Category Archives: Fall 2017

Our Fall 2017 issue is now available online: The Evolution of Science! Articles are posted individually as blog posts (the articles are linked below), a PDF version is currently displayed on our Archives page, and print issues will be available around Harvard’s campus starting Spring 2018. We hope you enjoy browsing through this issue as much as we enjoyed puttingContinue reading “Fall 2017: The Evolution of Science”

By: Jessica Moore “Heart failure (HF) is a big problem, especially for African Americans. If you’re African American, you’re more likely than people in other ethnic groups to get HF at a younger age, and you’re more likely than others to be hospitalized. Unfortunately, African Americans are also more likely to die earlier than areContinue reading “Why Racial Prejudice Isn’t Scientifically Sound: The Evolving Concept of Race in Science”

By: Jeongmin Lee We are walking works of art. From the delicate brain to the flow of blood in our veins, the human body is a dense complex system. The surgeon is expected to cautiously open this living system to mend his or her patient before patching the patient up so that the machination ofContinue reading “Cutting Time: A Brief History of Surgery”

By: Michael Xie Dr. John P. Holdren is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at Harvard University. During the Obama administration, he served as the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the President’s ScienceContinue reading “A Political Symbiosis”

By: Priya Amin   What is the distal limb pattern of tetrapod forelimbs? The tetrapod distal limb pattern consists of three segments: the stylopod (the first segment of the limb including the humerus), the zeugopod (the second segment of the limb including the radius and ulna), and the autopod (the hand) (1). What is theContinue reading “The Evolution of the Tetrapod Forelimb”

By: Will Bryk Without realizing it, you and everyone you know have been desensitized to the biggest questions of existence. Every human gradually accumulates consciousness and awareness of his or her existence from the time of birth up through the teenage years. A baby simply does not have the means to contemplate its own existence,Continue reading “The Limitations of Science Where it Matters Most”

By: Kelvin Li INTRODUCTION Sight, if not the most brainpower hungry sense, is certainly the one we use the most. Think about it, our lives are inundated with visual stimulation from intellectual processes like reading text, watching videos, and interpreting body language and facial expressions to more simple tasks such as walking in a straightContinue reading “A History of Microscopy”

By: Connie Cai  Since 2004, there have been 67 anti-evolution education bills introduced by local governments in the United States (1). Three of those bills have been approved in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. These laws make it legal for public school teachers to criticize the theory of evolution—as well as other politicized topics like climateContinue reading “The Theory of Everything, Challenged”

By: Michelle Koh What is a cyborg? One might imagine Terminator-esqe half-human, half-machine hybrids or other creatures with fantastic mechanical augmentations, but we must direct our attention down to the cellular level—to cyborgian beings that are far smaller. Despite these cyborgs’ underwhelming size, UC Berkeley researcher Kelsey Sakimoto and his fellow researchers of Professor Pei-dongContinue reading “Cyborg Bacteria: Catching Light”

By: Julia Canick In a world that places a high premium on happiness, the prospect of coping with a mental illness as debilitating as depression can be frightening. Scarier still, general practitioners diagnose only about half of major depressive disorder (MDD) cases (1). In an effort to raise this unacceptably low rate of success, AndrewContinue reading “Feeling Blue: How Instagram Activity Can Provide Insight Into Behavioral Health”