We’ve all heard the message from our parents: If you work hard, get a good education, and play by the rules, you will do well in life. Baby boomers like me were able to turn that formula into the American Dream. But while we were able to graduate from high school, vocational school programs, or […]

The fierce debate about the future of higher education in America has clarified some issues even as it has polarized national thinking on the question. While most people agree that current models need rethinking, few have answered where we would be without a vibrant, multifaceted higher-education sector. Two points are critical to this discussion: stimulating […]

Is this the year the US economy finally takes off? Despite a slow start in 2014, many economists say, “Yes.” Of course, they’ve said that before, in 2011, 2012, and 2013, but this time, they say, is different. Consumers are spending, home prices are rising, and stock markets are soaring, while the federal tax hikes, […]

Recently, the McKinsey Center for Government released the second in its “Education to Employment” series of the reports. The first, “Education to Employment: Designing a System that Works,” released in December 2012, looked at global youth unemployment challenges and the roles of higher education institutions and employers in helping students to make the transition from […]

In the United States and throughout the world, an important debate is taking place regarding the costs and benefits of higher education. In the post-Great Recession era, issues such as employability, return on investment, and student debt levels have come to the fore. A very recent analysis published by the New America Foundation, “The Graduate […]

If marine pollution had a fantasy league, discarded fishing nets would be a red-hot draft pick. It’s hard to imagine anything more harmful to aquatic wildlife than a sprawling plastic lattice that approaches invisibly and never stops killing. According to the Marine Mammal Center, a global organization dedicated to marine conservation, so-called “ghost nets” account […]

Naming shooters in the media is an issue that roils those who have lost loved ones. The intense news coverage provides the perpetrator with instant notoriety while the victims quickly fade from public memory. But after this week’s shooting at Fort Hood, at least some in the media said they would do something to change […]

Family, friends or passersby who encounter a person passed out from a heroin or other opioid overdose may soon be able to administer a drug to reverse the effects themselves before waiting for first responders to arrive. The US Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday the approval of an auto-injector device, called Evzio, to […]

The response to the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and wounded 260 a year ago was remarkably effective in the immediate aftermath but unduly chaotic during the day-long search for the suspects later that week, according to a new Harvard University report. n the moments after two bombs exploded on April 15, 2013, emergency […]

Another mass shooting. Another mass shooting at Fort Hood in Killeen, Tex. An unstable Iraq veteran killed three people and wounded 16 before killing himself. Does the madness never cease? Why does it seem to be occurring more frequently? Four blunt points: 1. It’s not occurring more frequently. “Over the past 30 years, there has […]

This page is part of the WBUR Oral History Project, which features voices of survivors, first responders and others reflecting on the bombings at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. These reflections are a collaboration with Northeastern University’s “Our Marathon: Boston Bombing Digital Archive.” This page will be updated with new voices daily […]

Patience — it’s good, but notoriously hard, to have. Now, a new study shows a potential way to increase it: Have gratitude. Published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers from Northeastern University, the University of California, Riverside, and Harvard University found that feelings of gratitude are associated with increased patience in the context of a […]