In politics, the notion of being gay by one’s own volition is like Voldemort—dangerous even to be uttered. Biological determinism is the new normal, yoked to tolerance claims much as magic hews to Harry Potter. It was not always this way, but a determinist ethos began to insinuate itself into gay politics in the late […]

The accomplishments of 25 women in the Charlotte region were celebrated Tuesday as they received the Charlotte Business Journal’s 18th annual Women in Business Achievement Awards. And Jane McIntyre, executive director of United Way of Central Carolinas Inc., was honored with the program’s Lifetime Achievement Award. McIntyre has led the local United Way organization since […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously slapped down the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, rejecting two of its patent rulings just over a month after hearing oral arguments in both cases. Monday’s decisions in Limelight Networks Inc. v. Akamai Technologies Inc. and Nautilus Inc. v. Biosig Instruments were the fourth and […]

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that induced infringement can occur only when one party performs every step of a patent will make it easier to fend off inducement claims when the infringement involves multiple actors. But the ruling may not be the final word, attorneys say, since the justices also invited the Federal Circuit to revisit direct-infringement […]

Numerous studies show that when school’s out for summer, kids’ brains start to drain. When the next academic year starts, they often spend a month or more catching up to where they were when vacation began. Here’s where the current generation’s obsession with digital devices can work in your favor. Obviously you don’t want them spending all summer […]

Barry Bluestone is director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University: “It’s not just a symbol; the luxury high rises. What is happening in Boston, almost more than any other city with maybe the exception of  San Francisco and New York,  is that housing is becoming the kind of determining factor in the […]

The mantra ‘publish or perish’ is drilled into every early-career scientist — and for good reason, a computer model suggests. The most important predictor of success for a young biomedical scientist is the number of first-author papers published in journals with high impact factors early in a researcher’s career, according to the formula. The model, […]

David Walsh knew there had to be a better way. After watching his grandmother, who suffers from age-related macular degeneration, undergo painful treatments that neither she nor her doctor knew to be effective, Walsh, a graduate student at Northeastern University, took matters into his own hands and developed a device that could change the way […]

After last year’s Boston Marathon bombings, many people rushed to donate blood—so much that the Red Cross, in a statement the next day, said it had more than it needed. An adequate blood supply is something most of us now take for granted: Thanks to altruistic donors, we assume that, if we end up in […]

Like viewers worldwide, Fabien Cousteau was entranced by his famous grandfather’s films about marine life and human exploration underwater. Now he’s adding to his family’s sea stories with a 31-day underwater expedition in the Florida Keys. Cousteau is set to dive Sunday to Aquarius Reef Base, a school bus-sized laboratory 60 feet below the ocean’s […]

When Jared Remy casually raised a cuffed hand to his face while pleading guilty to murder earlier this week, he flashed what appeared to be a neo-Nazi jailhouse tattoo on his right hand. Remy’s forearms are covered with elaborately detailed, richly colored tattoos predating his time behind bars, including a grim reaper and a busty […]

Mission 31 has all the makings of a hit series. It has a dramatic setting: an undersea research lab. It’s got star power: Jacques Cousteau’s grandson Fabien. And it has an intriguing premise: Half a dozen people will live and work together in that school bus-sized lab for 31 days, while exploring the ocean deep. […]