The defeat of the Boston Olympics bid was this summer’s Market Basket story — a feel-good saga about ordinary people triumphing over the moneyed interests. Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi calls the opponents “heroes.” Of course, there were a lot of good people involved in Boston 2024, and they don’t deserve to be cast as […]

Stephen Flynn, co-director of the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security at Northeastern University, said that collecting biometric information will eventually allow airports to identify threats more easily, since it adds an extra level of screening. “We have a reasonably high level of confidence that the people who use those programs pose no […]

“Some of the traditional things about traveling on the train have been lost for the current generation [of Japanese],” says Allan Bird, professor of global business at Northeastern University, and a business consultant in Japan for much of the 1970s and 1980s. As air travel gets more economical, everything from the pleasures of countryside sightseeing, […]

At Boston’s Northeastern University, officials wonder why there are warnings for countries such as Colombia but not Tunisia, where 38 were killed in a June attack at a beach resort. “To a casual observer, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” said Brian Gibson, director of the Global Experience Office at Northeastern, which hires […]

Moviegoers didn’t suffer when Disney bought Pixar. Google’s acquisition of YouTube, and Facebook’s purchase of Instagram, didn’t appear to weaken those free online services. But these are examples of deals that weren’t intended to squeeze more revenue from customers through greater market power. Rather, they involved creation of new opportunities for growth. John Kwoka, an […]

Some immediate reactions were skeptical, amid questions on whether the site known for brash and unabashed reporting can be journalistically ethical. “Their mission is to be as mean-spirited as they possibly can. That’s been the Gawker brand from the beginning,” said Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University. Last week, Tommy Craggs, the executive […]

Analysts and historians of terrorism are divided on the effectiveness of “leadership decapitation” — an approach that has been at the heart of the Obama Administration’s policy through the widespread use of armed drones. Max Abrahms, who studies terrorism at Northeastern University, says the aversion to putting boots on the ground and the growing technological […]

Collin Mulliner, senior research scientist at Northeastern University, says, “In this case Google is not the actual one to blame. It’s ultimately the manufacturer of your phone, in combination possibly with your carrier.” Android phones are very different from iPhones, for example. Apple runs a closed system. It controls the hardware and software, and it’s […]

The Reverends Emmett G. Price III and Irene Monroe were back on Boston Public Radio for “All Revved Up.” They talked about the arrest and death of Sandra Bland in Hempstead, Texas. The following questions were paraphrased, and Price and Monroe’s answers were edited where noted […]. The Rev. Emmett G. Price III is a […]

The Republican party made a concerted effort this cycle to gain more control over presidential primary debates, limiting their number in hopes of avoiding the spectacle of 2012, when such gatherings started taking on the feel of a reality show. How is the plan working out? “Not very well,” says Alan Schroeder, professor at Northeastern […]

Many modern manufacturing companies need to have engineers and designers close to production lines because of the complexity of products and the need to update them frequently to keep up with, or ahead of, increasingly fierce and global competition, said Barry Bluestone, professor of political economy and founding director of the Dukakis Center for Urban […]

If you are able to read these words under the overhead light on your morning flight without having to squint or use a magnifier, then this column is not about you. Continue on, nonetheless, as this has everything to do with you and the overwhelming majority of folks who are uninformed about the plight of […]