In the News
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February 26, 2021
“As long as you don’t have data, you don’t have a problem. That’s why there is such a huge push that we need to have this data,” said Sheria Robinson-Lane, assistant professor of nursing, on the need to collect thorough information on coronavirus cases among the disability community — which many believe is overlooked in COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
Lansing State Journal -
February 26, 2021
Experts say the United States does not have enough control over the new strains of the coronavirus, and reopening too quickly could thrust the country backward. “It would be like Moses about a half a mile from the Red Sea, saying, let’s not try it,” said Howard Markel, professor and director of the Center for the History of Medicine. “We’ve almost reached this incredible medical miracle: getting immunized.”
The Guardian (U.K.) -
February 25, 2021
“I heard an Israeli politician interviewed who said, ‘Well, we’re not going to give the Palestinians vaccinations before Israeli citizens.’ That just struck me as outright racist (and serves as) another demonstration of how the Israeli contemporary apartheid works,” said Juan Cole, professor of history, on COVID-19 inoculation efforts in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip and West bank.
National Public Radio -
February 25, 2021
Preventing another energy crisis like the one that devastated Texas will require a lot of work and might require rethinking the way we treat energy, says Tony Reames, assistant professor of environment and sustainability: “Energy is a basic right and so instead of treating it like a commodity, how can we think about it as something that people should have access to, especially when they need it the most?”
The Verge -
February 25, 2021
A passenger jet that lost large chunks of one of its engines over Denver shortly after takeoff could have made the remainder of the flight with its remaining engine. “One engine has to have enough thrust to keep the airplane going, and even climbing if it needs to” and that applies to losing an engine while in the process of taking off, says Ella Atkins, professor of aerospace engineering.
WIRED -
February 24, 2021
After the pandemic forced thousands of clinical trials to shut down, researchers found clever ways to conduct human studies remotely. Lesli Skolarus, associate professor of neurology, and colleagues — forced to stop enrolling emergency room patients for a hypertension trial — kept the trial going by asking participants to use take-home blood pressure cuffs and to send photos of the readings via text message.
The New York Times -
February 24, 2021
“The back of the skull has a lot of information and a lot of distinct features as do the vertebrae. … There’s three-dimensional information there that you can use to find unique attributes,” said Jeffrey Wilson Mantilla, curator of the Museum of Paleontology and professor of earth and environmental sciences, whose research recently reclassified a fossil discovered in the American West in 1883 as a dicraeosaurid.
Smithsonian Magazine -
February 24, 2021
Lola Eniola-Adefeso, professor of biomedical and chemical engineering, says if research review boards aren’t diverse, then members might not have connections to diseases that disproportionately affect Black people and won’t feel relevant research needs as much funding: “NIH and other agencies need to understand that their lack of training of their reviewers and their lack of prioritization of research dollars to diverse researchers is the inherent issue.”
STAT -
February 23, 2021
Ongoing research by Rick Neitzel, associate professor of environmental health sciences, shows noise pollution during shutdowns last spring in California, Texas, New York and Florida dropped an average of 3 decibels — substantially reducing the risk of hearing loss: “If we can keep noise at a conversation level, below a daily average of 70 decibels, we can completely eliminate noise-induced hearing loss.”
U.S. News & World Report -
February 23, 2021
Michael Craig, assistant professor of energy and sustainability, says power grid operators can plan only for peaks and surges they see coming, a task of analyzing past trends and extrapolating predictions that is only growing more difficult: “We are in a nonstationary world. Climate change means that it is not stationary. The last 40 years might not be reflective of what’s coming down the pike the next 40 years.”
NBC News
