COS News

Hockey fans everywhere love a good slap shot. It is one of the most widely used tools in the game, responsible for some of the sport’s most memorable moments. It’s a skill perfected by all the top goal-scorers, including Northeastern’s Aidan McDonough and Alina Mueller, who lead their teams into their respective Beanpot finals. The men face Harvard at 7:30 p.m. Monday at TD Garden, while the women play at Boston College at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Between freezing temperatures, dry heat and blustery winds, winter seems designed to soak the moisture out of skin. The good news is there are moisturizers for just about every price point, and they all get the work done, says Leila Deravi, an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern’s College of Science.

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.”