Some 8 million tons of plastic trash enter the ocean each year, most of which is battered into microplastics. U-M researchers can now spot these harmful flecks, tracking where they enter the water, how they move, and where they tend to collect around the world.

Now that many schools nationwide have announced plans to hold in-person sessions this fall, questions have been raised about what’s next for students who spent much of the last year learning virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. A U-M expert seeks to answer them.

The Virulent Hate Project, which is supported by U-M’s Center for Social Solutions and Poverty Solutions initiative, reviewed 4,337 news articles from 2020 that addressed coronavirus-related, anti-Asian racism in the United States.

After months of virtual activities being the norm, how can parents wean their children and families off screens this summer? Get some advice from one of U-M’s top experts.

Reports of a possible COVID baby boom have appeared in the media, but with little data to support predictions. Now a model projects a 10- to 15-percent increase in births over what would normally be expected in the summer and fall of 2021.

The cicadas can damage small trees and shrubs so the best defense is to cover vulnerable or smaller trees with mesh or netting; insecticides should not be used, experts say.

After developing underground for 17 years, the buzzing, bug-eyed horde of cicadas known as Brood X is expected to emerge by the billions in May across southeastern Michigan and other eastern states. Let’s sing!

The 3 million nurses working in the U.S. today comprise the country’s largest health-care workforce — 85 percent of whom are women. They are twice as likely to die by suicide than the general female population, and 70 percent more likely than female physicians.

The deadly third wave of the 1918 flu shows what can happen when society prematurely returns to pre-pandemic life, a medical historian cautions.