In the News
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April 9, 2026
“A person doesn’t walk into Congress knowing how things work. And the more that you have people who are fresh, kind of green, don’t know how to navigate the institution, the more power that special interests, lobbyists and so forth might have to influence the political process,” said Jonathan Hanson, lecturer in public policy, on the large number of House lawmakers and Senators planning to leave office this year.
Michigan Advance -
April 8, 2026
“I would think that they would look at us like we were crazy … but they would come out. I mean, why come here otherwise unless you’re going to sit and observe,” said Edwin (Ted) Bergin, professor of astronomy, who believes that if intelligent beings navigated vast distances to reach Earth they would make themselves known — despite humanity’s penchant for creating chaos.
The Associated Press -
April 8, 2026
Michigan’s revised jobs report for January shows the state essentially held steady in 2025, says Gabriel Ehrlich, director of the Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics: “I don’t think it changes our fundamental understanding … Michigan is in a soft patch for growth right now, and I think that’s still the correct interpretation, and let’s be honest, hanging in kind of a tough external environment.”
Michigan Public -
April 8, 2026
“We are looking at the sun 24/7, specifically the magnetic evolution of the sun and events such as flares and eruptions, to see if any extra energy will be released,” said Lulu Zhao, assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, and principal investigator of U-M’s CLEAR Center, which is providing forecasts of dangerous solar radiation to help NASA protect the Artemis II crew.
Earth.com -
April 7, 2026
U.S. Senate hopeful Mike Rogers proposes ending no-cost preventive health care. “In the short term, costs go down,” but if you charge copays for preventive care, “the health of individuals and populations gets worse,” said Mark Fendrick, director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design. Anand Parekh, chief policy officer at the School of Public Health, said “we end up paying for more costly care for things that could have been prevented, or at least treated at less expense.”
Bridge Michigan -
April 7, 2026
Michigan Republicans are pushing to ban kratom, a supplement they say is linked to addiction and deaths, but sudden policy changes could affect a large number of users, said Sean Esteban McCabe, director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health: “If we have 100,000 or 150,000-plus people who all of a sudden stop using kratom, we need to think about unintended consequences and get out ahead of it.” Eliza Hutchinson, assistant professor of family medicine, says removing access without expanding treatment options could create additional risks.
MLive -
April 7, 2026
“The manosphere is a catchall term for websites, forums, blogs and influencers promoting a particular kind of hypermasculinity … And those digital spaces are rife with antisemitism,” wrote Miriam Eve Mora, managing director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. “The conspiratorial thinking that blossoms in the manosphere blames Jewish men for weakening masculinity. Because in the manosphere, failures of manhood are never your own.”
The Conversation -
April 6, 2026
“One way in which FIFA can rack up the highest possible ticket prices is if they can create a belief that (World Cup) tickets are incredibly scarce and that they are going to be really hard to get hold of. And one way they seem to be trying to do that is just to keep you in the dark so that you don’t know,” said Stefan Szymanski, professor of sport management.
National Public Radio -
April 6, 2026
“Removing firearms, preventing access to firearms, is something that we know from research works to save lives,” said April Zeoli, policy core director at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and director of a new state-funded group tasked with implementing the red flag law that allows police to confiscate the firearms of individuals believed to be a risk to themselves or others.
The Detroit News -
April 6, 2026
“There are elements of purity, humility and appreciation all condensed into this small action of bowing. So there was nothing surprising from a Japanese perspective about seeing this caddie bow,” said Shinobu Kitayama, professor of psychology, about an iconic moment when 2021 Masters Tournament champion Hideki Matsuyama’s caddie appeared on the 18th green after the winning putt and bowed. “It’s very interesting that it conveyed some deep meaning to many individuals who do not share this cultural tradition.”
The New York Times
