Innovation

  1. Brain with block M logo

    When will cars drive themselves?

    As you think about your next vehicle purchase, you may be considering GM’s Super Cruise or Ford’s BlueCruise. Perhaps you’ve got your eye on a Tesla. Before you head to the dealer, listen as Henry Liu, director of Mcity and the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation, explains your autonomous options.

  2. University of Michigan researchers are exploring the possibilities of AI, developing tools that can identify whether a dog’s bark conveys playfulness or aggression.The same models can also glean other information from animal vocalizations, such as the animal’s age, breed and sex. Here, a dog appears to speak into a microphone.

    Using AI to decode dog vocalizations

    U-M researchers are exploring the possibilities of AI, developing tools that can identify whether a dog’s bark conveys playfulness or aggression. The same models can also glean other information from animal vocalizations, such as the animal’s age, breed, and sex.

  3. Workers in hardhats examine the inner workings of a gigantic telescope. The University of Michigan Department of Astronomy is part of an international consortium of institutions that will take part in the design and construction of ANDES, a powerful instrument set to be used on the largest visible-infrared telescope in the world. The instrument will reveal the nature of atmospheres of planets around nearby stars, rare elements forged in the interiors of stars, the formation of galaxies and even the evolution of the universe itself, according to University of Michigan astronomer Michael Meyer.

    U-M part of consortium to design, construct powerful new instrument to unlock universe’s secrets

    U-M’s Dept. of Astronomy is collaborating on ANDES, a powerful instrument designed to reveal the nature of atmospheres of planets around nearby stars, rare elements forged in the interiors of stars, the formation of galaxies, and even the evolution of the universe itself.

  4. A pile of garbage washes ashore on an otherwise clean beach. A University of Michigan-led summer school for oceanographers in Ghana and Nigeria is part of a project to receive funding from Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic organization started by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt. The Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School In Nigeria and Ghana, or COESSING, was founded by Brian Arbic, a physical oceanographer and U-M professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

    U-M-led school for oceanographers in Africa receives funding from Schmidt Sciences

    The Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Nigeria and Ghana was founded by Brian Arbic, a physical oceanographer and U-M professor in earth and environmental sciences. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt are founders of Schmidt Sciences.

  5. Detail of a thin piece of a composite film in the Kotov Lab at the North Campus Research Center of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Friday afternoon, May 24, 2024. The film was created by Jun Lu, a postdoc and an adjunct research investigator with the Michigan Engineering Department of Chemical Engineering and COMPASS. Although the film is made from nanoplates that don't twist light, grooves in the film can cause photons to spin in either a left-handed or right-handed spiral as they pass through the film. The angle of the grooves inside the film determines the direction of the spin. This composite film can twist light into a spiral, thanks to microscopic grooves that cause horizontally and vertically oscillating light waves to pass through the film out of phase. Unlike existing materials that can do this, the film maintains its light-twisting properties when heated up to 250 degrees Celsius. Photo: Brenda Ahearn/University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Communications and Marketing

    Nanoscale engineering brings light-twisting materials to more extreme settings

    Imaging the hot turbulence of aircraft propulsion systems may now be possible with sturdy sheets of composite materials that twist light beams, according to new research led by U-M and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

  6. The entropy-stabilized oxide is sandwiched between the superconductor YBCO, on which it was grown, and a titanium and platinum electrode. The many colors represent the different components of the entropy-stabilized oxide. By tweaking the ratios of the components, the team could create memristors that relaxed at different rates after exposure to an electrical current, mimicking the way that neurons sense time. Credit: Sieun Chae and Sangmin Yoo, University of Michigan.

    AI chips could get a sense of time

    Timekeeping in the brain is done with neurons that relax at different rates after receiving a signal; now memristors—hardware analogues of neurons—can do that too. Artificial neural networks may soon be able to process time-dependent information, such as audio and video data, more efficiently.

  7. Phone user displays screen that reads "Time Limit."

    Managing screen time by making phones slightly more annoying to use

    The best way to help smartphone users manage their screen time may be to make phones progressively more annoying to use, according to new U-M research. Delaying a phone’s swiping and tapping functions forces users to think harder, making it easier for them to consider whether to keep scrolling.

  8. Researchers create human aortic aneurysm model

    Using human cells in laboratory rats, Michigan Medicine researchers have developed a functional model of thoracic aortic aneurysm, creating new opportunities for understanding disease development and treatment. No treatments currently exist for the condition, which is a weakening and bulging at the body’s largest blood vessel in the chest.  

  9. Multiracial group of tweens collaborates on a project using art supplies, etc. Super cute.

    Too much screen time? U-M pioneers digital wellness program for youths

    Addiction, cyberbullying, eating disorders, anxiety, and other mental health issues caused by problematic digital practices and an increase in screen time are some of the themes of a new and unique U-M interprofessional Peer-to-Peer Digital Wellness class.

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