In the News
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February 2, 2022
Nearly a quarter of Americans say it’s sometimes OK to use violence against the government — and one in 10 say violence is justified right now, according to a new poll. The numbers are not especially surprising to Christian Davenport, professor of political science, who is not a fan of the use of polls exclusively to determine a populace’s potential for violence. “Individuals will say a great number of things on a poll,” he said, “but never show up for anything.”
WEMU Radio -
February 2, 2022
Valeria Valbuena, a general surgery resident, and colleagues found that Pulse Ox devices are less accurate in detecting oxygen in the blood of patients with darker skin: “The Pulse Oximeter works by shining light through your skin, and there are a number of things that can affect how that light interacts with the particles in your blood that carry the oxygen, and one of those things is melanin. … We need as a field to push for equitable medical design, so that devices … work just as well for patients of different races, ethnicities and different genders.”
WDIV/Detroit -
February 1, 2022
“I think just putting that information out there, and people being able to calculate their programs … this data reporting and analysis allows that to happen,” said Tony Reames, assistant professor of environment and sustainability and senior adviser to the Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, about language to be included in guidance to state energy offices and on grants that calls for at least 40 percent of benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy be delivered to disadvantaged communities.
Bloomberg Law -
February 1, 2022
Nationwide, a record 14.5 million people signed up for a 2022 marketplace health plan during the latest open enrollment — which policy experts attribute to more generous premium and deductible subsidies that came with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan relief package that President Biden signed last March. “That was definitely the biggest change and why we saw such high enrollment this year,” said Samantha Iovan, health policy senior project manager at the Center for Health and Research Transformation.
Detroit Free Press -
February 1, 2022
“Individuals are more than willing to give up someone else’s freedom in order to protect their own safety. And similarly, people are willing to give up other people’s safety to protect their own freedom. … Freedom of speech is particularly valuable if and only if you also have a strong sense of personal safety,” said Robert Sellers, vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer.
The Chronicle of Higher Education -
January 31, 2022
“Given further tension resulting from Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine’s border, I don’t think there is much of a chance that a deal or a (prisoner) swap could be developed,” said Melvyn Levitsky, clinical professor of public policy, on efforts to free Michigan’s Paul Whelan, jailed in Russia since 2018 for alleged spying. “Because we are dealing with someone as Machiavellian and ruthless as Putin, I think (Whelan’s imminent release), unfortunately, (is) less likely,” said Javed Ali, clinical associate professor of public policy.
The Detroit News -
January 31, 2022
“If lab leaders look at the people they train as a commodity, then they can get stuck in this idea that their students can go only into academia. … To me, the end goal is to get someone to where they want to go by training them to be an excellent scientist,” said Regina Baucom, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Nature -
January 31, 2022
“This is a huge step in preserving his legacy in a way that Justice Ginsburg failed to do,” said Leah Litman, assistant professor of law, on the decision by Justice Stephen Breyer to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court while Democrats hold the presidency and a slim majority in the Senate. “He saw what happened to his friend, to her jurisprudence and all the things that mattered to her when she didn’t step down while she was able to.”
New York Magazine -
January 28, 2022
Don Herzog, professor of law, says there’s no real incentive for Dominion Voting Systems to reach settlements in its billion-dollar defamation lawsuits against pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell: “It’s that almost always, the party settling will stipulate in its terms of settlement: I don’t concede that I did anything wrong. And unless they’re nuts, what the corporation wants out of those two is exactly the acknowledgment that you did something wrong.”
Reuters -
January 28, 2022
“We never know which ones are going to turn out to be the ones that have incredible economic impact, employment impact and innovation impact. It’s a numbers game: The more seeds you plant, the more flowers that might bloom,” said Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, commenting on the sudden burst of startup activity in the U.S., creating the biggest entrepreneurship boom in half a century.
WIRED
