In the News
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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 -
January 29, 2026
“Seeing if your biological clock is in sync is a huge benefit because even if you’re giving yourself the right amount of time, if you’re sleeping at the wrong times, the sleep won’t be as efficient,” said Daniel Forger, professor of mathematics and of computational medicine and bioinformatics, who believes wearable sleep/fitness devices help keep the overlooked importance of sleep front of mind.
Inc. -
January 29, 2026
“This program is not intended to replace federal funding or create a long-term safety net. It is a targeted, one-time investment to help outstanding U-M researchers transition in a time of change and continue to do important work that serves the people of Michigan and the world,” said Arthur (Skip) Lupia, vice president for research and innovation, about a new research funding program that provides short-term support to help U-M faculty maintain research continuity, support research staff and remain competitive for future external funding.
The Detroit News -
January 28, 2026
“What this article is saying is that it’s actually quite interesting in how it models how jobs work, (but) a lot of this paper is based on a whole set of rickety assumptions that I would say (are) rickety enough that the final conclusion necessarily isn’t credible,“ said Kentaro Toyama, professor of information, about new research that claims AI substantially reduces wage inequality, while raising average wage prices by 21%.
WJR Detroit -
January 28, 2026
“If you think about movies and TV shows and music that we hear all around us, the norms really have changed. They’ve become more relaxed. So kids are hearing … swear words earlier and more often than they used to 10 or 15 or 20 years ago,” said Sarah Clark, co-director of Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, who found that only about half of parents say kids should never swear and more than a third say whether it’s acceptable depends on the situation.
WDIV Detroit -
January 28, 2026
As the Arctic continues to warm four times faster than the rest of the planet, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification, dwindling sea ice exposes darker waters, which absorb more of the sun’s energy than ice does — resulting in less of a temperature contrast between the Arctic and warmer regions to the south. “When that happens, the jet stream tends to meander a lot, and that allows very cold air to come down to the south,” said Ayumi Fujisaki-Manome, associate research scientist in environment and sustainability.
Grist
