Life’s Origins • Commencement • A Family’s Secrets JULY-AUGUST 2019 • $4.95 1969GlobalizationGlobalization CritiquedCritiqued DaniDani RodrikRodrik recalibratesrecalibrates economicseconomics Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 1975ondreen.indd 1 519 95 M JULY-AUGUST 2019, VOLUME 121, NUMBER 6 FEATURES 40 How Life Began | by Erin O’Donnell A collaborative Nobel laureate pursues the most fundamental question on Earth 44 Vita: Ellen Newbold La Motte | by Cynthia Wachtell Brief life of a bold activist: 1873-1961 | by Marina N. Bolotnikova 46 The Trilemma p. 14 Dani Rodrik’s critiques increasingly influence mainstream economic thinking about trade, development, and democracy 52 Truth: A Love Story | by Stuart L. Schreiber A scientist discovers his family’s deepest secrets JOHN HARVARD’S JOURNAL 14 The 368th Commencement featured sober commentary on the times, and a panoply of empowered women. Plus greener dining, multimillennium music scholar, educating educators, faculty deans’ denouement and other news, Camp Crimson, the minister heads south, design and dental dean transitions, the Undergraduate’s Harvard life as documentary, rugby star, and engineering fair soccer matches DEPARTMENTS p. 9 2 Cambridge 02138 | Letters from our readers—and a comment on selective schools’ deepening admissions challenges 2 8A Harvard | Summer events, Seaport jazz, contemporary dance, Milton’s Gilded Age estate, “painting” with flashlights at the Griffin Museum, and refined Japanese cuisine 9 Right Now | Long-term investors’ perspective, animal habitats and ecosystems, a big-data study of environment vs. genes 59 Montage | “Dance diplomacy,” Picasso reinterpreted, Pink Martini’s cabaret act, new books on Alfred Stieglitz and Chinese architecture, fraught Sino-Japanese relations, and more 66 Alumni | Martha’s Vineyard mushroom farmers, Harvard and Centennial Medalists, senior reunioners, elected Overseers and Alumni Association directors, and more 72 The College Pump | A country dance/supercomputer polymath, saving homework from a burning car, and Stephen Jay Gould on 9/11 p. 40 80 Treasure | Seeing ancient Chinese jades anew On the cover: Globalization, made vivid: container terminal at the Port of Hong Kong. FROM TOP:JIM HARRISON; BONAZZI; DAVIDE JIM HARRISON 73 Crimson Classifieds Photograph by Iain Masterton/Alamy Stock Photo www.harvardmagazine.com Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 LETTERS EDITOR: John S. Rosenberg SENIOR EDITOR: Jean Martin Cambridge MANAGING EDITOR: Jonathan S. Shaw ART DIRECTOR: Jennifer Carling Justice Holmes, another shoeless feat, athletic admissions ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Marina N. Bolotnikova, Lydialyle Gibson STAFF WRITER/EDITOR: Jacob J. Sweet INFLAMMATION tion problem through diet ASSISTANT EDITOR/SPECIAL SECTIONS I read “Raw and Red and exercise. The author, MANAGER: Nell Porter Brown Hot” (May-June, page Jonathan Shaw, states, BERTA GREENWALD LEDECKY 46) with great interest. I “The great difficulty with UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWS have equally great admira- interventions involving al- Isa Flores-Jones, Catherine Zhang tion for the clear writing. tered diet and increased The multifaceted faculty exercise is that…people CONTRIBUTING EDITORS approaches to the many already know what they John T. Bethell, Lincoln Caplan, well-known, as well as to should be doing—but Dick Friedman, Adam Goodheart, the recent, involvements for most, that knowledge Elizabeth Gudrais, Jim Harrison, of inflammation in hu- doesn’t change behavior…. Courtney Humphries, Christopher S. manity’s defenses and ill- This suggests that phar- Johnson, Adam Kirsch, Colleen Lannon, nesses were beautifully maceutical interventions Spencer Lee Lenfield, Stu Rosner, presented. We have come a long way from that block inflammation may be necessary Deborah Smullyan, Mark Steele the rubor, calor, and dolor (redness, heat, and to check the global epidemic of non-com- HARVARD MAGAZINE INC. pain) reactions to a foreign body, usually of municable disease.” PRESIDENT: Margaret H. Marshall, Ed.M. infectious nature. I run Wellness Foundation, a grass-roots ’69. DIRECTORS: Ann M. Blair ’84, Peter K. The compilation of interests and ques- nonprofit on Long Island that has been Bol, Scott V. Edwards, Ann Marie Lipinski, tions whose answers are being sought re- teaching people how to adopt a whole-food, minded me of my 1953 freshman chemistry plant-based diet for 14 years. We were cre- NF ’90, Philip W. Lovejoy, Susan Morris class, Chem 1, with Professor Eugene Ro- ated largely to address heart disease, dia- Novick ’85, John P. Reardon Jr. ’60, chow. Among the many witticisms that betes, and obesity. Our six-week kick-start Bryan E. Simmons ’83 Rochow inserted into his lectures was a program is successful at reducing choles- couplet that I hope I am quoting accurately: terol, weight, and prescribed medications. BOARD OF INCORPORATORS Little bugs have littler bugs upon But what we didn’t initially expect was This magazine, at first called the Harvard Bulletin, was their backs to bite ’em. how much it could help people with oth- founded in 1898. Its Board of Incorporators was char- Littler bugs have littler bugs, ad er inflammation-related problems such as tered in 1924 and remains active in the magazine’s governance. The membership is as follows: Stephen infinitum. arthritis, headaches, acid reflux, back pain, J. Bailey, AMP ’94; Jeffrey S. Behrens ’89, William I. I now interpret that to mean that, no and eczema. Even people with depression Bennett ’62, M.D. ’69; John T. Bethell ’54; Peter K. Bol; matter how many answers scientific re- report significant improvements. Fox Butterfield ’61, A.M. ’64; Sewell Chan ’98; Jona- than S. Cohn ’91; Philip M. Cronin ’53, J.D. ’56; James search determines, it unearths even more Many of our clients have been told by F. Dwinell III ’62; Anne Fadiman ’74; Benjamin M. questions. That’s why we need research— their doctors to take medications, but rarely Friedman ’66, Ph.D. ’71; Robert H. Giles, NF ’66; Rich- to answer questions; and why we need to do their physicians recommend a diet and ard H. Gilman, M.B.A. ’83; Owen Gingerich, Ph.D. ’62; Adam K. Goodheart ’92; Philip C. Haughey ’57; Brian support it—to ask deeper ones. exercise program. In talking to skeptical R. Hecht ’92; Sarah Blaffer Hrdy ’68, Ph.D. ’75; Ellen Murray L. Levin ’57, M.D. doctors early on, many didn’t believe that Hume ’68; Alex S. Jones, NF ’82;Thomas F. Kelly, Ph.D. Chicago their patients could change their habits. ’73; William C. Kirby; Bill Kovach, NF ’89; Florence Ladd, BI ’72; Jennifer 8 Lee ’99; Randolph C. Lindel ’66; But after seeing dramatic results in their Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90; Scott Malkin ’80, J.D.- The article did a great job of present- own patients, doctors now regularly refer M.B.A. ’83; Margaret H. Marshall, Ed.M. ’69, Ed ’77, L ing the groundbreaking research behind the patients to our program and several have ’78; Lisa L. Martin, Ph.D. ’90; David McClintick ’62; Winthrop L. McCormack ’67; M. Lee Pelton, Ph.D. negative role of inflammation in the body. even taken the program themselves. ’84; John P. Reardon Jr. ’60; Harriet Ritvo ’68, Ph.D. ’75; While there are likely benefits of finding I am encouraged to see Harvard scien- Henry Rosovsky, JF ’57, Ph.D. ’59, LL.D. ’98; Barbara medications that can address these issues, tists strengthening research on inflamma- Rudolph ’77; Robert N. Shapiro ’72, J.D. ’78; Theda Skocpol, Ph.D. ’75; Peter A. Spiers ’76; Scott H. Stossel we must also believe in the willingness and tion, but we must also encourage patients ’91; Sherry Turkle ’69, Ph.D. ’76; Robert H. Weiss ’54; ability of individuals to tackle the inflamma- to make changes to their diets, and—even Jan Ziolkowski. 2 July - August 2019 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 LEttERS 7 WARE STREET applicants’ legacy status (“Admissions on who does not meet academic requirements). Thinner Ice Trial,” January-February, page 15). Surveys And congressional interest in forcing insti- reveal that the citizenry, which overwhelming- tutions to devote more of their endowment The revolting late-winter reports about ly opposes affirmative-action considerations income to enroll and support lower-income wealthy parents paying to cheat on their chil- in holistic reviews of applicants, strongly students continues to percolate. dren’s standardized tests and bribing coaches dislikes athletic and donor/legacy prefer- In other words, on the left, the taint of elite to get their high-schoolers listed as athletic ences, too. The public is very meat-and-po- access is eroding support for the otherwise recruits—and thus into institutions such as tatoes on admissions: merit, as measured by evident benefits of higher education as an eco- the University of Southern California and grades and test scores, is the meal of choice. nomic stepping stone. In a report on these Yale—seem an unfortunate, totemic specta- • Now, the admissions scandal has re- matters, The Chronicle of Higher Education cited cle for our times. (For a separate complica- vealed the so-called “side door” of faking pollster and Democratic campaign strate- tion involving a Harvard coach, see page 30.) athletic credentials to gain preferential ac- gist Jill Normington’s finding that the white All the elements are there: shameless status- cess to admissions, for those with the means working class—46 percent of the adult popu- seeking; the sense of entitlement associated (and ethical deficits) willing to do so. lation—is shifting from its historic support of with wealth, and emphatically divorced from The resulting perfect storm threatens to policies to expand access to college to a very merit; and the yawning disparities of means deepen public antipathy toward elite institu- different perspective: that perhaps college is (and accompanying lack of morals among tions—and to broaden its partisan contours not for everyone.