U-M researchers have found that PTSD, the severe anxiety disorder that can follow traumatic events, is not just a psychological problem. “Traumatic events can get under your skin and literally alter your biology,” says researcher Monica Uddin, whose team found that trauma seems to change gene expression, altering the immune system.

Sea lilies can break off their own stalks and ‘crawl’ away from sea urchins that try to eat them. The remarkable survival strategy is an example of how an ‘arms race’ between predators and prey can guide the evolution of species.

The muscle-building abilities of hormones known as insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are legendary. But key details about how IGFs work on muscle cells have been lacking. Now, researchers have cleared up a longstanding mystery about the workings of IGFs. The team’s findings could lead to new treatments for muscle-wasting diseases and new ways of preventing the muscle loss that accompanies aging.

In the ruins of a city that was once Rome’s neighbor, archaeologists last summer found a 1,000-pound lead coffin. Who or what is inside is still a mystery, said U-M’s Nicola Terrenato, who leads the largest American dig in Italy in the past 50 years. “We’re very excited about this find. Romans as a rule were not buried in coffins to begin with and when they did use coffins, they were mostly wooden. There are only a handful of other examples from Italy of lead coffins from this age.”

In findings that took the experimenters three years to believe, U-M engineers and their collaborators have demonstrated that light itself can twist ribbons of nanoparticles. Matter readily bends and twists light. That’s the mechanism behind optical lenses and polarizing 3-D movie glasses. But the opposite effect—light bending matter—has rarely been observed.

After enduring one of its worst years ever in 2009, Michigan’s economy will flounder this year before showing some improvement in 2011, say University of Michigan economists

“For amputees, what they experience when they’re trying to walk normally is what I would experience if I were carrying an extra 30 pounds,” says U-M professor Art Kuo. He has developed a prototype of an artificial foot that recycles energy otherwise wasted in between steps, making it easier for amputees to walk.

The remains of a new dinosaur, discovered near the world-famous Carnegie Quarry in Dinosaur National Monument, may help explain the evolution of the largest land animals ever to walk the earth.

An extraordinary 67-million-year-old fossil reveals a snake attacking a nest of dinosaur eggs and hatchlings. The finding provides a rare glimpse at an unusual feeding behavior in ancient snakes. Includes Video and a slideshow about the fossils.