Michigan Today

Derek Stevens during 2018 NCAA Tournament. (Image: Sam Morris, Las Vegas News Bureau.)

Winning

Few college hoops fans love March Madness — or a good sportsbook — more than Derek Stevens, BS ’90, owner of the Detroit-themed casino, the D Las Vegas.

Business and Economy

The Fresh Air Camp

From the 1920s through the ’70s, U-M offered a green sanctuary northwest of Ann Arbor as a retreat for kids in need of special attention.
- Heritage/Tradition
New alumni portals for community, education

The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan has expanded its digital universe to make it easier for alumni to connect and learn in person and online.
- Education & Society
Creature feature

U-M biologists capture super-creepy photos of Amazon spiders making meals of frogs, lizards, and small mammals. Beware: It’s the stuff of nightmares. For real.
- Environment
- Research News
Countdown to catastrophe

The pace of today’s global warming outstrips any climate event since the extinction of the dinosaurs, and experts predict by 2158 carbon could reach levels not seen for 56 million years.
- Environment
- Research News
Lecturer brings prison experience to the classroom

UM-Dearborn’s Aaron Kinzel uses his life story and personal experience with incarceration to teach students about the criminal justice system.
- Education & Society
Built by humans, ruled by computers

As algorithmic decision-making becomes more powerful, researchers cite concerns that computers don’t always know — or do — what’s best for we humans.

Columns

Editor's Blog
Podcasters’ delight

Podcasts are popping up all over campus. Here's a handful we suggest for U-M fans who like to listen.
Talking About Movies
Foreign exchange

The awards season may have ended, but Frank Beaver still showers accolades on his favorite foreign films of 2018.
Talking About Books
What goes up

What goes up must come down, states the law of gravity. Nicholas Delbanco asks: Does that apply to literature too?
Health Yourself
Antioxidants and health

Victor Katch celebrates antioxidants and explains how to enhance one’s diet using the colors of the rainbow.

Listen to the latest podcast

In the news

Going to extremes

The winter of 2018-19 has taken its frigid toll on Michigan’s residents, both furry and otherwise. Who remembers slogging through the slush on the Diag? We’d love to hear your horror stories. (Photos by Michigan Photography.)

Guess who?

Obviously, we had to kick off with some low-hanging fruit. But this poor squirrel can’t seem to find any of his own.
Vicious circle

U-M canceled classes Jan. 30-31, 2019, due to subzero temperatures. The lowest temperature ever recorded since U-M began collecting temperature data in 1881 is 23 degrees below zero on Feb. 11, 1885.
Fashion forward

No record-breaking, sub-zero temperatures can possibly get in this fashionista’s way. That pop of purple and our co-ed’s sassy handbag might as well sing, “Let it go.”
Hope springs

The 2019 Farmers’ Almanac billed its 2018-19 winter outlook, which called for (and delivered) “teeth-chattering cold” across much of the nation, as “flake news.” Hmmmmm.
Baby, it’s cold outside

Sure, some radio stations banned Frank Loesser’s 1944 hit, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” this winter, but the temperatures in Michigan continued to plummet. That song, by the way, won an Oscar for best original song from the 1949 film Neptune’s Daughter. Apparently, some modern-day programmers felt the lyrics were out of touch with the #MeToo movement.
Drifters

U-M closed for two days in January 1978 when the area was blanketed with 19 inches of snow. The Michigan Daily reported at the time that students threw an outdoor beach party and spent the day lounging in snowdrifts while the Beach Boys’ “Endless Summer” blared somewhere in the background.
Have wheels, will travel.

We’ve heard of burning rubber. But freezing rubber? This cyclist risks the dangerous road conditions in an attempt to reach his destination faster.
Escape

If students and other visitors are willing to brave the extreme weather to enjoy the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the least U-M can do is clear the path. And don’t forget: It’s warm in there!
I’m walkin’ here

The undead White Walkers in the HBO series Game of Thrones seem to favor the sub-zero temperatures much more than the average U-M student.
See ya

The myth that U-M classes can’t be canceled because a distraught Law School student sued the University for a day’s tuition following a snow day in the 1970s is unfounded. “Although there has been a long-standing rumor about such a suit, the University’s Office of the General Counsel has not found record of it,” University spokesman Dave Reid told the Michigan Daily in 2006. Do you know differently?

Menu

Columns

Listen to the latest podcast

In the news

Going to extremes

Guess who?

Vicious circle

Fashion forward

Hope springs

Baby, it’s cold outside

Drifters

Have wheels, will travel.

Escape

I’m walkin’ here

See ya