A ‘diary’ unlocked: Stamps professor’s coming-of-age story put on film
(NPR, August 13, 2015)
Graphic artist and U-M professor Phoebe Gloeckner had an unconventional upbringing. When she was 15, she lost her virginity to an older man—who also happened to be her mother’s boyfriend. Gloeckner chronicled the experience in her teenage diaries, which she put aside and then revisited when she found them decades later. Gloeckner tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross: “To hear this child’s voice, kind of, talking to me as an adult, it felt like it was crying out to be heard.” More

States are racing to attract self-driving car industry. How does Michigan compare?
(Michigan Radio, “Stateside,” August 13, 2015)
MCity” is the 32-acre replica suburb designed to let researchers test self-driving cars in real-world conditions, safely away from pedestrians and other vehicles. Its recent opening in Ann Arbor is a clear sign that Michigan intends to be a leader in developing self-driving cars. More

Little big black hole is supermassive oxymoron
(Discovery News, August 11, 2015)
Astronomers have discovered the smallest supermassive black hole lurking in the center of a dwarf galaxy around 340 million light-years away. Small it may be, but it could help to unlock some pretty hefty black hole mysteries. More

What you need to know about toxic algae blooms
(USA Today, August 7, 2015)
A massive toxic algal bloom thriving in the warm water along the West Coast may be the largest ever recorded, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists. The bloom stretches 40 miles wide and in some places is 650 feet deep. It runs from California to Alaska, and has shuttered lucrative fisheries in several coastal states. Across the country, from the Chesapeake Bay to the Great Lakes, blooms are popping up and wreaking havoc on wildlife and local economies. But the causes of the harmful algae blooms vary depending on the location of the body of water. Don Scavia, the director of University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute, spoke to USA TODAY Network about what massive algae blooms are, and why scientists think they will only become more prominent. More

University of Michigan unveils state of the art medical library
(MLive, August 1, 2015)
The University of Michigan is nearly ready to reopen the school’s Taubman Health Sciences Library, which has undergone a massive $55 million renovation. The newly redone library is vastly different from its former self in many ways. For one, it doesn’t actually have any books. Instead there are computers, classrooms, collaborative spaces and a virtual cadaver. More

U-M sets school record with nearly 52,000 freshman applicants
(MLive, August 13, 2015)
If you took every high school graduate who applied for admission to the University of Michigan and put them in the Big House, they would fill nearly half of the stadium’s 107,000-plus seats. According to U-M officials, the school’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions processed and reviewed 51,760 applications for admission, a 4 percent increase over the previous year’s record of 49,731 applications. This year’s total number of applications set a U-M record for the ninth consecutive year. More

Clean energy expected to power up more jobs in Michigan
(Crain’s Detroit Business, August 16, 2015)
The wind and solar energy industries in Michigan are expected to continue steady growth and add hundreds of jobs over the next decade — regardless of what state legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder come up with in a final energy bill package this year. That’s one belief shared by executives of utilities, renewable energy companies, and of environmental groups alike. More