A team of researchers jointly led by Yale University and Columbia University has released a report that introduces a framework for assessing China’s environmental management and performance. This analysis offers the first independent review of Chinese provincial-level environmental performance by international researchers. The report, “Towards a China Environmental Performance Index,” introduces a model framework for […] … learn more→

Harvard astronomers, working as part of NASA’s Kepler mission, have detected the first Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star, a milestone in the hunt for alien worlds that brings scientists a step closer to their ultimate goal of finding a twin to Earth. Described in the Dec. 20 issue of the journal Nature, the two […] … learn more→

A problem as complex and potentially intractable as climate change demands equally big solutions. At the first Harvard Thinks Green on Thursday, six Harvard professors gathered at Sanders Theatre to provide just that kind of thinking. The event was meant to tap into the “original fundamental reason why we are all here on campus for […] … learn more→

Over the years I’ve done a lot of research on the positive effects of being positive and the negative effects of being negative. The research is clear. It really does pay to be positive and the benefits include enhanced health and longevity, happiness, career advancement, athletic performance, team building and financial success. Being positive is […] … learn more→

The Hunger Games is a Young Adult novel by Suzanne Collins that was first published in 2008; a major movie adaption is also scheduled for release in 2012. But did you know that it is the fifth most challenged and controversial book of 2010? The novel centers on Katniss, a 16-year-old girl living with her […] … learn more→

Being “green” is something which most of us want to do and almost everyone will agree that the government should be taking the lead when it comes to ensuring the US takes a greener path. The government has set carbon reduction targets – very ambitious ones – and appears to have been getting on with […] … learn more→

Studying can sometimes be a very dull task for the majority of students especially in those cases when they have little or no interest in the material provided. They must be motivated in order to be willing to study. Otherwise they won’t spare any effort to learn something. We can often hear students complaining that […] … learn more→

Recently, members of the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center completed a progress report in conjunction with the College Completion Agenda Advisory Committee detailing the recommendations needed to reach an unprecedented educational goal. … learn more→

At the heart of any country’s progress lies the well-being of its people. How to accurately and effectively determine well-being is the subject of a recent study at the University of Cambridge. ‘Flourishing across Europe’ scored 23 European countries across 10 distinct elements that define well-being. The study is significant as it employs an objective, […] … learn more→

A generally accepted, 44-year-old assumption about how certain kinds of bacteria make energy and synthesize cell materials has been shown to be incorrect by a team of scientists led by Donald Bryant, the Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology at Penn State and a research professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Montana […] … learn more→