Communities in three states—New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont—have found elevated levels in their drinking water of the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been linked to cancer and negative health outcomes in children. Phillippe Grandjean, adjunct professor of environmental health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, thinks the problem may be even…

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the Open Technology Institute surveyed U.S. Internet and telecommunications companies to highlight best practices and encourage standardization in transparency reporting.  The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the Open Technology Institute at New America (OTI) are releasing The Transparency Reporting Toolkit: Survey…

Many people in U.S. households where someone is pregnant or considering getting pregnant in the next 12 months are not aware of key facts about Zika virus, according to a new poll by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers. The nationally representative poll of 1,275 adults, including 105 who live in households where…

On Thursday, April 7, and Friday, April 8, the Fromm Concerts at Harvard assemble some of the finest musicians in creative music for a series of free concerts, “Creative Music Convergences,” in John Knowles Paine Concert Hall. “These are musicians who just go up there and create,” says Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of…

More than 70 sixth grade scholars and teachers from Mott Hall Bridges Academy in Brooklyn recently spent the day exploring Harvard University and talking with faculty, students and staff about a variety of topics. “We learned about segregation and the Children’s Crusade in 1963,” said 12 year old Kamora Thompson. “It was really powerful and…

The University of California’s Office of the President has joined with the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), a research-practice partnership based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, to launch a faculty exit survey that is the first of its kind. Given the academy’s struggles to diversify the professoriate and regular media…

The Partnering in Education Research (PIER) program is now accepting fellowship applications from first- and second-year doctoral candidates at Harvard University interested in conducting quantitative education research in partnership with school districts and state education agencies. PIER, an interdisciplinary predoctoral program hosted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and the Center for Education Policy…

A new STAT-Harvard poll finds overwhelming bipartisan support among Americans for President Obama’s proposed National Cancer Moonshot, with eight out of ten favoring at least a 20% increase in federal cancer research spending. Nearly half of those polled view cancer as the most serious health condition in the U.S. today; however, more than two-thirds believe…

Martin Luther did more than just serve as a catalyst for the Reformation. By nailing his 95 theses to the door of a Wittenberg, Germany, church in 1517, he became the world’s first mass media figure and launched a new form of theological writing, argues University of St. Andrews Professor Andrew Pettegree. Pettegree will discuss his…

Truck drivers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who failed to adhere to treatment had a rate of preventable crashes five times higher than that of truckers without the ailment, according to researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Morris, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and colleagues. The study—which looked at…

Botswana appears to have achieved very high rates of HIV diagnosis, treatment, and viral suppression—better than most Western nations, including the United States—according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and colleagues in Botswana. The findings suggest that even in countries with limited resources where a large percentage of the…

The 2016 Harvard Horizons Symposium will take place on April 5 at 6:00 p.m. in Sanders Theatre. The symposium features brief talks by Harvard Horizons Scholars, highlighting the scholarship of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ Ph.D. students across the disciplines. The 2016 Harvard Horizons Scholars and their subjects are: Ashley Anderson, Government Going…

Harvard Chan School’s Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath co-authored a study that looked at how low-income people use the Internet. According to your study, there’s not a lot of data on how this population uses the web. Why would that data be helpful? The lack of information is a problem, because if we want to create websites…

Earthquakes or floods can wipe out infrastructure—including health care facilities, when they’re needed more than ever. Given the risks to public health in the wake of a natural disaster, it’s important for health systems to plan ahead, according to disaster health expert Ali Ardalan. “Health systems have to take a proactive approach, preventive measures to…

Pregnant women who follow government seafood recommendations may be exposing their babies to too much toxic mercury, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The study also found that women may not be getting enough healthy omega-3 fatty acids from the fish they choose. The authors call for guidelines to be more…

A new STAT-Harvard poll finds bipartisan support for new federal guidelines advising physicians to give patients with acute pain no more than a three-day supply of opioid painkillers. Seven in 10 Americans support the guidelines, which also advise doctors to try other treatment options before issuing prescriptions. About half of those surveyed believe that prescription…

Official counts of homicides by police seriously undercount incidents, according to a study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, but a relatively new national data system, currently in use in 32 states, could be a crucial tool for gathering more comprehensive information, say the researchers. The study, which was published online March 17,…

Legendary opera singer Plácido Domingo will be celebrated at Harvard with “Giving Voice: A Conversation with Plácido Domingo” on Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 4 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., moderated by Tamar Herzog, Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs and professor of Spanish and Portuguese history, and Anne Shreffler, James Edward…

How do you modernize an iconic but aging building into an inviting place where students, faculty, and the public gather together to learn? In the first of a series of talks on new visions for library spaces, architect Jim Eyre of WilkinsonEyre, London, presented his plan for the successful renovation of the Weston Library at…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may have underestimated the number of obese adults in the U.S. in its 2013 Obesity Prevalence Maps by at least 12 million because of reliance upon self-reported height and weight figures, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Columbia…

Children of mothers who are low in vitamin D during early pregnancy may be at greater risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) in adulthood compared to children with mothers who have higher vitamin D levels, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study was published…

The International Criminal Court is saving civilian lives in multiple countries, according to research that provides the first quantitative evidence. The study by professors at Harvard University and Texas A&M, which will be featured in the summer issue of the journal International Organization, has drawn widespread attention from people on either side of a polarized…

Looking more closely at Europe may give us a better understanding of why Donald Trump has grown so popular in the U.S., suggests new research exploring the rise of neoliberalism abroad. Sociologists from Harvard and Boston University describe how citizens in countries which, like the U.S., rolled out neoliberal policies in the 1990s and 2000s,…

There will be a significant shortfall in the funding needed for HIV control in sub-Saharan Africa in the coming years and those countries with the highest HIV burden will be unable to meet their obligations on their own to sustain control efforts, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of…

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to announce that we’ve been selected as a mentoring organization for the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2016, a full-time internship which offers student developers stipends to contribute to free and open source projects. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be looking to select developer-interns to help implement…

Boston Public Schools are ahead of the curve when it comes to banning sales of sugary beverages, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study found that nearly all schools in the system were compliant with 2004 district guidelines eliminating sales of soda, fruit punch,…

The Harvard Graduate School of Education is pleased to announce that 20 Harvard College seniors have been selected as the first cohort of Harvard Teachers Fellows (HTF) — an innovative program designed to create pathways for Harvard College undergraduates to enter a teaching career. “I am absolutely delighted to welcome these 20 fellows to the…

Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James Ryan announced today three postdoctoral fellows — Diamond Bravo, Mariam Durrani, and Jarvis Givens — as part of the newly developed Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Development. The fellowship, supported in part by the President’s Office, prepares outstanding recent doctoral graduates from diverse backgrounds for successful faculty careers…

The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) announced the selection of six cities for a new multiyear initiative – By All Means: Redesigning Education to Restore Opportunity – aimed at developing comprehensive child well-being and education systems that help eliminate the link between children’s socioeconomic status and achievement. By All Means will be operated by…

The $25,000 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting from the Shorenstein Center has been awarded to Margie Mason, Robin McDowell, Martha Mendoza, and Esther Htusan of The Associated Press for their investigative report “Seafood from Slaves.” The Associated Press uncovered extensive use of slave labor in the Thai seafood industry, which supplies major U.S. supermarkets, restaurants,…