Health

Do you know the warning signs of human trafficking?

The first step to fighting human trafficking is the ability to spot when it’s happening. But identifying someone who is caught in the web of a trafficking scheme requires an eye for nuanced details, says Amy Farrell, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern who studies human trafficking.

by Molly Callahan April 25, 2019

Real news. Fake fish.

An investigation by the New York State attorney general's office and Northeastern's Ocean Genome Legacy Center has shown that species are misidentified in more than a quarter of the fish sold at New York grocery stores.

by Laura Castañón December 18, 2018

Students bring healthcare to patients who walk miles for medicine

Rani Viroja, Harrison Dieuveuil, and Mia Sherer worked in a medical clinic in rural Nicaragua, where doctors didn’t have enough medication to cover the 300 patients they treated every day.

by Sophia Fox-Sowell November 27, 2018

What if pictures of your brain could predict schizophrenia?

Northeastern neuroscientist Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli has found that a particular pattern of brain activity may be an early sign of schizophrenia.

by Laura Castañón November 26, 2018

Here’s how you can ‘feel better, think better, and sleep better’

Northeastern cognitive neuroscientist Chuck Hillman helped to create the federal government’s new physical fitness guidelines, which recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of exercise per week. “A single bout of exercise has an immediate effect on brain health,” Hillman said.

by Sophia Fox-Sowell November 21, 2018

‘Preparing a Thanksgiving meal is like playing Russian roulette’

You risk getting sick if you’ve already purchased a Thanksgiving turkey contaminated by salmonella but haven’t started to thaw the frozen bird, said Darin Detwiler, an assistant teaching professor of food policy at Northeastern. “There are so many opportunities for things to go wrong.”

by Sophia Fox-Sowell November 20, 2018

Tracking an epidemic requires computer models. But what if those models are wrong?

Researchers at Northeastern have found that one of the basic assumptions used in disease modeling simply isn’t realistic. Now they’re looking at how epidemics travel through various layers of a population to find a better way to track a disease.

by Laura Castañón November 19, 2018

The CDC confirmed that a mysterious disease is paralyzing children across the US, but where does it come from?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released an official case count for a rare neurological disease being reported across the country. The definitive cause and transmission pattern of this disease are still unknown, which makes the possibility of modeling the disease uncertain, said Ana Pastore y Piontti, an associate research scientist at Northeastern.

by Aria Bracci October 18, 2018

Get a free flu shot at this health fair

Northeastern students, faculty, and staff can receive free flu shots and health screenings at a health fair on Wednesday at the university’s Boston campus. “We want people to be more passionate about taking care of themselves and their health,” said Serena Kang, a third-year pharmacy student who helped to organize the event.

by Greg St. Martin October 9, 2018

These patients aren’t real. Why are they giving birth?

Fake people, known as human patient simulators, populate a suite of labs on Northeastern’s Boston campus to help students prepare to take care of real people with real ailments. “They can sweat. They can urinate. They can seize,” said Jamie Musler, who directs the labs. They can also give birth.

by Aria Bracci October 9, 2018