Michigan Minds

Archaeologist Brian Stewart, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, has conducted research in the small southern African country of Lesotho for 15 years. 

There, he is investigating the world's earliest evidence of human behavioral complexity: the behaviors, actions and beliefs that make us human. Through his work, Stewart is hoping to understand how humans developed the ability to quickly adapt ...

Climate expert Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, does not sugarcoat things.

The words "scary," "depressing" and "devastating" come up when he talks about the impacts of climate change, including record warmth and drought conditions. But he also doesn't ignore how communities across the country and around the world are finding ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emiss...

Shalanda Baker is the University of Michigan's vice provost for sustainability and climate action. She joined the Michigan Minds podcast to discuss the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

How does the current political climate affect what we're doing here at the University of Michigan with regard to sustainability and climate action?

I am so laser focused on climate action and sustainability. I think the science is clear...

Welcome to the Michigan Minds Podcast, where we explore the wealth of knowledge from faculty experts at the University of Michigan. I'm Jared Wadley, a lead public relations representative for Michigan News. Today I'm speaking to Oliver Haimson about the changing social media landscape. He's an assistant professor in the School of Information and the Digital Studies Institute. Oliver's research focuses on social media content moder...

When Russia invaded Ukraine, civilian lives, as well as lives of the scientists who live in the country, were upended. When an international grant was launched to support Ukrainian scientists, Andrzej Wierzbicki, a U-M professor of cellular, molecular and developmental biology, who is Polish, saw the funding opportunity as a way to help support the country that neighbors his own. 

Wierzbicki won a grant from the Internation...

In this episode of Michigan Minds, Pamela Herd, social policy professor at the University of Michigan, discusses issues of healthcare access and affordability in light of the slaying of an industry CEO, efforts of a university lab in boosting access and breaking down walls to social safety net programs, and finding common ground within a polarized electorate.

Here's an excerpt of the conversation:

The killing of a healthcare ...

To combat climate change, the world needs to pivot away from fossil fuels.

But building battery electric vehicles and infrastructure for renewable energy will require enormous amounts of minerals and resources, which can only be obtained in the quantities needed through mining. Low and low-to-middle income countries are also looking to boost their access to electricity, which will now likely take place through renewable energy s...

Scott Rick is an associate professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business. His research speaks to how consumers perceive and experience inflation, how they choose what gifts to buy, and how they experience in-store and online shopping environments. He is particularly interested in understanding the behavior of extreme “tightwads” and “spendthrifts.”

Hosted on Acast. See ac...

Tony Reames, an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability, just returned to campus from two years at the U.S. Department of Energy working on energy justice.

The Tishman professor of environmental justice and director of the SEAS Detroit Sustainability Clinic joined us on the Michigan Minds Podcast to share his thoughts on how energy justice could manifest in the United States. Hi...

In this episode of the Michigan Minds podcast, Henry Liu—director of Mcity and the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation, and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at U-M's College of Engineering—gives an overview on the state of autonomous vehicles, whether you're wondering what the hold-up is for cars that no longer need driver's wheels, or eyeing offerings like Tesla's Full Self-Driving, GM's Super Cruis...

In this episode of the Michigan Minds podcast, Timothy Cernak, associate professor of medicinal chemistry in the College of Pharmacy and associate professor of chemistry in the the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, makes the case for growing the field of conservation medicine and calls on pharmacists and medicinal chemists to "be on the front line of species conservation."

Last January, president Santa J. Ono set the university on a path to imagine what aspirations the University of Michigan could achieve in the next 10 years. 

Vision 2034 is the outcome of the yearlong strategic visioning process that engaged more than 25,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and local community members. 

U-M's vision to be the defining public university outlines four areas where the universit...

U-M's Vision 2034 is the outcome of the yearlong strategic visioning process that engaged more than 25,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and local community members. 

U-M's vision to be the defining public university outlines four areas where the university will make dramatic and focused impact: life-changing education; human health and well-being; democracy, civic and global engagement; and climate action, susta...

UM's Vision 2034 is the outcome of the yearlong strategic visioning process that engaged more than 25,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and local community members. UM's vision to be the defining public university outlines four areas where the university will make dramatic and focused impact; life-changing education, human health and well-being, democracy, civic and global engagement, climate action, sustainability...

In January 2034, president Santa J. Ono set the university on a path to imagine what aspirations the University of Michigan could achieve in the next 10 years. UM's Vision 2034 is the outcome of the yearlong strategic visioning process that engaged more than 25,000 students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and local community members. 

UM's vision to be the defining public university outlines four areas where the university...

Consumers have to wrangle with a sticky issue: Much of the plastic used every day can't be recycled.

And the kind of recycling that can be done is called mechanical recycling, which means that plastic that can be recycled is simply broken down to be repurposed as other plastic objects, often which are of a lower value than the original product. Eventually, objects made out of this recycled plastic, such as park benches, just end...

Welcome to the Michigan Minds Podcast, where we explore the wealth of knowledge from faculty experts at the University of Michigan.

Do you feel like you matter?

Mattering, the sense of being valued, having purpose. No matter who you are, mattering matters. It's essential to happiness and healthiness. It's not a given. It doesn't always come easily, especially for certain individuals who may be more prone to feeling purposeless; the ...

Though it's only February, many of the millions of people who resolved to lose weight this year have already given up, opting instead to sit for hours of binge-worthy Netflix, or to polish off those leftover holiday cookies. That's partly because people set unrealistic goals and focus too much on the scale, says University of Michigan clinical exercise physiologist Laura Richardson. In the new Michigan Minds podcast, Richardson dis...