Science & Technology

Postdoctoral researcher Martin Rodriguez-Vega and Zexun Lin work on a physics project in Dana Hall. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Scientists are baffled by this magnet. Shooting it with lasers might help.

Magnetite, a mineral that has informed scientists about magnetism for ages, can still puzzle modern physicists. Northeastern professor Gregory Fiete and postdoctoral researcher Martin Rodriguez-Vega are trying to unlock its riddles.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa March 17, 2020

Amanda Dwyer, a graduate of Northeastern's doctoral program in marine and environmental sciences, is joining the Marine Debris Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Billions of tons of plastic are choking the ocean. She’s here to help clean it up.

Northeastern graduate Amanda Dwyer did her doctoral research on how corals change their behavior to survive changing conditions in the oceans. Her next task is help reduce the impact of billions of tons of plastic in the world’s oceans.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa January 23, 2020

Samples of skin tissue from older mice are helping Justin Crane, an assistant professor of biology at Northeastern, explore anti-aging mechanisms important for skin health. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

We know exercise is good for your skin. This protein mimics those effects in mice.

Skin cells lose their ability to heal themselves with age. Northeastern biologist Justin Crane is testing how a new treatment to heal wounds in older mice can help researchers understand the cellular mechanisms of aging and healing in the skin cells in elderly people.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa January 17, 2020

Gregory Fiete, a professor of physics at Northeastern, is leading a team of theoretical physicists who study subatomic behaviors hidden within superconductors and other rare materials that could lead to better and faster technologies based on quantum physics. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

He’s on a quest to find the patterns that built everything around us

Gregory Fiete, a professor of physics at Northeastern, is exploring the electrons of materials that could catalyze a new technological era based on quantum systems.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa January 13, 2020

Steven A. Lopez is an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Science at Northeastern. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

He’s training computers to find new molecules with the machine learning algorithms used by Facebook and Google

Using the same techniques that help social media algorithms learn about you, Northeastern assistant professor Steven Lopez is training machine learning algorithms to find millions of new molecules and help make materials for cancer therapy, renewable energy, and other important technologies.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa January 6, 2020

Arun Bansil, University Distinguished Professor of physics and Robert Markiewicz, professor of physics, are part of a team of researchers who are describing the mechanism by which copper-oxide materials turn from insulators to superconductors. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Superconductor or not? They're exploring the identity crisis of this weird quantum material.

Northeastern researchers have used a powerful computer model to probe a mysterious class of copper-based materials that can be turned into superconductors. Their findings offer tantalizing clues for a decades-old mystery, and a step forward for quantum computing.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa January 2, 2020

The Kolyma River in eastern Siberia was sampled for a global study of black carbon in rivers and oceans by a team of researchers that included Aron Stubbins, an associate professor of marine and environmental sciences at Northeastern. Photo courtesy of Aron Stubbins

The deep ocean is not on fire. So what’s all that soot doing in there?

Until recently, scientists thought rivers moved black carbon from soil to the ocean. But new research by a team that included Aron Stubbins, an associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern, overturns this long-established idea.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa November 27, 2019

Kim Lewis, University Distinguished Professor of biology in the College of Science, and Yu Imai, a postdoctoral research associate at Lewis’ lab, discovered a new class of antibiotics that could help fight drug-resistant gram-negative bacteria. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

A new antibiotic has been hiding in the gut of a tiny worm. It may be our best weapon against drug-resistant bacteria.

Kim Lewis, University Distinguished Professor of biology, says we are in the midst of a global antibiotic resistance crisis. A new class of antibiotics discovered in his lab could be our best hope against some of the nastiest superbugs out there.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa November 20, 2019

Arun Bansil, a theoretical physicist at Northeastern, has discovered new properties in the chemical element bismuth that could prevent supercomputers from frying and enable the production of low power electronics. Photo by iStock

This exotic crystal is fueling the quantum revolution

Arun Bansil, University Distinguished Professor of Physics at Northeastern, has discovered new properties in the chemical element bismuth that could prevent supercomputers from frying and enable the production of low power electronics.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa September 11, 2019

This satellite image, taken on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019 and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows Hurricane Dorian moving off the east coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. NOAA via AP

The first line of defense for Hurricane Dorian is the shoreline

Natural barrier habitats such as marshes, mangroves, and dunes along coastlines can help protect coastal communities from storm surges like the ones expected as Dorian approaches the East Coast, says Steven Scyphers, an assistant professor of marine and environmental sciences at Northeastern.

by Roberto Molar Candanosa September 3, 2019