The U.S. economic downturn has been harsh, but not as dire as first feared when the pandemic struck nearly seven months ago. The way ahead is uncertain, potential dangers abound. While the stock market remains strong, and the latest monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show unemployment in September on a decline, that’s now slowing, with only about half the jobs lost early in the outbreak having been recovered. Inequality has widened...

In these days of social isolation, Harvard’s reach remains global. “At any time, day or night, wherever you might be, there’s Harvard research or teaching or outreach happening in the world,” said Mark Elliott, vice provost for international affairs. Now in its fourth year — and entirely online for the first time — Worldwide Week at Harvard (through Oct. 9) will present programming that invites the Harvard community to explore that breadth, as well as the University’s ongoing efforts to span an increasingly troubled...

Annette Gordon-Reed, the Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard Law School and professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has been named a University Professor, Harvard’s highest faculty honor.

One of the nation’s most accomplished historians and legal scholars, Gordon-Reed is admired throughout academia for the cross-disciplinary lens through which she studies American history. Her scholarship has reframed the historical dialogue about slavery and enslaved peoples in the United States by enhancing America’s understanding of race in the Colonial era, and...

What happens when an African grey parrot goes head-to-head with 21 Harvard students in a test measuring a type of visual memory? Put simply: The parrot moves to the head of the class.

Harvard researchers compared how 21 human adults and 21 6- to 8-year-old children stacked up against an African grey parrot named Griffin in a complex version of the classic shell game.

It worked like this: Tiny colored pom-poms were covered with cups and then shuffled, so participants had to track which object was under which cup. The experimenter then showed them a pom-pom that matched one of the...