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Science & Tech
Hotter seasons coming earlier, research finds
An analysis of global temperatures between 1850 and 2007 has illuminated some climate change details, showing that winter temperatures have risen more rapidly than summer temperatures and that the seasons are coming nearly two days earlier than they were 50 years ago. Perhaps most worrisome, however, is that none of the dozens of computerized climate…
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Health
Topical treatment wipes out herpes with RNAi
Harvard Medical School researchers have succeeded in developing a topical treatment that, in mice, wipes out herpes virus, one of the most intractable sexually transmitted human diseases. Judy Lieberman, professor of pediatrics and a senior investigator at the Immune Disease Institute, has overseen the development of the treatment that uses RNA interference, or RNAi, to…
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Science & Tech
Transit search finds super-Neptune
Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics havediscovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptuneorbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth. While Neptune has a diameter3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth’s, the new world(named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earthmasses. HAT-P-11b was…
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Science & Tech
Researchers find new molecule to block ‘Hedgehog’ signaling in cancer, development
Researchers have achieved a feat drug developers had thought difficult, if not impossible, discovering a compound that blocks the functioning of a key developmental protein by binding to an “undruggable” target — an advance that may provide a new avenue to fight skin, pancreatic, prostate, and other cancers. A team led by Stuart Schreiber, the…
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Campus & Community
Harvard infuses local economy with talent, dollars
Amid a steady stream of dire economic news, new research released Thursday, Jan. 15, shows that Harvard University continues to be a strong stabilizing force for the local economy.
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Science & Tech
Inmates suffer from chronic illness, poor access to health care
The nation’s prison and jail inmate population struggles with high rates of serious illness and poor access to care, according to the first nationwide study of inmate health and health care. The research, conducted by Harvard physicians at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School (HMS) and published today by the American Journal of…
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Health
Surgical safety checklist drops deaths and complications by more than one-third
A group of hospitals in eight cities around the globe has successfully demonstrated that the use of a simple surgical checklist during major operations can lower the incidence of deaths and complications by more than one-third. The rate of major complications in the study operating rooms fell from 11 percent in the baseline period to…
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Health
Spinal tap unnecessary for most babies with uncomplicated febrile seizures
When babies develop a fever high or abrupt enough to cause a seizure, frightened parents often rush them to the emergency room, where their workup frequently includes a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to rule out bacterial meningitis. Now, in the largest study to date, Harvard researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston find that this uncomfortable procedure…
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Science & Tech
Researchers control the assembly of nanobristles into helical clusters
From the structure of DNA to nautical rope to distant spiral galaxies, helical forms are as useful as they are abundant in nature and manufacturing alike. Researchers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study have discovered a way to…
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Science & Tech
Researchers see exotic force for first time
For the first time, researchers have measured a long-theorized force that operates at distances so tiny they’re measured in billionths of a meter, which may have important applications in nanotechnology as scientists and engineers seek new ways to create devices far too small for the eye to see. The advance, by researchers by Harvard and…
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Health
Obesity: Reviving the promise of leptin
The discovery more than a decade ago of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat tissue, generated headlines and great hopes for an effective treatment for obesity. But hopes dimmed when it was found that obese people are unresponsive to leptin due to development of leptin resistance in the brain. Now, Harvard researchers at Children’s…
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Science & Tech
Milky Way bigger, faster than previously thought
Our own Milky Way galaxy, long considered a “little sister” to the larger Andromeda Galaxy, is all grown-up, according to new research presented today that shows the Milky Way to be bigger and faster than previously thought.
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Health
Antacid medication in pregnancy may increase childhood asthma
Children of mothers who took acid-suppressive drugs during pregnancy had a 1.5 times higher incidence of asthma when compared with children who were not exposed to the drugs in utero, finds a large population-based study by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston. The findings, accompanied by an editorial, appear online in “Early View” in the journal…
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Science & Tech
New visualization techniques yield star formation insights
New computer visualization technology developed by the Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing has helped astrophysicists understand that gravity plays a larger role than previously thought in deep space’s vast, star-forming molecular clouds. The insight, to be reported in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Nature, is being illustrated in the journal’s online version through…
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Science & Tech
John P. Holdren named President-elect Obama’s Science Advisor
President-elect Barack Obama today announced that he has selected Harvard’s John P. Holdren to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology in the new administration. The post, popularly known as “the President’s science advisor,” also includes directorship of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President…
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Health
Stem cell researcher honored by President George W. Bush
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientist Kevin Eggan today was cited by President George W. Bush for his work in advancing the field of stem cell science on both scientific and educational levels. Eggan received a Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE) “… for developing new approaches for reprogramming of patient cells…
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Nation & World
Religion in the vernacular
In 1215, Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Council of the Lateran, a religious convocation that laid out to hundreds of bishops, abbots, priors, and Christian patriarchs 70 new decrees. One enjoined the clergy to stop frequenting taverns, engaging in trials by combat, hunting, and practicing what might be called noncelibate habits.
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Arts & Culture
Scholar asks: ‘How can we know the spectator from the dance?’
When Yvonne Rainer and her fellow dancers took to the stage in the early 1960s, their performances were like nothing American audiences had ever seen. First, there were no costumes. Performers wore T-shirts, casual pants, and sneakers. In place of elaborate leaps and twirls, the dancers engaged in everyday movements like running, climbing, and even…
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Campus & Community
Police reports
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Dec. 15. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu.
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Campus & Community
Newsmakers
Rockefeller Fellows chosen; Hedley-Whyte wins AAMI award; Goldman invited to speak to Homeland Security Council; Steinkeller receives Humboldt award; Counter at Nobel Prize ceremony
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Campus & Community
President’s office hours
President Drew Faust will hold office hours for students in her Massachusetts Hall office on the following dates:
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Campus & Community
George Whitelaw Mackey
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on November 18, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late George Whitelaw Mackey, Landon T. Clay Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Science, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Mackey’s publications profoundly influenced the next generation of mathematicians and mathematical physicists.
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Campus & Community
New ID card distribution through February
Continuing through the early winter of 2009, Harvard is distributing new, high-technology ID cards to the University community. The Harvard ID card is used in more than 400 systems across campus, and the new card will make those systems more secure by segregating key information and encrypting it in card-based technologies that are unique to…
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Campus & Community
CCSR annual report now available
The 2008 annual report of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR), a subcommittee of the President and Fellows, is now available upon request from the Office for the Committees on shareholder responsibility. To obtain a copy, e-mail Cheryl Thurman at cheryl_thurman@harvard.edu or call the office at (617) 495-0985.
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Campus & Community
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Standing Committees 2008-09
Upon the recommendation of the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), Harvard President Drew Faust has approved and announced the following Standing Committees. Standing Committees of the faculty are constituted to perform a continuing function. Each committee has been established by a vote of the faculty, and can be dissolved only by…
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Campus & Community
College’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter welcomes 48 new members
Forty-eight seniors were recently elected to the Harvard College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), Alpha Iota of Massachusetts.