In the News
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June 10, 2026
“We don’t let experimental medical treatments skip clinical trials because patients are desperate for a cure, and we shouldn’t let AI rush to market just because we are dazzled by its potential. As AI transforms our world, it’s time we prioritize real guarantees and transparency over hype and marketing gimmicks,” said Jason Corso, professor of robotics and of electrical engineering and computer science.
The Detroit News -
June 10, 2026
Place names with non-English origins often get pronounced differently than their original language would dictate. “We sort of learn (words) in a particular context, and we’re not always connecting it to this other meaning or this other way to analyze that word. This is really common with place names, particularly because we don’t often think about what a place name means,” said Savithry Namboodiripad, associate professor of linguistics, who believes that respecting how longtime residents pronounce their home’s name makes sense in most cases.
MLive -
June 10, 2026
The world generates millions of tons of e-waste from old laptops, cellphones, fitness trackers and other electronic devices each year, and less than a quarter of it is properly recycled. “The way that we’re creating and using and disposing of these devices has generated this completely unsustainable waste stream. And there are no signs of that abating at all. In fact, the trend continues to accelerate,” said Rick Neitzel, professor of environmental health sciences.
The Independent -
June 10, 2026
“People should not require a Ph.D. in nutrition science to identify ultraprocessed foods. We shouldn’t have to be in such a massively rigged system, where we’re all having to work so insanely hard to nourish our bodies — it shouldn’t be this hard,” said Ashley Gearhardt, professor of psychology, whose research shows that nearly three quarters of Americans favor warning labels on ads and packages of ultraprocessed foods.
CNN -
June 10, 2026
“It is so absurd as to be ridiculous. It was always going to be hard to find a worse, more ridiculous DNI than Tulsi Gabbard, and Trump just might have done that. Bill Pulte has zero national security experience. He spent the last 18 or so months just digging up dirt on Donald Trump’s political enemies,” said Leah Litman, professor of law, on President Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence.
The New Republic -
June 3, 2026
New research by Lauren Hart, recent Ph.D. graduate in chemical biology, and Greg Dick, professor and director of the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, shows that harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie produce a greater range of toxic compounds than previously known. “We now know that these toxins can aerosolize and get into the air, so it’s not just the water you are drinking or swimming in, it’s the air that you’re breathing,” Dick said.
Detroit Free Press -
June 3, 2026
American Muslims who lose loved ones to violence are victims of “a soft violence of dehumanization. They’re not allowed to just deal with the grief of such a horrible tragedy in their lives,” said Nancy Khalil, assistant professor of American culture. “They have to face the public and give press conferences in just the right tone and using just the right words so they can convince the world they did not deserve for their loved ones to be killed. They are just like everyone else … they, too, want to live in peace.”
Religion News Service -
June 3, 2026
AI can be “a really powerful tool” to help narrow down the candidate pool, “but it absolutely has to be used carefully, and it absolutely has to be disclosed that you’re using it,” said Sarah Zearfoss, senior assistant dean at the Law School, which recently added an optional AI essay to give students a chance to showcase their AI-prompting skills. “Using AI exclusively is to absolutely forgo the human element of it — the sense of judgment — which is so key to what we do in admissions.”
Inside Higher Ed -
June 3, 2026
“This is so closely aligned with no buffer between the donor and administration. It’s very much tied directly to the president in a way that we haven’t seen … there’s no longer even a concern about the appearance of impropriety,” said Megan Tompkins-Stange, associate professor of public policy, about businessman Michael Dell’s $6.25 billion personal gift to fund Trump Accounts, the new tax-advantaged IRA for kids — and whose company was just awarded a $9.7 billion Pentagon software contract.
Business Insider -
June 3, 2026
A New York City plan to give kindergartners as much as $3,000 toward college would transform how children and families think about their futures, said William Elliott III, professor of social work: “There’s going to be more and more need for us to think about how we redistribute wealth to maintain the meritocracy that we aspire to achieve. It’s going to require programs like this that don’t just think about income as a way out of solving poverty but think about wealth as an important part of shaping kids’ futures.”
The New York Times
