Stories of healing, hope, and human resilience.
Leah Montayes Macias came into the world tiny but mighty. Her mother delivered her at 24 weeks gestation in May 2024, weighing just 1 lb. 3 oz. She had multiple complications from being born so early, but her parents and the medical team at Blytheville Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York, didn...
Being a parent isn't easy, but it's infinitely harder if you didn't have a good parenting example yourself to follow. Some may have had abusive or neglectful parents, and some may have grown up in a household where one or both parents were so busy trying to make ends meet that they didn't have the o...
Our elected officials have a choice: be complicit in our displacement or successfully fight for these anti-displacement measures. A South West view of the Fulton Street and Van Sinderen Avenue intersection from one of Broadway Junction s elevated platforms, pictured here in 2019. The Broadway Juncti...
Nation & World Our self-evident truths Courtesy of Tulane University Christina Pazzanese Harvard Staff Writer November 21, 2025 8 min read New book takes as focus ‘greatest sentence ever written,’ how it may help a riven nation recall common values On July 4, 1776, a band of revolutionaries that inc...
Science & Tech Mapping our deep-rooted relationship with medicinal plants Images via Nicolás Baresch Uribe, WA USA, Nawal Shrestha; illustration by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff Kermit Pattison Harvard Staff Writer November 21, 2025 5 min read Regions with longer histories of human settlement tend to ...
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Making new friends (especially as an adult) can be challenging. It’s also tough for some of our feathered friends. When new birds are introduced to a group, monk parakeets will “test the waters” to avoid getting injured by defensive strangers. The parakeets will gradually approach the new bird, taki...
A new airflow device from UBC Okanagan engineers traps exhaled aerosols almost immediately, sharply reducing pathogen exposure in indoor spaces. Early simulations suggest it could outperform existing ventilation systems by a wide margin....
Wicked For Good has captivated so many of us. Whether you’re Team Elphaba, Team Glinda, or a mix of pink and green, the much-anticipated sequel will not disappoint. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have inspired many people to get into the spirit of Wicked, including the babies at St. Louis Children’...
A new study suggests that while other risks remain, smoking marijuana can temporarily cut down how much people drink. The California sober trend, which involves ditching alcohol in favor of cannabis, is gaining momentum, spreading from Hollywood to health influencers to homes across America. Among t...
Arts & Culture Tracy K. Smith thinks poetry could help bring us together, if we let it Two-time U.S. poet laureate recalls her national project to encourage ‘notion that your life must be as important to you as mine is to me’ November 20, 2025 long read Photo by Andrew Kelly Reprinted from “Fear Les...
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM As Thanksgiving approaches, Manhattan is getting an unexpected gift: a pop-up apple orchard right in the heart of the city.
Cats are obsessed with boxes because they tap into their ancient hunting instincts, providing a sense of protection and a vantage point for pouncing. Boxes also serve as emotional safety zones for cats when they feel overwhelmed or uncertain.
Many of us have that one sentence, spoken or overheard, that keeps replaying in our minds and ends up having a positive impact. People are sharing online—through blogs, interviews, and across social media—the sentence that altered their perspective, provided comfort in difficult times, or became a p...
Digital resilience—the ability to prevent, withstand, and recover from digital disruptions—has long been a strategic priority for enterprises. With the rise of agentic AI, the urgency for robust resilience is greater than ever. Agentic AI represents a new generation of autonomous systems capable of ...
Health ‘Harvard Thinking’: Why the Mediterranean diet works Illustrations by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff Samantha Laine Perfas Harvard Staff Writer November 19, 2025 long read In podcast, experts break down universal appeal, research-backed benefits of a health trend that adds more than it takes away...
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There are several stories written about music taming the savage beast, but this is no fairy tale. A video shows a small pride of lions in an enclosure hear the acoustic guitar and soothing singing of a French singer-songwriter covering Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain.” One would think that the animals...
Drinking at least one cup of coffee per day may help protect against atrial fibrillation, a common irregular heartbeat, according to a new clinical trial. The findings challenge the conventional wisdom that people with heart rhythm disorders should avoid caffeine.
Catherine Contreras’s most precious childhood memories include making tamales with her family. As a self-proclaimed “autism mom” navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, she tried to bring those special moments to life with her own five children.Tamales made of Play-Dough. Photo courtesy of Fresh Masa“When...
Health How habits in your 20s shape your heart for life Jacqueline Mitchell BIDMC Communications November 18, 2025 3 min read Young adulthood offers critical window to greatly reduce future risk of cardiovascular disease, according to new study Patterns of cardiovascular health during young adulthoo...
A new study suggests college students are getting better at asking for help when it comes to their mental health and well-being. For the third year in a row, the Healthy Minds Study—an annual nationwide effort co-led by a Boston University researcher—indicates that the mental health of college stude...
