In the News
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May 15, 2023
“Higher prices can lead to disproportionate harm among households that already struggle paying electricity bills,” said Claire McKenna, Ph.D. student in sustainability and environment, on the use of higher peak-hour pricing by state utilities. Greg Keoleian, professor of environment and sustainability, said the new pricing mechanism is different than other transactions: “Going to the grocery store, you see prices of things and can compare. We don’t think about the difference between drying your clothes in a dryer, instead of putting it on a clothesline.”
The Detroit News -
May 15, 2023
A state House bill that would permit internet voting for spouses of deployed military members is “well intentioned” but could “seriously undermine the security of Michigan’s elections,” said J. Alex Halderman, professor of electrical engineering and computer science. “The bedrock of Michigan elections has long been the simple fact that every vote is cast on a piece of paper which can’t later be changed in any kind of cyber attack.”
MLive -
May 15, 2023
With the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, experts who want to keep tabs on the virus will still have one valuable option: sewage. “For SARS-CoV-2, our wastewater surveillance system is pretty solid now. We’ve kind of put it through its paces,” said Marisa Eisenberg, associate professor of epidemiology, complex systems and mathematics.
The New York Times -
May 12, 2023
A hypothetical scene created from an artificial-intelligence-generated script for the finale of the HBO series “Succession” suggests the technology isn’t ready for prime time. Oliver Thornton, a lecturer in film, television and media, said the dialogue is “extremely clunky” and the script doesn’t “play against audience expectations for what is going to happen.” Jim Burnstein, professor of film, television and media, said “a bunch of monkeys” can write “Hamlet” better than ChatGPT can write “Succession.”
Insider -
May 12, 2023
“We’re likely to call this a pandemic that doesn’t truly peter out,” said Howard Markel, professor of pediatrics, of psychiatry, of history, and of health management and policy, and director of the Center for the History of Medicine. “We’re in a whole new era, where we have this almost science fiction-like virus that changes its coat of arms, every four to six months.”
Bridge Michigan -
May 12, 2023
Workers who are passionate about their jobs are often undervalued and overworked, yet willing to put up with poor work conditions because of their love for the job, says Erin Cech, associate professor of sociology: “If someone is that committed to the work that they’re doing and sees it as a core part of their identity, it’s harder to come to terms with the day-to-day toxicity of one’s workplace.”
BBC -
May 11, 2023
“Looking at these JWST images I was reminded of the moment that I got glasses for the first time. It just changes your whole perspective when the world (or a debris disk) comes into focus at a level that you aren’t used to,” said Jenny Calahan, doctoral student in astronomy, on the detection by the James Webb Space Telescope of an asteroid belt 25 light-years away.
Popular Science -
May 11, 2023
“Smaller bird species might be evolving faster because they experience stronger selection, are more responsive to selection, or both. Either way, body size appears to be a primary mediator of birds’ responses to contemporary climate change,” said Brian C. Weeks, assistant professor of environment and sustainability, who found birds are getting smaller and their wings are getting longer as the planet warms.
USA Today -
May 11, 2023
Led by Paul Jensen, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, new technology designed to map the metabolism of microbes uses artificial intelligence to conduct scientific experiments autonomously — as many as 10,000 a day. “Understanding how bacteria grow is the first step toward reengineering our microbiome,” he said.
Tech Times -
May 10, 2023
With the end of the national COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, more than 14 million adults are at risk of losing dental care now that Medicaid re-eligibility checks are underway. “If they don’t follow through with completing the new paperwork this year, they could lose Medicaid coverage. That’s hundreds of thousands of people in Michigan,” said Renuka Tipirneni, assistant professor of internal medicine.
WXYZ/Detroit
