So what are we to make of the Boston Globe’s parody of a possible Donald Trump presidency? Is it inspired or sophomoric? A responsible exercise of a newspaper’s role in shaping public opinion or self-indulgent clickbait? And does the form that it takes—the entire front of the Sunday Ideas section, designed to look like page […]

This focus on apprenticeships and associate degrees makes sense for Boston, says Alicia Modestino, a labor economist at Northeastern University. “We don’t do a very good job of producing individuals at a middle-skill level of education,” she says. These are the workers that employers increasingly covet, particularly when it comes to supporting the highly educated […]

“I would think that that’s probably the tip of the iceberg,” said Daniel Medwed. He is a professor at Northeastern University’s School of Law and says misconduct ranges from prosecutors withholding evidence that could help the defense to badgering or threatening witnesses to improper remarks in closing arguments. “If prosecutors aren’t playing fairly, they can […]

Why do state court judges uphold convictions that are riddled with misconduct? Why do state prosecutors insist on defending them? The answer, according to Northeastern University law professor Daniel Medwed, who has written extensively on the topic, is likely a combination of law, politics, and basic human psychology. Our criminal justice famously presumes that every […]

A team of UMass Lowell and Northeastern University researchers will spend the next two years writing software and algorithms to improve Val’s walking, hand coordination and communication. The distance from Earth to Mars means any communication with the robot would be significantly delayed, so manually operating Val is impractical. “Every 20 minutes you can say, […]

STEREOTYPED AS WEAK and effeminate, Asian-American men often struggle in a society that has “boyish ideas of what it takes to be a man,” according to Alex Tizon, a former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and the author of “Big Little Man.” Those boyish ideas, based largely on obsessions with physical strength, height, […]

At UMass Lowell and Northeastern, professors and students alike are already feeling giddy with the possibilities. “This is an effort to advance research and development in humanoid robotics,” said Taskin Padir, an associate professor at Northeastern University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department and a co-principal investigator on the project. “Some will say humanoid robots are […]

A new housing report from real estate firm REIS says monthly rents in Boston increased by just .1 percent in the first quarter of this year. After five years of increases, the slowdown appears to be good news. Yet, the average apartment in Greater Boston still rents for over $2,000 a month. It turns out, if you […]

Good conversationalists listen with their eyes, looking for body language or changes in mood that provide information about the other person’s interest level in the conversation. This can help them redirect or improve the conversation in the moment, says Parker Ellen, professor of management and organizational development at Northeastern University. “It also would equip individuals […]

The lesson for shoppers, according to food safety advocate Darin Detwiler, who teaches food regulatory policy at Northeastern University, is this: “Just because it’s got a big name like Whole Foods or Market Basket or Stop & Shop does not mean that it doesn’t have a record of problems,” requiring consumers to always be on […]

A robot that may one day pave the way for astronauts to explore the final frontier has arrived in Massachusetts. Valkyrie, or “Val,” landed at the New England Robotics Validation Experimentation Center at UMass Lowell Wednesday morning, where it will stay for two years as part of a research collaboration between UMass Lowell and Northeastern University, which were […]

As Puerto Rico deals with its fiscal woes, officials on Tuesday took steps to halt all government debt payments in a sign that they’re rejecting Washington’s latest plans to rescue the troubled island. This can be viewed as a sudden move, but it’s not all that surprising if anyone in Puerto Rico took a closer […]