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September-October 2010

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Letters

Letters from our readers

The College Pump

A signpost outside a gray wall at Pavlodar State University, in northern Kazakhstan, points the way to the red brick of Harvard and the gleaming spires of Oxford and Cambridge. Daniel Gutterman, LL.B. ’55, of New York City, took the photograph this spring when he taught business transactions and law at Innovative University of Eurasia, also in Pavlodar.

Recollections of David Halberstam and Harry Levin

Treasure

The Farlow Library's new online exhibits highlight the death cap mushroom and mycological illustration.

In this Issue

Harvard professors and students take aim at the social and behavioral factors that contribute to HIV.

Ellen Langer at home, with her dogs and her own painting of a dog.

Psychologist Ellen Langer's unconventional research. Plus, read about applying mindfulness techniques to eating.

“Building No. 15, 4th Road in Jiu Xian Qiao” (built mid 1950s, photographed in 2005).

Two Beijing photographers interpret China's breakneck change from Communist revolution to market-based consumerism.

The undated silhouette above is the only known portrait of Lowell.

Brief life of an American entrepreneur: 1775-1817

Inside the National Security Agency’s Threat Operations Center in January 2006, following President George W. Bush’s speech to employees prior to the U.S. Senate hearings on domestic surveillance

Father and son, lawyer and philosopher debate torture, surveillance, and presidential power

Letters

Letters from our readers

Right Now

Neurobiologist Michael Greenberg investigates how memories form at a molecular level, and discovers a new class of RNA.

Termites like this soldier, patrolling a piece of fungal comb, aerate and improve the soil near their mounds.

Robert Pringle says the grid-like distribution of Kenyan termite mounds helps answer an old question about ecosystems.

The fate of stem cells (white) in bone marrow is influenced by their immediate environment of bone cells (green), blood vessels (red), and bone (blue). Genetical­ly defective “bad neighbors” can actually cause cancer.

David Scadden studies the environmental cues that can cause normal cells to become diseased.

New England Regional

The Slater Mill’s stone exterior

Innovative museums highlight New England's industrial past.

A scene from <em>Alice vs. Wonderland</em> at the American Repertory Theater

Early fall happenings at Harvard

Fusilli with clams and fresh peas

The South End’s Coppa offers tasty tapas.

John Harvard's Journal

The view on Prescott Street, east of the Fogg, following demolition of Werner Otto Hall

Gutting the Fogg Art Museum on the way to renovating it

As corporate relationships with researchers and doctors come under more scrutiny, Harvard Medical School updates its policies.

Revised promotion policies transform younger faculty members' lives—and promise sweeping changes in the professoriate as a whole.

Josh Kantor

Meet the Law School librarian who plays for the Red Sox.

Katie Lapp

Executive vice president Katie Lapp is swiftly altering the ways Harvard budgets, builds, computes, and more.

Headlines from Harvard history

Waiting to hear about faculty retirements; a new HUCTW contract; and a cash infusion for the Medical School from its affiliated hospitals

Canaday's solar roof, a rare giant flower, oil-spill commissioner, and more

The Undergraduate, halfway through the College, finds time speeding up, in academics and in life.

Madeleine Schwartz (left) and Sarah Zhang

Two sterling student writers join the magazine as Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows.

Murdock Stenis warms up for indoor cycling, an intense interval workout with music.

Dawn Murdock Stenis directs Harvard’s extensive fitness programs.

Montage

Painter George Oommen in his studio. His painting <em>Visions of Kerala 2</em> (acrylic on canvas, 2005) hangs behind him.

Painter George Oommen creates distinctive images of Kerala, India—his homeland. With video of the artist at work.

Soulfège co-founders Jonathan Gramling (left) and Derrick N. Ashong, a.k.a. “DNA”

The band Soulfège has international sound and a positive message. With a music video.

Brazelton with one of his sources of inspiration

Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton's breakthrough in understanding newborns as complex, capable beings

Francine Prose

Francine Prose writes fiction and nonfiction in many forms. With an audio clip of the author discussing her writing process.

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Recent books with Harvard connections

Alumni

John Fetterman stands inside the defunct Carrie Furnance Works (1884-1982), which he hopes will be turned into a museum and national park down the river from Braddock.

A Kennedy School alumnus tries to revive a Rust Belt town.

Robert R. Bowie Jr.

Harvard Alumni Association president Robert R. Bowie Jr. is passionate about the “Harvard network.”

President Drew Faust will welcome attendees as the Shared Interest Group hosts its inaugural conference (October 15-17).

Nine alumni will be recognized by the College admissions office for their long and loyal service in recruiting and interviewing prospective students.

Early fall Shared Interest Group events

For David Moolten, medicine and poetry have formed a symbiotic bond.

Experiences as patient and doctor have shaped David Moolten’s commitment to writing.

Kristin Kimball has chosen to learn about farming from the ground up.

How Manhattan journalist Kristin Kimball found the best job in the world.

Michael Fertik has suggestions for a safer relationship with the Web.

Entrepreneur and author Michael Fertik aims to help folks keep their reputations safe online.

Harvard alumni may sign in to view class notes and obituaries published in the print edition of this magazine.

The College Pump

A signpost outside a gray wall at Pavlodar State University, in northern Kazakhstan, points the way to the red brick of Harvard and the gleaming spires of Oxford and Cambridge. Daniel Gutterman, LL.B. ’55, of New York City, took the photograph this spring when he taught business transactions and law at Innovative University of Eurasia, also in Pavlodar.

Recollections of David Halberstam and Harry Levin

Treasure

The Farlow Library's new online exhibits highlight the death cap mushroom and mycological illustration.