The Tappan Oak: A tale of life, death, and rebirth

On a sad day in November, U-M foresters felled the Diag’s decayed ‘Tappan Oak,’ so named by the Class of 1858. But thanks to a solitary student, that is not the end of the story.
-
U-M experts: We need to emphasize AI’s societal impacts over tech advances
Artificial intelligence is all over the news lately. And for good or ill, it has implications for us all. Faculty experts who’ve studied AI’s rise across business, society and the culture at large, say we need to be less in awe of the tech and more focused on the risks and benefits.
-
A match made on Broadway: From roommates to castmates
As a pair of married ghosts in the Broadway touring company of ‘Beetlejuice,’ college roommates and 2011 SMTD graduates Will Burton and Britney Coleman come to the stage with that ‘thing’ so essential to musical comedy: Chemistry.
-
Adieu, Elbel Field
This nondescript patch of land in the heart of Ann Arbor has been home base for varsity athletes, amateur players, marching musicians, and many others during the last seven decades. In August, the field will move to make space for a $500-million complex of student residence halls.
-
AI could run a million microbial experiments per year
An artificial intelligence system enables robots to conduct autonomous scientific experiments — as many as 10,000 per day — potentially driving a drastic leap forward in the pace of discovery in areas from medicine to agriculture to environmental science.
-
Evidence of conscious-like activity in the dying brain
Reports of near-death experiences — with tales of white light, visits from departed loved ones, hearing voices —capture our imagination and are deeply engrained in our cultural landscape. Now a new study reveals intriguing brain wave patterns in comatose patients.
-
Building curious machines — and finding shipwrecks
We know more about Mars than our own oceans and lakes. Artificial intelligence could change all that.– by combining robotics, naval architecture and computer science to build a software system that can trawl through sonar data much as a human would.
Columns
-
President's Message
Remembering Zell, celebrating Dearborn
Santa J. Ono celebrates achievements at UM-Dearborn and mourns the loss of U-M benefactor Sam Zell. -
Editor's Blog
What’s all this about tin shacks and trapezoids?
Working on a college campus in the summer drives home that essential truth: Nothing lasts forever. Or does it? -
Climate Blue
And as a reasonable man…
Reasonable use is a term frequently used in energy policy. But what does it really mean? -
Health Yourself
No bones about it
If you are older than 50, you need to know about osteoporosis.
‘Allow this place to be your haven’
Since its founding in 1909, U-M’s Biological Station in Pellston, Mich., has hosted students and researchers of all stripes, from natural scientists to future CEOs to aspiring poets. Immersive, magical, and fondly referred to as “Bug Camp,” the site features 50 one-room cabins in the woods. And thanks to their graffiti-loving residents all these years, no two are the same. “A Cabin in the Woods” at heritage.umich.edu details the cabins’ fascinating history. Enjoy this preview of images by Daryl Marshke of Michigan Photography.