Today's Headlines
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Open Enrollment for 2022 benefits continues through Oct. 29
Faculty, staff, retirees and benefits-eligible graduate students can change their benefits during Open Enrollment, which continues through 5 p.m. Oct. 29.
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Democracy & Debate project to continue through 2021-22
At a time when democratic institutions are under pressure and the U-M community is looking to engage, U-M will continue Democracy & Debate through the 2021-22 academic year.
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NSF grant to help UM-Dearborn target underserved STEM students
A $1.44 million National Science Foundation award will help UM-Dearborn create a STEM Scholars program to bridge a gap in science fields among lower-income, high talent students.
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Climate solutions need to focus on human beings, McCarthy says
In order to motivate people to address climate change, it should be addressed in “human terms,” National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy said during the Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability.
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U-M is among top 10 Peace Corps Prep universities
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Designation puts U-M Biological Station ‘at the halfway place’
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Wayne County recovery expected to be strong but uneven
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U-M launches 2021 United Way campaign with $1M goal
Coming Events
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Oct 18
Animal/Vegetable/Mineral art exhibit
Works by Susan Crowell of the Residential College and Stamps School, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, East Quadrangle – RC Art Gallery, runs through Nov. 12
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Oct 19
Lost in Translation
Chinese Literature and World Literature at the International Writing Program, with Jin Feng of Grinnell College, noon-1 p.m., virtual
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Oct 20
Global perspectives on public health
A conversation with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, noon-1 p.m., virtual
Mindful breathing for pain control
It’s long been known that meditative mindful breathing helps with various health conditions, including pain. To that end, U-M researchers compared two types of meditative breathing — traditional mindful breathing and virtual-reality mindful breathing — to reduce pain. In this video, Alexandre DaSilva, associate professor at the School of Dentistry, explains how each lessened pain by modulating the somatosensory cortex, a region of the brain responsible for processing pain, but each used different mechanisms.
Read more about mindful breathing for pain controlSpotlight
“It’s just one of those situations being in a city like Ann Arbor where you have all these opportunities and culture, I definitely benefitted from that.”
— Brian DiBlassio, associate professor of music in the College of Arts and Sciences at UM-Flint, who began playing piano at age 9 and has been in the same band since 1999
Read more about Brian DiBlassioU-M Heritage
The first flu shot
With the United States on the brink of war in 1941 and visions of the devastation wrought by the influenza pandemic during the first world war, U-M virologist Tommy Francis was assigned a monumental task. He had to advise the Army on healthy housing and sanitation, treat flu outbreaks and develop, test, manufacture and administer a vaccine.
Read a summary of this storyMichigan in the news
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“To what extent is that concrete there because of the stuff that needs to be protected and to what extent is it part of the Japanese culture?” said Jeremy Bricker, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, on Japan’s use of barriers such as concrete dams, sea walls and tetrapods to protect against natural disasters.
The New York Times -
“There seems to be this sentiment that, ‘security be damned, we’re trying to find meaning,’” said Erin Cech, associate professor of sociology, on how the pandemic has encouraged many to take stock of their lives, quit their jobs and find happiness and fulfillment in new careers. Her research shows the pursuit of stability, income and status has been overtaken by what she calls “the passion principle,” which is now a central factor in career decision-making.
Financial Times -
Ken Warner, dean emeritus of the School of Public Health, said the FDA’s authorization of an e-cigarette from R.J. Reynolds is a positive step for reducing the harms of smoking, but lamented that only a vaping device backed by a Big Tobacco company won the endorsement: “The demands the FDA places on companies filing these applications are so extraordinarily difficult to meet that only those with huge resources and personnel … are able to file successfully.”
The Associated Press
