Class Clown: Matthew Cole

“Externally, I do possess some very clown-like qualities, not just facially and with my large feet but also in how I live my life,” he says.

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Matthew Cole sits in the Hasty Pudding’s library. He will be a cast member in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals for a fourth time this year.

Chronicling ‘The Good Life’

Despite the way it is often discussed, the study hasn’t always been so focused on happiness. In fact, the goals, methods, and analysis of the research that form the history of the study have varied dramatically, from defining the “normal” man and justifying certain “breeding” practices to understanding the causes of delinquency.

Southeast Asian Studies Scrut Cover

This fall semester marks the first time that Harvard is offering Filipino and Indonesian. They have been conspicuously missing from Harvard’s language offerings.

Testing ‘God’s Law’: Advent of Recombinant DNA Research Struck Fear into Cambridge

Recombinant DNA research helped lay the groundwork for modern medicine. But, before Harvard could build a laboratory to do it, University scientists had to overcome the staunch fears that the pioneering technique was safe.

Fifteen Questions: Kathleen Coleman on Gladiators, the Classics, and Poems

The former Chair of Harvard’s Classics Department discusses her experiences in apartheid South Africa, the gladiators of Ancient Rome, and the future of the Classics. She has been “privileged,” she says, “to spend my career basically pursuing my hobby.”

Steve Levitsky Portrait

Steven Levitsky is a Harvard professor of Government and Latin American Studies who serves as the director of the David Rockefeller Center of Latin American Studies. He co-authored “How Democracies Die” with fellow Harvard Government professor Daniel Ziblatt.

Magic Pill

I understand a little better now that it is just a relic of my outdated notion that I can beat my anxiety by sheer force of will.

Vyvanse Magic Pill

Vyvanse is a miracle. It makes my mind sticky, providing an incredible opportunity: to focus.

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The Magic Pill Club

The phenomenon of using psychiatric drugs remains largely unscrutinized, so we set out to document and better understand this aspect of living with mental illness. The perseverance of students and spirit of psychiatrists — often forced to confront the blank face of uncertainty — wove together into a tapestry of resilience, one at once tattered and perfect, inspiring and incomplete.

The Fires Underneath Pforzheimer House

We set out to uncover and understand the system that keeps Harvard running — from heating and cooling to electricity. A deeply complex system emerged — one at once modern and old-fashioned — and one that will have to change as climate change accelerates.

Benjamin Bolger Has No Post-Graduation Plans

“Other people might read a magazine article in The Economist,” Bolger says. “Maybe I'll do a master’s degree instead on the topic.”