COS News

Touchscreens have long been integral to our everyday life — humans use them to work, play, talk with loved ones and snag Lightning Deals on Prime Day. In recent years, they’ve shown potential for the animal kingdom as well, leading to a growing body of academic researchand a proliferation of consumer products promising to leverage...

Grace Arents, a fourth-year environmental and sustainability sciences student, had never had a glass of wine before when she saw a posting for a co-op at a winery on NUWorks. Still, her interest was piqued and she applied to spend a semester learning enology — the process of making wine — in Napa Valley. Before...

The total solar eclipse isn’t the only reason to keep your eyes to the sky this year. For the first time in 80 years, a star system 3,000 light years away will be visible to the naked eye thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime nova outburst. NASA announced that the nova, which will create a “new” star...

In the world of termites studied by Northeastern professor Rebeca Rosengaus, worker termites spend their few short months on Earth cleaning and feeding their enormous long-lived queen mother and tending to her eggs and their young siblings. Since termite workers and queens both possess a network of genes called the Queen Central Module, it has...

The moon’s shadow will cast a path of daytime darkness as it traverses the country on a narrow path from Texas to Maine during April 8’s solar eclipse. Those located inside the 115-mile-wide corridor known as the “path of totality” will experience a total eclipse, says Northeastern professor Jonathan Blazek. If it’s not cloudy, stars will...

Biology Project Lab (BIOL 2309) offers an inquiry-based, intensive laboratory experience in which students can design and conduct independent research projects, applying approaches and techniques used in cell and molecular biology. In Fall 2021, George Hatzis (COS ‘23), took Biology Project Lab under Dr. Erica Homan’s instruction and recently his group’s findings were published in...

Amid an obesity epidemic in the United States, you may have heard of efforts to eliminate “food deserts,” or areas with few healthy food options, and limit fast-food chains near where people live. But research from Northeastern University suggests a new approach. “Most of the fast food in this country is consumed far away from...

Two unexploded ordnance were fished out of the Charles River in Needham, Massachusetts, this week. A sweep of the river by the state police bomb squad and a marine dive team didn’t turn up any more munitions. Beyond the obvious safety risks, the old weapons and ammunition left underwater also present environmental risks, a Northeastern...

It is highly unlikely that a Tesla submerged in a pond in a recent fatal accident in Texas posed a threat of electrocution to its driver or rescuers, a Northeastern University expert says. Angela Chao, 50, CEO of a shipping company and sister of former transportation secretary Elaine Chao, died in her Tesla last month...

Students from a dozen area schools measured oysters, dissected squid and learned why plastic is called “ocean smog” during the annual High School Marine Science Symposium at Curry Student Center on Northeastern’s Boston campus. The 250 students got a chance to talk with fledgling and experienced scientists during the event, which was sponsored by Northeastern...

A new offering for the spring 2024 semester, PSYC-4660 is a seminar in cognition, a subset of psychology that covers how people encode, represent and process information from the environment in the brain, according to Coley, a psychology professor with a dual appointment in environmental science. Humans & Nature zeros in on how those things...

Dr. Bowen's work in this collaborative project focuses on using tools from molecular biology to understand how the diverse metabolisms of microbes affect the ecosystem services provided by marshes.