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When Water Is Safer Than Land
“.… you have to understand, that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land….” Warsan Shire, “Home” The jubilation that accompanied the brief flowering of the Arab Spring is long gone …
Issue: January-February 2016
The University in “Contentious Times”
President Lawrence S. Bacow, speaking at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University (John Harvard’s alma mater, in 1632), on January 25 addressed the challenge of maintaining universities as places for honest, thoughtful inquiry at a time of both external …
In "Art of Jazz," A Multivocal Exhibit
In the front hall of the Cooper Gallery on Mount Auburn Street, what appear to be two bubble-shaped lanterns hang from the ceiling—but instead of beaming down light to illuminate the art, they pipe in music for visitors standing beneath. In the rooms …
An Earlier Bid for Mastery
New genetic knowledge may let us manipulate our nature: beef up our muscles, brush up our memory, make designer children. What’s wrong with that? Bass professor of government Michael J. Sandel proposes an answer in The Case against Perfection: Ethics in …
Issue: May-June 2007
The Data on Drama
History catalogs failure far less frequently than success—and sometimes, says assistant professor of English Derek Miller, that is a mistake. Miller, who studies theatrical history, is engaged in an experimental project he calls Visualizing Broadway that …
Issue: November-December 2015
Thank the Rich for Low Rates?
Could wealth accumulation by the rich in the United States have contributed to a savings glut so great that it has forced down interest rates? The inexplicably low cost of borrowing that has persisted worldwide for nearly two decades is often attributed …
Issue: January-February 2022
No Surprises
The Harvard University Financial Report for the fiscal year ended last June 30 appears to fulfill administrators’ hopes: it conveys essentially no surprises. In this, the mid-October report contrasts sharply with the fiscal 2009 version, which disclosed …
Issue: January-February 2011
Tough Love
Editor's Note: Nicholas Dawidoff '85 has just published The Fly Swatter: How My Grandfather Made His Way in the World , a richly detailed portrait of Alexander Gerschenkron, the economic historian who was a member of the Harvard faculty from 1948, when he …
Issue: July-August 2002
The Health Benefits of Owning a Pet
Today is National Pet Day , and pet owners have another reason to celebrate: their pets are helping them live healthier, longer lives. “Pet owners are less likely to die,” said Harvard Medical School clinical assistant professor Beth Frates, citing the …
Controversial Reunioner
The urbane Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstaengl '09 was Hitler's crony and foreign press chief during the Führer's ascendancy, and played the piano for him soothingly. He later fell out of favor and fled to the United States, where he worked against the Nazis for …
Issue: September-October 2004
Who Let the Dogs Out?
The Yale bulldog, muzzled by Harvard for five straight years, broke loose at the Stadium on November 18 and went on a tear. Closing out an Ivy League season made memorable by the exploits of Crimson running back Clifton Dawson, Yale’s 34-13 victory gave …
Issue: January-February 2007
Mysterious Minis
Two miniature mosaics, each the size of a Kindle and shrouded in mystery, depict 41 male figures. Researchers at Dumbarton Oaks, where the mosaics are part of the Byzantine collection, know roughly when they were made (the early fourteenth century) and …
Issue: March-April 2024
Inhaling Distress
After 40 years of scientific and news reports on tobacco's hazards, smoking today may be a fundamentally irrational act. But is it linked with genuine psychological disturbance? Perhaps so, according to a new study that asserts that mentally ill smokers …
Simple Headlines Are Better
A study released today has found empirical evidence behind an old rule for effective writing—the simpler, the better. Weatherhead professor of public policy Todd Rogers , with fellow researchers Hillary Shulman and David Markowitz, looked at how readers …
Why We Eat What We Do
In the spring of 1910, the freshmen of the Harvard Class of 1913 sat down at New American House in Boston, white tablecloths and all, for a typically extravagant meal. The first course: a Cotuit cocktail, made with local Cotuit oysters. The eighth: …