In the News
-
June 22, 2022
“People have been talking with confidence that he is Black for at least 50 years — and yet it is still considered controversial. Music scholars refuse to believe it. And the reason people find it hard to swallow is we were told there were no black composers, when there were,” said Garrett Schumann, lecturer in LSA, on 16th century Afro-Portuguese composer Vicente Lusitano, whose long-neglected choral music is enjoying a revival.
BBC -
June 22, 2022
“We’re not built to go from 60 miles an hour to zero. We need time to slow down or else it will be hard for us to sleep,” said Leslie Swanson, associate professor of psychiatry, who recommends shutting off electronic devices and avoiding aerobic exercise, large meals and alcoholic drinks close to bedtime — and instead do something quiet and relaxing to transition into sleep mode.
The New York Times -
June 22, 2022
The potential financial benefits of robo-trucking technology are so enormous that shippers and trucking companies are likely to embrace it as soon as they feel it is ready, says Parth Vaishnav, assistant professor of environment and sustainability: “The additional cost of the technology required by autonomous trucks is relatively small. … It’s economically so compelling that, even if other things about the truck modestly increase costs, it may turn out it will still be attractive.”
The Wall Street Journal -
June 22, 2022
“You’ve got a whole life spread out before you in that tusk. The growth and development of the animal, as well as its history of changing land use and changing behavior—all of that history is captured and recorded in the structure and composition of the tusk,” said Daniel Fisher, professor and director of the Museum of Paleontology, who helped analyze isotopes from the tusk of a mastodon who lived in present-day Indiana to determine its migration patterns.
CNN -
June 22, 2022
“Women seem to be particularly vulnerable when exposed to these chemicals,” said Ning Ding, research fellow in epidemiology, whose research found a link between PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and high blood pressure in middle-aged women — adding to the long list of health risks associated with the man-made pollutants.
The Washington Post -
June 15, 2022
“Traditionally, the drug development process takes a decade, and we just do not have a decade. The therapies we discovered are well positioned for Phase II clinical trials because their safety has already been established,” said Jonathan Sexton, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at the College of Pharmacy, whose research team used artificial intelligence to identify 17 existing drugs that could kill SARS-CoV-2 cells.
VentureBeat -
June 15, 2022
Andries Coetzee, professor of linguistics and director of the African Studies Center, says European airline Ryanair’s requirement that South African customers prove their citizenship by taking a written test in Afrikaans is “colonial, discriminatory and just unjustified. … If you are a Black citizen of South Africa who came of age and went to school after 1994, chances are that you don’t know Afrikaans because you don’t have to know Afrikaans.”
The Washington Post -
June 15, 2022
“Correcting for overall prices in the economy, gasoline prices are not that high right now … they are actually lower than they were 10 years ago,” said Catherine Hausman, associate professor of public policy. “(But) if you’re a worker who’s seen inflation across lots of different aspects of your life … the fact that these are parallel with high prices in lots of other places in the economy is totally cold comfort.”
Bloomberg (starts at 13:53) -
June 15, 2022
As worrying as it is to raise children in an era of mass shootings, parents should try not to transfer their anxiety to them, says Marc Zimmerman, professor of public health and co-director of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention: “Don’t be afraid. If we’re living an afraid life, that just creates anxiety, and anxiety creates all sorts of other problems.”
NBC News -
June 15, 2022
Fierce inflation is taking a heavy toll on consumer confidence as the U-M Index of Consumer Sentiment has fallen to a 50-year low, says Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers: “Overall, gas prices weighed heavily on consumers, which was no surprise given the 65-cent increase in national gas prices from last month.”
CBS News
