In the News
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January 19, 2026
“Unfortunately, the 2025 U.S. emission increase is likely a harbinger of what’s to come as the U.S. federal leadership continues to make what amounts to a huge unforced economic error by favoring legacy fossil fuels when the rest of the world is going all in on mobility and power generation using low-carbon technology, primarily based on renewables and batteries,” said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability.
The Associated Press -
January 16, 2026
“President Trump is so desperate to gain control of the Fed that he’s yet again weaponizing federal law enforcement to try to take out his political enemies,” said Jeremy Kress, associate professor of business law, about Trump’s threats against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who directly accused the president of wielding a criminal investigation as part of his pressure campaign for lower interest rates.
Newsweek -
January 16, 2026
“Several aspects of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines are poised to promote healthy diets and reduce disease risk. However, advocating consumption of red meat and high-fat dairy food without specific guidelines for portion size and servings can easily counter consumers’ efforts to simultaneously keep energy intake from saturated fats below 10%,” said Karen Peterson, professor of nutritional sciences and associate director of the Michigan Nutrition and Obesity Research Center.
Detroit Free Press -
January 16, 2026
“It’s ironic, right? You’re acquiring land that your colonizer probably took from you a long time ago and then gave it away to or sold it to someone else, and then years later, you’re buying that land back that was taken from you illegally, at a great expense,” said Matthew Fletcher, professor of law, after President Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have expanded Miccosukee tribal land and environmental stewardship in the Florida Everglades because the tribe sued to stop an immigration detention center.
Grist -
January 15, 2026
David Blaauw, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his lab created the minuscule onboard computer that permits the world’s smallest robots — smaller than a grain of salt — to be programmed by light pulses to respond autonomously to their environment. “We designed a special computer instruction that encodes a value, such as the measured temperature, in the wiggles of a little dance the robot performs. We then look at this dance through a microscope with a camera and decode from the wiggles what the robots are saying to us,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal -
January 15, 2026
“The department’s demand sets a dangerous precedent and could expose millions of Americans to fraud, abuse and other nefarious activity,” wrote Barbara McQuade, professor from practice of law, about lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 23 states and the District of Columbia seeking access to detailed voter information. “Given the Trump administration’s willingness to push legal boundaries, the last thing we should entrust it with is a centralized trove of our sensitive personal data.”
Bloomberg -
January 15, 2026
“Culture is not a company’s values; it’s the system upon which these values are constructed. So, without a clear perspective of the world, an organization’s values are typically meaningless and have no impact on its behaviors,” wrote Marcus Collins, clinical assistant professor of marketing. “This is a significant challenge for business leaders who have reduced organizational culture to a set of rituals, rules, and words. Culture is so much more than these components, but since so many of us have defined culture so narrowly, we have not yet fully realized its impact.”
Fast Company -
January 14, 2026
“They don’t really know what’s going on at these sites. They should go out and sample the part that people are exposed to — the surface. That would answer the question of ‘Is there a health risk?’” said Allen Burton, professor of environment and sustainability, who believes the city of Detroit is showing “total ignorance” by not testing dirt for toxic chemicals at home demolition sites.
Michigan Advance -
January 14, 2026
Those are “deaths that could potentially have been avoided,” said Douglas Wiebe, professor of epidemiology and director of the U-M Injury Prevention Center, who found that both “justifiable” and unlawful homicides rose significantly after changes in stand-your-ground laws — a roughly 8% increase in firearm deaths in states with such laws.
The Christian Science Monitor -
January 14, 2026
“One-off reforms like family-friendly policies, ESG targets and civility pledges are useful, but they cannot uproot centuries of menace. What’s required is a critical mass of moral muses who refuse to rationalize harm as progress and who lead a culture reset in guiding business logic,” wrote Valerie Myers, lecturer of management and organization, who studies the idea that work can be guided by principles and moral duty — a contest between two leadership patterns: moral menaces, who rationalize exploitation and disguise harm as the price of progress, and moral muses, leaders whose care and fairness promote flourishing.
The Conversation
