COS News

Don’t throw away that Wii Fit Balance Board––it might be more valuable than you think. New research from a team at Northeastern University found that active video games––like Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution––are more effective for improving balance than conventional forms of physical therapy.

The lack of snow cover and mild winter weather that has people trading in snowshoes and skis for hiking boots, and shovels for gardening rakes, is also increasing their exposure to Lyme disease year-round, scientists say.

Type “gut health” in your search browser and you will find millions of popular web entries that tell you to take charge of your gut and eat specific foods to improve its condition. First came probiotics. Then whole grains. Next, grocery stores started to devote whole display cases to kombucha. And now we are rediscovering the taste of other fermented foods.

Twenty-three seasons and seven Super Bowl rings later, quarterback Tom Brady is hanging up his jersey and donning civilian clothes. His retirement announcement on Wednesday comes a year after the 45-year-old football star initially said he was stepping away from the sport before committing again to what would be a final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Growing up, Vivek Kanpa never wanted to be a computer scientist like his parents. They would try to teach him how programming works by showing him the “Hello, World!” program or Java language.

Your Google searches and Twitter accounts alert marketers about what items you might like to  purchase—could they also serve as an early warning system when COVID-19 levels are about to take off?  A team of scientists including Northeastern University machine learning expert Mauricio Santillana says internet users’ “digital traces” can be adopted to alert public health officials to sharp increases in COVID-19 at the county level one to six weeks ahead of a major outbreak.

In the premiere of HBO’s big budget video game adaption “The Last of Us,” a scientist on a 1960s Dick Cavett-like talk show raises the idea that a fungal, not viral, infection will spell the end of humanity. On the surface, it’s laughable, and the idea is met with bemused laughter by the host and audience. But as the scientist explains his theory, the energy in the room slowly shifts from amusement to horror.

For the third year in a row, Boston’s iconic Fenway Park will be home to Northeastern University’s commencement exercises. Graduate and undergraduate students from the Class of 2023—except those in the College of Professional Studies—will participate in ceremonies on Sunday, May 7.

Not everybody can travel to Antarctica for months at a time to study the continent’s unique ecology, flora and fauna. Now two Northeastern University professors are among those calling for the establishment of an Antarctic biorepository to make sure that any serious researcher who wants to study the birds, animals, plants and microorganisms of the polar south gets a chance to do so.

The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced that a national lab in California made a “major scientific breakthrough”—namely, that it produced a nuclear fusion reaction that resulted in a net energy gain, a condition known as “ignition.”

Northeastern will launch its newest campus next year in Miami, a move that will bring the university’s signature experiential learning model to the rapidly growing economy of South Florida.

Northeastern professors Dagmar Sternad and Arun Bansil break down the physics and neuroscience behind World Cup soccer ball kicks.