Right Now | January-February 2008
Taking Stock of Celebrity
For Anita Elberse, whose latest research investigates the impact of big-name stars on films’ revenues, pop culture and rigorous analysis...
Right Now | November-December 2007
Nixing the News
If those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it—as philosopher George Santayana, A.B. 1886, once wrote—and if news...
Right Now | November-December 2007
Googling Google
Google, which earned $1.1 billion in operating income in the second quarter of 2007 alone, is now the single most important company on the...
Right Now | September-October 2007
From Anecdote to Equation
The idea seems simple enough: Get detailed information about the participants in a given social program—public-housing residents, say, or...
Artful Engineering
In a single undergraduate course last fall, students tackled all of the following: engineering nanofood particles to combat childhood obesity...
John Harvard's Journal | May-June 2007
Ethics in Practice
Every Tuesday afternoon at the Kennedy School of Government, over lunch, a group of 10 people debates ethical questions that, in one form or...
A Personal Genome Machine?
In a laboratory behind the Science Center, researchers are working on a high-stakes project at the nexus of physics and biology. If all goes...
Right Now | November-December 2006
"Unsales" Pitches
These days, prescription drug ads bombard the consumer at every turn. Even so, the $4 billion spent annually on direct-to-consumer...
Right Now | September-October 2006
“Alternative” Placebos
Doctors once kept jars full of sugar pills, in various colors, in their offices. “Take two of these and call me in the morning...
Neurons Sort Nouns
Imagine the brain as a giant filing cabinet. The puzzle of deciphering the labels on the drawers has occupied many a scientist and philosopher...
Zen Brains
One day, mental exercise may join physical exercise on Americans’ to-do lists and among their doctors’ recommendations. So says a...
Right Now | January-February 2006
Light Blitzes Plaque
Fast forward a decade and imagine what a drugstore shelf might hold. A pill containing an entire day’s nutrients? A gadget that confers...