Research News

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Great Lakes researchers at the University of Michigan have been awarded a $6.5 million, five-year federal grant to host a center for the study of links between climate change, harmful algal blooms and human health. Increased precipitation, more powerful storms and warming Great Lakes waters all encourage the proliferation of harmful algal blooms composed of cyanobacteria. This image shows harmful algal bloom, a greenish blob under the surface of a lake.

    U-M lands $6.5M center to study links between Great Lakes algal blooms, human health

    Researchers at U-M have been awarded a five-year federal grant to study links between climate change, harmful algal blooms, and human health. Increased precipitation, more powerful storms, and warming Great Lakes waters encourage the proliferation of algal blooms composed of cyanobacteria.

  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. Sign on brown brick, inner-city building reads: How are you, really?

    Detroiters’ mental health has held steady since pandemic, survey shows

    While the negative impacts of the pandemic on people’s mental health are well documented, less is known about the persistence of mental health problems after the lockdowns ended and the economy reopened, according to Michigan researchers.

  7. Graphic representing workers as cogs in a machine.

    New U-M studies challenge widely held beliefs, published research on women in the workplace

    Justin Frake is interested in cause-and-effect relationships in real-world data and the hidden dynamics that shape workplace behavior and eq uality — or inequality, as the case might be. His curiosity has led to research whose findings challenge some popular beliefs related to women in the workforce.

  8. drawing of an ear with a loud bell ringing outside. Canvas is pink, outline of ear is blue, and bell is red. Indicates tinnitus and U-M-led Apple Hearing Study findings.

    U-M-led Apple Hearing Study reveals prevalence of tinnitus

    About 78% of participants in the Apple Hearing Study, conducted by researchers at U-M, have experienced tinnitus — the perception of sound that others do not hear. The study focused on the demographics and characteristics of people with tinnitus to inform future research on potential treatments.

  9. People backlit by the sun form a human chain atop a mountain, indicating mutual care.

    Count your blessings: It often happens when others help, not self-achieved

    If you focus on overcoming life’s barriers rather than the blessings that make life easier, you’re not alone. A new University of Michigan study indicated that people aren’t always good at noticing the advantages they enjoy compared to the disadvantages they overcame.

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