But actually staying focused enough to find the good stuff? That’s where it can get tricky. More than half of people’s purchase decisions are made after they arrive at the store, says David Zgarrick, professor of pharmacy practice at Northeastern University in Boston, who also lectures on drugstore planning. The secret is knowing what to […]

Last year, the World Bank added a new mission to its original goal of reducing poverty:boosting shared prosperity. The change reflects the state of today’s world: the fraction of the global population in extreme poverty, defined as those earning less than $1.25 per day, has dropped to 12% from 36% in 1990. Yet income inequality […]

Slogans of recent movements against police brutality — including “I Can’t Breath” and “Black Lives Matter” — are a testament to the parallels between themes in the movement against policy brutality and those in environmental movements. “I can’t breath has a double meaning; it’s not only about the increased repression that is being expressed in […]

Contained in the memo were quotes attributed to jurors, identified only by their randomly assigned numbers, and statistical data about how they feel about the case in general. A solid majority, 68 percent, have already deemed Tsarnaev guilty in their minds despite not seeing a single shred of evidence, or hearing a single piece of […]

The basic fact of the “Deflategate” controversy is this: NFL sources have told national news outlets that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the Patriots in the first half of Sunday’s AFC Championship win over the Indianapolis Colts were under-inflated, meaning they had less air than required under league rules. Big deal, a non-sports […]

Jamie Ladge was picking up her three kids from an after-school program recently when she overheard one father ask another if he could get a copy of a presentation the two of them had discussed. The second man said he couldn’t lay his hands on it because the employee who had written it was on […]

After four days of speculation about how far the New England Patriots would go to win Sunday’s AFC Championship game, quarterback Tom Brady responded to accusations that someone on the team deflated footballs to gain an advantage. A few hours earlier, coach Bill Belichick gave an uncharacteristically direct and detailed response to the controversy, denying any knowledge […]

On the first day of jury selection, some 40 potential people were brought in to be considered for a spot on the bench. By the start of day three, only 34 people had been questioned. As of Thursday, Jan. 22, just 61 people have been questioned and questioning will continue until the court finds 70 qualified […]

There is no shortage of stories related to efforts by players and teams to gain a competitive advantage by manipulating equipment or uniforms. To varying degrees, the practice is found across all four of the major sports, and certainly in many others as well. “The concept of pushing the envelope in one way or another […]

Massachusetts has little experience with modern death penalty cases. It is one of 18 states that have abolished capital punishment, and the last execution here was carried out in 1947. Mr. Tsarnaev is charged with 30 federal crimes, 17 of which carry the death penalty if he is convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to […]

For the past two decades, David Kaeli has been teaching electrical and computer engineering at Boston’s Northeastern University. Now, a rash of cyber hacks is changing how and what he teaches. “Security has to be a topic that’s covered, whether you’re teaching a digital design course or you’re teaching a programming language course or an […]

The common lithium-ion battery that’s used to power laptops, cellphones and tablet computers has improved in recent years. Battery capacity has tripled since 1990, says K. M. Abraham, a professor at Northeastern University who researches batteries. But it’s not nearly enough to keep up with the demand we gadget addicts have for constant use of […]