Featured Articles

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  Mammals on the menu: Snake dietary diversity exploded after mass extinction 66 million years ago

  Modern snakes evolved from ancestors that lived side by side with the dinosaurs and that likely fed mainly on insects and lizards.

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• Poverty Solutions

  

  Child Tax Credit providing critical help, but not reaching more than 1 in 10 eligible families

  While most eligible families received the first two monthly Child Tax Credit payments and used the money to cover the costs of essential household expenses, a new survey indicates that more than 1 in 10 CTC-eligible families have not received the credit and were either uncertain about how to claim it or did not know Read more

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• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

  

  African Americans bear the brunt of negative health outcomes of menthol cigarettes, U-M study shows

  African Americans represent 12% of the U.S. population, but carried 41% of all menthol-smoking-related premature deaths in the United States between 1980 and 2018, according to a new study researchers believe is the first to quantify the impact menthol cigarettes have had in Black communities across the country. “It is well known that tobacco companies, Read more

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• Poverty Solutions

  

  Latino Michiganders: Key findings from U-M Poverty Solutions

  As National Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates the culture and contributions of Latinos in the U.S., comes to a close, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan highlights key data from its research that relates to Latinos living in Michigan. 33% The percentage of Latinos in Detroit who would feel more safe with an increased Read more

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  Self-compassion helps leaders—and their workers, according to U-M management expert

  When leaders actively practice compassion toward themselves, it benefits both them and their employees. That doubly rewarding finding comes in a new study co-authored by Sue Ashford, a professor of management and organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. “We tend to think of leadership as a universally good thing, so we Read more

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  Mindful breathing for pain control: Like yin and yang

  It’s long been known that meditative mindful breathing helps with various health conditions, including pain. To that end, researchers at the University of Michigan compared two types of meditative breathing–traditional mindful breathing and virtual reality, 3D-guided mindful breathing–to reduce pain. They found that each lessened pain by modulating the somatosensory cortex, a region of the Read more

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• Planet Blue / Sustainability

  

  At the halfway place: The University of Michigan Biological Station leads international recognition effort as UNESCO biosphere region

  “Obtawaing” is the Anishinaabemowin word for “at the halfway place.” It was the name for the center of the Odawa village that used to stretch 16 miles along northern Lake Michigan, near the town of Harbor Springs and the hamlets Good Hart and Cross Village, says Frank Ettawageshik, currently the executive director of the United Read more

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  Study suggests ground-dwelling mammals survived mass extinction 66 million years ago

  The miles-wide asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago wiped out nearly all the dinosaurs and roughly three-quarters of the planet’s plant and animal species. But some creatures survived, including certain rat-sized mammals that would later diversify into the more than 6,000 mammal species that exist today, including humans. Why did those mammals persist Read more

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• Coronavirus / Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

  

  Wayne County recovery expected to be strong but uneven, according to U-M economic study

  Michigan’s most populous county has recovered most of its employment losses from the start of the pandemic, though the economic comeback varies widely among the kinds of jobs and between some of its more affluent suburbs and the city of Detroit, according to a University of Michigan study. Wayne County is expected to nearly recover Read more

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  Resurrecting quasicrystals: Findings make an exotic material commercially viable

  A class of materials that once looked as if it might revolutionize everything from solar cells to frying pans—but fell out of favor in the early 2000s—could be poised for commercial resurrection, findings from a University of Michigan-led research team suggest. Published in Nature Communications, the study demonstrates a way to make much larger quasicrystals Read more

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• Poverty Solutions

  

  Federal unemployment money during pandemic boosted health care spending

  Emergency federal dollars given to the unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic bolstered health care spending as jobless rates skyrocketed, a new University of Michigan study found. But the negative consequences of unemployment and moderating effects of federal income support were greatest in states that did not adopt Medicaid expansion. The study, published in the current Read more

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• Planet Blue / Sustainability

  

  New guide helps Michigan communities plan for solar energy

  As Michigan utilities look to meet clean energy regulations and transition to renewables, a new guide is available to help communities across the state address solar-energy-system, or SES, siting within their planning policies and zoning regulations. “The majority of zoning ordinances in the state are silent about solar energy systems,” said Sarah Mills, senior project Read more

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• Arts

  

  Using art in social work education and practice

  Each piece of vintage luggage in the installation performance tells a piece of Rogério Pinto’s story. Crafted into sculptures, suitcases and trunks recount a period when he was consumed by the loss of his three-year-old sister Marília and his family’s struggles after her death.

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