What ‘Project Hail Mary’ gets right –– and wrong –– about astrophysics A Northeastern University astrophysicist breaks down whether Ryan Gosling’s new sci-fi movie holds up under the microscope.

How accurate is the science behind Project Hail Mary?

Astrophysicist Jacqueline McCleary breaks down what the film gets right — and where fiction takes over. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4c1K0J3

#COSConnects #Astrophysics

Steven Spielberg is not alone in saying we are not alone Northeastern astronomy students probe possibilities of alien life as a retired rear admiral calls for greater government transparency.

Alien curiosity is having a moment — from pop culture to classroom discussions. In Introduction to Astronomy, Teaching Professor Stefan Kautsch challenges students to think beyond the headlines and consider: Could life exist beyond Earth? 🧪

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

#COSConnects #Physics

Warming Antarctic waters come with a cost for the ‘robust’ rockcod The shocking effects of warmer waters on the black rockcod could be indicative of climate change’s global threat.

Warming Antarctic waters are putting black rockcod at risk.

Researcher H. William Detrich found that fish raised in warmer conditions hatched smaller and with birth defects — a troubling sign for future populations. 🧪

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

#COSConnects #MarineScience

The U.N. High Seas Treaty entered into force on January 17, 2026!

Want to learn more about the treaty and what this means for OGL?

Read our newsletter 👉 ogl.northeastern.edu/2026/03/17/the-u-n-high-...

📸: Andy Schmid

#COSconnects #NUexperience

Our preference for certain foods may be impacted by early life stress, research shows New Northeastern research identifies a correlation between acute stress in infancy and an increased preference for inflammatory foods.

Can early childhood stress affect what we eat later in life?

Research from assistant professor Brie Reid finds that acute stress in infancy is linked to a higher preference for inflammatory foods in teens and young adults. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4bao39f

#COSConnects #Psychology

One month until Giving Day‼️

On April 14, we come together to support the students, research, and discoveries that define the College of Science. 🔬

Save the date. 🗓️

#NUGivingDay #LikeAHusky #COSConnects

With 'Shrinking,' therapy is mainstream. Is that a good thing? Once taboo, therapy has become fashionable thanks to social media and shows like “Shrinking.” Therapists say that comes with tradeoffs.

Mental health conversations are everywhere now — from TV to TikTok. But William Sharp, teaching professor and psychologist, warns: a diagnosis should be a starting point, not your whole identity. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/3PglH0V

#COSConnects #Psychology

Passing and pass accuracy kicks upward in soccer, new research finds A research preprint from Northeastern’s new NetworkSi Sports Institute reveals how professional soccer has evolved in terms of tactics.

Pro soccer passing is getting harder, shorter, sharper.

Research led by assistant teaching professor Brennan Klein analyzed 13,067 matches, showing faster gameplay and major shifts in women’s competitions. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/3MG8ZrK

#COSConnects

@barnettinstitute.bsky.social

This class guides students through the mystery of the circadian rhythm A Northeastern University course invites upper-level students to investigate a mystery: How do biological clocks affect the circadian rhythm?

What keeps our bodies on a 24-hour schedule? 🕰️

Associate Teaching Professor Matthias Schlichting’s Biological Clocks course challenges students to uncover the science of circadian rhythms through experiments and critical analysis. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/3N3Tf1N

#COSConnects #Biology

OGL participated in the High School Marine Science Symposium on Thursday hosted by Northeastern's Marine Science Center and the Massachusetts Marine Educators!

OGL led activities that explained the importance of marine biorepositories.

📷: Alyssa Stone and Charlee Rivera

#COSconnects #NUexperience

Ashwagandha is having a moment. They want to take this shrub further New research bioengineers a way for ashwagandha, one of the most popular supplements, to be even more effective.

Ashwagandha is already one of the most popular herbal supplements in the U.S.

Professor Jing-Ke Weng and graduate student Erin Reynolds engineered yeast to produce its key compounds. The discovery could open new paths for medicine. 🧪

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

#COSConnects #ChemicalBiology

The shape of skis makes the biggest difference in maneuverability If you assumed that changes in ski shape were about maximizing contact in the name of speed, you'd be wrong, said physicist Stefan Kautsch.

Different ski events require different designs — and physics explains why.

“The shape determines stability and the maneuverability of the ski,” says Teaching Professor Stefan Kautsch. 🧪

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

#COSConnects #Physics

The mystical 'overview' effect - from underwater Northeastern researchers document transcendent experiences of aquanauts that are similar to the “overview effect” reported by astronauts.

Astronauts feel the “overview effect” in space. 🌍

Aquanauts feel something similar underwater. Marine Science Center researchers call it the “underview effect” — a powerful shift in how people relate to the ocean that could inspire conservation. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4uakj00

#COSConnects

A two-decade journey hunting for dark matter’s ‘smoking gun’ One scientist spent 20 years developing an antimatter particle detector to record traces of dark matter. It recently launched in Antarctica.

A giant cube + a helium balloon + Antarctica = a new way to hunt for dark matter.

Assistant Professor Tsuguo Aramaki helped send a massive detector into the stratosphere to search for deep-space particles — the result of 20+ years of work. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4rQ7JkP

#COSConnects

Congratulations to Assistant Prof. Yizhi You, named a 2026 Cottrell Scholar! 🎉 The award recognizes her innovative research program and supports her project on open quantum systems and mixed states. A well-deserved honor! 🧪

#Physics #COSConnects

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Sijia Dong on winning the 2026 I-APS Young Investigator Award from the Inter-American Photochemical Society! 🎉 This award recognizes her outstanding contributions to photoscience and dedication to academic excellence. 🧪

#Chemistry #COSConnects

Tire rubber decays into a potentially dangerous chemical cocktail Crumb rubber, used as a fill material in many artificial turf fields, contains a complex and potentially dangerous miasma of chemicals.

New research led by Zhenyu Tian, an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, shows crumb rubber in artificial turf can degrade under sunlight and weather, generating hundreds of previously untracked chemicals. 🧪

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

#COSConnects #Chemistry

A ‘stunning’ dark matter map reveals insight into this cosmic mystery Dark matter is integral to the universe, but it’s virtually invisible. How did researchers create the most detailed map of dark matter yet?

Dark matter accounts for a large portion of the universe, yet remains invisible. Jacqueline McCleary, an assistant professor, used data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to help create the most detailed dark matter map to date. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4aXe1co

#COSConnects #Astrophysics

What is dark energy? Research shines light on space's biggest question While there are still more questions than answers, the Dark Energy Survey will impact astrophysics for decades to come.

Dark energy remains one of the universe’s biggest mysteries. Jonathan Blazek, an assistant professor of physics, contributed to the Dark Energy Survey’s final results, offering new insight into how the universe expands and evolves. 🧪

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

#COSConnects #Astrophysics

He’s been knighted by Italy, and now has another feather in his cap Applying physics to the spread of disease has yielded important information about getting ahead of pandemics.

Congratulations to Professor Alessandro Vespignani, director of NU's Network Science Institute, on receiving the European Physical Society’s SNPD Award for his work on complex networks and disease spread. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4rXPU39

#COSConnects #Physics

Mass Spectrometry Facility awarded grant to advance single-cell proteomics research - Northeastern University College of Science Northeastern University’s Mass Spectrometry Facility has been awarded a $2.2 million research infrastructure grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) to build a cutting-edge core suppo...

NU’s Mass Spectrometry Facility received a $2.2M grant to advance single-cell proteomics. Led by Drs. Virginie Sjoelund and Alexander Ivanov, the work will measure proteins at single-cell resolution. 🧪

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

#COSConnects #ChemicalBiology

Scientists break down the tape to predict players’ next moves The NetSI Sport research group uses network science to treat sports analytics like conversations. Its grammar can predict what's said next.

What if soccer worked like a language? Research led by Brennan Klein, an assistant teaching professor, uses network science to analyze player interactions and predict how games unfold, with insights beyond sports. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4axWx52

#COSConnects #NetworkScience #Physics

Rare earth element extraction can be doubled with this new technique Research identifies a method of extracting rare earth elements from coal tailings two to three times more efficiently than previous methods.

Rare earth elements power modern tech, but extracting them is challenging. Assistant Professor Damilola Daramola developed a new method to recover them from coal mining waste using a combined chemical and microwave approach.🧪
Read more: https://bit.ly/4s0iocA

#COSConnects #Chemistry

Congratulations! Mary Jo Ondrechen @mjchemist.bsky.social, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, has received the prestigious AAAS Lifetime Mentor Award for her exceptional dedication to supporting underrepresented students in STEM fields. 🧪

#COSConnects
@aaas.org

Your body is full of medicine. Researchers can now synthesize it Northeastern researchers have created a synthetic cannabinoid with all the health benefits and none of the side effects.

Researchers at Northeastern developed the first synthetic endogenous cannabinoid, opening new paths for treating pain, inflammation, and cancer. Unlike THC or CBD, it mimics cannabinoids made naturally by the body. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4a5zT3H
#COSConnects #Chemistry

Why we remain attached to the music of our youth Research argues that the social rewards when listening and experiencing music in our youth helps ‘encode’ it onto our memories.

Why does the music from your teen years stick forever?

Northeastern researchers say the “musical reminiscence bump” links music discovery in adolescence with social bonding, locking those songs into memory. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4ccUkye
#COSConnects #Psychology

How brain scan ‘caricatures’ could lead to better treatment outcomes New research removes task-based information from resting-state MRI scans, leading to more individual diagnoses and better predictions.

Could simpler brain imaging be more informative? Northeastern researchers Stephanie Noble and Raimundo Rodriguez found that refining fMRI analysis can better highlight individual differences and improve health related predictions. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4rsMDIO
#COSConnects #Psychology

Feel like your brain is a little sluggish? Try 10 minutes of exercise Research demonstrates that 10 minutes of exercise before class can benefit executive function, making problem solving and learning easier.

Exercise doesn’t just help the body, it helps the brain.
New research from Drs. Charles Hillman and Art Kramer show that a short bout of exercise before class can boost students’ focus and executive function. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4rwHmjy
#COSConnects #Psychology

Twelve Northeastern scholars make ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ list The faculty were included in this year’s “Highly Cited Researchers” list, scholars who rank among the top 1% of their field.

Congratulations to COS faculty named to Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list, honoring scholars in the top 1% worldwide. “It is a point of pride,” said Beth A. Winkelstein, noting their impact on pressing challenges. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4rtFfNs
#COSConnects

How string theory helped solve a mystery of the brain’s architecture Using the same math deployed in string theory, network scientists have solved a standing mystery about the brain’s architecture.

Are neurons wired in the most efficient way? Researchers at the @netsciconf.bsky.social found that math used in string theory can help explain why neural connections branch and curve instead of taking straight paths. 🧪

Read more: https://bit.ly/4acpCD0
#COSConnects #Physics #NetworkScience