all culture + society stories

Stimulus funds provide welcome research boost

705287540 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:15:58 -0400

In remarks last month at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., President Barack Obama said not only do we need stimulus money to create thousands of jobs in the sciences and technology, but also to get the progress of the nation’s research back on track.

Invention of cooking drove evolution of the human species, new book argues

50443248 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:33:34 -0400

“You are what you eat.” Can these pithy words explain the evolution of the human species?

Yes, says Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, who argues in a new book that the invention of cooking — even more than agriculture, the eating of meat, or the advent of tools — is what led to the rise of humanity.

Student diggers take Harvard’s roots from dirt to display case

404132862 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:24:18 -0500

Emily Pierce ’10 was up to her hips in Harvard Yard, standing in a square hole in the ground, carefully scraping soil as she sought bits of archaeological treasure: a button here, a piece of bone there — clues that together could weave a tale of Harvard’s early years.

Symposium addresses disparities in Native American health care

404132862 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:46:01 -0500

Sunshine Dwojak, a fourth-year Harvard Medical School student, was 26 when her mother died of heart disease, leaving behind three children. Dwojak’s mother was 48.

“My grandmother said our family ‘just wasn’t lucky,’ and my aunt said that ‘longevity doesn’t run in our family,’” Dwojak said. Growing up, she saw many of her family members suffer from mental illness, heart disease, diabetes, and substance abuse.

Percentage of Katrina survivors with mental disorders increasing

404132862 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 13:15:53 -0500

According to the most comprehensive survey yet conducted of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane.

Improving women's health key Indian strategy

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:16:46 -0400

Detailed research of Indian health disparities has revealed that significant differences in access to health care exist even within families, with the health and nutrition of women and girls taking a backseat to that of men and boys.

That was the picture painted Monday (Oct. 22) by Gita Sen of the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India, and an adjunct lecturer on population and international health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Sen was one of the speakers at a two-day symposium hosted by the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston University’s Global Health Initiative, and Tufts University.

Panel investigates media reporting on science and politics of stem cells

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:21:33 -0400

Stem cells, politics, "fairness," and what one participant termed "the disintegration of traditional journalism," were all on the bill at Thursday night’s (Oct. 18) public forum titled "Stem Cells and the Media," hosted by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

A panel of four science journalists who have extensively covered the stem cell "story" gathered in the Radcliffe Gym to discuss and debate the challenges and complexities of stem cell research coverage by the mainstream media.

"This is the most political issue in science," said William Saletan, a national correspondent for Slate magazine.

Improving child survival around the globe is key goal of United Nations

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:35:56 -0400

Reducing child mortality rates for children under 5 — which in 2004 was 6.5 (per 1,000 children annually) in Latin America and the Caribbean, about 20 in South Asia, and 39 in sub-Saharan Africa — is one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals were established at the beginning of this decade to address the problems of global poverty, health, and sustainability. Targets were set related to these issues, to be achieved by 2015. However, there are concerns at the midway point that the targets will not be achieved.

Shore Fellows awarded valuable time

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:33:21 -0400

N. Stuart Harris, an emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, is also an active researcher doing groundbreaking research on hypoxia — a shortage of oxygen in the body.

Study probes academic, industry relationships

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:52:19 -0400

A study led by members of the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Policy (MGH-IHP) has found that institutional academic-industry relationships — financial relationships companies have with medical schools or teaching hospitals rather than with individual physicians or scientists — are as common and pervasive as individual relationships. The report, the first nationwide look at the extent and impact of these relationships, appears in the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Our data show that institutional relationships are as ubiquitous as individual relationships,” says Eric Campbell of the MGH-IHP, the study’s principal investigator.

Stem Cell Summit draws 500 participants

404132862 — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:44:43 -0400

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick Wednesday (Oct. 3) called on those attending the second day of a Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI)-sponsored Stem Cell Summit to support his proposed $1 billion life sciences initiative “so we can get partnering with you.”

While Massachusetts has a unique concentration of researchers, academic institutions, biotech companies, and investment in the life sciences, “we can’t just rest on our laurels,” Patrick said. “I ask you to make your voices heard,” the governor continued. “Make your interests known. When the bill comes out for hearings — show up.”

Weight gain between first and second pregnancies and sex ratio

404132862 — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:08:13 -0400

A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, found that mothers who experienced an increase in weight from the beginning of the first pregnancy to the beginning of the second pregnancy may be slightly more likely to give birth to a baby boy during their second pregnancy. The study appears online September 24, 2007 in the journal Fertility & Sterility.

Maya, Aztec monument casts get the shake-out, dust-off

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:29:30 -0400

Plaster reproductions of Maya and Aztec carvings, which preserve precious details now lost on the originals, are leaving dusty, haphazard storage for cleaning, cataloging, and crating that will prepare them for a new era of usefulness and relevance.

Made more than a century ago, the plaster casts, housed at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, re-create the elaborate stone carvings that adorned Maya and Aztec cities that once buzzed with life across Central America.

The original carvings held images of rulers and rituals as well as examples of script that have proven key to deciphering the Maya’s written language, a process ongoing today.

AAAS to induct 13 Harvard faculty to 227th class of fellows

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:12:17 -0400

Thirteen Harvard University faculty members will be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony on Saturday (Oct. 6). Celebrated for their scholarship, artistic triumphs, and service to society, the 227th class of fellows includes the following Harvard affiliates:

David G. Blackbourn, Archibald Carey Coolidge Professor of History; David Cutler, dean for the Social Sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics; Leopold Damrosch Jr., Ernest Bernbaum Professor of English Literature; Lars Hernquist, professor of astronomy; Rem Koolhaas, professor in practice of architecture and urban design; Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director; N. Gregory Mankiw, Robert M.

Ancient practice sans theory

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:56:27 -0400

Move over, Archimedes. A researcher at Harvard University is finding that ancient Greek craftsmen were able to engineer sophisticated machines without necessarily understanding the mathematical theory behind their construction.

Recent analysis of technical treatises and literary sources dating back to the fifth century B.C. reveals that technology flourished among practitioners with limited theoretical knowledge.

“Craftsmen had their own kind of knowledge that didn’t have to be based on theory,” explains Mark Schiefsky, professor of the classics in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.