Also on BPR: How much vacation time is enough? Margery and Sue asked callers how much they need, and how much they get. The Boston Globe’s Alex Beam joined Margery and Sue for Open Mic. Diane Valle joined the show to talk about her ambitious plan to plant daffodil bulbs along the Boston Marathon route — all the […]

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, said it now takes typical jobless workers about 30 weeks to land a new one. “We have never seen anything like this,” he told us recently. And the jobs people are find are often part-time positions. Sum noted that the spike in […]

They are at it again. Republicans in the Senate are taking the unsupportable position that three existing D.C. Federal Circuit Court vacancies should not be filled. They claim that President Obama wants to “pack” the court, FDR style. But their real concern is about the ideological direction of the court, not its size. Back home […]

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, said the weak teen job situation is worsening existing racial and socioeconomic disparities in the labor market. Just one in four Hispanic teens worked this summer, and just one in five African-American ones. “Kids from low-income, minority backgrounds on the […]

Researchers at Northeastern University have found that people feel more empathy towards hurt or battered dogs than for an adult human. But when it comes to babies, the playing field is level. The findings are from a study conducted by Northeastern University sociology professors Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke that was presented at this month’s […]

There’s a reason peoples’ hearts melt when they see big, brown puppy dog eyes. According to a study conducted by Northeastern University sociology professors Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke, people feel more empathy towards a hurt, or battered dog, than they do for an adult human. The study also showed that people have the same […]

But the decision has created problems for the researchers using the sensors. “You create a technology out of necessity, you do good science with it, you make it widely available, and when the company decides to cease manufacturing, it stalls the science,” said Matthew Goodwin, an assistant professor at Northeastern University and founding member of […]

It didn’t take long for Katie Carlson’s sisterly instincts to kick in. It was the first preseason practice for the Northeastern University field hockey squad, and players were in the middle of an annual conditioning test that amounted to about 11 minutes of shuttling quickly back and forth across the new turf field at the […]

I floated my idea past several cycling advocates, who predictably agreed that more public awareness would be better. But Northeastern University professor Peter Furth, a specialist in urban transportation, offered another compelling suggestion. When Furth lived in the Netherlands, he had to obtain a Dutch driver’s license. Driver training is far more extensive there, costing the average […]

THE BOSTON mayoral hopefuls are busy attending forums on the issues that will face them if elected. Some have exhorted the candidates to direct attention to Boston’s supposed major problems — the lack of late-night commerce and access to liquor licenses, a limited innovation economy, and too stringent parking and housing space requirements. But many city residents […]

As the beginning of the semester rapidly approaches, the ProfHacker crew is busy polishing syllabi, hurriedly wrapping up summer research, and perhaps even taking some time to mentally recharge in preparation for students’ arrival. Here are some links selected with the new academic year in mind. If you teach in the humanities (or perhaps even […]

Noting that it’s difficult for businesses to generate buzz using social media merely by asking people to “like” their Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter, Victor Dweck saw an open opportunity to introduce a product that he says could change the way customers interact with establishments, while rewarding everyone involved. Using the app Dweck […]