In the News
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March 24, 2025
“There has been a decline in housing production relative to household formation over the last several decades. … In recent years, the increased cost of material and land, combined with the lack of skilled construction labor, has exacerbated an already existing trend,” said Sharon Haar, professor of architecture and urban planning.
This Old House -
March 24, 2025
“The foods that we see that people show the common signs of addiction with are those ultra-processed foods that are high in both carbohydrates and fats in a way that we don’t see in nature, and at levels that we don’t see in nature. There’s evidence that especially that combo of carbs and fats has the superadditive amplification of the reward system and the brain,” said Ashley Gearhardt, professor of psychology.
NBC News -
March 21, 2025
“Hezbollah is trying to take advantage of the new government’s weakness in Syria, but the group itself is in a precarious position. It has suffered major setbacks from Israeli strikes, the fall of Assad, and now new adversaries in Syria,” said Javed Ali, clinical associate professor of public policy, about the Shiite terrorist force backed by Iran.
Fox News -
March 21, 2025
“It’s a very bad idea. We don’t know anything about how AI would make such decisions (including how it was trained and the underlying algorithms), the data on which such decisions would be based, or why we should believe it is trustworthy,” said Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy, on DOGE chief Elon Musk’s push to use artificial intelligence to decide which government employees should be fired.
The Economic Times (India) -
March 21, 2025
“It’s the move fast and break things approach, without really thinking through the implications of a range of different choices you are making. So they tell everyone to return to work without considering the fact that they don’t have the space to accommodate everyone,” said Pam Herd, professor of public policy, about the Trump administration’s return-to-office order for hundreds of thousands of federal employees after years of working from home.
Reuters -
March 20, 2025
One of the best ways to trick yourself into falling asleep is to try not to sleep. By doing the opposite — a phenomenon called paradoxical intention — you’ll unintentionally doze off at some point, says Deirdre Conroy, clinical professor of psychiatry: “In your mind, you’re actually trying to stay up but sleep will eventually kick in.” Cathy Goldstein, clinical professor of neurology, says that good sleep starts in the morning: “Set your alarm and get light first thing — this doesn’t just cue your body when wake time is, but also when sleep onset should occur.”
Buzzfeed -
March 20, 2025
Feeling tired at the “wrong” time is not indicative of willpower or lack thereof, but a sign that someone may be dealing with an issue such as bad sleep hygiene, disturbed sleep throughout the night, or an underlying sleep disorder, says Sonja Schuetz, clinical associate professor of neurology: “It’s very common that people are sleep deprived without being aware of that, because their body needs at least nine hours to feel really rested.”
CNN -
March 20, 2025
“From a face validity perspective, it seems a little bit strange that putting this device between your body and your sleeping surface, for instance, would make a massive change in your closeness to the electrical current of the Earth,” said Greta Raglan, clinical associate professor of psychiatry, about the use of grounding mats, bed sheets and other electromagnetic devices to help improve sleep and health.
New York Magazine -
March 19, 2025
“These are fully functional galaxies, but they’re about a millionth of the size of the Milky Way. It’s like having a perfectly functional human being that’s the size of a grain of rice,” said Eric Bell, professor of astronomy, who along with lead researcher Marcos Arias and others discovered a collection of tiny galaxies located roughly 3 million light-years away that includes the smallest and faintest galaxy ever seen.
Space.com -
March 19, 2025
Federal efforts to force hospitals to be more transparent about their pricing may not have much impact, said Denise Anthony, professor of health management and policy. “There is evidence that even when clear pricing data is available to patients, they don’t use it to move to a different hospital/provider. There are all kinds of reasons people go to the same hospital despite lower prices somewhere else — physician, history, quality, convenience, etc.”
NBC News
