In the News
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July 30, 2025
“The complaint is full of sound and fury but lacks legal merit. It shouldn’t intimidate a news organization with good lawyers. The Wall Street Journal has those,” said Leonard Niehoff, professor from practice of law, on Donald Trump’s recent lawsuit against the newspaper after it published a story alleging that Trump wrote a “bawdy” birthday letter to financier and deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
The Washington Post -
July 30, 2025
The GOP’s recent tax and spending law shifts costs of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to states and makes it harder for people to qualify by expanding existing work requirements. “People are going to have to rely on cheaper food, which we know is more likely to be processed, less healthy. It’s, ‘Oh, we care about health — but for the rich people,’” said Kate Bauer, associate professor of nutritional sciences.
CNN -
July 30, 2025
A recent study shows that neurotic traits in robots can make them seem more relatable. Lionel Robert, professor of robotics and information, says while this could potentially be useful for some applications, there’s been very little research on neuroticism in robots: “Imagine if your autonomous vehicle was neurotic. That’s not a trait you would be happy with, right? You get in the car, and it’s just not something you would like.”
National Public Radio -
July 23, 2025
“It has become routine for Trump to fire people in independent agencies or civil servants, or to impound funds and even close agencies. … While the courts are not making definitive rulings on such powers, they are allowing Trump to exercise them. Maybe they will clip Trump’s wings later, but in the meantime enormous damage will be done and undoing that damage will be extraordinarily difficult,” said Donald Moynihan, professor of public policy.
The New York Times -
July 23, 2025
“For a plant that can’t move, being able to create a home for the ants so that they give services is such an incredibly cool innovation. It’s like using this amazing built-in army,” said Marjorie Weber, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, about plants called epiphytes that grow on trees and have a unique internal structure that allows rival ant colonies to coexist within the plants themselves.
Smithsonian Magazine -
July 23, 2025
Chad Ellimoottil, associate professor of urology, said it’s difficult to determine whether partnerships between telehealth doctors and pharmaceutical companies are inappropriate or reflect better access for patients who need medications: “It’s hard to draw conclusions without access to the underlying data, which is part of the problem. There is a lack of transparency with direct-to-consumer telehealth.”
The Washington Post -
July 23, 2025
“We tell all our patients, ‘You should do some sort of walking program to keep that calf pump strong. The worst thing you can do is stand on your feet for long periods of time and allow the blood to pool,'” said Andrea Obi, associate professor of vascular surgery, about patients with chronic venous insufficiency, a circulatory condition in which the veins in the leg have difficulty returning blood back to the heart due to damaged valves.
ABC News -
July 23, 2025
“The renovation controversy is pretty clearly manufactured faux outrage to try to justify Powell’s for-cause removal. Even though it’s obviously pretextual, this is uncharted legal territory, and it’s anyone’s guess how a legal case involving the Fed chair would be decided,” said Jeremy Kress, associate professor of business law, on Donald Trump’s threats to remove Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, accusing him of mismanaging a multibillion-dollar update to its Washington headquarters.
The New York Times -
July 16, 2025
“Misinformation is wildly disseminated, not only on social media, but unfortunately now by top government officials,” said Pamela Rockwell, clinical professor of family medicine, who believes that false or inaccurate information is the No. 1 reason why people aren’t getting vaccinated. “But the state of Michigan is holding firm to following evidence-based, strong data-supported recommendations to keep our kids and communities safe.”
The Detroit News -
July 16, 2025
“We’re really moving backwards on this issue. This would be something that Congress could very rapidly fix if they were motivated to do so,” said Betsy Fisher, lecturer of law, on the Trump administration’s rescission of protections for stateless people in the U.S., who are “vulnerable to being deported and experiencing … loss of community, connections, legal identity.”
CNN
