The Space Power and Propulsion for Agility, Responsiveness, and Resilience Institute involves eight universities and 14 industry partners and advisers in one of the nation’s largest efforts to advance space power and propulsion. The institute will be the first to bring fast chemical rockets together with efficient electric propulsion powered by a nuclear microreactor.

Some of the first data from an international space mission is confirming decades worth of speculation about the galactic neighborhoods of supermassive black holes. More exciting than the data, though, is the fact that the long-awaited satellite behind it—the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission or XRISM—is just getting started providing such unparalleled insights.

Coastal communities are partnering with a multidisciplinary research team to determine the best way to harvest wave energy at Beaver Island, Michigan, and Nags Head, North Carolina. Wave energy could power millions of homes, but to make a splash in the industry, the tech must balance engineering, socio-economic and environmental trade-offs, researchers say.

Research-driven collaboration with community leaders is nothing new, but the Michigan-Mellon Project on the Egalitarian Metropolis tweaked the model in a subtle but profound way. Faculty leaders prioritized history, literature, and the visual arts on the mission toward Detroit’s inclusive recovery. With a decade’s worth of results on the books, they’ve built a convincing case for the humanities.

U-M researchers and engineering students traveled to the far reaches of the Amazon rainforest to help light up rural schools and develop innovative incinerators. Their efforts will support local autonomy, preserve residents’ unique habitats, and generate ecotourism.

Data suggest the switch to electric vehicles may not mean the loss of assembly jobs industry that observers once predicted. Some plants in the ramp-up stages to full-scale EV production saw assembly jobs increase as much as 10 times. The jury is still out in terms of parts manufacturing, though. Those jobs will largely depend on where battery cell manufacturing takes place.

A team of researchers led by a University of Michigan archaeologist has uncovered a hoard of gold coins, dating to the fifth century BC, that were likely used to pay mercenary troops. The discovery of such a valuable find in a controlled archaeological excavation is very rare … and incredibly cool.

The poll shows that 61% of those providing care to family or friends with a health condition or disability don’t know about Area Agencies on Aging. AAAs are local or regional organizations that support caregivers, people with certain disabilities, and people over 65.

Green hydrogen is emerging as an important potential solution for decarbonizing transportation, but new energy efficiency findings indicate that it should be used strategically in heavy-duty road, rail, aviation, and marine transportation, a U-M study shows.