In the News
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April 21, 2026
“Global warming is supercharging El Niños and the atmospheric warming they drive. We saw this in 2016 and more recently in 2023. We’re likely to see another jump in global temperatures if a strong El Niño develops later this year as being predicted,” said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability.
Earth.com -
April 21, 2026
Record-high deaths in ICE custody in fiscal 2026 took place in a system with “longstanding failures” compounded by Trump administration policies “that rapidly expanded detention to historically high levels, weakened oversight mechanisms, and worsened conditions of confinement,” co-wrote Michele Heisler, professor of internal medicine and public health.
NBC News -
April 20, 2026
Although opioid prescriptions have declined dramatically, more than 4 million Americans still have a long-term prescription, putting them at ongoing risk of overdose, according to Thuy Nguyen, assistant professor of health management and policy, and Pooja Lagisetty, associate professor of internal medicine. “Most clinicians are likely to care for someone using prescription opioids for pain, highlighting the pressing importance for investing in better treatment models for pain,” Lagisetty said.
U.S. News & World Report -
April 20, 2026
“The most corrosive myth in today’s climate discourse … is the belief that because individual actions are small, they do not add up to anything meaningful,” wrote Alexander Rabin, clinical associate professor of internal medicine. “Modest substitutions in how we use energy help to rewire what feels normal. Energy stops feeling like an abstraction and more like something you actively choose to use … turning down the thermostat, buying a more efficient appliance, eating less beef or flying less.”
Planet Detroit -
April 20, 2026
This spring’s rampant flooding across Northern Michigan is part of a pattern of increasingly variable precipitation fueled by climate change, said Drew Gronewold, associate professor of environment and sustainability and of civil and environmental engineering. “The warming atmosphere can carry and transport more moisture, more water. So, this water that’s getting dumped on us is being carried by a bigger bucket in the sky,” he said.
MLive -
April 17, 2026
“I’m so frustrated. I feel like the people who are getting hurt are the babies that are getting delivered. There’s very good data that the better prenatal care you get during pregnancy, getting early care, identifying risk factors, getting treated, improves outcomes,” said Katherine Gold, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, who is the medical director for a free prenatal clinic in Detroit.
Michigan Public -
April 17, 2026
Talking to ourselves helps regulate our emotions and clarify what we want to say to others, said Ethan Kross, professor of psychology and of management and organizations: “Our ‘inner voice’ lets us keep information active in our minds … simulate and plan for the future, motivate and control yourself, and weave together narratives that help us understand who we are.”
USA Today -
April 17, 2026
Caregivers in midlife tend to feel less stressed and burdened than younger adults who are caregivers, said Kira Birditt, research professor at the Institute for Social Research: “Plenty of research shows emotional regulation improves over the life course … (Middle-aged people) are more prone to cognitively reappraise a situation and choose not to get upset.”
TIME -
April 16, 2026
COVID broadened the coalition of anti-vaccine activists that had long been dominated by women by mobilizing men and right-leaning individuals who opposed masking and stay-at-home requirements, said Anna Kirkland, professor of women’s and gender studies. Now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time anti-vaccine advocate, is the country’s top health official, “he is reaching a lot of people, including people who haven’t paid much attention before” to vaccines.
Politico -
April 16, 2026
“For many people, the dismantling of DEI at U-M was a betrayal of the core institutional values that U-M purports to hold,” wrote Kevin Cokley, professor of psychology. “U-M’s pretext for ending DEI has been knocked down by a federal court, and there is no legal impediment to bring back DEI programming … Doing so will be a step in the right direction toward restoring confidence in our leadership and being a true embodiment of U-M’s slogan, “Leaders and best.”
Detroit Free Press
