Shore and his co-authors, Ethan Bernstein, an assistant professor of leadership and organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, and David Lazer, a professor of political science and computer and information science at Northeastern University, write in their study that “clustering promotes exploration through information space but inhibits exploration through solution space.” For their experiment, the researchers adapted […]

“You can be really artful about how you scare people without a lot of gore,” says Northeastern University professor Lisa Feldman Barrett. “And I thought, well, who better to do that than a lab that studies the science of emotion? We can use research to predict what the effects will be, to make it super-scary […]

A new study released by researchers at Northeastern University has attempted to pry open Uber’s mysterious “black box” and look specifically at how its controversial surge pricing model works. While the researchers say Uber’s surge pricing works as expected—based on supply and demand—they say their findings raise questions about its effectiveness for riders and its […]

But according to a new study conducted by computer scientists at Northeastern University, the algorithm doesn’t work as intended. As reported by NPR, by creating 43 Uber accounts in locations across San Francisco and Manhattan and collecting the data those accounts received on nearby Uber drivers, the researchers were able to map how drivers’ comings-and-goings […]

“Uber has all the information, and it’s making decisions about prices. Whether its interest is the same as the customers and the drivers isn’t something we know,” says Northeastern University researcher Christo Wilson. Wilson, who specializes in “auditing” algorithms, and two Northeastern colleagues set out to reverse engineer how Uber’s surge pricing works in two […]

Christo Wilson admits there was something a little sketchy about going from drug store to drug store in downtown Boston last December, buying hundreds of dollars in prepaid Visa cards. But Wilson, an assistant computer science professor at Northeastern University, wasn’t laundering money: He was buying the cards to create fake Uber accounts that he and his colleagues would […]

But how exactly does Uber’s algorithm work? The company doesn’t say. A team of researchers at Northeastern University decided to find out by doing what they call “algorythmic auditing.” They found that for customers, it pays to be patient — or to walk a few blocks to a less crowded area. “If you go on […]

For Republican politicians, whining about the media comes as naturally as invoking misty memories of Ronald Reagan. It’s a sure-fire applause line, as complaints about the liberal press play into the right’s sense of victimhood. And there are occasions when those complaints are actually on the mark. Wednesday night’s presidential debate was one of those […]

This time of year is especially high pressure with essay deadlines and exam prep, so burnout expert Kristen Lee Costa, Ed.D. conducted qualitative research to find the best coping mechanisms for the students she studied. Without them, students’ work can suffer. In her research, Costa found five key lessons to keep in mind when dealing […]

“When I got to high school, I started training and I finally began to get better and stronger,” he continued. “I ended up with a college scholarship for track and field at Northeastern, and I was a two-time All-American there.” After spending so much time in the training trenches, Anderson became fascinated with finding ways […]

“I ultimately am guessing the Republican Party will elect someone who has prior experience in government, that the support that Trump and Carson have isn’t going to carry them through to the nomination,” said Bill Mayer, a political scientist at Northeastern University. “But it’s only fair to say I’m surprised they’ve gotten as far as they […]

But Comey’s Cassandra act is not supported by statistics. In fact, the data don’t suggest that there is a long-term spike in violent crime in the United States, according to James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law, and public policy at Northeastern University. In Seattle, police chief Kathleen O’Toole says crime is down this year […]