In the News
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February 3, 2026
“Metabolism is often changed in brain injury and diseases like Alzheimer’s, but we do not know whether this is a cause or consequence of the disease,” said Monica Dus, associate professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, who found that the metabolic slowdown seen after brain injury or during neurodegenerative disease can stabilize fragile neural connections and delay their collapse, at least in the short term.
Earth.com -
February 3, 2026
“There is no serious case that this is about the number of immigrants or some level of violent crime not seen elsewhere. It is about the Department of Homeland Security, in the form of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, developing their skills as the president’s stormtroopers. It is about making an example of a community,” said Don Moynihan, professor of public policy, about President Trump’s immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota.
MS NOW -
February 3, 2026
“We often hear the term nursing shortage. It’s really not a shortage of nurses. It’s really a vacancy problem, which speaks to the need to make sure that our workplaces are strong and healthy, that nurses have the support they need,” said Christopher Friese, professor of nursing and of health management and policy, who found that high nursing school debt, coupled with proposed caps on student loans, may force nurses out of the profession.
Michigan Public -
February 2, 2026
Research by Papa Owusu-Obeng, Ph.D. graduate in environment and sustainability, and Sarah Mills, director of the Center for EmPowering Communities, suggests that clearer local policies can help communities better understand the tradeoffs involved in hosting solar projects. “Solar can bring a lot of benefits to local communities, and there are ways that it can also hurt,” Owusu-Obeng said. “We can plan utility-scale solar systems more equitably in a way that benefits communities and meets decarbonization goals.”
Great Lakes Echo -
February 2, 2026
Efforts by Congress to ban students from using social media at school comes as the White House presses for more artificial intelligence in the classroom. “There is a bit of an odd nature of these things happening at the same time. I think you could want students to be off devices more, but when they’re on them, (to be) utilizing AI or having AI be part of intelligent tutoring systems that would better assist students,” said Brian Jacob, professor of public policy and co-director of the Youth Policy Lab.
EdSurge -
February 2, 2026
“In American domestic politics, it’s not common to just have an entire policy field get obliterated, quit spending $42 billion and lay off 10,000 people in a week. And in global health politics, it’s astonishing to have the country that, for better or for worse, designed and underwrote the system to just turn its back and walk away,” said Scott Greer, professor of health management and policy, on U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
CBC -
January 30, 2026
“It’s not about preparing for war. It’s more about building up a defensive capability and engaging with China through economic ties and diplomacy,” said Javed Ali, associate professor of practice of public policy, about the Pentagon’s new less confrontational tone toward China after years of heightening tensions with Beijing over its military and economic build-up.
The National News Desk -
January 30, 2026
“Screen time doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It is intersecting with all the different levels of families’ contexts, from poverty to stress to whether devices are in schools,” said Jenny Radesky, associate professor of pediatrics. “It can’t all be on the shoulders of parents. It needs to be the game designers and the social media companies designing more around child needs and developmental principles.”
The Washington Post -
January 30, 2026
A state of Michigan federal antitrust lawsuit accuses big oil companies of creating a “cartel” and raising costs for consumers by colluding to stifle renewables. “I think the citizens of Michigan are very concerned about their energy costs, and framing this lawsuit as being about those energy costs, from a political perspective and speaking to the people of Michigan, it’s going to resonate more with the people of this state,” said Rachel Rothschild, assistant professor of law.
The New York Times -
January 29, 2026
States like North Carolina and Texas have made the transition to a knowledge economy that largely bypassed Michigan, says economist Don Grimes of the Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics. “We were so concerned with keeping auto jobs that we missed the stuff that was coming,” he said. “It’s astounding what Michigan did in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, but we’re still looking backward. Everybody’s got to think differently.”
Michigan Advance
