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Explore the leading research, publications, honors, and awards from Northeastern University

Since 2006, Northeastern University has dramatically expanded its research enterprise, with particular emphasis on three global imperatives: health, security and sustainability. Working intentionally across disciplines, Northeastern faculty members are focused on solving real problems in the world. NGN Research tells the stories of these important accomplishments.

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A group of women perform yoga in a park outdoors, each in the same pose, standing with their left arm extended overhead. The sun shine down from the top of the image. — Photo by Getty Images

Feel like your brain is a little sluggish? Try 10 minutes of exercise

January 5, 2025

New research demonstrates that just 10 minutes of exercise before starting class can improve executive function, making problem-solving and learning easier.

A woman wearing purple gloves examines water samples against a blue sky. — 10/09/25 – Nahant, MA. – Northeastern grad student Hannah Bray collects water samples in Nahant to identify sources of bacteria that degrade water quality at Nahant Long Beach on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

Playing pollution detective off Nahant Beach, a search for clues leads to a stunning bacterial count

University News

January 2, 2025

A Northeastern University graduate student tested beaches near the Nahant campus to find local sources of pollution.

An illustration depicting a woman holding a three-pronged molecule in her hands that would fit into three receptors placed on her chest. — Illustration by Renee Zhang

Your body is full of medicine — these researchers have finally discovered a way to synthesize it

Science & Technology

December 24, 2025

Northeastern’s Center for Drug Discovery has discovered a way to synthesize cannabinoids endogenous to the human body, which have wide application to drug discovery and creation.

Honors & Awards

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Academic conferences convened by Northeastern faculty, and academic conferences where Northeastern faculty play key roles.

Press

Trump declared fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. What does it mean?

Leo Beletsky, a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University, discusses the latest Fentanyl crisis.

Video games may be a surprisingly good way to get a cognitive boost

Aaron Seitz, a professor of psychology and the director of the Brain Game Center for Mental Fitness and Well–being at Northeastern University, discusses how video games nehances complex cognitive skills.

Soundtracks of our lives

This is Rebecca Kleinberger. She is a professor of humanics and voice technology at Northeastern University, and much of her research focuses on the relationship we have to our own voice, what it sounds like to us and how we think it comes across to others.

Colorado River Water Contamination Is Impacting Certain Groups More: Report

Phil Brown, a professor of sociology and health sciences and director of the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern University, told Newsweek: “The research points out that Native American, Hispanic and Black populations, have lower access to resources for mitigation and recovery, and less power in organizational and institution policies that provide water and monitor […]

US mass killings drop to 20-year low. Some policy shifts might be helping.

There have been 17 mass killings, 14 of which involved guns, recorded this year, according to a database maintained by Northeastern University, in partnership with the Associated Press and USA Today

Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows

The database, maintained by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, defines a mass killing as an incident in which four or more people are intentionally killed within a 24-hour period, excluding the perpetrator.

This book chronicles the British aristocrat who dedicated her life to social justice

I chatted with Kaplan, who is the Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University, about Mitford and her legacy.

The secret life of Decca, the most rebellious Mitford sister

Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford by Carla Kaplan is published on Dec 4.

6 New Books We Love This Week

One of the six famous Mitford sisters, Jessica — known as Decca, a childhood nickname — was a left-wing activist first and muckraking journalist second, best known for “The American Way of Death,” her scathing 1963 exposé of the funeral industry.

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