Alessandro Vespignani, a network scientist and public-health professor at Northeastern University, estimates that in each American city that later became a hot spot for COVID-19, perhaps 10 to 20 “local transmission events” occurred in January.

“The next time this is done by any big tech corporation that wants to reimagine the future of neighborhoods, it will be done in close communication with communities.” DANIEL O’BRIEN, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY

A model from researchers at Northeastern University suggests that the coronavirus had started spreading in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Seattle by early February. Thousands of people were probably unknowingly contracting the disease, The New York Times reported.

“Crying can be very cathartic because when you cry, you are taking deep breaths,” said Lisa Feldman Barrett, professor of psychology at Northeastern University and author of “How Emotions Are Made.” She added that those big gulps between sobs most likely increase activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to calm us down.

“I would say this is not surprising in a sense,” said Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University in Boston. “The picture emerging is consistent with numerical models.”

But there’s so much uncertainty in the world that it’s hard to get that message across, said Bruce Clark, a marketing professor at Northeastern University. This pandemic, as many ads point out, is unprecedented. Companies now have to do the calculus about whether to spend money on campaigns at all, he said, as consumers defer […]

“It’s very difficult to really figure out what’s going on,” says Samuel Scarpino, who heads Northeastern University’s Emerging Epidemics Lab. “What we’re facing here are some numbers that are being reported without the context necessary to interpret them.”

“It certainly looks that way,” said Samuel Scarpino, a mathematical epidemiologist at Northeastern University, in an interview Tuesday. “And it’s consistent with the model-based forecasts that have come out of multiple groups in the Boston area, and it’s consistent with the governor’s forecast.”

“It certainly looks that way,” said Samuel Scarpino, a mathematical epidemiologist at Northeastern University, in an interview Tuesday. “And it’s consistent with the model-based forecasts that have come out of multiple groups in the Boston area, and it’s consistent with the governor’s forecast.”

James Alan Fox is the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors and co-author of “Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder.” 

“The question about face masks is how will they morally change us? To some extent the answer depends on our motivation for wearing them,” says Liz Bucar, a professor of religion at Northeastern University. “If you are wearing a mask to protect yourself from others, you are forming a habit of fear. Every time you […]

“Surgical masks, unlike N95 respirators, are designed to fit loosely,” says Loretta Fernandez, an environmental chemist at Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts, who was one of those involved in the study. “This allows some air to go around the mask to the breathing zone rather than through the mask material.” They found that the addition […]