• Coronavirus
    Man looking into the distance with COVID-19 on his mind. Image credit: iStock

    Lockdowns during early pandemic saved lives, but not a go-to strategy moving forward

    The U.S. pandemic lockdown in 2020 caused a $2.3 trillion economic downturn and split the nation politically, and now some European nations are locking down again as Omicron surges through the global population. But do these drastic measures save lives? Are they worth massive job and income losses?

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  • Planet Blue / Sustainability / Poverty Solutions
    Concept image featuring pollution and data elements superimposed on an urban landscape. Image credit: iStock

    Lack of information related to pollution exposure key issue for low-income households

    A lack of information is an often overlooked but important cause of pollution exposure among low-income households or communities of color, according to University of Michigan researchers. The researchers say the disproportionate exposure of pollution on those vulnerable groups is widely studied and known, as are such causes as income inequality, discrimination and the decision Read more

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  • Coronavirus
    Floor sticker reading "Please help by keeping a safe distance of 6 feet." Image credit: Elizabeth McDaniel, Unsplash

    Keep your distance: Feeling threatened, informed about COVID-19 predicted adequate spacing

    If the COVID-19 virus mutates beyond Omicron, getting people to practice social distancing will require more than threats about long-term health issues or death. Older nonstudents maintained safe distances because they received accurate information and felt threatened about contracting the virus, according to a new University of Michigan study that looked at U.S. trends during Read more

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  • Coronavirus
    Worried young couple looking at their premature newborn in an incubator. Image credit: iStock

    Neonatal hospitalization leaves parents feeling isolated, separated during pandemic

    Emotional exhaustion, isolation and “nonsensical” visitor and other hospital policies contributed to parents of children hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units feeling less satisfied with care during the early days of COVID-19. Research from the University of Michigan School of Nursing, Marquette University and University of Nebraska Medical Center examined the family impact and financial Read more

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  • Coronavirus
    Virus inside newspaper. Image credit: iStock

    Mainstream news more reliable than social, alternative media for accurate health information

    People may find it difficult to discern the facts about vaccines with the extensive amount of health misinformation disseminated on websites and social media. Accuracy and truth, according to a new study involving three countries, including the United States, has been found by individuals who rely more on mainstream news. Meanwhile, people who depend on Read more

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  • Biosciences / Precision Health
    Fat cells, or adipose cells

    Obesity in mice lowered by increasing effects of key weight-regulating hormone

    Blocking the activity of an enzyme inside fat cells can decrease obesity and related health disorders in mice, according to new research led by the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute. The study, published online Jan. 17 in the journal Nature Metabolism, focused on an enzyme called histone deacetylase 6 (or HDAC6) as an avenue Read more

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  • Senior hands. Image credit: sabinevanerp, Pixabay.com

    High-need older adults in stepfamilies less likely to receive help from children

    As people age and require more care, their partners or adult children are often their front line of caretakers. But as divorce has become more common among older adults, University of Michigan researchers sought to understand the role of stepchildren in providing care for their aging stepparents. The researchers, led by family demographer Sarah Patterson, Read more

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  • M-ARC participant Mallak Anani leads her classroom in Detroit, 2017. Image credit: Angela Marocco

    New U-M certification pathway will help stem teacher shortages

    Exacerbated by the pandemic, dire teacher shortages are becoming a major obstacle to keeping schools open in Michigan. A newly expanded University of Michigan program offers an alternative route to teacher certification to help alleviate the teacher shortage while ensuring the development of quality educators. Michigan Alternate Route to Certification at U-M is expanding its Read more

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  • This electron microscopy image shows the atoms within individual two-dimensional layers of tantalum sulfide before and after the heat treating process. Before heat-treating, all layers are bonded with octahedral geometry. After heat-treating, most layers are bonded with prismatic geometry. The remaining octahedral layers exhibit ordered charged density waves and have switched from conductor to insulator. The white scale bar represents two nanometers. Image credit: Suk Hyun Sun

    Quantum tech: Semiconductor ‘flipped’ to insulator above room temp

    A semiconducting material that performed a quantum “flip” from a conductor to an insulator above room temperature has been developed at the University of Michigan. It potentially brings the world closer to a new generation of quantum devices and ultra-efficient electronics. Observed in two-dimensional layers of tantalum sulfide only a single atom thick, the exotic Read more

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  • Nanoparticles in the shape of a dodecahedron. Image credit: Thi Vo, Glotzer Group, University of Michigan

    Nanotechnology: Theory predicts new type of bond that assembles nanoparticle crystals

    FACULTY Q&A Entropy, a physical property often explained as “disorder,” is revealed as a creator of order with a new bonding theory developed at the University of Michigan and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Engineers dream of using nanoparticles to build designer materials, and the new theory can help guide Read more

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  • The structural illustration shows the triple-double-gyroid, a new crystal structure discovered by the researchers at Northwestern University, the University of Michigan and Argonne National Laboratory. It has never been found in nature or synthesized before. The translucent balls in red, green and blue show the positions of large nanoparticles. Each color represents a double-gyroid structure. The dark grey balls and sticks show the locations of the smaller, electron-like particles in one of three types of sites in which those particles appear. The formation of this new crystal structure is a result of the way electron-like nanoparticles control the number of neighbors around the larger nanoparticles. Image credit: Sangmin Lee, Glotzer Group

    Nanostructures get complex with electron equivalents

    Complex crystals that mimic metals—including a structure for which there is no natural equivalent—can be achieved with a new approach to guiding nanoparticle self-assembly. Rather than just nanoparticles that serve as “atom equivalents,” the crystals produced and interpreted by Northwestern University, University of Michigan and Argonne National Laboratory rely on even smaller particles that simulate Read more

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  • The illustration shows a microplate well in the foreground, while in the background a tested sample receives red laser light and releases twisted blue light. Image credit: Ventsislav Valev, Kylian Valev and Lukas Ohnoutek, University of Bath

    New photonic effect could speed drug development

    Twisted nanoscale semiconductors manipulate light in a new way, researchers at the University of Bath and the University of Michigan have shown. The effect could be harnessed to accelerate the discovery and development of life-saving medicines as well as photonic technologies. Specifically, the photonic effect could help enable rapid development and screening of new antibiotics Read more

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  • A tattered flag of Tonga. Image credit: Nicolas Raymond, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

    Tonga eruption and tsunami: University of Michigan experts available to discuss

    EXPERTS ADVISORY University of Michigan experts are available to discuss Saturday’s undersea volcanic eruption near the Pacific island nation of Tonga and the tsunami that followed. Zack Spica is a seismologist and assistant professor of geophysics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He studies volcanoes using seismic and acoustic waves to learn about Read more

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