Summer Jobs Elude Many Teenagers Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, said the weak teen job situation is worsening existing racial and socioeconomic disparities in the labor market. Just one in four Hispanic teens worked this summer, and just one in five African-American ones. “Kids from low-income, minority backgrounds on the […]
ABA Journal Battered dogs attract more empathy than battered adults, study finds Researchers at Northeastern University have found that people feel more empathy towards hurt or battered dogs than for an adult human. But when it comes to babies, the playing field is level. The findings are from a study conducted by Northeastern University sociology professors Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke that was presented at this month’s […]
Boston Magazine Study: Students Are More Empathetic Towards Puppies Than People There’s a reason peoples’ hearts melt when they see big, brown puppy dog eyes. According to a study conducted by Northeastern University sociology professors Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke, people feel more empathy towards a hurt, or battered dog, than they do for an adult human. The study also showed that people have the same […]
App helps tell difference between smirks, smiles But the decision has created problems for the researchers using the sensors. “You create a technology out of necessity, you do good science with it, you make it widely available, and when the company decides to cease manufacturing, it stalls the science,” said Matthew Goodwin, an assistant professor at Northeastern University and founding member of […]
Watertown sisters combine forces on NU squad It didn’t take long for Katie Carlson’s sisterly instincts to kick in. It was the first preseason practice for the Northeastern University field hockey squad, and players were in the middle of an annual conditioning test that amounted to about 11 minutes of shuttling quickly back and forth across the new turf field at the […]
A few modest ideas to improve road safety I floated my idea past several cycling advocates, who predictably agreed that more public awareness would be better. But Northeastern University professor Peter Furth, a specialist in urban transportation, offered another compelling suggestion. When Furth lived in the Netherlands, he had to obtain a Dutch driver’s license. Driver training is far more extensive there, costing the average […]
Poverty must be top priority for mayoral candidates THE BOSTON mayoral hopefuls are busy attending forums on the issues that will face them if elected. Some have exhorted the candidates to direct attention to Boston’s supposed major problems — the lack of late-night commerce and access to liquor licenses, a limited innovation economy, and too stringent parking and housing space requirements. But many city residents […]
Weekend Reading: Nearly Back to School Edition As the beginning of the semester rapidly approaches, the ProfHacker crew is busy polishing syllabi, hurriedly wrapping up summer research, and perhaps even taking some time to mentally recharge in preparation for students’ arrival. Here are some links selected with the new academic year in mind. If you teach in the humanities (or perhaps even […]
Boston Magazine The Socii App Lets Users Get Free Food From Social Media Posts Noting that it’s difficult for businesses to generate buzz using social media merely by asking people to “like” their Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter, Victor Dweck saw an open opportunity to introduce a product that he says could change the way customers interact with establishments, while rewarding everyone involved. Using the app Dweck […]
Can Paula Deen Recover (And Who Really Pays If She Doesn’t)? This is something that generally gets overlooked when people whose names are synonymous with a company run into trouble. Their careers may be in tatters, but it’s the people who make and sell the products they’ve licensed that end up getting hurt. “If General Motors lays off 10,000 people everybody talks about the ripple effect,” […]
Effort to spread word about recycling A series of educational programs for children sponsored by the town, the Northeastern University Marine Science Center, and Nahant Swim Inc. (Safer Waters in Massachusetts) kicked off an initiative aimed at encouraging and educating residents about recycling. “People don’t know what they can recycle,” said Vi Patek, Nahant Swim president, who said the organization plans […]
CBS News College students more empathetic towards dogs than human adults College students have more empathy for battered dogs than they do for battered human adults, according to a recent study. Puppies and human children, meanwhile, evoke equal levels of empathy. In a study of 240 students, most of whom were white and between the ages of 18 and 25, Northeastern University sociology professors Jack Levin […]