At a conference last summer, Bill Gates predicted that “place-based activity in college will be five times less important than it is today.” Noting the ever-growing popularity of online learning, he predicted that “five years from now, on the Web – €”for free – €”you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. […]

In a constantly changing world, it sometimes seems that our only anchor is personal character. Strip away fashion, politics, and pretense, and what’s left is the true grit at the core of every person, forged early in life, that gives us the gumption to win elections or the weakness to succumb to temptation. But put […]

The tree-climbing seemed a bit much. So did the flag-waving, the “U.S.A.” €™-chanting, and the whooping in the streets. The celebrations, at the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, felt inappropriate somehow. Yes, America’€™s youth deserved a release. On the other hand, someone had died.

In a poignant segment of Northeastern University’s commencement today, the college presented an honorary degree to Japan’s ambassador to the United States to recognize his nation’s courage and resiliency after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March.

Sitting at the small blue table in his Northeastern University dorm room, Odalis Polanco could not help but marvel at how the collision of chance and choice shaped his life.

It seemed too much. The NFL’s players and owners sparring with one another in federal court – including here in St. Louis at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals -€“ over a lockout and the future of their $9 billion industry, a cruel joke flung at a nation of fans buried in economic turmoil.

He “threatened me,” “strangled me with a PlayStation cord,” “lunged at me with a pocketknife.” A horror movie? No, real life for far too many young women, an exclusive new Glamour survey reveals. Why is relationship violence still so frighteningly common in 2011? And how can we help? The answer starts with two simple words: […]

Applied Materials Inc., the world’s largest maker of semiconductor fabrication equipment, unveiled plans yesterday to buy Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. of Gloucester for $4.9 billion, making it the biggest local tech deal this year.

The Fenway area has boasted the “€œFenway Cultural District”€ since 1998, when Mayor Thomas Menino proclaimed Huntington Avenue the “€œAvenue of the Arts”€ and worked to foster arts and culture in the area.