University of Michigan glassblowers Harald Eberhart and Roy Wentz produce one-of-a-kind tools for cutting edge research.

A team of Ross MBAs and their startup, Husk Insulation, won the $200,000 MIT Clean Energy Prize, a national student competition. Husk Insulation is poised to convert agricultural waste (including rice husk ash) into thin, high-grade, and affordable insulation for the refrigeration industry. The result will be super-efficient cooling.

Arthur Thurnau endowed one of the University of Michigan’s most prestigious faculty awards. But we know almost nothing about the man, his life or his reasons for giving.

Plus: Video of Thurnau Professors

University of Michigan students travel to Patagonia in Chile for the educational trip of a lifetime

Ricardo Montalban was one of the most well-known Mexican-born Hollywood actors of all time. But for his grandson Alex Montalbán, a senior at the University of Michigan, the perception of this iconic actor is much more complex and filled with nostalgia.

How is the University of Michigan handling the financial meltdown and recession? President Mary Sue Coleman describes the institution’s condition and strategic thinking.

Did you hear the one about the academic researchers who got together with cartoonists and Daily Show writers to try to figure out how humor works? It sounds like a quick way to strangle comedy, but U-M is at the forefront of the not-quite-a-trend toward humor studies.

Plus: Got something funny to say? Tell your (clean!) jokes on our letters page.

The U-M Museum of Art opens its gorgeous new wing on March 28, and you can tour it in the slideshow above. Here we remember the sculpture that started it all. Acquired in 1861, and still one of UMMA’s most beloved artworks, ‘Nydia’ was the product of a hometown boy who made it big in the art world.

Professor seeks to unify themes from different perspectives, which he hopes will “generate new ways of thinking about things.”