In the News

  1. February 20, 2020
    • Headshot of Sarah Mills

    Farmers who own and farm land with turbines are more likely to have a succession plan in place on their property, said Sarah Mills, senior project manager at the Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy: “What they told me was that the guaranteed income that comes from hosting a turbine was convincing their kids that farming wasn’t such a risky business.”

    USA Today
  2. February 20, 2020
    • Headshot of Ellen Brennan
    • Headshot of Omar Ahmed

    Ellen Brennan, doctoral student in neuroscience, and Omar Ahmed, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, have identified a previously unrecognized excitatory neuron in mouse brains that may aid scientists’ understanding of how the part of the brain responsible for navigation — the retrosplenial cortex — goes about navigating prolonged distances. “The retrosplenial cortex is critical for spatial orientation, but is one of the earliest brain regions to show dysfunctional activity in (people with Alzheimer’s),” Ahmed said.

    Medical News Today
  3. February 20, 2020
    • Headshot of Josh Ackerman

    “It turns out that people are much more scared of things like shark attacks than vending machines despite the fact that people are more likely to die from a vending machine falling on them than a shark attack,” said Josh Ackerman, associate professor of psychology, explaining the fear surrounding the coronavirus.

    CNBC
  4. February 19, 2020
    • Photo of Oscar Ybarra

    “In our study, socializing was just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance,” said Oscar Ybarra, professor of psychology, and management and organizations, whose research shows that even just 10 minutes per day of conversation with another person improves memory and cognition.

    Medium
  5. February 19, 2020
    • Headshot of John DeCicco

    “They are trying to make the data dance the way this administration wants it to dance, (but) the data and the models don’t lie,” said John DeCicco, research professor and associate director at the Energy Institute, on the Trump administration’s assertions that lower fuel economy standards would reduce vehicle prices and boost the economy.

    The New York Times
  6. February 19, 2020
    • Photo of Jerry Davis

    Jerry Davis, professor of management and organizations and associate dean for business impact, discussed “stakeholder capitalism,” the idea that a corporation should take responsibility for its social and environmental impact. “There’s definitely a strong public opinion that business needs to do better. … to be good citizens and not purely focused on creating shareholder value,” he said.

    Marketplace
  7. February 18, 2020
    • Headshot of Christian Sandvig

    Many governments have embraced artificial intelligence as a solution to government bureaucracy, says Christian Sandvig, professor of information, and communication and media, and director of the Center for Ethics, Society and Computing: “But now, you’re seeing a backlash where people are saying, it may be that some of the AI systems being implemented are actually worsening some of the problems they’re designed to solve.”

    Michigan Radio
  8. February 18, 2020
    • Headshot of Liming Dong

    “We found that depression is both prevalent and persistent during the first year following a stroke,” said Liming Dong, research investigator in epidemiology, whose research revealed that 35 percent of stroke survivors were classified as having depression three months into recovery, dropping to 26 percent after a full year.

    U.S. News & World Report
  9. February 18, 2020
    • Headshot of Marty Heller

    “My general recommendations end up being, reduce meat consumption, and pay attention, if you can, to how foods are grown and transported. Try to avoid heated greenhouse grown fruit and vegetable, and stuff that may have been air freighted,” said Martin Heller, researcher at the School of Environment and Sustainability’s Center for Sustainable Systems, who studies the environmental footprint of food.

    BBC
  10. February 17, 2020
    • Headshot of Abigail Stewart

    “Having this type of funding available could make it more imaginable to more women scientists that they can have a full life with a family,” said Abigail Stewart, professor of psychology and women’s studies, on the announcement by the U.S. National Institutes of Health that it will provide up to $50,000 to NIH-funded researchers to step away from the lab for up to one year to navigate family commitments and major life challenges.

    Nature