
On the cover: Stephen Gray/Photograph by Aaron Conway/aaconn studio
Letters
Cambridge 02138
Acupuncture, climate change, renaming
Resolve
President Bacow on speech on campus
A Tale of Two Universities
What Ivy institutions’ diverging paths reveal
March-April 2021

On the cover: Stephen Gray/Photograph by Aaron Conway/aaconn studio
Features
Shaping Cities
Stephen Gray pioneers equitable urban design.
Due Process
Jeannie Suk Gersen on the law, trauma, and “the rhetoric of believing”
Elizabeth Bangs Bryant
Brief life of an underappreciated arachnologist
Seeing Life
Re-engaging with nature alongside the director of the Arnold Arboretum
RIGHT NOW Harvard research and ideas
Culture in the Cold War
In a new book, Louis Menand probes the cultural currents of postwar America.
The Great Red Enigma
The gas giant’s storms could be driven by processes thousands of kilometers below the surface.
A New Light on DNA Storage
Compact and persistent, DNA could one day compress all human knowledge into a 15-gallon drum.
John Harvard's Journal University news
A Gate of Whimsy
At Houghton and Lamont libraries, a creative new entry into the Yard
Online Takes Off
Pandemic-driven virtual learning booms—and perhaps promises improved residential education, too.
Roxanne Guenette
Seeking answers to science’s biggest questions
Yesterday’s News
Headlines from Harvard’s history
The Overseers’ Higher Profile
Prospective candidates and their diverse views of Harvard’s future and the Board’s role
Unconventional Venture Capital
The Xfund helps young entrepreneurs launch companies and careers.
Brevia
Adams House changing of rhe guard, Institute of Politics controversy, an avalanche of applications, and more
News Briefs
Reports on the pandemic spring semester, policing reform, Allston enlargement, and cell-manufacturing
Adulting, Interrupted
The Undergraduate balances childhood and maturity.
The 1,200 Loop
A legendary route’s disputed distance
Montage Books, creative arts, performance and more
Attention to Detail
Nicholas Callaway publishes the Sistine Chapel in closeup.
“Shoddy”: The Noun
“From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags”—a surprising account of scrap
Rather Psychologically Peculiar
Reinterpreting the distinctive psychology of the human West
A Lone Star Saga
Fiction about “the power that comes to us when we uncloset ourselves”
Off the Shelf
Recent books with Harvard connections
Chapter & Verse
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
When Fantasy Isn’t Enough
Documentarian Lance Oppenheim explores life in The Villages.
Harvard Squared What to do in Boston, Cambridge and beyond
Returning to the Big Screen
Greater Boston’s small cinemas strive to engage film-goers during the pandemic.
Painterly Dances, Danceable Paintings
“Shen Wei: Painting in Motion,” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Our Masked Selves
Richard Nielsen: “This is Not a Gag,” at MASS MoCA
Write It!
This Boston conference offers a virtual writing retreat.
The (Truly) Great Outdoors
Turning your al fresco space into a springtime oasis
Almuni Harvardians far and wide
Curator of American Culture
Radhika Jones at the helm of Vanity Fair
Honoring Alumni Leaders
Highlighting leaders at clubs and SIGs