In the News
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March 19, 2025
“These are fully functional galaxies, but they’re about a millionth of the size of the Milky Way. It’s like having a perfectly functional human being that’s the size of a grain of rice,” said Eric Bell, professor of astronomy, who along with lead researcher Marcos Arias and others discovered a collection of tiny galaxies located roughly 3 million light-years away that includes the smallest and faintest galaxy ever seen.
Space.com -
March 19, 2025
Federal efforts to force hospitals to be more transparent about their pricing may not have much impact, said Denise Anthony, professor of health management and policy. “There is evidence that even when clear pricing data is available to patients, they don’t use it to move to a different hospital/provider. There are all kinds of reasons people go to the same hospital despite lower prices somewhere else — physician, history, quality, convenience, etc.”
NBC News -
March 19, 2025
In canceling $400 million in funding to Columbia University for failing to protect students and faculty from “antisemitic violence and harassment,” the government skipped the onerous process civil rights law mandates must take place before funds can be revoked. “It is puzzling that (Columbia has) not filed a lawsuit that they would be extremely likely to prevail in,” said Leah Litman, professor of law.
The New York Times -
March 18, 2025
“There’s often the tendency to think of Mesozoic mammals as these kind of meager critters that were just running around hiding. I would be hesitant to draw that conclusion about all early mammals. I think there’s a lot of interesting things that are happening, especially in the late Cretaceous,” said Luke Weaver, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences and assistant curator at the Museum of Paleontology.
Popular Science -
March 18, 2025
“Menstruation remains a subject cloaked in silence and associated with taboos, even within the realm of scientific inquiry. Lack of dialogue about menstruation, particularly about the changes in bleeding patterns as women approach menopause, leads to women’s lack of knowledge about what is normal,” said Siobán Harlow, professor emerita of epidemiology and of obstetrics and gynecology.
CNN -
March 18, 2025
Although hundreds of millions of people have taken Xanax or one of its cousins in the benzodiazepine family to help them sleep or to calm anxiety, there is a shortage of research into long-term use of the drugs, says Donovan Maust, professor of psychiatry: “There’s lots of evidence that people can stop and they’ll be fine. But you have these pockets where people have been profoundly affected in a very bad way.”
The Wall Street Journal -
March 17, 2025
“People are continuing to experience long-term impacts, and I think that that’s what we’re trying to continue to monitor and learn,” said Nancy Fleischer, associate professor of epidemiology, who notes that while long COVID can look different from person to person, some common symptoms exist, including fatigue, loss of sense of smell and taste, and brain fog.
The Detroit News -
March 17, 2025
Michael Meyer, professor of astronomy, and colleagues used the James Webb Space Telescope to zoom in on brown dwarfs, objects whose mass can be as low as two to three times the mass of Jupiter, a gas giant over 300 times more massive than Earth. “Webb, for the first time, has been able to probe up to and beyond that limit. If that limit is real, there really shouldn’t be any one-Jupiter-mass objects free-floating out in our Milky Way galaxy, unless they were formed as planets and then ejected out of a planetary system,” he said.
Mashable -
March 17, 2025
“HBCUs have a long tradition of being centers of excellence and academic achievement, but … (they) are much more than that. They’re cultivating an environment of affirmation and belonging and support,” said Akilah Patterson, doctoral student in public health, who found that students at historically Black colleges and universities are happier, on average, than both Black students at small, predominantly white institutions and college students over all.
Inside Higher Ed -
March 14, 2025
“Sleepmaxxing,” a collection of activities, products or “hacks” used simultaneously to optimize sleep quality and quantity, can be beneficial, said Anita Shelgikar, clinical professor of neurology, but it can backfire “if it turns what should be a restorative process into a high-pressure chore. For some individuals, being overly attentive to sleep optimization and sleep patterns every night can increase stress and worsen sleep over time.”
CNN
