Crimson staff writer

Saima S. Iqbal

Associate Editor Saima S. Iqbal can be reached at saima.iqbal@thecrimson.com.

Latest Content


Fifteen Questions: Sheila Jasanoff on STS, Objectivity, and Alternative Facts

The professor of Science and Technology Studies sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss how she came to the field and its unique contributions to today's political landscape. “A way forward is to recognize that disputes of facts are often really disputes over the credibility, the honesty, and the integrity of the body finding the facts,” she says.


Fifteen Questions: Andrew Berry on Fruit Flies, LS1b, and Harvard-Yale

The evolutionary biologist and historian of science sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss his scientific inspirations and his approach to pedagogy. “I have one great virtue as a teacher, which is I’m pretty dumb,” he says.


The Meditation Medium

Once Margaux R. E. Winter ’21-’22 graduates this semester, they plan to spend several months in two Buddhist monasteries: rising at the crack of dawn, chanting sutras alongside fellow practitioners, and silently meditating for hours.


Is It Time to Consider Dimming the Sun?

Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program studies a climate intervention strategy that sounds straight out of a science fiction novel. In the past, scientists and politicians have written off solar geoengineering as too risky to even study. But as the planet approaches dangerous levels of warming, that calculus may be just about to change.


To Love a Stranger

The silence was in no way uncomfortable; most times, it was pleasant, even relaxing. But underneath was a low thrum of pent-up frustration, which I only became aware of every once in a while. There was so much I wanted to tell her — about my high school track meets, the school paper, later my college roommates — and so much I wanted to ask, that I simply could not.


Nanu Holds Saima

Nanu holds Saima in the hospital.


Going Hungry at Harvard

While many view Harvard graduate students as members of the privileged elite, studying in Cambridge often requires students to endure precarious material conditions. A backdrop of high rent, low pay, and expensive groceries becomes acutely visible in their daily struggles to find their next meal.


Louis Agassiz, Under a Microscope

Though some historians argue it is difficult to reconcile these two visions of Louis Agassiz — one gentle and reverential, the other rigid and bigoted —, they may simply be two sides of the same coin. Agassiz prided himself on his ability to distinguish and characterize species. With his theory of polygenism, he created taxonomies not only of turtles and jellyfish but also of human beings.