Environmental conditions are much more powerful than genetic influences in determining intelligence, says U-M social psychologist Richard Nisbett: “Believing that intelligence is under your control—and having parents who demand achievement—can do wonders.”

Related:

• Podcast: Intelligence: How to get it
• Education Is All in Your Mind (NY Times, Feb. 7, 2009).

A year and a half after the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and with a new national emphasis on rebuilding infrastructure, U-M is leading a new project to engineer smart bridges that can thoroughly discuss their health with inspectors.

Going outside, even in the cold, improves memory and attention.

Is obesity all in your head? New research by an international team co-led by U-M suggests that genes that predispose people to obesity act in the brain — not on metabolic functions such as fat storage — and that perhaps some people are simply hardwired to overeat.

Bad news for a promising new idea about cancer. The cancer stem-cell model must be reassessed because it is based largely on evidence from a laboratory test that is surprisingly flawed when applied to some cancers, U-M researchers have concluded.

The University of Michigan and General Motors have announced an important collaboration. A five-year, $5-million award establishes the GM/U-M Advanced Battery Coalition for Drivetrains (ABCD), headquartered at U-M. Three U-M engineering professors are involved. The project will develop new battery technologies for next-generation autos.

As fighting continues in Gaza, a U-M survey of nearby Lebanon illuminates some of the values underlying the use of violence in the Middle East. The findings are likely to surprise people on all sides of the political spectrum.

The antique cliche says that wives rush out to spend their husbands’ hard-earned money. A new study suggests that the opposite is probably true: men seem to have evolved to spend, spend, spend when they’re looking for mates. In fact, the more sexual partners a man desires, the more likely he is to empty his wallet.

Here’s one more reason to say “shade grown, please” when you order your morning cup of coffee. Shade coffee farms, which grow coffee under a canopy of multiple tree species, not only harbor native birds, bats and other beneficial creatures, but also maintain genetic diversity of native tree species and can act as focal points for tropical forest regeneration.