ANN ARBOR—In a step toward home-helper robots that can quickly navigate unpredictable and disordered spaces, University of Michigan researchers have developed an algorithm that lets machines perceive their environments orders of magnitude faster than similar previous approaches.

ANN ARBOR—Falls are a leading cause of hospitalizations and emergency room visits among older adults, but until now, little was known about the relationship between falls and hospital readmissions. A new University of Michigan study found that in people 65 or older, fall-related injuries within a month of hospital discharge ranked as high as the Read more

FACULTY Q&A ANN ARBOR—A national survey across hundreds of college campuses does much to paint a picture of student mental health, which can then guide campus support programming. And now the researchers behind the Healthy Minds Network want to immediately put resources into the hands of students who take that survey. With technical expertise from Read more

ANN ARBOR—An international consortium of scientists has analyzed protein-coding genes from nearly 46,000 people, linking rare DNA alterations to type 2 diabetes. The study, one of the largest known of its type, includes data from people of European, African American, Hispanic/Latino, East Asian and South Asian ancestries. From this large cohort—roughly 21,000 individuals with type Read more

ANN ARBOR—In 1972, Easter Island, called Rapa Nui, famous for its moai statues, offered a new wonder: the discovery of the drug rapamycin. Over the past three decades, rapamycin, which was isolated from soil bacteria, has been applied as an immuno-suppressor in a multitude of ways, including to coat coronary stents and to reduce the Read more

ANN ARBOR—When thinking about ways to end global hunger, many scholars focus too narrowly on increasing crop yields while overlooking other critical aspects of the food system. That’s one conclusion from a University of Michigan-led research team that reviewed recent scholarly papers discussing the United Nations goal of ending hunger and malnutrition worldwide by 2030. Read more

ANN ARBOR—Working mothers who have more than one job have a higher risk of depression than those who don’t, say University of Michigan researchers. According to the U-M study, working multiple jobs is linked to a 3-4 percentage points increase in the probability of depression among a sample of low-income working moms. The researchers say Read more

ANN ARBOR—It was at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health that Thomas Francis Jr., one of America’s most accomplished virologists and epidemiologists, wrote his groundbreaking paper on “original antigenic sin,” arguing that a person’s first flu exposure affects subsequent influenza exposures. Aubree Gordon, U-M assistant professor of epidemiology, hopes to continue Francis’ work. Read more