On the cover: Yestock/iStock images

Letters from our readers

Authoritarianism, labor law, climate change, and more

The View from Mass Hall

President Bacow on encountering—and coming to terms with—COVID-19

On faculties and longer-range planning for Harvard

Faculty governance and long-range intellectual planning for Harvard

May-June 2020

On the cover: Yestock/iStock images

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Brief life of a breakthrough astronomer: 1900-1979

by Donovan Moore

Ways to cope with the federal debt

The politics, policymaking, and public consequences of mounting government debt—and how to cope with it

by Karen Dynan , Douglas Elmendorf

David Cutler on trimming U.S. healthcare costs

Administrative costs, greed, overutilization—can these drivers of U.S. medical costs be curbed?

by David Cutler

RIGHT NOW Harvard research and ideas

Butterfly wing secrets revealed in infrared

A study reveals new dimensions to their function and beauty.

Stem cell activity linked to lifestyle

Exercise attenuates stem cell production of pro-inflammatory white blood cells.

What rights do children have in homeschooling?

Elizabeth Bartholet highlights risks when parents have 24/7 authoritarian control over their children.

Frontiers

Activity tracking to identify the at-risk elderly, and China’s offshore windfarm potential 

John Harvard's Journal University news

Harvard faces coronavirus impact

The sudden dispersal from Cambridge and Boston, Commencement postponed, and the looming financial consequences

Susan Murphy

Portrait of a hockey-playing statistician—from Louisiana

Harvard rethinks online education strategy

A push to emphasize learning rather than teaching

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Harvard Widener Library Overlooked Designer

Widener Library’s overlooked designer

Baron and Gates at Commencement, a lawsuit renewed,

Baron and Gates planned at Commencement, new Corporation member, a lawsuit renewed, and more

Divestment developments at Harvard

Developments at Harvard, Brown’s changed investments, and Yale’s engagement with companies in its portfolio

The Undergraduate on power and the denial of scholarship

A student scientist contemplates power and the denial of scholarship.

Harvard athletic season canceled

A necessary but brutal blow

Harvard fencing squad update

How Harvard fencers won an Ivy championship

Harvard basketball season wrap-up

Injuries—and the coronavirus—lead to disappointing basketball seasons.

Montage Books, creative arts, performance, and more

John Alexander follows the ups and downs of funk musician Rudy Love.

John Alexander follows the ups and downs of funk musician Rudy Love.

Rebecca Henderson, “Reimagining Capitalism” to save the planet

The Business School’s Rebecca Henderson reimagines capitalism to save the planet.

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Novelist Paul Yoon and “Run Me to Earth”

Novelist Paul Yoon explores Laos’s forgotten war.

Artistic director Joshua McTaggart and the redesigned Chelsea Theatre

Joshua McTaggart leads London’s Chelsea Theatre into a new era.

“The Equivalents,” by Maggie Doherty, reviewed by Susan Ware

From “women’s confinement” to “women’s liberation” at the Radcliffe Institute

A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words

A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words

“Tightrope,” by Kristof and WuDunn, reviewed by Allison Pugh

Americans diminished by “social poverty”

Harvard SquaredWhat to do in Boston, Cambridge, and beyond

Blackstone River Valley sights and activities

Tracing America’s industrial roots in the Blackstone River Valley

Museum of Work & Culture

Woonsocket’s historic French-Canadian community

American Gold Rush, Peabody Essex Museum

“Gold Rush: Daguerreotypes of Early California,” at the Peabody Essex Museum

Harvard’s Virtual Commencement

Harvard’s 369th Commencement goes virtual.

Boston and Cambridge celebratory restaurants

Where to (eventually, again) feast with friends and family in Greater Boston 

Saluting and supporting Harvard Square businesses, old and new

Looking ahead to a reopened Harvard Square

Almuni Harvardians far and wide

The Early Bird

A quest to chronicle New York City’s avian community

Overseer and HAA Director Elections

The official 2020 slates

Image of sign on Adams House faculty dean residence

The College Pump

Houseboating in Boston Harbor, Apthorp North, and clothing counts

Margaret Mee painting of yellow trumpet tree

Rainforest flora images by Margaret Mee

Botanical bounty at Dumbarton Oaks

For Alumni

The Classes

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