In the News
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November 8, 2019
Michael Traugott, professor emeritus of communication and political science, and research professor emeritus at the Institute for Social Research, says election poll results sound so definitive, like the results of a running race. But polling and the statistical modeling underlying the results involve a set of assumptions that are not usually made explicit, such as figuring out how representative survey respondents are of the general population and the people who will turn out to vote, he says.
The Christian Science Monitor -
November 8, 2019
“I think people don’t care as much about taxes as they care about how their life is going. … We’ve continued to see the gains go disproportionately to the top. And we’ve continued to see the bottom 90 percent — it’s just not all working for them,” said Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics, who helped develop a list of possible tax increases and spending cuts that presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren drew on to fund her health care proposal.
The New York Times -
November 7, 2019
The U.S. system of enterprise collective bargaining, where unions bargain only with one company at a time, has become a mismatch with the way the economy is organized, says Kate Andrias, professor of law. She points out that wages are higher and income inequality is lower in countries like France and Germany where sectoral bargaining is common.
Marketplace -
November 7, 2019
Associate professor Kevin Fu, assistant professor Daniel Genkin and colleagues in computer science and engineering, including research investigator Sara Rampazzi and graduate student Benjamin Cyr, showed that Smart speakers like Alexa, Siri and Google Home can be hacked from hundreds of feet away by attackers shining laser pointers at the devices’ microphones to unlock a smart lock-protected front door, open a connected garage door, shop on e-commerce websites, and unlock and start a connected vehicle. “This opens up an entirely new class of vulnerabilities,” Fu said. “It’s difficult to know how many products are affected, because this is so basic.”
The New York Times -
November 7, 2019
Environmental nonprofits need to be more transparent about the demographics of their employees and leaders “if we are ever going to increase the diversity of the environmental movement,” said Dorceta Taylor, professor of environmental sociology, whose research shows that less than 4 percent of environmental nonprofits disclose data about the gender of their staff and less than 3 percent share data on racial demographics.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy -
November 6, 2019
John Cheney-Lippold, associate professor of American culture, says the massive algorithms that drive Google, Amazon and Facebook try to predict, or even influence, behavior in ways that give value to them. This may be at odds with how we actually are. But they help narrow down the myriad choices faced when people are deciding on a product to buy, or even a place to eat, which is not necessarily a bad thing, he says.
CBC Radio -
November 6, 2019
Barbara McQuade, professor from practice at the Law School, says there is no standard for impeachment: “There can be some crimes that are not impeachable, like littering or jaywalking, and then there are some that are impeachable but not criminal, such as abusing one’s power for personal purposes as opposed to acting in the best interests of the country.”
The Washington Post -
November 6, 2019
Soo-Eun Chang, associate professor of psychiatry, explains what happens in the brain when humans stutter. With hundreds of muscles and many parts of the brain involved, speaking is one of the most complex tasks that humans perform, she says.
BBC -
November 5, 2019
“Parents need to feel empowered to get rid of the terribly designed tech that wants their children’s eyeballs — basically, I want them to know that if they see an app or video streaming service with tons of ads, pop-ups, data trackers or prompts to keep making purchases, they should uninstall it. Remove it from the child’s media diet,” said Jenny Radesky, assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases.
Contemporary Pediatrics -
November 5, 2019
The popularity of longer-term auto loans — as many as seven years — is encouraging many Americans to overspend and helping dealers pack in more pricey extras, says Donald Grimes, an economist with the U-M Economic Growth Institute: “People have substantially upgraded the vehicles they are buying. They are now much more likely to buy an SUV, pickup truck or crossover SUV.”
National Public Radio
