Letters

Cambridge 02138

Letters on the humanities, cesarean sections, soda social science, and cheating considerations

Our Accomplished Contributors

Recognizing three outstanding Harvard Magazine contributors

January-February 2013

Features

Fracking’s Future

Natural gas, the economy, and America’s energy prospects

by Xi Lu

Vogue Meets Veritas

Designers, models, and merchants tint the fashion industry Crimson.

by Craig Lambert

Vita: Irna Phillips

Brief life of soap opera’s single mother: 1901-1973

by Lynn Liccardo

The Placebo Phenomenon

An ingenious researcher finds the real ingredients of “fake” medicine.

by Cara Feinberg

Rethinking the Walls

An unusual art collection in an unexpected place

by John S. Rosenberg

RIGHT NOW Harvard research and ideas

Immobile Labor

Land-use restrictions lead to growing income disparities between states, Kennedy School researchers find.

Survival of the Cooperative

The breeding behavior of tropical cuckoos, in which unrelated adults share a communal nest, proves an exception to the theory of kin selection.

A Dazzling Flat Lens

Harvard scientists have developed a tiny, lightweight, distortion-free lens that focuses light without glass.

John Harvard's Journal University news

Economic Realities in Allston

The institutional master plan notification form Harvard filed in October 2012 no longer relies on debt-financing or unrealistic endowment payouts.

Sober Finances

A blunt picture of universities' altered circumstances—and a forecast of changed operations to come

An Allston Accounting Adjustment

A reporting change reflects the upheaval in Harvard's finances.

Harvard Portrait: Ann Forsyth

The suburban sustainability expert rides her bike to work.

The Coming Campaign

Major academic and building priorities come into focus.

Yesterday’s News

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

Making Harvard Green

The first University-wide Sustainability Impact Report reveals challenging goals.

Brevia

Harvard news: Nobelists, Rhodes and Marshall winners, edX update, and more

A Community Innovation Lab

I-Lab students work in interdisciplinary teams to address urban and civic challenges in the Dudley and Upham’s Corner neighborhoods.

A Perforating Doubt

The Undergraduate discovers that doubt is the place from which to start.

Surprise Endings

The football team broke records, but the Ivy trophy went south.

Squash, Egyptian Style

Two national champions rule the wall with flicks, nicks, and immense talent.

Montage Books, creative arts, performance and more

Mosaic for Now

A contemporary take on an ancient medium

Brotherly Love

In Brothers: On His Brothers and Brothers in History, George Howe Colt offers autobiography and biography both.

Paradoxical Fables

Ben Loory's minimalist stories ambush the reader.

Avant-garde, Post-Romantic

Hannah Lash’s personal, yet crystalline, music

Brutish Beginnings

The “mixed multitudes” of early Colonial America—and the Native Americans

Off the Shelf

Recent books with Harvard connections

Chapter and Verse

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Almuni Harvardians far and wide

Paradise Found

The dazzling beauty and strangely human behavior of one of the world’s most diverse bird families.

A Pediatrician Takes the Long View

David G. Nathan on watching his patients grow up and flourish

Crimson on Capitol Hill

Alumni, an alumna, and a former Law School professor will join the 113th Congress.

Enhancing the Student Experience

A letter from President Drew Faust

Students’ Teacher

George West ’72 and his students foster oral history at Little Rock Central High.

Soldiers’ Biographer

Rachel Cox ’74 pays written tribute to an uncle and his friends with Into Dust and Fire: Five Young Americans Who Went First to Fight the Nazi Army.

The SIGnboard

Shared Interest Group events in January and February

The Classes

Harvard alumni may sign in to view class notes and obituaries.