By Christina Pazzanese | Harvard Gazette | February 1, 2015

While U.S. Supreme Court opinions are routinely examined through the political lens of the court’s nine justices, far less is known about the ideological makeup of the thousands of judges on the nation’s federal and state benches.

Unlike with politicians, whose views are easily known through public speeches and position papers, voting records, and party affiliations, studying the politics of judges is much more difficult. State and federal codes of judicial conduct prohibit judges from engaging in most political activities or in public discussions of issues or matters that may appear before the court, as a means of preserving an independent judiciary. That stricture limits the data for broad analysis.

Now, research from Maya Sen, an assistant professor of public policy with theAsh Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), and Adam Bonica, an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University, sheds some light on the opaque world of politics in the judiciary. Continue reading »

By BD Colen | Harvard Gazette | November 24, 2014

After more than six years of intensive effort, including repeated failures that at times made the quest seem futile, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and at Harvard’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) have successfully converted mouse and human skin cells into pain-sensing neurons that respond to a number of stimuli that cause acute and inflammatory distress. Continue reading »