Can a few text messages, a timely email or a letter increase college enrollment and student achievement? Such “nudges,” designed carefully using behavioral economics, can be effective.

But when do they work – and when not?

Barriers to success

Consider students who have just graduated...

Dramatic images of out-of-control wildfires in western North American forests have appeared on our television and computer screens with increasing regularity in recent decades, while costs of fire suppression have soared. In...

Although 177 countries signed the Paris Agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in April...

Editor’s note: This article is part of our collaboration with Point Taken, a new program from WGBH that next airs on Tuesday, May 24 on PBS and online at pbs.org. The show features fact-based debate on major issues of the day, without the shouting.

There is a long way to go before transgender people throughout the United States are treated...

From Wall Street to politics, quantitative analysts (or quants) are revolutionizing much of the world. Nowadays, that even includes horse racing.

By using computers to identify hidden patterns in past racing data and arcane mathematics to optimize every aspect of their betting strategies, horse racing quants can confidently wager staggering...

On Thursday, May 19, EgyptAir flight MS804, traveling from Paris to Cairo, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. All 66 passengers and crew members aboard were killed. Terrorism is suspected.

This is the fifth major airline crash since the beginning of this year, a fact that may cause some people to wonder if flying is as safe as we’ve been...

A mysterious set of 9,000-year-old bones, unearthed nearly 20 years ago in Washington, is finally going home. Following bitter...

Sitting quietly in the corner, we watch a daily family ritual: in the living room awash with soft afternoon light, a six-year-old boy is sitting on the floor, controller in hand, eyes firmly on the television screen. His fingers expertly...

Fully 92 percent of American teenagers go online daily. More than half of them do so several times a day and a quarter are online “almost constantly.”

I’m a mother of two teenagers who fall into that latter category. And as a parent and a teacher educator, I work on ways...

Everyone loves a good story, but can a good story lead to love?

Storytelling is a fundamental form of communication, and research has demonstrated the power of narratives to change minds and influence behavior.

For example, personal narratives are often used in advertising and health campaigns, and have led to an incre...