Right Now
Harvard’s Plant Collection Meets Space Science
Light-based analysis of botanical collections link plants to Earth’s changing climate.
Does Thinking Make It So?
In The Cure Within, historian of science Anne Harrington explores the medical history of the mind-body connection.
What Makes the Human Mind?
Biological anthropologist Marc Hauser seeks to isolate the aspects of human thought that account for what he terms "humaniqueness," the difference between animal and human thought.
World-Wide Web of Life
James Hanken of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and other scientists launch an ambitious project to chronicle all life on earth.
by Paul Gleason
The Financial Cost of Feeling
Psychologist and public-policy scholar Jennifer Lerner explores how emotions influence behavior and judgment.
A Durable Bubble
Mechanical engineering student Emilie Dressaire studies tiny bubbles that can last up to a year and replace fat droplets in ice cream.
by Paul Gleason
Slavery’s Sway
Interdisciplinary economist Nathan Nunn explores the problem of African underdevelopment by drawing on—and unearthing—historical data about slavery.
by Paul Gleason
The Teen Brain
It’s a paradoxical time of development. These are people with very sharp brains, but they’re not quite sure what to do with them...
Proof Positive
Richard L. Taylor’s work connects two discrete domains of mathematics: curved spaces, from geometry, and modular arithmetic, which has to do with counting...
Man, Mongoose, and Machine
Standing outside a Sri Lankan army base in the spring of 2007, Thrishantha Nanayakkara mapped an entire minefield without once setting foot in it.
by Paul Gleason
Prescription for Error?
In recent years, safety recalls of widely prescribed drugs like the pain-killer Vioxx have sent an unsettling message to consumers.