On the cover: Sperm whales in Dominica
Photograph by Amanda Cotton/©Project CETI

Letters

Cambridge 02138

Climate change, COVID-19, housing inequity

Collateral Damage

Diminished academic freedom, endangered disciplines, lost academic focus, and more

Duplicate Copies: A note to readers

Rationalizing mailing to ensure service

July-August 2024

On the cover: Sperm whales in Dominica
Photograph by Amanda Cotton/©Project CETI

Features

Decoding the Deep

Project CETI’s pioneering effort to unlock the language of sperm whales

by Jonathan Shaw

John H. Finley Jr.

Brief life of a masterful House Master: 1904-1995

by Constantine Archimedes Valhouli

Parks for Tomorrow

Bas Smets harnesses nature to cool cities.

by Max J. Krupnick

Mechanical Intelligence and Counterfeit Humanity

Reflections on six decades of relations with computers

by Harry R. Lewis

RIGHT NOW Harvard research and ideas

Vision and Justice

How photographs promote social justice

How Schizophrenia Resembles the Aging Brain

The search for schizophrenia’s biological basis reveals an unexpected link to cellular changes seen in aging brains.

Redefining Obesity

For obesity patients, improved treatments and a nuanced understanding of the disease may lead to better health.

John Harvard's Journal University news

Commencement 372 7/8

Harvard’s tumultuous year ends in modified festival rites, amid passionate protests.

Commencement Confetti

Seniors’ work plans, Sasha stylin’, reunion sonnet, and more

Honoris Causa

Harvard’s 2024 honorary degree recipients

The Week’s Words

Commencement rhetoric on threats to higher education, melding divergent views, doing good, and combating the loss of trust

Locked In

Addressing bias and hatred, challenging governance, reacting to protest, and trying to find a way forward

Alison Simmons

A philosopher on perception, the canon, and being “a minded thing” 

The Yard Libraries, Reimagined

An ambitious plan for the next century of learning

Yesterday’s News

Headlines from Harvard’s history

News in Brief

New deans, Overseers’ leaders, retiring arts impresario, and more

Harvard Cambridge Scholars

Studying abroad 

Centennial Medalists

Four alumni recognized for work

Harvard Medalists

Three honored on Alumni Day

Election Results

Newly elected Overseers and Harvard Alumni Association directors

Montage Books, creative arts, performance and more

Art Al Fresco

Kathleen Hudson paints landscapes in the wild.

Part of the Ensemble

Broadway music director Madeline Benson on art and collaboration

On Being “Printerly”

An art historian analyzes an overlooked medium.

A Democratic Landscape

Michael Van Valkenburgh and the making of Brooklyn Bridge Park

Off the Shelf

Painting with Monet, birding with Thoreau, and other recent books

Harvard Squared What to do in Boston, Cambridge and beyond

Pioneer Valley Bounty

A local-food lovers’ paradise

Picturing Jazz

Works by Jason Moran at MASS MoCA

The MAD World

An illustrative retrospective at the Norman Rockwell Museum 

Ride the Wave

Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned sailor, Boston offers plenty of ways to get out on the water this summer.

University People Harvardians far and wide

“The Ingenuity of an Architect”

Kimberly Dowdell influences her profession—and the built environment.

Crimson En Garde

Eight Olympics-bound Harvard fencers

The Missing Middle

How overheated political attention warps campus life