News
Why kids hold the key to herd immunity
To win the battle against the pandemic, kids will be vital. The fight against COVID-19 has long been focused on adults – particularly older adults. But kids are becoming a more prominent part of the conversation. We likely won’t see an end to the pandemic, experts say, until children can get vaccinated. On Wednesday, Pfizer […]
April 01, 2021
Diseases spread differently, region by region. This Mathematical model shows how.
Considering how many factors contribute to the worldwide spread of airborne infectious diseases, forecasting pandemics can be a daunting task. In an attempt to reflect that complex reality, Northeastern’s Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Sociotechnical Systems (MOBS Lab) has developed a new, data-driven model that factors in patterns of interpersonal behavior down to the state or province […]
January 14, 2021
What can we expect from the new mutation of the coronavirus?
The new, contagious strain of COVID-19 proves that the U.S. needs to step up surveillance of the constantly-changing virus, says Samuel Scarpino, an assistant professor at Northeastern and director of the Emergent Epidemics Lab. The SARS-CoV-2 virus acquires a new mutation in its genetic structure about every two weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control […]
January 05, 2021
Make a heart-healthy resolution this year
If you’re making resolutions for 2021, why not make one that’s good for your heart? A new study by researchers from Northeastern University, Harvard University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that certain foods—including wine, yogurt, carrots, peanuts, breakfast cereal, grapes, and raisins—are associated with a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease. The researchers also found […]
January 03, 2021
New Global Partnerships Expand Northeastern Ph.D Programs to Italy and Hong Kong
Northeastern’s doctoral students can forge global networks and pursue experiential learning in an international environment thanks to new agreements with a pair of widely recognized universities in Asia and Europe. The global experiential doctoral program between Northeastern, the University of Hong Kong, and Sapienza University of Rome is interdisciplinary flexibility, which allows students to pursue doctoral degrees in […]
December 17, 2020
Disease Surveillance Leaves out the Communities That Need It Most
As the current COVID-19 crisis has made abundantly clear, public health agencies need reliable, up-to-date information to effectively address evolving health problems at local, state, and federal levels. Many agencies in the U.S. are looking to disease surveillance systems that incorporate hospital records and internet-sourced data to predict where and when the worst outbreaks will […]
July 09, 2020
The Coronavirus Was in the Us in January. We Need to Understand How We Missed It.
SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was circulating in major U.S. cities as early as January, says Alessandro Vespignani, director of Northeastern’s Network Science Institute. And if we want to keep our communities safe going forward, we need to understand how we missed a virus that was right under our noses.
April 27, 2020
Herd Immunity Won’t Come Anytime Soon for Covid-19
Herd immunity is the idea that a disease can’t spread through a population once a large enough percentage is immune, either because they’ve recovered from an infection or received a vaccine. But that won’t work with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, said Samuel Scarpino, an assistant professor who runs the Emergent Epidemics lab at Northeastern
April 24, 2020
Network Scientists Identify 40 New Drugs to Test Against Covid-19
Researchers at Northeastern mapped the way proteins within human cells behave after the cells are hijacked by the virus to identify drugs that might be able to fight it. The team is now working with other experimental researchers to begin testing those drugs.
April 06, 2020
The Coronavirus Outbreak Is an International Public Health Emergency. Here’s What You Need to Know.
“Either the screening, detection, and isolation in China will be able to contain the epidemic there, or it will be a global issue,” says Alessandro Vespignani, Sternberg Family Distinguished University Professor at Northeastern. “And this will be decided in the next couple of weeks.”
February 05, 2020
It’s Not Just Your Genes That Are Killing You. Everything Else Is, Too.
Environmental factors drive the majority of our risk for non-communicable diseases, says Albert-László Barabási, Robert Gray Dodge Professor of Network Science at Northeastern. We need to be studying them.
January 27, 2020
Think of a Flea on a Tightrope. You’re Unraveling the Nature of the Universe.
A group of theoretical physicists and network scientists at Northeastern have found a new way to tackle understanding the fundamental nature of our universe: by analyzing possible universes as a network.
March 05, 2019
Think of a Flea on a Tightrope. You're Unraveling the Nature of the Universe.
A group of theoretical physicists and network scientists at Northeastern have found a new way to tackle understanding the fundamental nature of our universe: by analyzing possible universes as a network.
March 05, 2019
Mathematics professor receives NSF grant to build tools for network analysis
In a world full of networks, understanding them is surprisingly hard. This professor is working on building tools to help.
August 16, 2018