In the News
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February 22, 2022
“The electricity consumed for data storage of information is growing at an exponential rate,” said Greg Keoleian, professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Systems. “We all need to be aware that transferring each kilobyte of data and information via the internet has an environmental impact, particularly from electricity consumption from servers and routers in the network.”
Popular Science -
February 22, 2022
“It is possible that if this treatment is followed by a slow return of the blood group antigens, that the organ will ‘adapt’ to those antibodies. … This would be a major advance in solid organ transplantation,” said Marilia Cascalho, associate professor of surgery, and microbiology and immunology, commenting on an experiment to change the blood type of donated organs that could be a first step to shortening transplant wait times.
WIRED -
February 22, 2022
Enrico Rinaldi, research fellow in physics, and colleagues used quantum computing and deep learning to probe inside black holes under the framework of holographic duality, which posits that black holes might be holograms: “If a black hole can be described by the holographic duality, then we believe that the gravity in our entire universe could be also described by holography.”
VICE Magazine -
February 21, 2022
“The thing about Mozart is he always wrote so perfectly knowing what kind of instrument it was going to be played on. He made it fit. You always have the feeling when you’re playing Mozart on a fortepiano, that this is the best this piece can be played,” said Matthew Bengtson, assistant professor of music and piano literature, who performs on a replica of a 1785 fortepiano, an early piano played from the early 18th to early 19th century.
Chicago Tribune -
February 21, 2022
The American Customer Satisfaction Index, which measures how happy consumers are with goods and services, shows a 5.2 percent decline in quality since 2018, with the bulk of it coming in the last two years. “Due to the pandemic, the problem has been amplified by a lack of product availability, supply issues and labor shortages,” said Claes Fornell, ACSI founder and professor emeritus of marketing.
Bloomberg -
February 21, 2022
“Many of my students want and need to go to Japan because that is where their research focus is. … I am worried that these close-minded policies will undo the benefits from decades of funding and educational opportunities for students and scholars,” said Allison Alexy, associate professor of modern Japanese culture, on the growing frustration over Japan’s coronavirus-driven entry restrictions.
Times Higher Education -
February 18, 2022
The amount of domestic violence remained the same in Michigan during the early pandemic, but the abuse people experienced was worse, says Sarah Peitzmeier, assistant professor of nursing and public health: “New or increased (domestic violence) was nearly three times more common among those who had received a COVID test. … There is clearly some interaction between this COVID pandemic and this pandemic of intimate partner violence.”
WOOD/Grand Rapids -
February 18, 2022
J. Alexander Navarro, assistant director of the Center for the History of Medicine, expects local governments to signal their version of the end of the pandemic by relaxing public health rules — much like what happened during the Spanish flu when most of the U.S. decided it was over in 1919 but half the country continued to see outbreaks. “It was way too premature to declare that pandemic over,” he said. “But there was a lot of social pressure to do so.”
Marketplace -
February 18, 2022
Misinformation about wind and solar projects can fuel restrictions that are more stringent than needed and sometimes act as outright bans on renewable energy, says Sarah Mills, lecturer in sustainability and environment: “Local officials are not necessarily experts in energy. And so when you have people … stating things as facts, it’s difficult. They’re certainly making decisions based on what they’re hearing.”
National Public Radio -
February 17, 2022
Only four in 10 older Americans use mobile health apps, says Pearl Lee, associate professor of geriatric medicine: “Now that most older adults have at least one mobile device, health-related apps can … support their health-related behaviors, manage their conditions and improve health outcomes.” U-M chief health officer Preeti Malani says “health providers should consider discussing the use of health apps with their patients, because one-third said they had never thought about using one.”
U.S. News & World Report
