Featured series 
Tag: Science
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Nation & World
Where science and religion meet, from an Islamic perspective
Where and how science and religion intersect is a debate that dates back centuries; it’s also a regular part of contemporary discourse. The discussion took center stage at the 2007-08 Paul Tillich Lecture on Monday (May 5) in the Science Center’s lecture hall B, where a noted astrophysicist and religious scholar explored the deeper dimensions…
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Health
TB talks honor outgoing HSPH dean
Tuberculosis specialists came from universities around the country to discuss the state of the disease at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and to honor Harvard School of Public Health Dean Barry R. Bloom, who has announced that he will be stepping down.
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Health
Researchers report successful new laser treatment for vocal-cord cancer
An innovative laser treatment for early vocal-cord cancer, developed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), successfully restores patients’ voices without radiotherapy or traditional surgery, which can permanently damage vocal quality.
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Health
Research reveals workings of anti-HIV drugs
Using ingenious molecular espionage, scientists have found how a single key enzyme, seemingly the Swiss Army knife in HIV’s toolbox, differentiates and dynamically binds both DNA and RNA as part of the virus’s fierce attack on host cells. The work is described this week (May 7) in the journal Nature.
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Health
Risk of death reduced within years of quitting smoking
Women who quit smoking significantly reduce their risk of death from coronary heart disease within five years and have about a 20 percent lower risk of death from smoking-related cancers within that time period, according to a study in the May 7 issue of JAMA.
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Campus & Community
SEAS tackles Cambridge/ Allston links in design class
Fifteen undergraduates reported on “Bridging the Gap: Connecting Harvard’s Allston and Cambridge Communities.” Their semester-long mission: devising a plan to keep the campus together even as it expands across the Charles River, while finding a way to preserve what they viewed as the essential characteristic of everyday student life — serendipity.
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Health
SEAS initiative supported by up to $20 million in BASF funding
The official opening of the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard was celebrated with an inaugural two-day symposium (April 29-30) on biofilms.
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Health
Recent study: Better to be fit and thin than fit and fat
The risk of heart disease in women associated with being overweight or obese is reduced but not eliminated by higher levels of physical activity, according to a report in the April 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
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Health
Animal interaction behind ‘Cambrian Explosion’?
Harvard Professor of Biology and of Geology Charles Marshall presented his Tuesday (April 29), suggesting that it was an increase in interactions between species, such as predation, that drove an escalating evolutionary process that led to the development of teeth and claws and the wide variety of characteristics that we see among Earth’s animals today.
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Health
HMS Health Care Policy Department marks 20th anniversary
There have been many changes in the health care landscape over the two decades since Harvard Medical School’s (HMS) Department of Health Care Policy was inaugurated, but much work remains to ensure equitable, effective health care for all. That was the message of speakers at the 20th Anniversary Symposium of Harvard Medical School’s Department of…
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Health
Molecular analysis of T. rex protein shows shared avian ancestry
Putting more meat on the theory that dinosaurs’ closest living relatives are modern-day birds, molecular analysis of a shred of 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein — along with that of 21 modern species — confirms that dinosaurs share common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators.
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Campus & Community
National Academy of Sciences elects eight Harvard professors
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has announced the election of eight Harvard faculty members among its new field of members.
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Health
Paul Farmer: One patient at a time
Paul Farmer remembers his patients and the lessons they’ve taught him, even the hard ones.
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Health
Exercise changes structure of heart
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators, in collaboration with Harvard University Health Services, have found that 90 days of vigorous athletic training produces significant changes in cardiac structure and function, and that the type of change varies with the type of exercise performed.
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Health
First targeted therapy for melanoma brings hope
In a demonstration that even some of the most hard-to-treat tumors may one day succumb to therapies aimed at molecular “weak points,” researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report the first instance in which metastatic melanoma has been driven into remission by a targeted therapy.
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Health
Life expectancy worsening or stagnating
One of the major aims of the U.S. health system is improving the health of all people, particularly those segments of the population at greater risk of health disparities. In fact, overall life expectancy in the United States increased more than seven years for men and more than six years for women between 1960 and…
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Health
‘Father of Aerobics,’ HSPH alumnus, receives Healthy Cup Award
The Nutrition Round Table of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) honored Kenneth Cooper, groundbreaking author of the best-selling book “Aerobics,” with its Healthy Cup Award this past Tuesday (April 22).
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Arts & Culture
Houghton exhibit features Islamic sciences
If scholarship is the only reliable means of time travel, the Houghton Library offers up Harvard’s latest time machine: “Windows into Early Science,” an exhibit of scientific manuscripts, maps, and illustrated books on display through May 23.
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Campus & Community
Ho-Am Prize, ‘Korea’s Nobel,’ is awarded to BWH’s Charles Lee
Assistant Professor of Pathology Charles Lee of Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) has been named the recipient of the 2008 Ho-Am Prize in Medicine.
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Science & Tech
Markey addresses ‘Future of Energy’
The chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming struck an optimistic tone about the planet’s climate crisis Monday (April 21), saying that an energy revolution is in the offing if government can just get the policy right.
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Campus & Community
Social Science Research Council gives grant to Harvard centers
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has awarded $52,289 to three Harvard centers: the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and the Harvard Asia Center.
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Health
Nobel Prize winner discusses judgment and intuition
“Most of the time,” said noted psychologist and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman to a packed house of students, scholars, and faculty at the Yenching Auditorium (April 15), “we run at very low effort.” It was a sobering claim for the heady academic set, but according to Kahneman, no one is immune from the diagnosis. Even…
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Campus & Community
Going for the green at Harvard
William James Hall and the Hoffman Labs have emerged victorious in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Environmental Competition 2008, Harvard’s biggest and most comprehensive eco-contest ever.
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Health
Genetics key in new knowledge about complex diseases
Genetic researchers crossed a critical threshold last year in their ability to understand complex diseases, posting a number of new discoveries that advanced knowledge of ailments caused by small contributions from multiple genes, the environment, and other causes.
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Health
Haiti clinic makes real gains
“13 October 2003.” Saintyl Louistess remembered the exact date she found out she had AIDS.
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Nation & World
Film insists U.S. educational system is in critical condition
Last month Bill Gates warned Congress that the United States is dangerously close to losing its competitive edge due to a serious shortage of scientists and engineers. The problem required in part, said the Microsoft founder, a revamping of the country’s educational system.
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Campus & Community
Newsmakers
HBS’S LAURA ALFARO NAMED YOUNG GLOBAL LEADER MELTON TO RECEIVE DIABETES CHAMPION AWARD NATIONAL PARKS GROUP TO HONOR E.O. WILSON
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Health
Less sleep, more TV leads to fat toddlers
Infants and toddlers who sleep less than 12 hours a day are twice as likely to become overweight by age 3 than children who sleep longer. In addition, high levels of television viewing combined with less sleep elevate the risk, so that children who sleep less than 12 hours and who view two or more…
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Health
Potent new strategy for mapping animal species shakes up tree of life
Since the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” efforts to trace evolutionary relationships among different classes of organisms have largely relied on external morphological observations.