, researchers say. These tests may help clinicians to overcome their reliance on self-reporting by at-risk individuals, information that often proves misleading when suicidal patients wish to hide their intentions.  Both tests are easily administered within minutes on…

    2–4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Hyperfast star was booted from Milky Way

    A hundred million years ago, a triple-star system was traveling through the bustling center of our Milky Way galaxy when it made a life-changing misstep. The trio wandered too close to the galaxy’s giant black hole, which captured one of the stars and hurled the other two out of the Milky Way.

    4–6 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Conflict of interest policy adopted

    The Harvard Corporation has adopted a University-wide conflict of interest policy, the first time such a policy has been crafted to cover faculty members across the entire campus.

    10–16 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    By ‘putting a ring on it,’ microparticles can be captured

    To trap and hold tiny microparticles, research engineers at Harvard have “put a ring on it,” using a silicon-based circular resonator to confine particles stably for up to several minutes.

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Two HSCI groups find residual genetic ‘memory’ in iPS cells;

    Two groups of Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have independently made similar discoveries about the characteristics of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), but they have reached somewhat different conclusions about the implications of the findings. Groups lead by  CONTACT _Con-379F41B299 Konrad Hochedlinger at Massachusetts General Hospital and George Daley at Children’s Hospital Boston have each found that iPSCs retain…

    3–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    New CIO for Harvard

    Harvard appoints Anne H. Margulies as chief information officer. A seasoned executive with 30 years of experience, her hiring marks her return to the University.

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Harvard University appoints Anne H. Margulies as Chief Information Officer

    Harvard appoints Anne H. Margulies as chief information officer. A seasoned executive with 30 years of experience, her hiring marks her return to the University.

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Mom’s influence comes first

    Genome-wide analysis of mice brains has found that maternally inherited genes are expressed preferentially in the developing brain, while the pattern shifts decisively in favor of paternal influence by adulthood. The researchers report having identified 1,300 genes active in the mouse brain that show some degree of parental bias, greatly expanding on the 45 previously…

    3–4 minutes
  • Health

    Study finds higher STD rates among users of erectile dysfunction drugs

    Users of erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs have higher rates of sexually transmitted disease (STD) than do non-users, Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have found after analyzing insurance records of more than 1.4 million U.S. men over age 40.  The findings, published in the July 6th edition of Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest physicians who prescribe…

    3–4 minutes
  • Health

    Rare variants in gene coding may up risk of autoimmune disorders

    Rare variants in the gene coding of an enzyme that controls the activity of a key immune cell occur more often in people with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes, Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found in a multi-institutional study.  The researchers’ report, published in the journal Nature, identifies a pathway…

    3–4 minutes
  • Health

    With fasting, enzyme turns off body’s production of fats, cholesterol

    Fasting helps cause an enzyme with several important roles in energy metabolism to turn off the body’s generation of fats and cholesterol, Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have found.  The findings could lead to new approaches to treating elevated cholesterol and lipid levels. The researchers’ report, published today in Genes & Development, describes how…

    3–4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Shape-shifting sheets automatically fold into multiple shapes

    “More than meets the eye” may soon become more than just for the Transformer line of popular robotic toys. Researchers at Harvard and MIT have reshaped the landscape of programmable matter by devising self-folding sheets that rely on the ancient art of origami. Click here to watch a video of the folding process. Using the…

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Harvard’s hearty harvest

    The new Harvard Community Garden holds its first workday of the summer, and celebrates with salad.

    3–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    50 receive Dean’s Distinction awards

    Fifty FAS staff members and managers receive first Dean’s Distinction awards, in recognition for strong contributions during difficult times.

    3–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Mind/Brain/Behavior awards seniors

    The Faculty of Arts and Sciences Standing Committee on Mind/Brain/Behavior recognized seniors in a ceremony held at the Harvard Faculty Club on May 26.

    1–2 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Replicating nature’s design principles

    In nature, cells and tissues assemble and organize themselves within a matrix of protein fibers that ultimately determines their structure and function, such as the elasticity of skin and the contractility of heart tissue. These natural design principles have now been successfully replicated in the lab by bioengineers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired…

    2–4 minutes
  • Science & Tech

    Applied physicists create building blocks for a new class of optical circuits

    Imagine creating novel devices with amazing and exotic optical properties not found in nature — by simply evaporating a droplet of particles on a surface. By chemically building clusters of nanospheres from a liquid, a team of Harvard researchers, in collaboration with scientists at Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University…

    3–5 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    CES awards travel grants for 2010-11

    The Center for European Studies has awarded senior thesis travel grants to 34 undergraduates and 18 graduate students to fund summer research.

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    FAS names four full professors for 2010-11

    The following faculty members have been named full professors with tenure in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences: David Charbonneau, Matthew Nock, James M. Snyder Jr., and Malika Zeghal.

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Eck speaker for 138th Berea College Commencement

    Diana L. Eck, Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society and professor of comparative religion and Indian studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was the speaker for Berea College’s 138th Commencement on May 23, and will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Thomas T. Hoopes Prize awarded

    The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has recently awarded the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize to 89 Harvard College seniors, in recognition of outstanding research or scholarly work.

    1–2 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Ten faculty named Cabot Fellows

    Ten professors in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) have been named Walter Channing Cabot Fellows

    1–2 minutes
  • Health

    The art of science

    Susan Mango, professor of molecular and cellular biology and MacArthur award winner, brings her unorthodox approach to research.

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    ‘Remarkable teachers’

    Historian Maya Jasanoff and chemist Tobias Ritter are this year’s winners of the Roslyn Abramson Award, given annually to assistant or associate professors for excellence in undergraduate teaching.

    3–5 minutes
  • Health

    Pres. Faust calls global health one of her main priorities for Harvard;

    Declaring the University’s efforts to improve the state of global health knowledge, education, and capacity building to be one of her “very highest priorities” as president of Harvard, Drew Faust today announced the appointment of Sue J. Goldie, Roger Irving Lee Professor of Public Health and director of the Center for Health Decision Science at…

    6–10 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Moving toward financial health

    FAS continues to make progress in cutting deficit, now forecasting it at $50 million to $55 million for the coming fiscal year.

    3–4 minutes