In the News
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September 14, 2020
“I think we’ll look back and we’ll see a whole bunch of increasingly crazy years. And that this year, in 2020, I hope we look back and say it got crazy enough that it motivated us to act on climate change in the United States,” said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability, commenting on natural disasters ranging from wildfires and record drought to tropical storms, floods and bizarre straight-line winds.
The Associated Press -
September 11, 2020
Negative factors can be a more powerful influence than positive ones if undecided voters are not particularly happy with the idea of either outcome, says Aradhna Krishna, professor of marketing: “Many (voters) are undecided because they don’t like either candidate. People can be described in desirable and undesirable attributes. When the set of options is considered unattractive, people focus more on the unattractive attributes. They will look at who is less bad on each attribute.”
Newsweek -
September 11, 2020
“We collectively believe that the state’s strategy was an appropriate strategy that was taken in the peak of the surge. The strategy followed the guidance that was known at the time and it was a perfectly appropriate strategy to be taken,” said Marianne Udow-Phillips, executive director of the Center for Health Research and Transformation, on the state’s decision to establish 21 nursing home “hubs” to help care for COVID-19 patients transferred from other nursing homes or discharged from hospitals.
MLive -
September 11, 2020
“The truth of the matter is that there is probably very little that could take place during the protests that would shift the opinion of some whites. Their positions are fixed already and they would likely only see the negative manifestations which you could almost always find during extended campaigns. … The idea of African Americans in a group might be enough of an offense,” said Christian Davenport, professor of political science and faculty associate at the Center for Political Studies.
The New York Times -
September 10, 2020
Durga Singer, associate professor of pediatrics, and molecular and integrative physiology, spoke about her paper reviewing research on how obesity can cause a hyperactive immune system response to COVID-19, making it difficult to fight off the virus: “Recent evidence has highlighted how one part of the immune system, the macrophage, may be a culprit in driving severe COVID-19 disease. … These findings highlight the importance of understanding how obesity might interact with new drugs or vaccines that are developed for COVID-19.”
Indian Express -
September 10, 2020
“Black Lives Matter raises a broader question about the history of systemic racism and maltreatment of people of color in the world. Has this spilled over into the perception of Africa in these markets? It’s a possibility,” said Howard Stein, professor of epidemiology and Afroamerican and African studies, whose research shows that when it comes to borrowing money, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa paid a premium of 2.9 percentage points over the rest of the world, or an extra $2.2 billion between 2006 and 2014.
Bloomberg News -
September 10, 2020
“On the one hand, many older people, including older women, are more visible and powerful than ever before. … On the other hand, the fate of nursing home residents in the coronavirus pandemic — a true debacle — has revealed the persistence of ageism. We’ve seen narratives about the pandemic pit old and young against each other, with the old cast as ‘expendable’ and the young as ‘irresponsible,'” wrote Susan Douglas, professor of communication and media.
The New York Times -
September 9, 2020
Richard Norton, professor of urban and regional planning, and of the program in the environment, says aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather caused by climate change are likely to make water contamination at Michigan beaches worse over time: “We’re going to start getting more and more of the kinds of big storm events that are beyond the design life of these treatment plants. All of this is pointing to the need to reinvest in our environmental pollution control systems.”
MLive -
September 9, 2020
“As many institutions move to remote or hybrid remote/in-person learning environments in response to COVID-19, they cannot forget about racial climate — and must be accountable for attending to new, different ways Black students may experience the climate, particularly those from communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19,” said Tabbye Chavous, director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity, associate vice president for research, and professor of education and psychology.
Inside Higher Ed -
September 9, 2020
“People should not assume that because we’re changing our behavior (because of COVID-19) that we’re going to see a lighter flu season,” said Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology, who is worried that the predominant flu strain this season could be H3N2, which is associated with more complications, hospitalizations and deaths, especially among children, people 65 and older, and people with certain chronic conditions.
The Washington Post
