Research News

  1. Hungry for more: Cancer, metabolism, and food

    Metabolism pathways make tumors sensitive or resistant to treatments. A collaborative group of U-M scientists is leveraging these avenues to explore the growing foundation of new potential therapies.

  2. Mood Lifters: Think of it like ‘Weight Watchers’ for mental health

    This proven and peer-led mental wellness program, created by a U-M scientist (and WW success story), seeks to help people who shun or can’t afford traditional therapy. Like the popular weight-loss program, it’s community-based, inexpensive, and — best of all — scaling up.

  3. Dementia’s devastating financial and family impact

    People diagnosed with dementia saw their out-of-pocket spending for health care more than double, and their net worth decline by more than 60 percent, within the first eight years of being diagnosed, according to U-M researchers. Peers without dementia didn’t see much change in either financial measure in that time.

  4. Neuroscientist Huda Akil wins National Medal of Science

    The U-M neuroscientist is the eighth faculty member to receive the nation’s highest scientific honor. Her work contributes to the understanding of depression, anxiety, and addiction by delving into the genes, proteins, and cells that help govern human emotions and moods, and responses to pleasure and pain.

  5. Hiss-toric first: U-M museum’s 70,000 snake specimens form world’s largest research collection

    The U-M Museum of Zoology recently acquired tens of thousands of scientifically priceless reptile and amphibian specimens, including roughly 30,000 snakes preserved in alcohol-filled glass jars.

  6. Space weather disrupts nocturnal bird migration, study finds

    Birds and other animals rely on Earth’s magnetic field for long-distance navigation during seasonal migrations. U-M researchers are now learning how periodic disruptions of the planet’s magnetic field, caused by solar flares and other energetic outbursts, affect the reliability of those biological navigation systems.

  7. Tumor-destroying sound waves receive FDA approval for liver treatment in humans

    Technique developed at U-M provides a noninvasive alternative to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments for cancer. A human trial underway since 2021 at the Rogel Cancer Center and other locations demonstrates the technology’s ability to meet the testing’s primary effectiveness and safety targets.

  8. New $81M NIH grant will help US answer urgent need for better dementia care

    National Dementia Workforce Study will survey those who work in homes, hospitals, clinics, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes, yielding data to improve care and inform policy.

  9. Are you there, AI? It’s me, God

    As artificial intelligence apps such as ChatGPT have proliferated, so have chatbots with a religious bent. In this video and Q&A, Webb Keane, U-M professor of anthropology, shares his thoughts about so-called “godbots,” and the danger of giving moral authority to artificial intelligence.