Department of Physics Archives

Dacheng Lin, research associate professor of physics.

His out-of-this-world discovery: Signals from billions of light years away

Dacheng Lin, a Northeastern research associate professor, has identified a new class of high-energy signals that were created by a violent collision of two neutron stars. “This is about the fundamental physics of our universe,” Lin says.

by Ian Thomsen April 13, 2022

Northeastern assistant physics professor Max Bi poses for a portrait in his office on Huntington Ave. Bi recently earned the Sloan research fellowship.

For Max Bi, physics + biology = a Sloan Research Fellowship

A dozen years after his PhD helped draw him to biology, the physicist has become the 12th Northeastern faculty member to earn the prestigious award. Bi’s study of cell behaviors is influencing treatments for cancer, asthma, and other diseases.

by Ian Thomsen February 22, 2022

People wait in line to test for COVID-19 in Long Beach, Calif. AP Photo/Ashley Landis

When will the omicron surge be over? Very soon.

The omicron variant is driving a record-setting surge of COVID-19 cases across the nation. But coronavirus numbers are expected to plummet just as quickly as they soared, says Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern. And that may happen fast.

by Eva Botkin-Kowacki January 6, 2022

COVID-19 isn't a ghost just yet. But it may be getting there.

The decline of COVID-19 might continue, according to Northeastern infectious disease modelers. “It will be this long tail with bumps,” says Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute and Sternberg Family Distinguished Professor at Northeastern. “But there is no expiration date on a pandemic.

by Eva Botkin-Kowacki October 28, 2021

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

What goes on inside the battery of your iPhone?

Having a picture of the inner workings of these lithium-rich batteries not only helps scientists understand what’s actually going on subatomically, but it may lead to improvements of the materials used in batteries, and better designs for future battery technologies., says Arun Bansil, university distinguished professor of physics at Northeastern.

by Tanner Stening - contributor June 21, 2021

James Halverson, an assistant professor of physics in the College of Science, uses artificial intelligence to untangle knots and uncover the secrets of the universe. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Why you need a computer to understand strings and knots

Some questions are simply too big for humans to answer alone. “How does the universe work?” is a good example. James Halverson and Brent Nelson, physicists at Northeastern, are getting a little extra help from artificial intelligence to uncover the secrets of why we exist.

by Emily Arntsen August 26, 2020

‘A network is crucial to describe how infectious disease spreads, and this is what we do’

On Thursday, Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, joined Alessandro Vespignani, who directs the Network Science Institute, to discuss where we are now in the COVID-19 crisis, where we’re headed, and what policymakers can do to prepare for the next pandemic.

by Laura Castañón May 14, 2020

This map, created by Alessandro Vespignani and his team, predicts the number of infections in different parts of the U.S., assuming

Models can predict how COVID-19 will spread. What goes into them, and how can we use what they tell us?

On Thursday, Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, will sit down for a conversation with Alessandro Vespignani, the director of Northeastern’s Network Science Institute, who is leading one of the major efforts to model this disease.

by Laura Castañón May 13, 2020

Subway customers wear masks on a crowded car heading downtown, on March 17, 2020, in New York. AP Photo by John Minchillo

The coronavirus was in the US in January. We need to understand how we missed it.

SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was circulating in major U.S. cities as early as January, says Alessandro Vespignani, director of Northeastern’s Network Science Institute. And if we want to keep our communities safe going forward, we need to understand how we missed a virus that was right under our noses.

by Laura Castañón April 26, 2020

Data visualation by: Albert-László Barabási. BarabasiLab 2019

Network scientists identify 40 new drugs to test against COVID-19

Researchers at Northeastern mapped the way proteins within human cells behave after a cell is hijacked by the virus to find new and existing drugs that might be able to fight COVID-19. The team is now working with other experimental researchers to begin testing those drugs.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa April 2, 2020