College of Science

Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Don’t miss out on these November events

Stay informed on Election Day. Analyze the election results with former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Tune into a night with Trevor Noah. These and other virtual events are on tap in November.

by Irvin Zhang October 30, 2020

Marc Carlson, who’s on co-op on Northeastern’s arboretum, inspects a Japanese maple hybrid, also known as an Acer palmatum. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

At school, at work, and at home among the trees

Marc Carlson knows every nook and cranny of campus from walking it day in and day out as part of his co-op on the campus arboretum. Carlson works for Chuck Doughty, who oversees the university’s landscaping. The pair starts each week by walking the campus to survey which of the arboretum’s 1,400 trees and roughly 120 different plant species are flourishing, and which may need a little TLC.

by Molly Callahan October 28, 2020

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Inside the lab that tests Northeastern for the coronavirus

Troy Ganz, a general supervisor at Northeastern’s Life Sciences Testing Center, explains what it’s like to be inside the lab that sustains a large-scale operation to test everyone working and living on the Boston campus for the coronavirus.

by Matthew Modoono and Roberto Molar Candanosa October 28, 2020

Martin Rodriguez-Vega, left, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Quantum Matter and Correlated Electron Theory Lab, works with physics graduate student Zexun Lin. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Is math really the language of nature? This physicist is on a quest to find out.

Growing up in a small Mexican town, Martin Rodriguez-Vega, a postdoctoral research associate in physics, felt disconnected from anything scientific. Now, as he studies the exotic properties of quantum materials, Rodriguez Vega finds that one of the most important parts of being a physicist is the bonds he’s formed with budding and accomplished scientists alike.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa October 26, 2020

Eduardo Sanchez, a general supervisor at the Life Sciences Testing Center at Northeastern University's Innovation Campus in Burlington, Massachusetts on Oct. 15. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

In the trenches at Northeastern’s coronavirus testing center by day, hitting the books at night

By the time that Eduardo Sanchez heads to work in the morning, he’s already been up for hours, reading and preparing for the discussions, quizzes, and tests he takes as part of a master’s program in biotechnology at Northeastern. He won’t touch that classwork until after 11 at night, after he ends his shift as one of the scientists who ensures Northeastern’s Life Sciences Testing Center runs like a well-oiled machine to process thousands of coronavirus tests on a daily basis.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa October 22, 2020

Flu season is coming and COVID-19 is still here. Can disease forecasts tell them apart?

Both viruses attack the respiratory system and can have similar symptoms. “Something like this is completely unprecedented,” says Alessandro Vespignani, who directs Northeastern’s Network Science Institute. “Having a major pandemic and then trying to get insight on the seasonal flu—it’s a completely new game.”

by Laura Castañón October 13, 2020

Photo courtesy of Grand Teton National Park

They’re cute. They’re furry. And they’re the unsung heroes of wildfire protection efforts.

Research shows that healthy streams promote aquatic life and nurture surrounding lands. The research of Benjamin Dittbrenner, an associate professor in the Marine and Environmental Sciences department, provides clues to how beaver ecosystems and wetlands fit into that equation—and contribute to wildfire protection and recovery.

by Khalida Sarwari October 5, 2020

Commuters crowd Cadorna train station in Milan, Italy. Photo by Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP

Why does COVID-19 hit hard and fast in some places, but not others?

“The way populations are structured matters quite a bit in terms of the potential risk for sharp, intense epidemics, as compared to broader, slower-burning epidemics,” says Samuel Scarpino, an assistant professor in Northeastern’s Network Science Institute.

by Laura Castañón October 5, 2020

James Monaghan, an associate professor of biology, studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that allow axolotls to regenerate and repair tissue in their bodies. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

He’s back in the lab with his salamanders

James Monaghan, an associate professor of biology, wants to find out how to improve healing therapies for people by studying the axolotl, a peculiar salamander with some of the most powerful abilities on the planet to repair and regrow injured body parts. Six months after the pandemic forced his lab to pause, Monaghan and his team are back at it. “That was the longest I'd gone without interacting with an axolotl since my first day of graduate school,” he says.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa October 1, 2020

Clockwise from top left, Adel Zadeh, Brian Helmuth, Sheila Puffer, Diane MacGillivray, Daisy Kendrick and Anne Halverstadt. Screenshots by Northeastern University

It’s the second-most exploited resource after water–and the world is running out of it.

You like digging your toes in it and children enjoy building castles out of it. Now consider for a moment a world without sand. That world will be our reality someday. But, how can we possibly be running low on a substance that seems so limitless? Northeastern researchers discussed the global sand shortage during a webinar on sustainable development and coastal erosion hosted by the university’s Young Global Leaders.

by Khalida Sarwari September 29, 2020