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Laying Out
On the volleyball court, Sandra Zeng ’21 lives by one rule: never let the ball touch the ground. So when opposing hitters go up for a spike, she trains her eyes on their shoulders. “The shoulders tell a lot,” Zeng says. If they’re angled toward one …
Issue: January-February 2021
Decoding the Alphaviruses
The coronavirus pandemic was caused by a virus that made the leap from animals to humans. Responding quickly and effectively to such viruses requires some foreknowledge of how they enter human cells—often by using a receptor common to several species. …
Issue: May-June 2022
Capturing the American South
A Long Arc : Photography and the American South since 1845, opening March 2 at the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts, is a sweeping survey of the region. Yet don’t expect it to “distill the messiness and infinite nuance of the …
Issue: March-April 2024
In Beijing, President Bacow Affirms Academic Freedom
President Lawrence S. Bacow —on an Asian itinerary including stops in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo—delivered an address last night at Peking University titled “The Pursuit of Truth and the Mission of the University.” His visit comes at a time …
The Wages of Affluence
Propelled by a surge in funds from the endowment, and to a lesser extent by a wave of gifts from the final phase of the University Campaign, Harvard concluded its fiscal year ended June 30, 2000, with a $120-million operating surplus on an operating …
Prophet of Self-Esteem
John Taylor Canfield '66 dished up his first bowl of Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit in 1993. A native of Fort Worth and a graduate of the Linsly Military Institute in West Virginia, he concentrated in …
Rose-Colored Passes
The translation of Neil Rose from benchwarmer to record-breaking passer was completed in a span of less than 13 minutes. In that interval, quarterback Rose and his mates sprang three big-play touchdowns to overtake Brown, last season's Ivy League …
Ring of the Road
Currently, 94 million Americans own a cellular phone, and 90 percent of those owners make calls while driving. Although cell phones appeared on the U.S. market only in the mid 1980s, a majority of Americans will own one by the year 2005 if the trend …
A Tribute to Harry Lewis
At a Wednesday event billed as “A Celebration of Computer Science at Harvard in Honor of Harry Lewis,” one of his former teaching fellows described how Lewis had “given us the license” to grade any programming assignment that “had an inline constant” with …
How Physics Can Be Used to Manipulate a Coin Toss
Ever lost a coin toss? In theory, the odds could have gone your way or the other. The stakes may or may not have been low for you, but millions of dollars are regularly waged on the outcome of the Super Bowl coin toss. But what if a coin lands on its …
Abreu, Menino, Pagels, and Oprah: The Honorands
During the Morning Exercises of the 362nd Commencement, on May 30, Harvard will confer honorary degrees on six men and three women, the University reports —among them a preeminent environmental economist, a public-health leader, a long-serving mayor, a …
Emily Broad Leib: What Can be Done About Food Waste?
What Can be Done About Food Waste? Emily Broad Leib, founder and director of Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, discusses how to reduce food waste in the United States and abroad. Topics include the confusion caused by misleading date labels, the …
Cultural Commitments
As Harvard emerges from a global pandemic that has upset work norms everywhere, it faces its own questions about the kind of workplace it will become. The University took a productive step when, despite initial inclinations, it largely maintained service …
Issue: March-April 2022
Sanctions Complications
The College’s impending sanctions on members of single-gender final clubs, fraternities, and sororities have engendered fierce, even bitter, disagreements over students’ rights, governance, and whether the policy will effect needed changes in …
The Lawyer Librettist
“Lucifer’s car was towed,” someone announced to the room—they’d have to start without him. The three Fates reviewed some new choreography; by the piano, Persephone, a tall soprano, nervously rolled a pencil between her fingers as she approached a tricky …
Issue: January-February 2017