Research & Ideas

Discover Harvard research, scholarship, and ideas shaping the world—from science and technology to policy, education, and the humanities.


Öberg to Lead Harvard Faculty Recruitment and Retention

The astrochemist will become senior vice provost for faculty affairs this summer.

by Jonathan Shaw

From Haiti to Rwanda, Paul Farmer Moves Mountains

Paul E. Farmer, Presley professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School, made the front page of the Boston Sunday Globe this week with his work in providing healthcare in rural Rwanda...

Trails of Tears, and Hope

The hamlet of Alkali Lake, about 100 miles north of Vancouver, is home to one of a handful of surviving Shuswap bands of Native Americans in...

by Craig Lambert

Global Gains

Photograph by Justin Ide/Harvard News Office Jorge I. Domínguez Harvard’s engagement with the world widened significantly during...

Teaching and Learning Abroad

Mollie wright ’09 expected to spend her summer in Costa Rica teaching English. She was, after all, a volunteer for WorldTeach, a...

The Slave Rebellion in New York City

Historian Jill Lepore explores the lives of slaves during an alleged eighteenth century uprising

by Jonathan Shaw

Federico Capasso: The Quantum Designer

From quantum materials design to “voodoo physics” in the nanoscientists’ weird world

by Jonathan Shaw

An entomologist at work on the Encyclopedia of Life

In the Dominican Republic, a project to write the first chapter in the encyclopedia of life

by Jonathan Shaw

Who Built the Pyramids?

Not slaves. Archaeologist Mark Lehner, digging deeper, discovers a city of privileged workers.

by Jonathan Shaw

Human origins driven by technological and cultural revolutions

Ofer Bar-Yosef argues that cultural and technological revolutions have been more important than biological ones during the past 100, 000 years.

by Jonathan Shaw

Thomas Forrest Kelly teaches about “First NIghts”—musical premieres

A look at Thomas Forrest Kelly’s Harvard Core course on five musical premieres