For example, a basic symptom-checking app could do more than just keeping people who don’t need urgent care out of overstretched emergency rooms, says Samuel Scarpino, an epidemiologist at Northeastern University. Health researchers could use also use location data from the app to estimate the size of an outbreak. “That could be done, I think, […]

David DeSteno is a psychology professor at Northeastern University who’s studied how fear can drive us batty. “We’re supposed to be the rational animal,” he said. “But there’s a lot going on in your head that’s kind of under your conscious radar.”

“You have to think of this as an insurance for the future: The earlier you do it, the greater effect you have on the virus,” said Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, who said the estimates were in line with his own projections. “It’s better to take excessive precautions than […]

Emily Rooney was joined via Skype by Northeastern University’s Dan Kennedy to discuss.

The companies say such instances are rare, but recent testing by Northeastern University and Imperial College London found that the devices can activate inadvertently between 1.5 and 19 times a day.

Another motivation may be to take advantage of an existing domestic industry, according to Brook Baker, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law and a senior policy analyst for the Health GAP advocacy group.

“If it’s non-emergency, it’s just all punted until later,” said Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University. “The Supreme Judicial Court has done a really good job of minimizing in-person contact and clarifying which matters are going to be treated as emergencies, and also in setting up procedures that make video and teleconferencing sort […]

David DeSteno is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University.

When it comes to deciding what to do and what to avoid, however, there is no magic number that is safe for a gathering, says Samuel Scarpino, a complex systems scientist and infectious-disease modeling expert at Northeastern University in Boston.

Dr. Laurie Kramer, a professor of applied psychology at Northeastern University, says conflict is normal in close relationships especially among siblings who know each other really well.

The economic picture is likely to remain murky for a while, said Alan Clayton-Matthews, a Northeastern University professor and coeditor of Massachusetts Benchmarks, a publication that tracks the state economy.

“Sometimes a crisis can give us a lot of fear but it can also prompt us to think deeper and to think better,” says Kristen Lee, a behavioral science professor at Northeastern University in Boston who cautions against “hype contagion.”