Multimedia Features | The University Record

August 4, 2021

Science for Tomorrow

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced most schools to take their classes online, the education staff at the U-M Museum of Natural History decided to send hands-on science into the homes of students. Staff members assembled more than 1,200 science kits with materials to conduct two experiments each. This video explains how the kits accompanied a virtual Science for Tomorrow program that was in lieu of the museum’s traditional on campus program that serves up to 150 students each year.

Read more about how the program aided three middle schools

July 28, 2021

Nature-inspired sculpture

“A Garden of Earthy Delights,” an installation of ceramic sculptures inspired by the habitats of the Great Lakes and the plants that grow in them, is now on view at U-M’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens. These are some of the 10 sculptures that are part of a collaborative exhibition marking the Ann Arbor Potters Guild’s 70th anniversary. (Photos by Jeri Hollister)

(Steeple) chasing Olympic glory

Doctoral student Mason Ferlic is among the 2020 Summer Olympics competitors with U-M ties. The Ph.D. student in statistics and LSA graduate instructor is shown here as he qualified for the U.S. men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase team recently in Eugene, Oregon. Before arriving in Tokyo, Ferlic is making a pit stop in Hawaii for a last week of preparation. The Summer Olympics will run from July 23-Aug. 8. (Photo courtesy of Mason Ferlic)

Read more about Mason Ferlic’s Olympic journey

July 14, 2021

Solving a mystery

A team of biologists and engineers used tiny sensors to confirm that an endangered land snail on the island of Tahiti avoided the invasive and predacious rosy wolfsnail by spending more time in the sun. The project is the first of its kind and was made possible by extremely small, lightweight sensing computers developed by David Blaauw, professor of electrical engineering and computer science. This video explains the project and collaboration among U-M biologists and engineers.

COVID collection

Student films. Journal entries. Tributes to hospital workers. The Bentley Historical Library’s COVID-19 collection includes 265 digital items from more than 150 donors. Archivists are still collecting submissions, with an eye now on how the pandemic continues to touch people’s lives more than a year after it started.

Read more about the Bentley’s COVID-19 collection

July 1, 2021

PrivacyMic

Microphones are perhaps the most common electronic sensor in the world, with an estimated 320 million listening for our commands in the world’s smart speakers. The trouble is that they’re capable of hearing everything else, too. But a team of U-M researchers has developed a system that can inform a smart home — or listen for the signal that would turn on a smart speaker — without eavesdropping on audible sound. In this video, researchers discuss how PrivacyMic works.

Read more about this smart speaker that will not eavesdrop

June 25, 2021

Meet Big Flappo Jr.

The peregrine falcon chick that recently hatched in a nesting box on the roof of North Quad has a large wingspan to live up to a new name: Big Flappo Jr. The winning name was selected from dozens of suggestions through a recent online naming contest after the U-M community was invited to participate. (Jody Mathias, Environment, Health & Safety)

Read more about the selection process that led to Big Flappo Jr.

June 17, 2021

Mcity ABC’s

U-M’s Mcity Test Facility has developed the “Mcity ABC Test,” an independent and standardized way for automakers and state and federal regulators to validate the safety of Level 4 automated vehicles inside a closed test track, before they’re tested or deployed on public roads. In this video, Mcity researchers explain how the process works.

Shadowy sunrise

Those who were up just after sunrise June 10 had the opportunity to witness a stunning spectacle in the form of a partial solar eclipse. The phenomenon occurs when some or all of the sun’s light is blocked as the moon orbits between the sun and the Earth. This photo was taken as the partially eclipsed sun rose over the Ann Arbor campus. (Photo by Daryl Marshke, Michigan Photography)

June 8, 2021

Those bloomin’ peonies

Zachary Wilseck, a neuroradiology fellow at Michigan Medicine, helps his daughter Delta sniff a peony bloom as his wife, Danielle, and daughter Brielle look on. The Wilsecks were among the many recent visitors to the Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden, which currently is in peak bloom, and expected to continue through mid-June. The garden is free and open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset. View a gallery of photos from the garden. (Photo by Daryl Marshke, Michigan Photography)

Read more about the Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden