Caring about the planet can taste very good, says Victor Katch.

He may have dismissed his own commencement ceremonies as meaningless, but professor Mika LaVaque-Manty came to revere the academic ritual soon after he volunteered as U-M’s chief marshal in 2008. He will pass the torch following Spring 2023 commencement.

More than 14.4 million U.S. children and teens are at risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and behavioral health issues, if untreated, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Astronomy consistently garners more public support than the earthbound sciences. Could it be those fancy telescopes?

PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is one of the most-produced plastics in the U.S. and the third-highest by volume worldwide. Until recently, it had a zero percent recycling rate in the U.S. But scientists at U-M recently discovered how to chemically recycle PVC into usable material.

Vic Katch takes a breath to discuss the causes and cures for that foul air stream we call halitosis.

She’s an arachnologist, a UM-Dearborn professor, and a producer of ‘adult content’ starring countless eight-legged lovers. Anne Danielson-Francois films the bizarre mating rituals of creepy crawlers to better understand the competition between males and females over who controls fertilization.

Do you know what titanium dioxide is? You should; it could be making you sick, says Vic Katch.

“Climate migrants” are on the move as frequent natural disasters upend their lives and routines. The Great Lakes region could see an influx in population as a result; U-M has tools for planning.