Boston University

Social Sciences

Photo: A red and silver high-speed train is parked during the opening ceremony for launching Southeast Asia's first high-speed railway at Halim station in Jakarta, Indonesia on Oct. 2, 2023. People stand under a large banner set up on the middle platform of the open-air train station.

Belt and Road

China Has Financed Power Plants, Airports, and Roads around the Globe—but Has It Made the World a Better or Worse Place?

October 11, 2023

Image: Illustration of various diverse scientists doing research, medicine, chemistry or biotechnology experiments in laboratory. Images show people with lab flasks, microscopes, and molecules.

Expert Take

The Postdoc-Mentor Relationship Is Key to Advancing Research. Here’s How to Make It Better

September 21, 2023

Photo: A pre-school age girl helps her parents pick out veggies in the produce section at the grocery store. She is reaching for a red bell pepper. Her mother is Caucasian and her father is African-American.

Expert Take

Balancing Budgets by Emptying Bellies: WIC Cuts Would Harm Our Youngest Children

September 15, 2023

Photo: A large seaplane floating in a body of water. The photo is black and white and was taken a long time ago.

World War II

Broadway Singers, a Nazi Sympathizer, and the Doomed Flight of the Yankee Clipper

September 5, 2023

Photo: A massive group of protestors are shown storming Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office. The crowd piles and pushes at a large black metal gate and climb the white wall as officers in black riot gear try to fight them off.

Global Debt Crisis

What Is the Sovereign Debt Crisis and Can We Solve It?

August 7, 2023

Photos: A group of mishapen tents are shown on a street of Boston. A lone red shopping cart filled with full trash bags and an old black wheelchair sit in front of the street. A few people can be seen amidst the tents.

Opioid Crisis

A Notorious Boston Intersection, Mass and Cass, Faces an Opioid Overdose Crisis. BU Researchers Are Turning to Overdose Survivors for Answers

August 3, 2023

Social Media

Is Meta’s Threads Safe? Social Media Data Privacy Explained

July 6, 2023

Photo: College students sit in a tiered college classroom as they work on laptops and chat with each other.

Expert Take

Colleges Are Already Unequal—Will Ending Affirmative Action Make It Worse?

June 29, 2023

Collage: Headshots of NSF CAREER Award winners. From top to bottom, left to right: Jessica Simes, Michael Economo, Renato Mancuso, Hadi Nia, and Alyssa Pierson.

CAREER Awards

BU’s 5 NSF Grant Winners Are Changing Conversations in Robotics, Computing, Mass Incarceration, Neurology, and More

June 23, 2023

Photo: A man in a suit stands in front of a podium with a washed out white background and sun shining in through nearby windows

Fighting Climate Misinformation

Tweets, Ads, and Lies: Researchers Are Fighting against Climate Misinformation

May 23, 2023

Photo: A long medical-grade face mask is shown illuminated in a dark room. Scene has a somber mood.

Coronavirus

COVID-19 Is No Longer an Official Emergency. Is That the Right Call?

May 10, 2023

Photo: A pile of four credit cards, two from MasterCard and two from VISA, on a table.

expert take

Is Suing Visa the Best Way to Shut Down Pornhub?

May 9, 2023

Photo: A trans couple laugh and looks at each other lovingly in the golden hour of sunlight. They lounge on a blanket in a park.

Relationships

The Science of Attraction: Why Do We Fall for Certain People?

May 5, 2023

Photo: Close-up of a car accident involving two cars on a city street. The cards were in a "fender bender" and shows one car crashed into the rear end of another.

Insurance Economics

Ray Fisman’s New Book Examines Insurance Market—and its Flaws

April 18, 2023

Photo: Two children, one white with light brown hair and the other a dark tan with black hair, look over a book together. They each lay their head down on the table and book. The white child points to something on the page as the dark tan child uses a blue crayon to mark something on the book.

Race and Racism

How to Talk to Kids about Race and Help Them Make More Interracial Friendships

April 4, 2023

Photo: Elementary students are shown working with a teacher in library. A few small students look on as a teacher bends over them and points something out to them in a book on the table. Small bookcases can be seen behind them.

Education

How to Help Kids Become Better Readers

March 27, 2023

Photo: Protesters hold a placard that says, "Protect trans youth" and "Gay" inside the Indiana Statehouse. A young woman with short curly red hair holds a sign that reads "Protect trans youth" and a masked person next to her holds a word bubble sign that reads "Gay" . The two stand with other masked and unmasked protestors in a statehouse.

Mental Health

How Will Anti-Trans Laws Impact Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth Mental Health?

March 24, 2023

Photo: To the far left, Andrew Reid Bell, a white man wearing a green cap, looks on as a small group of dark-skinned Black women and men look to tablets on a multi-colored, checkered long table. They are in a small wooden dwelling with an open doorway and cross-patterned open windows letting light in.

Conservation

How Do We Make Farming Better for the Planet? Ask Women

March 16, 2023

Ngozi Okidegbe , associate professor of law and an assistant professor of computing and data sciences, poses for a photo on January 10, 2023. She is the first person at BU to hold such a joint position. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi for Boston University

AI & Law

Algorithms Were Supposed to Reduce Bias in Criminal Justice—Do They?

February 23, 2023

Vector illustration: Angry Young Couple Turn Their Backs Against One Another and are on opposite ends of the space. The two people are isolated On a dark purple Background.

Marriage

Why Are Women around the World Opting Out of Marriage?

January 23, 2023

Why Are Women around the World Opting Out of Marriage?