Strategic and moral concerns sometimes collide in international politics. Today, the United States stands at such a crossroad. The case against aligning with Assad might seem obvious. This is a man who responded to the Arab Awakening by imprisoning, starving, bombing and gassing his own population. If you want to see moral depravity, Twitter is […]

The bitter clash between factions of the DeMoulas family, the major shareholders in the Market Basket supermarket chain, once again raises the issue of corporate responsibility. Is the sole responsibility of executives and boards of directors to maximize the value of stockholders or are they responsible to a broader array of stakeholders that include customers, […]

With the Ebola virus death toll now topping 1000 and even the much publicized experimental treatment ZMapp failing to save the life of a Spanish missionary priest who was treated with it, it is clear that scientists need to explore new ways of fighting the deadly disease. For researchers at Northeastern University in Boston, one possibility may be using nanotechnology. “It has […]

All eyes were on Ferguson, Missouri this week after the shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown, and the subsequent protests and police agitation. Host Melissa Harris-Perry will be talking to guests on the ground in Ferguson, including a Missouri state senator and msnbc reporter Trymaine Lee. Read his latesthere. Our panel in New York […]

Over the past 20 years, authorities have made more than a quarter of a billion arrests, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates. As a result, the FBI currently has 77.7 million individuals on file in its master criminal database—or nearly one out of every three American adults. In 2011, the most recent year for which […]

This abrupt turn for Harbor Towers is likely to end in one of two ways: Either they end up assenting to a significant redevelopment of the Harbor Garage, or they keep voicing the same complaints they’ve been airing for years — and discredit themselves in the process. The Harbor Towers trustees said this week that […]

Twenty-five years ago today, Gary Dotson walked out of an Illinois prison a free man. He had been imprisoned for nine years on charges of rape and kidnapping — until the evidence from those crimes was subjected to DNA testing. That laboratory work revealed that Dotson was not guilty. It was the first exoneration using DNA evidence, and […]

A digital surveillance program used Twitter feeds and news headlines to pick up on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a full nine days before the World Health Organization proclaimed it an epidemic. But that doesn’t mean the outbreak could have been prevented. Dr. Alessandro Vespignani, a professor of computer science and physics at Northeastern University, uses network science to model […]

SWAT teams are comprised of police officers trained to use “special weapons and tactics,” and they have been front and center in photos and footage of protests in Ferguson, Mo. According to Jack Greene, who teaches criminology at Northeastern University, these tactical teams were created in the 1960s with a simple objective: “They are there […]

A major shift has been the reframing of responsibility for women’s safety. Until a few years ago, that burden was placed almost entirely on women, said Alison Kiss, the executive director of the Clery Center for Security on Campus. More recently, new bystander intervention models have taught men to act if they see their friends […]

FIFTY years ago the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development launched a debate about how much money rich countries should give to poor ones to reduce poverty and bolster growth. In the end, the UN settled on a figure of 0.7% of national income—a target subsequently reaffirmed by endless international powwows. Although few […]

GE Healthcare’s decision to move potentially hundreds of jobs to Massachusetts — and the already-existing cluster of major life sciences companies — could help reduce health care costs and create greater access to cutting-edge medical technology in the Bay State, an expert told the Herald. “Having these companies close by where research staff are studying […]