In the News
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April 6, 2021
Matthew Lassiter, professor of history, and urban and regional planning, says easy political labels don’t always apply to suburban voters, who increasingly vote Democrat. “I personally believe that their main political identities are not as Democrats, but are parent, taxpayer, homeowner. The way they think about politics broadly is the thing that we don’t talk about a lot, like zoning, like school boundaries, that those things matter more at the local level than who they vote for every four years in a presidential election.”
National Public Radio -
April 6, 2021
The election of Vice President Kamala Harris “allowed us to demonstrate that a woman of color could now lead — albeit behind a white man — the ‘most powerful’ democratic country in the world,” wrote Matthew Alemu, doctoral student in public policy and sociology. “What should have been a ‘normal’ transfer of power appeared more like a joyous announcement that the vice president’s office had just won the world’s first ‘nonmale, multiracial’ Powerball lottery.”
Blavity -
April 6, 2021
Looking back at the past, “allows us to get a broader sense of perspective,” says Ethan Kross, professor of psychology, and management and organizations. “We’re constantly trying to make meaning out of our experiences, and our mind is flexibly constructed to help us do so. I wouldn’t want to give up this ability to go back in time to make sense of what I’m experiencing and then create a story that propels me forward.”
The New York Times -
April 5, 2021
The work of Ivo Dinov, professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics, and nursing, was featured in a story about “spacekime theory,” which he co-developed to help us better understand the development of diseases, financial and environmental events, and even the human brain. The theory helps us better utilize big data, develop artificial intelligence and solve inconsistencies in physics.
Big Think -
April 5, 2021
Kristin Fontichiaro, clinical associate professor of information, says remote learning has blurred the line between school and home life, and the implications of that transition are starting to be recognized, especially for minority groups: “I think this has opened up a whole new avenue for public education to really think at scale not only about its strengths that it will bring to the table when folks come back to school, but also repairs that need to be made.”
WDET Radio -
April 5, 2021
About 38 percent of Detroiters say they are very likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine — up from 14 percent last fall, according to a survey by Lydia Wileden, doctoral student in public policy and social science, and Jeffrey Morenoff, professor of sociology and public policy and research professor at the Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center. “It’s encouraging to see Detroiters’ increased intentions to get the vaccine, but clearly more work remains to expand access and counteract fear and misinformation,” Wileden said.
The Detroit News -
April 2, 2021
“It’s not that I’ll pay a dollar more for a book, it’s that control of the arena of ideas gets limited. If the variety of ideas — if the venues for people who want to challenge the mainstream ideas — narrows, then in addition to something costing me a dollar more, we’re talking about something entirely different,” said Erik Gordon, clinical professor of business, on the unforeseen cultural ripple effects caused by growing consolidation in the publishing industry.
The New York Times -
April 2, 2021
“In theory, the perfect mix would be to satisfice most of the time and only maximize the decision process when the stakes are high,” said Stephanie Preston, professor of psychology, commenting on the two categories of decision-makers: “maximizers,” who want to ensure they get the most out of the choices they make, and “satisficers,” who tend to adopt a ‘this is good enough’ approach.
BBC -
April 2, 2021
“In terms of keeping us healthy, disgust is associated with fewer infections, so it is a helpful emotion in disease-relevant contexts,” said Josh Ackerman, associate professor of psychology. “(But) it can be a double-edged sword because it also is associated with aversion to unfamiliar things, like food, some of which could actually improve our health and immune functioning.”
National Geographic -
April 1, 2021
“We may be in a new place where there’s not necessarily the intestinal fortitude to take the extra effort to dispose of things in the right way,” said Brian Love, professor of materials science and engineering, commenting on why many recycling programs across the U.S. have disappeared during the pandemic.
TIME
