Crimson staff writer

Kendall I. Shields

Latest Content


At Harvard, Psychedelic Drugs' Tentative Renaissance

In the early 1960s, the Harvard Psilocybin Project made national headlines for its unethical research methods and controversial leader, psychologist Timothy F. Leary. Now, sixty years after Leary's departure, Harvard is again part of the conversation around the future of psychedelics. From research in the lab to conversations among the student body, psychedelics are making a tentative yet undeniable renaissance on campus — a renaissance conscious of Harvard’s checkered history with the substances, yet working to move beyond it.


Autism, Art, and Advocacy: A Conversation With Royal Portraitist Nina Skov Jensen

When Jensen began to draw, she was an amateur. Her first foray into the art world was a “completely unrecognizable” drawing of Beyoncé. From there, Jensen “just started drawing more and more.” As she worked to get better, she sought recognition from the subjects of her painting, often traveling from her home in Denmark to London to meet actors during their movie premieres.


Harvard Placebo Expert Ted Kaptchuk on Deception, Expectations, and Hope

According to Kaptchuk, countless studies utilize placebo controls, but those only provide information about the placebo response compared to the actual treatment. There are very few studies on the placebo effect, which compares the results of those treated with the placebo with those who received neither treatment nor a placebo.