Facebook leak suggests no systematic bias John Wihbey, assistant professor of journalism and new media at Northeastern University, said that the document seems to indicate that Facebook is playing it straight in its news coverage. “It basically shows that they do have a strategy,” he said. “They do have some checks in there.”
Your friends might not like you as much as you think, researchers say Associate Professor Randy Colvin, of Northeastern University’s Department of Psychology, disagrees. He’s not convinced by the survey, pointing to its setup and small sample size as two reasons to take its conclusions with a hefty dash of salt. “If you’re just sitting in a class next to a person, it’s really hard to say much […]
Contemplating a midlife layover in Bridge Rep’s ‘Mud Blue Sky’ Kaya Simmons, the Northeastern University student who plays Jonathan, is relatively new to theater, and says he was initially intimidated by the talented women he was working with. “I have learned so much from watching them work,” he says. “I am majoring in sociology and economics with a minor in theater, but acting is the […]
Does this terrifying robot really have to look like a mermaid? So OceanOne managing to liberate a vase from a shipwreck is impressive, yes. But it’s unclear whether a waterproof humanoid would be useful beyond excavating human shipwrecks. “The big question to ask is: birds versus airplanes,” says roboticist Hanumant Singh of Northeastern University. “We don’t need flapping wings to fly. And so there are certain […]
Fortune Puerto Rico’s debt crisis is about to get worse Puerto Rico’s debt, just over $70 billion, is comparable with Argentina’s—around $93 billion at the start of its 2001 crisis. Puerto Rico’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 70% isn’t too remote from Argentina’s 2001 ratio of 65%. In a debt crisis, governments can increase taxes and fees and reduce government services. Puerto Rico has already done so. […]
CNET News Facebook’s trending news feed may be a sham Journalism experts and media commentators are crying foul. Facebook’s trending topics list was assumed to be a list of the most popular things on Facebook, they say, not a curated list of what Facebook’s employees think is relevant. “With Facebook’s trending stories, we had every right to think that this represented the wisdom of the […]
WGBH Print nostalgia is still with us, but it’s not going to save the news business Editor & Publisher, a trade magazine that covers the newspaper business, posted a story last week predicting a startling technological change in the way we consume news. Believe it or not, it would involve grinding trees into pulp, transforming that pulp into paper, printing news articles, photos, and ads on that paper, and then loading […]
WGBH Former Mass. Gov. Dukakis: North-south rail link would “pay for itself” “It’s important to understand that both South and North station are getting increasingly congested,” he said. “We’re getting perilously close to a point where we’re not going to be able to get any more trains into those stations. Both of them, by the way. The answer from the [MBTA] over the course of the past […]
The Hill Doctor mandate moving to center of opioid fight Up to now, the FDA has moved cautiously on opioids, doing little beyond requiring “black box” warnings for the most dangerous painkillers in 2013 and 2016 and sending a open letter to ask prescribers to “ensure they have adequate training in opioid therapy” in 2013. “A lot of reasons why things have taken so long […]
Boston Magazine Six tips for using standing desks correctly Chances are, you know somebody who switched to a standing desk after reading those sobering studies about how bad sitting is for your health. The problem is, though, ergonomic guidelines for using the desks are scant, so arranging them can involve a lot of guesswork. Jack Dennerlein, a professor in the Northeastern University Department of […]
The constitutional fight over delay Justice Stephen Breyer may be the only current member of the Supreme Court to have argued that the inevitably long delays death row prisoners suffer before execution is a significant factor leading to the unconstitutionality of the death penalty but his persistence in arguing for this position has provoked passionate rejoinders. Just recently Breyer dissented […]
PCWorld How the skills shortage is transforming big data In the early days of computing, developers were often jacks of all trades, handling virtually any task needed for software to get made. As the field matured, jobs grew more specialized. Now we’re seeing a similar pattern in a brand-new domain: big data. That’s according to P.K. Agarwal, regional dean and CEO of Northeastern University’s […]