In the News
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November 5, 2025
Research by Daphne Armstrong, assistant professor of accounting, found that the presence of IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers in communities, many of which are closing during the government shutdown, are associated with a 4% to 13% increase in entrepreneurship, translating to the creation of about 10 businesses. “Openings associate with increases in entrepreneurship, and closings associate with decreases,” she said.
Forbes -
November 5, 2025
New research shows that tides and glacial earthquakes caused record ice loss at Hektoria Glacier. If the same processes were to occur at larger Antarctic glaciers, they could rapidly accelerate the retreat of ice sheets and raise global sea levels, said Jeremy Bassis, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering. The study is “telling us that those worst-case scenarios are maybe not as implausible as some people might have thought,” he said.
Science -
November 5, 2025
“Before the pandemic, we did see bottle returns eroding a bit, so there’s certainly some assumptions that the dime just isn’t worth what a dime was in the ’70s,” said Shelie Miller, professor of environment and sustainability, who found redemption rates on bottle returns in Michigan are down 18% since 2019. SEAS graduate student Tamanna Sengupta said: “Worldwide, there is general agreement that 10 cents is the best benchmark … So maybe Michigan should be looking at other opportunities to modernize the bottle bill before we start looking at the dime.”
Detroit Free Press -
November 5, 2025
Medicare officials have proposed eliminating coverage for minimally invasive, non-opioid treatment options for chronic pain disorders. “Unless (they) want more Americans to be unable to work, reliant on opioids and suffering in pain, it’s hard to understand their motivation here. Eliminating peripheral nerve block coverage will not result in meaningful cost savings … and may lead to more frequent emergency department and clinic visits,” wrote Tricia Pendergast, resident in anesthesiology.
STAT10 -
November 5, 2025
Tales of the mysterious chupacabra have incited fear and fascination in Latin America since the 1990s. But in almost all cases, the canine-like monsters have turned out to be coyotes suffering from very severe cases of mange, a painful skin disease that can cause animals’ hair to fall out and skin to shrivel. “I don’t think we need to look any further or to think that there’s yet some other explanation for these observations,” said Barry OConnor, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology.
National Geographic -
November 4, 2025
“The survey offers powerful insights into some of the hopes and concerns shaping this historic election. We’re seeing variation in who feels motivated to vote,” said Yucheng Fan, data manager for the Detroit Metro Area Communities Study, which found that Detroiters’ levels of optimism about the city is tied to the likelihood of voting in the mayoral election. Jeffrey Morenoff, professor of sociology and public policy who co-leads DMACS, said, “We see notable differences by age, race and city council district, which underscore the importance of capturing the diversity of Detroiters’ views.”
Detroit Metro Times -
November 4, 2025
“They’re very, very hard cases to win,” said Margo Schlanger, professor of law, after a group of Massachusetts prison inmates won a $6 million excessive force lawsuit against corrections officers — the kind of case that carries a high burden of proof, requiring plaintiffs to show that the officers’ conduct was malicious.
The New York Times -
November 4, 2025
“Too often, relationships between universities and companies are framed as transactions. One side licenses technology or buys a service; the other delivers it,” wrote James DeVaney, executive director of the Center for Academic Innovation. “A true partnership is something else entirely — it’s a shared commitment to learning, discovery and value creation that benefits both sides and, most importantly, the learners we serve.”
Inside Higher Ed -
November 3, 2025
Hyperrealistic active shooter drills in schools do not help increase preparedness or make students take them more seriously, says Sarah Stilwell, research investigator at the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention: “There’s absolutely no correlation with that. It can cause unnecessary fear and anxiety … according to our research, there was no potential positive benefit.” IFIP researcher Justin Heinze, associate professor of public health, says “there really is no evidence to suggest that simulation elements … improve students’ or staff’s perceptions of preparedness.”
The Trace -
November 3, 2025
Money that immigrants send to their families in their home countries dwarf the size of official foreign aid that the U.S. spends on things like economic development, health and humanitarian assistance, says Dean Yang, professor of economics and public policy: “The anti-immigration actions of the Trump administration are likely to have an even bigger negative effect on the economic development of the world’s poor countries” than the slashing of international aid.
National Public Radio
