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Campus & Community
Greenes honored with endowed chair at BWH
Celebrating the tremendous progress made in the past 25 years in the field of biomedical informatics, along with the contributions made by Professor of Radiology and Health Sciences Robert Greenes, the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) has established an endowment for a Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Informatics, and has named Greenes…
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Campus & Community
Police reports
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Oct. 31. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
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Campus & Community
This month in Harvard history
November 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.” At Harvard, Darwin’s friends include Professors Asa Gray and Jeffries Wyman. Already evolutionists, they take up his theory of natural selection. Professor Louis Agassiz, however, continues to support the theory of permanent types until his death in 1873 –…
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Campus & Community
Faculty Council meeting for Nov. 2
At its fourth meeting of the year on Nov. 2, the Faculty Council considered a proposal to disband the Standing Committees on Benefits and on Privacy, Accessibility, and Security of Records, received a report on the priorities of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and discussed the report of the Committee on General Education.
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Campus & Community
Community Gifts campaign under way
November marks the beginning of the month long Community Gifts Through Harvard campaign. Employees will receive campaign pledge cards in the mail this week. For more information, or to pledge online, visit www.community.harvard.edu/communitygifts.
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Campus & Community
Activists get active
Marking the one-year anniversary of the Bush re-election and as part of a national student walkout against the war, the Harvard-Cambridge Walk for Peace gathered students and faculty together for a peace walk outside the Science Center on Wednesday (Nov. 2).
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Campus & Community
Security comes from growth, not guns
Pakistans ambassador to the United States said Monday (Oct. 31) that the South Asian nation is banking on economic growth to build security rather than the military might it has relied on in the past.
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Campus & Community
Stairway to winter
On one of the areas recent, welcome, unusually temperate days, a student treads carefully along a Carpenter Center path amid a dazzling autumn display.
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Campus & Community
Questions remain about China in space
Two Chinese astronauts spent five days in space in early October, boosting national pride and the reputation of China’s high-tech industry, but leaving experts scratching their heads about China’s military intentions. “Most analysts agree about what China is doing in space. There’s vast differences over why they’re doing it,” said Joan Johnson-Freese, chair of the…
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Health
New findings help explain how brain pathways control body weight
A study led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center provides another important step in our understanding of the critical role that the brain’s molecular pathways play in the development of obesity and related disorders. The findings, reported in the Nov. 4, 2005 issue of the journal Cell, demonstrate for the first…
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Campus & Community
Armenia’s remarkable alphabet
Armenians pride themselves on being the first nation to adopt Christianity, an event that is supposed to have occurred in the early fourth century when St. Gregory the Illuminator succeeded in converting Trdat, the king of Armenia. But according to Harvard researcher James Russell, there is much evidence that after Trdat’s death, the country was…
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Campus & Community
HapMap reveals roots of common diseases
The genes that everyone inherits contain coded information that influences which diseases any individual is most at risk of getting. Countless studies show that small variations in genes play a major role in a host of common maladies that produce untold suffering and premature death. However, progress in tying these variations to specific maladies has…
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Campus & Community
Bulyk searches for DNA on-off switches
Martha Bulyk held what looked like an ordinary glass slide up to the large window that is much of one wall of her Harvard Medical School office. The slide seemed to be blank, but a puff of breath exposed row after row of tiny dots, appearing like the hidden writing of a secret message. But…
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Science & Tech
Cosmic cloudshine
Hubble’s iconic images include many shots of cosmic clouds of gas and dust called nebulae. For example, the famous “Pillars of Creation” mark the birthplace of new stars within the Eagle Nebula. Yet despite their beauty, visible-light images show only the nebulae surfaces. Baby stars may hide beneath, invisible even to Hubble’s powerful gaze. Harvard…
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Science & Tech
Study shows escalating climate change impacts
The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, along with co-sponsors Swiss Re and the United Nations Development Programme, has released a study showing that climate change will significantly affect the health of humans and ecosystems and these impacts will have economic consequences. The study, “Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological and…
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Health
Gingko may prevent ovarian cancer
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found initial laboratory and epidemiological evidence that, for the first time, demonstrates that ginkgo may help lower a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer. The findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting in Baltimore on Oct. 31, 2005. In a population-based study, which…
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Science & Tech
Taking a look at how ant (and human) societies might grow
Edward O. Wilson has learned a great deal about life by studying ant societies. In this knowledge, he finds parallels between the social interactions of insects and those of birds, lions, monkeys, apes, and even humans. The last parallel got him into trouble in the late 1970s, but he now enjoys credit for establishing a…
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Health
An existing diuretic may suppress seizures in newborns
A diuretic drug called bumetanide may serendipitously help treat seizures in newborns, which are difficult to control with existing anticonvulsants, according to a study in the November 2005 Nature Medicine. The study findings could lead to clinical trials of bumetanide in newborns, whose immature, rapidly- developing brains are especially vulnerable to seizures – particularly preterm…
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Health
Barrier found to nerve regeneration
Scientists have long dreamed of prompting adult neurons of the central nervous system to regenerate. But these cells have the deck stacked against them in several ways. Molecules from the myelin sheath surrounding their axons actively discourage growth. After injury, nearby astrocytes form a dense scar to block them. Even the signals that once guided…
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Health
Sublethal force: New antibiotic aims to tame bacterial toxins
Using an innovative screening approach, researchers in the lab of John Mekalanos have identified an entirely new class of antibiotics active against the cholera bacterium. While traditional antibiotics kill bacteria outright by interfering with processes essential for their survival, the new agents block production of bacterial proteins that promote infection and cause cholera symptoms. Tests…
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Campus & Community
University wins award for green activities
Harvard University received a 2005 Green Power Leadership Award Monday (Oct. 24) from the federal government and the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions for its commitment to using renewable energy.
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Campus & Community
Pastor, mayor, and ‘go to’ man at Otis
You understand why he has been dubbed Mr. Mayor when you walk around the Otis Air National Guard Base with the Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown, who was appointed by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to oversee the temporary base for more than 200 people evacuated from the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
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Campus & Community
Barrington Moore Jr., 92, Harvard sociologist
Barrington Moore Jr., a Harvard University sociologist, died in his home in Cambridge, Mass., on Oct. 16, 2005, at the age of 92. The cause of death was pneumonia.
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Campus & Community
Zuckerman welcomes inaugural fellows
Mortimer B. Zuckerman LL.M. 62, chairman of the board of Boston Properties and editor in chief and publisher of U.S. News & World Report, visiting Harvard on Sept. 28, joined President Lawrence H. Summers in welcoming the inaugural class of Zuckerman Fellows. Twenty-five fellows were selected to pursue a graduate degree at the Kennedy School…
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Campus & Community
HMS center honors Al Gore for environmental work
Former Vice President Al Gore was recently chosen as the recipient of the 2005 Global Environmental Citizen Award by the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Actress and center board member Meryl Streep presented Gore with the award at an Oct. 21 ceremony in New York City.
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Campus & Community
Allston room offers place for info, input
The informational Harvard in Allston exhibit room will be opening in the Holyoke Center arcade later this month. The room will serve as a visual display of the initial conceptual framework of Harvards future in Allston, with illustrations and text showing how Harvards planning consultants see that future.
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Campus & Community
Bavarian Academy of Sciences honors King
Ronold W.P. King, professor emeritus in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has received a congratulatory letter from Heinrich Noth, the president of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich. After offering congratulations to King for reaching his 100th birthday, the letter continued:
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Campus & Community
BWH will Webcast surgery
Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) will host a live Webcast today (Oct. 27) demonstrating a multidisciplinary approach to treating breast cancer. This approach will show how the Dana-Farber/BWH Cancer Center brings together pathology, radiology, surgical oncology, medical oncology, and radiation oncology to treat breast cancer. The Webcast will highlight a core needle biopsy and preoperative…
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Campus & Community
Sports in brief
Bode, team swing to victory at ECAC Championships Paced by a first-place finish by freshman Ali Bode – and a team effort that saw five scorers place among the top 10 – the Harvard women’s golf team rolled to a 55-stroke win among a field of 10 schools at the ECAC Division I Championships this…
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Campus & Community
Crimson collapse
A back-and-forth affair marked by four lead swaps, this past Saturdays (Oct. 22) Ivy League showdown against Princeton offered little in the way of R&R for the host Harvard football team. Or, for that matter, much time to celebrate.