In May 2025, Burt hosted a hands-on toy testing session at Northeastern University’s Roux Institute, also in Portland, Maine. Fifteen kids between the ages of 3 and 15 (along with a handful of interested parents) spent two hours freely exploring our top STEM toy contenders then completed surveys about their favorites.

When that happens, “research shows people engage in compensatory behavior,” says Daniele Mathras, associate dean of undergraduate education and associate teaching professor of marketing at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business. 

A study by Burak Özturan of Northeastern University and colleagues found that the average quality of news sources shared on the platform—as defined by Newsguard, which rates the reliability of online sources—fell during Mr Musk’s first six months in charge.

“Our scorecard shows that states with strong clean energy and resilience policies are doing a better job protecting health and health care infrastructure, while other states leave patients exposed during potential crises,” said Matthew Eckelman, Northeastern University associate professor and associate chair for research of civil and environmental engineering, in a news release.

The different languages spoken in a country can also play a role, and in the U.S. the increasing Hispanic population could have influenced the fact that Mateo is now a popular name, a Spanish form of the once popular name Matthew, according to Northeastern University’s news website Northeastern Global News.

Numerous safety features that Meta has said it has implemented to protect young users on Instagram over the years do not work well or, in some cases, don’t exist, according to a report from child-safety advocacy groups that was corroborated by researchers at Northeastern University.

The report Thursday came from Bejar and the Cybersecurity For Democracy at New York University and Northeastern University, as well as the Molly Rose Foundation, Fairplay and ParentsSOS.