The real space science behind 'Project Hail Mary' The science fiction blockbuster wowed audiences with its depiction of space travel and more. Here's what NASA staff and other scientists say about the basis for the amazing events of the film.

How much of the science in Project Hail Mary is realistic?

Irene Pepperburg, research professor of psychological & brain sciences, says animals see different wavelengths and hear at different frequencies than humans — and the same could be true for aliens.

Read more: https://n.pr/4ccFqI4

Chimpanzees Are Murdering Their Former Friends, and Researchers Can’t Wrap Their Heads Around It

A recent study suggests that Ngogo chimpanzees are becoming more violent with one another.

Luke Glowacki, professor of anthropology, said the “study suggests that cultural differences may not be as important for [human] war as we have thought.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/4cuL2fT

A BU professor amassed an enormous cookbook collection. Now she’s selling it all off. - The Boston Globe A Boston University professor is organizing an eclectic charity cookbook sale this weekend.

Merry White, professor emerita of anthropology, has collected over 500 cookbooks throughout her life.

Now, she’s selling the books and donating the proceeds to World Central Kitchen.

Read more: www.bostonglobe.com/2026/04/07/lifestyle/coo...

As Japan warms, cherry blossom displays are fading Some trees in southern Japan are already failing to reach peak bloom—a trend researchers predict will move north in the coming decades

Richard Primack, professor of biology, and his colleagues combined 59 years of cherry blossom timing records from 10 sites across Japan with weather data.

“In some places in southern Japan, cherry blossom displays have failed,” Primack said.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4t17DYn

What's the real retirement age in America? Here are 4 guesses Americans used to think of 65 as the expected retirement age. But those days are gone, and today's retirement math is increasingly fuzzy.

Waiting to claim Social Security can pay off.

Boston University Economist Laurence Kotlikoff says that delaying from age 62 to 70 translates to roughly a 76% increase in benefits.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4c0Yh8V

Should you take Social Security at 62? Consider these 4 factors. Americans are most likely to claim Social Security benefits at 62. But is it the "best" age? We examine 4 big reasons for claiming early.

What’s the best age to take your Social Security?

According to Laurence Kotlikoff, William Fairfield Warren Professor of Economics, you should “beg, borrow and steal” to avoid taking Social Security the first year you can.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4lBrk68

In Arizona, an Electric Utility Holds an Election, Open Only to Property Owners Turning Point is involved, as is the Sierra Club. But voting rules that seem to echo feudalism exclude renters, favor large landowners and limit who can influence a Phoenix utility board.

The Salt River Project, one of the nation's largest public power utilities, is holding an election limited to local property owners.

Katherine Levine Einstein, professor of political science, said most voters are not paying attention to the project.

Read more: https://nyti.ms/4uESRIa

Mei Lanfang Was Famous for His Masterful Performances as Female Leads. In the 1930s, He Introduced American Audiences to the World of Chinese Opera He is considered one of China’s greatest 20th-century opera performers, and his influence on the art form is still felt today

Mei Lanfang is considered — according to Smithsonian — one of China’s greatest 20th-century opera performers.

“He was presenting Peking opera as representative of Chinese culture and history,” Catherine Yeh, professor of Chinese and comparative literature, said.

Read more: https://bit.ly/47Oy4rs

ChatGPT helps climate researchers tackle long-standing questions, analyze risks & warming trends They are using large language models for coding and communication, while also using AI to answer key questions: how hot it will get, how much it will rain, and how fast.

Is AI helping us understand climate?

Elizabeth Barnes, BU professor of Earth & Environment, said AI offers exciting opportunities to address environmental questions that scientists have been unable to answer, but it’s not a complete transformation for science.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4cSr8Nw

Biologist Jeffrey Marlow Awarded National Academies’ New Voices Honor Boston University expert in how microbial life endures in inhospitable places joins two-year program for nation’s outstanding emerging leaders

Assistant Professor of Biology Jeffrey Marlow was recently awarded the National Academies’ New Voices Honor.

New Voices aims to expand expertise while developing a team of U.S. leaders to address national and global challenges, according to their website.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4sbSToV

War in Iran rages on and New Englanders see rising gas, oil costs - The Boston Globe While the price shock is already hurting consumers in the short term, the ripple effects of those rapid cost hikes threaten to reignite broader inflation.

As war in Iran continues, New Englanders are starting to see rising costs of gas and oil, according to a recent Boston Globe article.

Robert Kaufmann, professor of Earth & Environment, said there are reasons to think these rising costs will remain high.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4bLSDaw

Putin’s Legacy: Nations of Widows and Orphans Vladimir Putin’s attempt to destroy the Ukrainian people though an unprovoked war is also wiping out entire ethnic minorities across Russia.

Walter Clemens, professor of political science, recently published an article analyzing Vladimir Putin’s legacy and unprovoked war on Ukraine.

“Truth, honesty, civil liberties, and political rights in Russia have disappeared,” he said.

Read Clemen’s article: https://bit.ly/4cqsyi3

Black History Month was never ‘given’ to Black people. Thus, it can never be taken from us The question of who owns and authorizes the month holds particular relevance amid attacks on Black history in the US

“It was Black people who gifted America with Black History Month, not the other way around,” Saida Grundy, associate professor of sociology and African American & Black diaspora studies, said in her recent Op-Ed for The Guardian.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4u7obPj

Why Your ‘Spicy’ Food Abroad Is Almost Always a Lie Fodor's provides expert travel content worth exploring so you can dream up your next trip. The world is a weird and wonderful place—we want to show you around.

Merry White, professor emerita of anthropology, said to never eat somewhere that advertises “authentic local food.”

In a recent food and travel article, White discusses the phenomenon of why your food is never spicy enough when you travel to different countries.

Read more: https://bit.ly/40wnjGj

Peer pressure can make this clownfish change its stripes Tomato clownfish, in response to an unpredictable world, appear capable of adjusting when they lose their stripes based on cues from other fish and their habitat, a new study in PLOS Biology finds.

In a recent study, researchers found that tomato clownfish change the number and brightness of their stripes in response to social and environmental cues.

Peter Buston, BU professor of biology, commented on the study and its findings.

Read more: https://n.pr/4sjruRH

Is the YIMBY movement doomed? For decades, rising home prices have been an engine for middle-class wealth. Now a growing movement wants to slow — or even reverse — that trend. Are the politics around new housing development inhere...

Is the YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement losing momentum?

In a recent NPR article, Katherine Levine Einstein, professor of political science, found that homeowners are far more likely to attend local meetings that shape new housing supply.

Read more: https://n.pr/4aW6Pwc

Convergent Conversations: Join us for a new event series to build interdisciplinary research connections across BU that address real-world challenges.

📅 Save the date: IGS's new event series Convergent Conversations kicks off March 19 at noon! Join us as we build interdisciplinary research connections across Boston University that address real-world sustainability challenges.

Open to the public. Learn more & register: www.bu.edu/igs/2026/02/...

Who Is Generation Alpha? What Parents Should Know Kids of Millennials and Gen Xers are currently poised to inherit the world. But who is Generation Alpha, and what can parents expect from them? A lot, as it turns out, because "kids these days" are ex...

What should we know about Generation Alpha?

“They're growing up in a more diverse society, so they're more open-minded about those who are different from themselves,” Deborah Carr, Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of Sociology, said in a recent interview.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4b9MJzH

Jesse Jackson shifted Black politics from the margins of the Democratic party to its center The civil rights icon, who died on Tuesday, used his progressivism as rebellion

Jesse Jackson, a civil rights activist who died on Tuesday, carried a historic shift in the Democratic Party.

In a recent article in The Guardian, Saida Grundy, professor of sociology, writes that Jackson inspired future generations of leaders.

Read more: https://bit.ly/40laWNe

Some Boston Harbor Shellfish Is Now Safe to Eat—Why Is That a Big Deal? BU marine scientist Robinson “Wally” Fulweiler explains how shellfish help keep our seas healthy

In a recent Q&A, Robinson “Wally” Fulweiler, professor of Earth & environment, explains why some Boston harbor shellfish are now safe to eat straight out of the water.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4aXOSyi

You Can Gentrify Anything Today. What Does that Say About Society? Boston University sociologist’s new book looks at how the meaning of the term has changed

In a recent Q&A, BU Today sat down with Japonica Brown-Saracino, professor and chair of sociology, to talk about the meaning of gentrification.

Read what she says here: https://bit.ly/3ZDOUoR

America’s contract to protect white women has always been tenuous | Saida Grundy ICE’s killing of Renee Good has revealed how the state will only defend those who uphold a white racial order. A 1915 film points to the origins of this social pact

“White supremacy demands that even white women be vilified if their deaths challenge the narrative that the government’s brute force is always deployed in the interest of whiteness,” Saida Grundy, professor of sociology, wrote in an essay for The Guardian.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4rCc5vG

Is Wellness Culture Ruining Nightlife? We're swapping happy hour for HIIT classes. But what are we giving up?

“Those who have the richest economic resources have the greatest opportunity to age well,” Deborah Carr, BU professor of sociology, said in a recent Boston Magazine article.

But are wellness trends taking over the opportunity for a social life?

Read more: https://bit.ly/4asHT06

Kennedy resets US autism panel with new line-up of 21 members U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday remade a federal panel that guides national autism policy, naming a new slate of 21 members that includes some with ties to groups promoting un...

Boston University autism expert Helen Tager-Flusberg is one of many scientists who are raising concerns after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named new members to a federal autism advisory panel.

Read more: https://reut.rs/4kl6J5C

Seven technologies to watch in 2026 Nature’s round-up of innovations that are poised to make a splash in the year ahead.

As we enter 2026, new technologies continue to flourish.

In a recent Nature article, BU Professor of Earth & Environment Elizabeth Barnes says that AI-powered meteorology has allowed her to answer questions she could never answer before.

Read more: https://go.nature.com/45uGBik

Do you and your partner have formal ‘planning sessions’? The urge to manage every month of the year has positives and negatives for couples.

Is it important to plan date nights as a couple?

In a recent USA Today article, Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of Sociology Deborah Carr said, “It helps a couple discuss important yet difficult issues.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/3LXin9S

Gender Wage Gap in Greater Boston Narrows, Research from BU and City Finds In a sign of progress, drop in the wage gap comes as more women reach C-suite level jobs

The gender wage gap among companies in Greater Boston decreased from 21 cents in 2023 to 12 cents in 2025, according to a recent BU Today article.

“That’s something to be proud of,” said Neha Gondal, associate professor of sociology at BU.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4jQvru8

Why is Gen Z so obsessed with Japan? '‘Somebody going out to get some sushi doesn’t say, ‘I’m going to go eat Japanese food.’ They say they’re going to go eat sushi,’ one expert told the Deseret News. That's a part of Japan's soft power.

Why are more and more young adults wanting to visit Japan?

In a recent Deseret News article, Merry White, professor emerita of anthropology, says the culinary scene in Japan is a major factor.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3NOGQP8

How the work of Elie Wiesel moves us "beyond suffering" | American Masters | PBS Professor Ingrid Anderson reflects on studying under and later teaching the work of Elie Wiesel, and his lessons that trauma can transform into "a

In a recent article, Professor Ingrid Anderson describes what she learned from the work and teachings of Elie Wiesel.

“I cannot teach his work to my own students without remembering what it was like to discover it myself,” she says.

Read more: https://to.pbs.org/4syxSpe

Record number of Americans say health care system in "state of crisis"—Poll A new Gallup poll found that Americans' satisfaction with health care prices dropped to a record low.

In a recent Newsweek article, Professor of Sociology Joseph Harris noted that a growing number of Americans view the U.S. health care system as being in a state of “crisis.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/4jB6Rxc