In the News
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July 24, 2024
“It is eerie that she could project forward 30 years and predict many of the events that we’ve seen over the past few decades long before they developed,” said Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, associate professor of education, about Octavia Butler’s 1993 “Parable of the Sower,” a dystopian novel that takes place in an America that has fallen victim to economic and environmental catastrophes.
Michigan Public (32:14 mark) -
July 17, 2024
Research by Aster Taylor, doctoral student in astronomy, suggests that up to 60% of near-Earth objects could be dark comets that might have been one of the sources of water to our blue planet. “We don’t know if these dark comets delivered water to Earth. … (But) the work we’ve done has shown that this is another pathway to get ice from somewhere in the rest of the solar system to the Earth’s environment.”
Earth.com -
July 17, 2024
“How quickly muscle can contract or how many ways muscle can generate power have new and unexpected answers when one takes a more integrated and holistic view of muscle as a complex and hierarchically organized material rather than just a bag of molecules. Muscle is more than the sum of its parts,” said Suraj Shankar, assistant professor of physics.
Press News Agency -
July 17, 2024
Climate migration narratives that tell the stories of refugees displaced by ecological catastrophe don’t change people’s views of global warming or compel them to support stronger climate policy, says Kaitlin Raimi, associate professor of public policy: “The research is a little mixed, but it mostly suggests personal narratives are better for making audiences feel connected.”
Bloomberg -
July 17, 2024
A mask that uses an air curtain blowing down from the brim of a hard hat can prevent airborne viruses from reaching a worker’s eyes, nose and mouth, says Herek Clack, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, whose startup developed the headworn tech: “It’s virtually unheard of — our level of protection against airborne germs, especially when combined with the improved ergonomics it also provides.”
U.S. News & World Report -
July 17, 2024
“After this ruling, the character of a presidential candidate is not just relevant; it is absolutely the paramount consideration. A president who enjoys such vast immunity from criminal accountability in the courts will largely be constrained only by their own moral conscience,” wrote Len Niehoff, professor from practice of law, about the Supreme Court’s recent decision that gives a president broad immunity from criminal prosecution for acts performed while in office.
The Detroit News -
July 10, 2024
“It’s difficult to see how Caitlin Clark would sit down and listen to her own players’ association negotiation leadership tell her she (should) put a bunch on the line so she can make a couple of hundred thousand bucks,” said Rodney Fort, professor emeritus of kinesiology, who has doubts about Clark’s potential role in a fight for higher WNBA salaries, considering she has multimillion dollar endorsement deals.
USA Today -
July 10, 2024
“We’re in a period of rapid constitutional change, and that means that we don’t know where they’re headed. It’s a conservative super majority that’s building out a new vision of constitutional law, and we’re watching that unfold. And so I also have to decide what topics to cover,” said Sam Erman, professor of law.
The Hill -
July 10, 2024
Research by Mónica Carvalho, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences and assistant curator at the Museum of Paleontology, suggests the extinction of dinosaurs had an impact on the composition of forests in a way that may have helped facilitate the spread of grapes around the world: “We think that if there were large dinosaurs roaming through the forest, they were likely knocking down trees, effectively maintaining forests more open than they are today.”
Newsweek -
July 10, 2024
“For that brief, shining moment, we lifted millions of children out of poverty. … And then we reversed course and weren’t able to extend that past the one year and we saw child poverty spike — the highest one-year increase in history,” said Luke Shaefer, professor of public policy and social work and faculty director of Poverty Solutions, on the pandemic-era expanded Child Tax Credit.
Detroit Free Press
