Congratulations!

[Valid RSS] This is a valid RSS feed.

Recommendations

This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.

Source: https://michigantoday.umich.edu/feed/

  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
  2. xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
  3. xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
  4. xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  5. xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
  6. xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
  7. xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
  8. >
  9.  
  10. <channel>
  11. <title>Michigan Today</title>
  12. <atom:link href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
  13. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu</link>
  14. <description></description>
  15. <lastBuildDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:08:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
  16. <language>en-US</language>
  17. <sy:updatePeriod>
  18. hourly </sy:updatePeriod>
  19. <sy:updateFrequency>
  20. 1 </sy:updateFrequency>
  22. <item>
  23. <title>More teens are using AI: What parents should know</title>
  24. <link>https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/more-teens-are-using-ai-what-parents-should-know?utm_source=dynamics&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=health_lab_newsletter&#038;utm_term=N%2FA&#038;utm_content=Health%20Lab%20HW%20WK%2041#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=d9b100a3-4697-4879-b175-0962b0670200</link>
  25. <comments>https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/more-teens-are-using-ai-what-parents-should-know?utm_source=dynamics&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=health_lab_newsletter&#038;utm_term=N%2FA&#038;utm_content=Health%20Lab%20HW%20WK%2041#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=d9b100a3-4697-4879-b175-0962b0670200#respond</comments>
  27. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Holdship]]></dc:creator>
  28. <pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:08:29 +0000</pubDate>
  29. <category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
  30. <category><![CDATA[Research News]]></category>
  31. <category><![CDATA[AI]]></category>
  32. <category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
  33. <category><![CDATA[Michigan Medicine]]></category>
  34. <category><![CDATA[teens]]></category>
  35. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49443</guid>
  36.  
  37. <description><![CDATA[As more teenagers turn to tools like ChatGPT for schoolwork, a pediatrician shares what to watch for — and explains how kids can use AI wisely.]]></description>
  38. <content:encoded><![CDATA[As more teenagers turn to tools like ChatGPT for schoolwork, a pediatrician shares what to watch for — and explains how kids can use AI wisely.]]></content:encoded>
  40. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/more-teens-are-using-ai-what-parents-should-know?utm_source=dynamics&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=health_lab_newsletter&#038;utm_term=N%2FA&#038;utm_content=Health%20Lab%20HW%20WK%2041#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=d9b100a3-4697-4879-b175-0962b0670200/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  41. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  44. </item>
  45. <item>
  46. <title>The anti-influencer’s influencer</title>
  47. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/10/06/the-anti-influencers-influencer/</link>
  48. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/10/06/the-anti-influencers-influencer/#respond</comments>
  50. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Holdship]]></dc:creator>
  51. <pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 16:48:26 +0000</pubDate>
  52. <category><![CDATA[Education & Society]]></category>
  53. <category><![CDATA[Science and Technology]]></category>
  54. <category><![CDATA[Charlie Engelman]]></category>
  55. <category><![CDATA[Odd Animal Specimens]]></category>
  56. <category><![CDATA[University of Michigan Museum of Zoology]]></category>
  57. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49397</guid>
  58.  
  59. <description><![CDATA[As one of Time 100’s Creators of 2025, biologist Charlie Engelman, BS ’14, educates and entertains millions of subscribers about the ‘odd animal specimens’ stored in the U-M Museum of Zoology’s collection. Fans may be drawn to his quirky digital world, but Engelman hopes to send them to the natural one.]]></description>
  60. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Counter-intuitive and compelling</h2>
  61. <p>He operates in a vast, fast, and noisy universe where clicks are king, speed outpaces accuracy, and attention is the coveted prize. But in the digital realm we call social media — a place that thrives on gimmicks — he has no gimmick. In a forum that demands a hook, he has no hook. In a world powered by controversy, he cultivates curiosity.<aside class="callout right"><strong>Related:</strong></p>
  62. <ul>
  63. <li><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2022/09/23/return-of-the-creature-feature-on-tiktok/">Return of the creature-feature &#8230; on Tik Tok</a></li>
  64. <li><a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/ummz">U-M Museum of Zoology</a></li>
  65. <li>TikTok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@oddanimalspecimens?lang=en">oddanimalspecimens</a></li>
  66. <li>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theoddanimalspecimens/">theoddanimalspecimens</a></li>
  67. <li>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/worldbycharlie/reels/?hl=en">worldbycharlie</a></li>
  68. </ul>
  69. </aside>As the mastermind behind “Odd Animal Specimens,” biologist Charlie Engelman BS &#8217;14, counts 4 million followers on <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@oddanimalspecimens?lang=en">Tik Tok</a> and 2.3 million followers on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theoddanimalspecimens/">Instagram</a>. He recently launched the Instagram account <a href="https://www.instagram.com/worldbycharlie/reels/?hl=en">worldbycharlie</a>, which showcases objects of all kinds (not just odd animal specimens), and has already attracted about 210K follwers. Nearly 10 million viewers have watched a reel about <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DND4uaHxsWa/?hl=en">bakers making cinnamon rolls</a> at Ann Arbor&#8217;s own Zingerman&#8217;s Bakehouse.</p>
  70. <p>Recently named one of <a href="https://time.com/collections/time100-creators-2025/7299105/charlie-engelman/">Time 100’s Creators of 2025,</a> he could be considered an odd specimen himself, in social media, that is. Rather than generating content for passive consumption, he tickles the brain with questions and delivers bizarre factoids designed to motivate additional discovery.</p>
  71. <h2>Educational and entertaining</h2>
  72. <p>As a science educator and journalist of sorts, he began by creating thoughtful — almost gentle — videos to showcase the <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/ummz">U-M Museum of Zoology</a> and its trove of 15 million specimens: mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, insects, and mites. Engelman’s feed won’t hit you with the newest dance craze or idiotic viral challenge, but it will provide a steady flow of facts about pufferfish, snakes, bears, houseflies, sea lampreys, and more. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have viewed his content. Some 17 million people have clicked on a single post about a squirrel’s “private bone.”</p>
  73. <p><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Engelman-anti-influencers-influencer.png"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-49422" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Engelman-anti-influencers-influencer-300x217.png" alt="Image of tik tok screen regarding oddanimalspecimens account" width="300" height="217" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Engelman-anti-influencers-influencer-300x217.png 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Engelman-anti-influencers-influencer-768x556.png 768w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/10/Engelman-anti-influencers-influencer.png 865w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a>“As someone who cares about science, biology, ecology – all the plants and animals – I feel beholden to the natural world and to other people who also care about this stuff,” Engelman says.</p>
  74. <p>The other people who care about this stuff have found in “Odd Animal Specimens” an educational oasis in which critical thinking is encouraged, questions are prioritized, and credibility is the main ingredient. Representing the Museum of Zoology’s specimen collection is a rare privilege, Engelman says, since most museums are reluctant to share their collections with the public.</p>
  75. <p>“When you come down to it, it&#8217;s a preserved animal, you know, not the most appealing thing,” Engelman says. But he enjoys piquing the public’s curiosity about such natural wonders. He sees himself as an ambassador for university museums, natural history collections, and the knowledge they generate regarding climate change, biodiversity loss, habitat loss, and more.</p>
  76. <p>“I am responsible not only for how these collections are viewed, but for how people feel about the natural world,” he says. “And because of that, I feel an immense amount of responsibility to make sure I do a good job and make sure that I&#8217;m accurate.”</p>
  77. <p>Social media metrics represent only one aspect of his influence, Engelman says. “I get comments all the time from people who say they are studying entomology in college, or are becoming mammalogists, because of my videos.”</p>
  78. <h2>Quiet and slow</h2>
  79. <p><iframe class="fluid" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7dxFY--TUs8?wmode=transparent&amp;rel=0&amp;feature=oembed&#038;rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="Charlie Engleman on science creators in todays media landscape"></iframe></p>
  80. <h2>Influencing and intelligence</h2>
  81. <p><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Odd-animal-specimens-instagram-engelman.png"><img decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-49426" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Odd-animal-specimens-instagram-engelman-294x300.png" alt="Screen shot of instagram landing page for the odd animal specimens account hosted by U-M's Charlie Engelman." width="294" height="300" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Odd-animal-specimens-instagram-engelman-294x300.png 294w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/Odd-animal-specimens-instagram-engelman-768x785.png 768w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/10/Odd-animal-specimens-instagram-engelman.png 818w" sizes="(max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px" /></a>Engelman’s on-air persona began to emerge during his senior year at U-M when he won a National Geographic Channel contest that funded his first online nature series. That motivated him to pitch leaders at the zoology museum on a series to complete his U-M honors thesis in ecology and evolutionary biology. He continued to create programming for National Geographic and the NatGeo channel before returning to his mentors at UMMZ to develop the wildly successful accounts he currently manages. Today he is one of the few content creators in the world with access to such a diverse inventory of museum specimens.</p>
  82. <p>As a producer, he follows a meticulous process, shooting most clips against a blue screen using a table covered in the same blue paper. A stationary video camera and a spotlight complete the set-up. He shoots in extreme close-up, showing only his gloved hands. He tweaks timing, use of humor, shooting style, etc., and then takes a deep dive into his analytics and tweaks again.</p>
  83. <h2>Science and sincerity</h2>
  84. <p><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/world-by-charlie-instagram-engelman.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-49437 alignright" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/world-by-charlie-instagram-engelman-272x300.png" alt="Screen shot of landing screen for Instagram account worldbycharlie. Shows 9.7 million views on one video shot at Zingerman's Bakehouse in Ann Arbor." width="272" height="300" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/10/world-by-charlie-instagram-engelman-272x300.png 272w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/10/world-by-charlie-instagram-engelman.png 744w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 272px) 100vw, 272px" /></a>In a world of media-savvy personalities like Bill Nye and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Engelman has found a niche among science lovers who reject the trappings of traditional, legacy journalism. As an independent creator, he pursues a topic because he likes it, which resonates with his audience. He approaches content with a reporter’s ethic, rare in social media, and cites a science journalism course he took at Michigan for preparing him to communicate about complicated topics to a general audience.</p>
  85. <p>“When I studied science at U-M, I learned how to dissect information, to really analyze whether something is true or untrue, and put a lot of emphasis on proof. I&#8217;m able to present things with a very influential and strong voice while maintaining accuracy and scientific integrity,” he says. “Sincerity and authenticity are very powerful.”</p>
  86. <p>Those qualities are more important today than ever as federal support for academic research is declining, stifling the scientific enterprise, he says. There’s no better time for people to learn about and appreciate natural history museums and the knowledge they hold.</p>
  87. <p>And now that he has conquered the digital world, Engleman’s greatest desire is for his online followers to put down their devices and go outside to experience the natural one. As social media influencers go, that makes him an odd specimen indeed.</p>
  88. ]]></content:encoded>
  90. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/10/06/the-anti-influencers-influencer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  91. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  94. </item>
  95. <item>
  96. <title>Rhiannon Giddens closes out U-M residency with a clear message about American music</title>
  97. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/30/rhiannon-giddens-closes-out-u-m-residency-with-a-clear-message-about-american-music/</link>
  98. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/30/rhiannon-giddens-closes-out-u-m-residency-with-a-clear-message-about-american-music/#respond</comments>
  100. <dc:creator><![CDATA[JAMIE SHERMAN BLINDER]]></dc:creator>
  101. <pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
  102. <category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
  103. <category><![CDATA[American music]]></category>
  104. <category><![CDATA[artist-in-residence]]></category>
  105. <category><![CDATA[School of Music Theatre and Dance]]></category>
  106. <category><![CDATA[SMTD]]></category>
  107. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49381</guid>
  108.  
  109. <description><![CDATA[The Grammy Award-winning musician, MacArthur recipient, and Pulitzer Prize winner has dedicated much of her career to exploring the contributions to American musical history by Black Americans and others who have been previously overlooked or erased.]]></description>
  110. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>American music</h2>
  111. <p>The University of Michigan’s inaugural artist-in-residence, multigenre folk musician and composer Rhiannon Giddens, is closing out her time on campus after a year of student engagements, performances, and library research. Lots of library research.</p>
  112. <p>And if there is one thing to know about the root of her research at the moment, it’s this: “American music is working-class, cross-cultural collaborative music.”</p>
  113. <aside class="callout right">“It’s been so nice to have a place to come … as a traveling musician, you’re in a different place every night. You’re not exactly in spaces where anybody wants to hear about your revelations of, you know, 1835 and the development of the minstrel banjo. But here, I’m welcomed, and I can dive into things that really matter to me.&#8221; &#8212; <em>Rhiannon Giddens </em></aside>
  114. <p>Spreading this message is paramount to her work: Helping audiences understand that you cannot have “American music” without the contributions of every unique demographic of people who came to the U.S. from around the world, and the influence of the circumstances which brought them here.</p>
  115. <p>The Grammy Award-winning musician, MacArthur recipient, and Pulitzer Prize winner has dedicated much of her career to exploring the contributions to American musical history by Black Americans and others who have been previously overlooked or erased.</p>
  116. <p>Digging into primary source material, guided by librarians at the Clements Library, Giddens found she was “grounded more deeply in the idea that my art should come from a place of being both informed and emotionally connected. That balance is what makes the stories resonate.”</p>
  117. <p>“I discovered so much material that doesn’t always get attention, and that reminded me how many stories are still waiting in the archives,” Giddens said. “It gave me new ways to think about history and how to tell it through my work.”</p>
  118. <p>And while she admits she is one to go down the rabbit hole of podcasts and other history-based mediums, there is nothing like “stumbling upon,” which is less likely to happen through targeted online searches and dedicated subject matter than at a library where each turn of a page might show you something you did not expect to see.</p>
  119. <p>“I was reading a narrative from an enslaved person in South Carolina; they were remembering their enslaver threatening them, saying basically, ‘I’m going to put you in my pocket,&#8217;” Giddens said. “And what that meant was, ‘I’m going to sell you and put the money in my pocket.’ Right? That’s a song! The more you know what surrounds these moments of history, the more you can connect with it.”</p>
  120. <h2>Making connections</h2>
  121. <p>With a history of touring through Ann Arbor over the years, the opportunity to work more closely with the U-M community and the U-M Arts Initiative was one Giddens could not pass up. She knows that U-M will be woven into the DNA of many of her upcoming works, from a musical she is crafting, to her forthcoming book, “When the World’s on Fire: How a Powerless Underclass Made the Powerful Music that Made America,” and potential new songs she has been inspired to write based on her research.</p>
  122. <p>“It’s been so nice to have a place to come … as a traveling musician, you’re in a different place every night. You’re not exactly in spaces where anybody wants to hear about your revelations of, you know, 1835 and the development of the minstrel banjo. But here, I’m welcomed, and I can dive into things that really matter to me,” Giddens said.</p>
  123. <p>“I totally love working with faculty and students, and the interactions that I’ve had have been really positive. They’re really curious, and the classroom visits were really curated and thought about … it felt like a nice intellectual home for me during this residency.”</p>
  124. <h2>Dedicated to dialogue</h2>
  125. <p>Particularly in fraught political times, Giddens leans into using her music as a gentler way to reach people and to start a dialogue about potentially difficult topics.</p>
  126. <p>“Music is a more neutral way into a very difficult history for a lot of people,” she said. “It’s easier to hear, ‘The banjo was invented through the African diaspora during the time of slavery,’ than ‘Key components of our American culture are the way they are because of the transatlantic slave trade.’</p>
  127. <p>“That kind of thing is hard to deal with. But when you talk about the banjo being an instrument of survival, of creolization, of people coming together, it really focuses on how we get out of these difficult situations, which is what we need right now.”</p>
  128. <p><em>(Lead image: Rhiannon Giddens participating in Take Care: Democracy, Art &amp; Healing panel with U-M director of arts research/creative practice Clare Croft, left, and visiting artist Philipa Hughes, right. Image courtesy: UMMA.)</em></p>
  129. ]]></content:encoded>
  131. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/30/rhiannon-giddens-closes-out-u-m-residency-with-a-clear-message-about-american-music/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  132. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  135. </item>
  136. <item>
  137. <title>The experts&#8217; experts</title>
  138. <link>https://news.engin.umich.edu/2025/07/the-experts-experts/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNJAIpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF3aXpSRzZ1UWRrZmZuS2JDAR5SWufErdPxyvwUnMbHoQofW15jAUIEjB0puBGRrq9D-HAwDidCS3q6sjXGJg_aem_YSMcnrHtk0hsS4nIcgwXAw</link>
  139. <comments>https://news.engin.umich.edu/2025/07/the-experts-experts/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNJAIpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF3aXpSRzZ1UWRrZmZuS2JDAR5SWufErdPxyvwUnMbHoQofW15jAUIEjB0puBGRrq9D-HAwDidCS3q6sjXGJg_aem_YSMcnrHtk0hsS4nIcgwXAw#respond</comments>
  141. <dc:creator><![CDATA[UMC Admin]]></dc:creator>
  142. <pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:30:49 +0000</pubDate>
  143. <category><![CDATA[Innovation]]></category>
  144. <category><![CDATA[Research News]]></category>
  145. <category><![CDATA[Science and Technology]]></category>
  146. <category><![CDATA[COE]]></category>
  147. <category><![CDATA[College of Engineering]]></category>
  148. <category><![CDATA[Faculty]]></category>
  149. <category><![CDATA[Staff]]></category>
  150. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49377</guid>
  151.  
  152. <description><![CDATA[Every day, behind every professor, lecturer and student is a team of experts who apply their skills at the intersection of knowing and doing. They are the technicians who build and maintain the labs where discoveries take shape; the mentors who help students master machinery and tools; and the builders and designers who parse data and sustain experiments.]]></description>
  153. <content:encoded><![CDATA[Every day, behind every professor, lecturer and student is a team of experts who apply their skills at the intersection of knowing and doing. They are the technicians who build and maintain the labs where discoveries take shape; the mentors who help students master machinery and tools; and the builders and designers who parse data and sustain experiments.]]></content:encoded>
  155. <wfw:commentRss>https://news.engin.umich.edu/2025/07/the-experts-experts/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNJAIpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF3aXpSRzZ1UWRrZmZuS2JDAR5SWufErdPxyvwUnMbHoQofW15jAUIEjB0puBGRrq9D-HAwDidCS3q6sjXGJg_aem_YSMcnrHtk0hsS4nIcgwXAw/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  156. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  159. </item>
  160. <item>
  161. <title>U-M announces investment in institute for civil discourse</title>
  162. <link>https://record.umich.edu/articles/u-m-announces-investment-in-institute-for-civil-discourse/</link>
  163. <comments>https://record.umich.edu/articles/u-m-announces-investment-in-institute-for-civil-discourse/#respond</comments>
  165. <dc:creator><![CDATA[UMC Admin]]></dc:creator>
  166. <pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 14:37:12 +0000</pubDate>
  167. <category><![CDATA[Campus Life]]></category>
  168. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49348</guid>
  169.  
  170. <description><![CDATA[President Domenico Grasso announced Sept. 18 that the University will invest $50 million to move forward in establishing a permanent center dedicated to diversity of thought and civil discourse.]]></description>
  171. <content:encoded><![CDATA[President Domenico Grasso announced Sept. 18 that the University will invest $50 million to move forward in establishing a permanent center dedicated to diversity of thought and civil discourse.]]></content:encoded>
  173. <wfw:commentRss>https://record.umich.edu/articles/u-m-announces-investment-in-institute-for-civil-discourse/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  174. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  177. </item>
  178. <item>
  179. <title>The good news is &#8230;</title>
  180. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/20/the-good-news-is/</link>
  181. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/20/the-good-news-is/#respond</comments>
  183. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Deborah Holdship]]></dc:creator>
  184. <pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 13:42:17 +0000</pubDate>
  185. <category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
  186. <category><![CDATA[Editor's Blog]]></category>
  187. <category><![CDATA[research]]></category>
  188. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49338</guid>
  189.  
  190. <description><![CDATA[If life's a beach, we have the birds to thank. ]]></description>
  191. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Forward, ever forward</h2>
  192. <p>The world may be spinning out of control right now, but that cannot keep researchers at the University of Michigan from spinning new ideas into life-changing discoveries. Michigan Today invites you to take a brief respite from the existential turmoil and join us for a brief life-affirming moment steeped in science, creativity, knowledge, and joy.</p>
  193. <h2>Groundbreakers</h2>
  194. <p>In this issue, we share some awe-inspiring medical discoveries that could have a tremendous impact on all of us.</p>
  195. <p>One brilliant team is developing an <a href="https://news.umich.edu/at-home-melanoma-testing-with-skin-patch-test/">at-home melanoma test</a> consisting of a skin patch and test strip with two lines, similar to COVID-19 home tests. Developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health, the patch and test move toward rapid at-home melanoma testing, helping patients catch the most aggressive form of skin cancer early without a biopsy or blood draw.</p>
  196. <p><iframe loading="lazy" class="fluid" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IYnquTWd27U?start=2&#038;wmode=transparent&amp;rel=0&amp;feature=oembed&#038;rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="New at-home melanoma skin cancer test in development"></iframe></p>
  197. <p>And that&#8217;s not all. Have you ever heard of histotripsy? Well, now you have. U-M scientists have developed a revolutionary cancer treatment that is non-invasive — no incisions and no harmful side effects — by harnessing sound waves. Using ultrasound technology created at U-M, <a href="https://news.engin.umich.edu/2025/08/tumor-destroying-histotripsy-explained-by-its-inventor-a-qa-with-zhen-xu/">histotripsy could be a welcome alternative to chemotherapy and radiation</a>.</p>
  198. <p>And we&#8217;re not done yet. This issue also features U-M scientists who have discovered a unique <a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/18/u-m-scientists-discover-unique-brain-cell-that-may-hold-key-to-alzheimers-disorientation/">brain cell that may hold a key to Alzheimer’s disorientation</a>.</p>
  199. <h2>Not just for the birds</h2>
  200. <p>Looking to the great outdoors, we also celebrate the scientists <a href="https://news.umich.edu/piping-plover-saving-great-lakes-shorebirds-and-shorelines/">protecting the habitat of piping plovers</a> along the shores of Michigan&#8217;s Great Lakes. The (incredibly cute) shorebird population faced near-extinction in the 1980s and is now legally protected. Sarah Foote, an animal program manager at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, has visited the U-M Biological Station for 15 summers as part of a team effort to rejuvenate the Great Lakes species.</p>
  201. <p>“It’s great to be part of a conservation story that’s a Michigan conservation story,” Foote tells Michigan News&#8217; Greta Guest. “I am just helping these birds that would’ve never made it in the wild. This is a very special species.”</p>
  202. <p>Who knew a little bird could provide sanctuary at a time when those of us who are human could really use it.</p>
  203. <h2>A research safety net</h2>
  204. <p>And despite federal cuts to research spending, U-M continues to forge ahead, creating <a href="https://record.umich.edu/articles/new-michigan-research-launchpad-offers-opportunities-support/">the Michigan Research Launchpad</a>. The program will connect faculty to a wide range of programs and systems dedicated to furthering the impact of U-M’s research efforts and supporting innovative, high-quality grant proposals.</p>
  205. <p>“The Michigan Research Launchpad will offer the University a crucial competitive edge,” Arthur Lupia, vice president for research and innovation tells the <em>University Record</em>. “Our researchers are creative, capable, and committed to tackling society’s greatest challenges. The Launchpad is the place for the U-M community to not only learn about new and coming research opportunities but to improve their capacity for national and global leadership in these vital areas.”</p>
  206. <p><em>(Lead image: Piping plover being cared for at the incubation center. Image credit: Jeremy Marble, University of Michigan News.)</em></p>
  207. ]]></content:encoded>
  209. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/20/the-good-news-is/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  210. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  213. </item>
  214. <item>
  215. <title>New Michigan Research Launchpad offers opportunities, support</title>
  216. <link>https://record.umich.edu/articles/new-michigan-research-launchpad-offers-opportunities-support/</link>
  217. <comments>https://record.umich.edu/articles/new-michigan-research-launchpad-offers-opportunities-support/#respond</comments>
  219. <dc:creator><![CDATA[UMC Admin]]></dc:creator>
  220. <pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 10:55:28 +0000</pubDate>
  221. <category><![CDATA[Research News]]></category>
  222. <category><![CDATA[funding]]></category>
  223. <category><![CDATA[OVPR]]></category>
  224. <category><![CDATA[research]]></category>
  225. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49319</guid>
  226.  
  227. <description><![CDATA[The Office of the Vice President for Research has developed a new way to connect researchers to resources that can help them increase competitiveness for external research funding.]]></description>
  228. <content:encoded><![CDATA[The Office of the Vice President for Research has developed a new way to connect researchers to resources that can help them increase competitiveness for external research funding.]]></content:encoded>
  230. <wfw:commentRss>https://record.umich.edu/articles/new-michigan-research-launchpad-offers-opportunities-support/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  231. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  234. </item>
  235. <item>
  236. <title>First two Maize Rays solar arrays operating on North Campus</title>
  237. <link>https://record.umich.edu/articles/first-two-maize-rays-solar-arrays-operating-on-north-campus/</link>
  238. <comments>https://record.umich.edu/articles/first-two-maize-rays-solar-arrays-operating-on-north-campus/#respond</comments>
  240. <dc:creator><![CDATA[UMC Admin]]></dc:creator>
  241. <pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 10:19:51 +0000</pubDate>
  242. <category><![CDATA[Campus Life]]></category>
  243. <category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
  244. <category><![CDATA[Maize Rays]]></category>
  245. <category><![CDATA[solar]]></category>
  246. <category><![CDATA[sustainability]]></category>
  247. <category><![CDATA[zero emissions]]></category>
  248. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49306</guid>
  249.  
  250. <description><![CDATA[Located at the North Campus Facilities Services Building, the installations include both a rooftop array and a solar carport. Together, they provide nearly 600 kilowatts of renewable power; enough to supply electricity for about 100 average Michigan homes. They represent the first step in the University’s plan to add a total of 25 megawatts of solar capacity across all campuses.]]></description>
  251. <content:encoded><![CDATA[Located at the North Campus Facilities Services Building, the installations include both a rooftop array and a solar carport. Together, they provide nearly 600 kilowatts of renewable power; enough to supply electricity for about 100 average Michigan homes. They represent the first step in the University’s plan to add a total of 25 megawatts of solar capacity across all campuses.]]></content:encoded>
  253. <wfw:commentRss>https://record.umich.edu/articles/first-two-maize-rays-solar-arrays-operating-on-north-campus/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  254. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  257. </item>
  258. <item>
  259. <title>Lost on the last day</title>
  260. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/19/lost-on-the-last-day/</link>
  261. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/19/lost-on-the-last-day/#comments</comments>
  263. <dc:creator><![CDATA[James Tobin]]></dc:creator>
  264. <pubDate>Fri, 19 Sep 2025 21:08:57 +0000</pubDate>
  265. <category><![CDATA[Heritage/Tradition]]></category>
  266. <category><![CDATA[Alumni]]></category>
  267. <category><![CDATA[Eugene Mandeberg]]></category>
  268. <category><![CDATA[U.S.S. Yorktown]]></category>
  269. <category><![CDATA[WWII]]></category>
  270. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49272</guid>
  271.  
  272. <description><![CDATA[With a B.A. in English composition from U-M, Eugene Mandeberg went into combat as a Navy fighter pilot in the last weeks of World War II. When the atomic bombs fell on Japan, he had reason to think his war was over. It wasn’t.
  273. ]]></description>
  274. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>The kid from Detroit</h2>
  275. <div id="attachment_49278" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Mandeberg-as-student-croppedjpg.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49278" class="size-medium wp-image-49278" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Mandeberg-as-student-croppedjpg-225x300.jpg" alt="Side portrait, sepia-toned, of college student circa 1940." width="225" height="300" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Mandeberg-as-student-croppedjpg-225x300.jpg 225w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/09/Mandeberg-as-student-croppedjpg.jpg 493w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-49278" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400">Michigan student Mandeberg was a member of Pi Lambda Phi and a writer at <em>The </em></span><i><span style="font-weight: 400">Michigan Daily</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400">. </span> (Image courtesy of U-M&#8217;s Bentley Historical Library.)</p></div>
  276. <p>Eugene Mandeberg graduated from Michigan with a B.A. in English Composition in January 1943. Within weeks, he was training to be a naval aviator. By 1945, he was ready to fly the Grumman F6F Hellcat against the feared Japanese Zero.</p>
  277. <p>In the summer of that year, with the war in Europe over, Mandeberg went as a member of Fighter Squadron 88 to the western Pacific. Allied forces were closing in on the Japanese home islands but enduring suicide attacks by <em>kamikaze</em> pilots. The Navy aviators, with their Army and Marine counterparts, were trying either to compel the Japanese to surrender or to weaken them in advance of an Allied invasion.</p>
  278. <p>Squadron 88 was based on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown. Many pilots had barely finished their training. Superiors worried about two of the youngest — Billy Hobbs, of Kokomo, Indiana, and Mandeberg, the skinny kid from Detroit. They seemed &#8220;too excitable,&#8221; one officer said. But they soon proved themselves in sortie after sortie against Japanese targets.</p>
  279. <p>On August 6 and August 9, the squadron learned the U.S. had dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Few if any aboard the Yorktown could comprehend the bombs’ power or significance. But the ship&#8217;s crew and pilots sensed the end of the war must be at hand.</p>
  280. <p>On August 10, news reached the Yorktown that Japan was considering the Allies&#8217; surrender terms. Joyous roars erupted. One of Mandeberg&#8217;s fellow pilots wrote home: &#8220;We really thought the war was over for us today.&#8221;</p>
  281. <p><span data-preserver-spaces="true">It wasn&#8217;t.</span></p>
  282. <h2>A son of immigrants</h2>
  283. <div id="attachment_49274" style="width: 317px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/1941-42-cropped-Mandeberg-registration-card-2nd-term-junior-year.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49274" class=" wp-image-49274" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/1941-42-cropped-Mandeberg-registration-card-2nd-term-junior-year-300x184.jpg" alt="LSA enrollment card fore Eugene Mandeberg, 1939." width="307" height="188" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/1941-42-cropped-Mandeberg-registration-card-2nd-term-junior-year-300x184.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/1941-42-cropped-Mandeberg-registration-card-2nd-term-junior-year-768x471.jpg 768w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/09/1941-42-cropped-Mandeberg-registration-card-2nd-term-junior-year.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 307px) 100vw, 307px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-49274" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400">Mandeberg&#8217;s registration card as a second-semester junior in Spring 1942. </span>(Image courtesy of U-M&#8217;s Bentley Historical Library.)</p></div>
  284. <p>Eugene Mandeberg was born in Detroit in 1922, the younger of two sons of Russian Jewish immigrants. As a student at Detroit Central High, he worked part-time in a department store and graduated in the second quarter of his class. In September 1939, just as World War II was starting in Europe, he entered the University of Michigan.</p>
  285. <p>He pledged the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity at 715 Hill Street (now Chabad House). That in itself was a statement of principle. &#8220;PiLam&#8221; had been founded at Yale in 1895 as an explicitly nondiscriminatory fraternity after three Jewish students were denied membership in any house. Prospective pledges were to be judged only by their character, not race or religion.</p>
  286. <p>Mandeberg made <em>The</em> <em>Michigan Daily</em> his second home on campus. He specialized in editorials. His first, published during the defense build-up of 1940, applauded the Roosevelt administration for withholding a defense contract from the Ford Motor Company after Ford refused to comply with labor laws. His last, in November 1942, chastised Congress for failing to ban the southern poll taxes that prevented Blacks from voting. Criticizing a plan by which foreign-born workers would be expelled from military-production plants, he wrote: &#8220;These people are human beings, even if they are not citizens; even if they have foreign names. They too have the desire to eat and sleep under a roof. They too have a right to live.&#8221;</p>
  287. <p>His transcript shows that he aced his courses in English composition and creative writing, flunked his second semester in German, and scraped by in math, history, and psychology. He dreamed of becoming a writer, but only in the hazy future. He knew the war would come first.</p>
  288. <h2>Rumors of peace</h2>
  289. <div id="attachment_49275" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Eugene-Mandeberg-Cropped-Navy-portrait.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49275" class="size-medium wp-image-49275" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Eugene-Mandeberg-Cropped-Navy-portrait-225x300.jpg" alt="Black &amp; white portrait of WWII Navy pilot Eugene Mandeberg." width="225" height="300" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Eugene-Mandeberg-Cropped-Navy-portrait-225x300.jpg 225w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/09/Eugene-Mandeberg-Cropped-Navy-portrait.jpg 426w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-49275" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400">Ensign Eugene Mandeberg (Image courtesy of U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.)</span></p></div>
  290. <p>Mandeberg entered the Navy&#8217;s pre-flight program and for months was immersed in training for aerial combat. On April 5, 1944, he received his commission as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Air Corps. Then came more flight training, first at Otis Field on Cape Cod; then in Florida and Hawaii; and finally at the U.S. airfield on Saipan in the far western Pacific.</p>
  291. <p>On leave in New York City, he met a young woman named Sonya Levien, who helped to organize Broadway’s famous Stage Door Canteen for service members on leave. The two were soon engaged. But now their relationship could be conducted only through letters as Mandeberg moved with his unit from base to base and finally to the Yorktown.</p>
  292. <p>For several weeks, the squadron hammered the Japanese home islands. Then came the atomic bombs and swirling rumors of peace.</p>
  293. <p>Aboard the Yorktown, the Hellcat pilots waited and watched the sky for two days as bad weather kept them grounded, hoping desperately for word that Japan had surrendered. But none came.</p>
  294. <p>So, just after 4 a.m. on August 15 (U.S. time), the pilots left the carrier to strike the Atsugi Airfield near Tokyo.</p>
  295. <p>Two hours later, the Yorktown’s commanders were notified that Japan’s Emperor Hirohito had promised to surrender.</p>
  296. <p>Eight Hellcat fighters were now approaching the airfield. Two were to stay at high altitude, waiting in relative safety for a cease-fire order. If the order came, they would relay it to Mandeberg and the five others assigned to attack the airfield.</p>
  297. <p>The cease-fire order reached the pilots at 6:45. They began to turn away. But they spotted 17 Japanese fighters descending on them.</p>
  298. <p>The six Americans shot down nine attackers. Two Americans got away. Four fell in or near Tokyo Bay, Mandeberg among them.</p>
  299. <h2>Lost and found</h2>
  300. <div id="attachment_49277" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Lost-in-action-notice-cropped-Mich-Alumnus-12_45.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49277" class="size-medium wp-image-49277" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Lost-in-action-notice-cropped-Mich-Alumnus-12_45-300x265.jpg" alt="Notice that serviceman Eugene Mandeberg, U-M graduate of 1943, was missing in action in WWII." width="300" height="265" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Lost-in-action-notice-cropped-Mich-Alumnus-12_45-300x265.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/09/Lost-in-action-notice-cropped-Mich-Alumnus-12_45.jpg 754w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-49277" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400">A notice in the </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400">Michigan Alumnus</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400">, December 1945.</span> (Image courtesy of U-M&#8217;s Bentley Historical Library.)</p></div>
  301. <p>The Navy declared Mandeberg missing in action.</p>
  302. <p>In March 1946, U.S. servicemen searching for missing American war dead came to a Buddhist temple in Yokohama. There they were led to a set of remains linked to the Yorktown — apparently Mandeberg&#8217;s, though it was impossible to be sure. His family asked that the body be buried as an &#8220;unknown&#8221; at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.</p>
  303. <p>In 2019, the remains were exhumed and sent to the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.</p>
  304. <p>In March 2025, after extensive analysis of anthropological, dental, and DNA evidence, examiners identified the body as Mandeberg&#8217;s. His relatives were notified.</p>
  305. <p>On Sept. 14, 2025, his body was buried at Beth El Memorial Park in Livonia, Michigan.</p>
  306. <p><em>(Sources included Eugene Mandeberg&#8217;s records at the Bentley Historical Library; the Michigan Daily; John Wukovits, Dogfight Over Tokyo: The Final Air Battle of the Pacific and the Last Four Men to Die in World War II (2019); Press release, &#8220;Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Mandeberg, E.),&#8221; Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 9/15/2025; Sam Moses, &#8220;In the last hours of war, blood and heroism and irony and loss,&#8221; Navy Times, 12/31/2018. &#8220;War Hero Returns Home After 80 Years,&#8221; Detroit Jewish News, 9/12/2025. Lead image: <span style="font-weight: 400">Mandeberg flew Grumman F6F-5N Hellcat fighters like these, designed to challenge the Japanese Zero. Credit: National Archives)</span></em></p>
  307. ]]></content:encoded>
  309. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/19/lost-on-the-last-day/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  310. <slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
  313. </item>
  314. <item>
  315. <title>Navigating absurdity in an imperfect world</title>
  316. <link>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/19/navigating-absurdity-in-an-imperfect-world/</link>
  317. <comments>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/19/navigating-absurdity-in-an-imperfect-world/#comments</comments>
  319. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ricky Rood]]></dc:creator>
  320. <pubDate>Fri, 19 Sep 2025 17:58:10 +0000</pubDate>
  321. <category><![CDATA[Climate Blue]]></category>
  322. <category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
  323. <category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category>
  324. <category><![CDATA[Dept of Energy]]></category>
  325. <category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
  326. <category><![CDATA[propaganda]]></category>
  327. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://michigantoday.umichsites.org/?p=49244</guid>
  328.  
  329. <description><![CDATA[As climate science comes under fire, Ricky Rood asks: How do we determine what we believe?]]></description>
  330. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Building a public narrative</h2>
  331. <p>In a <a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/08/22/a-hot-take-on-propaganda/">previous Climate Blue column</a>, I wrote about the U.S. Department of Energy posting propaganda, using a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PwAR8I9YYmPhbQ6CRekHkroJGMbjbX7l/view">seriously flawed document</a> designed to fit and to build a political narrative to undermine climate science and the regulation of carbon dioxide.<sup>1</sup></p>
  332. <p>I used a conversation in <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11">Alice in Wonderland</a> between Alice and the Cheshire Cat to illustrate how a set of simple, true statements could be put together in a way that both formed a blurry version of potential truth and was, in fact, nonsense.</p>
  333. <p>A reader wrote to me that my description of propaganda as something full of premises, images, and reasoning designed to remove complex realities from their context was a good description of what they felt was happening.</p>
  334. <p>In this column, I will imagine Alice wanting to find accurate knowledge to steer her wanderings through Wonderland.</p>
  335. <p>How do we know what is reliable, what is true?</p>
  336. <h2>Science takes a hit</h2>
  337. <p>The last decade has been hard on truth and science.</p>
  338. <p>Academic papers and books, such as the <a href="https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/">Merchants of Doubt</a>, have documented the efforts to cast climate change as uncertain, <a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2021/05/08/reality-check/">poorly executed science</a> that does not rise to a level of justifying the costs of changing our energy systems.</p>
  339. <p>The DOE&#8217;s effort to sanction an alternative narrative about our warming climate and its consequences has moved us into a world of absurdity</p>
  340. <p>In this world of absurdity, we need to remember how we determine what we believe.</p>
  341. <h2>What do you know?</h2>
  342. <div id="attachment_49255" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Aristotle.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49255" class=" wp-image-49255" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Aristotle.jpg" alt="Bust of Aristotle" width="300" height="402" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-49255" class="wp-caption-text">Aristotle’s Rhetoric has had an unparalleled influence on the development of the art of rhetoric. (Image: Wikipedia.)</p></div>
  343. <p>Propaganda, rhetoric, and creating doubt have been <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/">around for millennia</a>. Some of the oldest and most basic philosophical questions ask: How do we know what is true?</p>
  344. <p>Since it is impossible for us to investigate every idea and every issue back to its foundation, we might recast the question as: Who do we believe?</p>
  345. <p>Using the online <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/believe">Merriam-Webster</a> dictionary, the definition of “to believe” is “to consider to be true or honest” or “to accept the word or evidence of.”</p>
  346. <p>Belief and truth are closely related. And we can add another term to the family, knowledge, which the journalist <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc75YUOOsyo&amp;t=183s">Robert Jensen</a> calls “justified true belief.”</p>
  347. <p>If we pick at these things enough, we can get into all sorts of circular reasoning and decide that we actually don’t know anything. That is not very useful.</p>
  348. <p>But, as these words and the ideas churn around, what emerges as essential is “evidence.”</p>
  349. <p>Truth requires evidence of some sort, which requires some process for gathering that evidence.</p>
  350. <aside class="callout right">
  351. <p>If we pick at these things enough, we can get into all sorts of circular reasoning and decide that we actually don’t know anything. That is not very useful.</aside>
  352. <p>The <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bKDQD9OPlGdnguzOzkI_fdLtQfoQzZRg/view?usp=drive_link">scientific method</a> is such a process. It has rules of observation, measurement, development of potential explanations of the observations, testing and evaluation, and reporting.  <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GNqmMBRMuMPZycxy-BvtE3mq2uGo5WRf/view?usp=drive_link">There are the values</a> of objectivity, transparency, and reproducibility by independent, unconflicted members of the community. There are ethical conventions to attend to those values.</p>
  353. <p>It is easy to argue that the scientific method is the most effective way we have of generating reliable knowledge about the world.</p>
  354. <p>But science is not the only way to collect or substantiate evidence.</p>
  355. <p>Plenty of us respond to or act on evidence that comes from social media, the news, or a neighbor. That evidence may be completely unreliable, unmeasured, and out of context. At least momentarily, however, we have accepted the evidence as truthful enough on which to act.</p>
  356. <p>Some take their religious beliefs as a source of absolute truth, and that is the only evidence they accept.</p>
  357. <p>Others might seek the guidance of a guru or someone they trust as their evidence.</p>
  358. <h2>Ever-present uncertainty</h2>
  359. <aside class="callout left">Consensus does not mean that we are certain. In fact, we are not. Nor does it mean there is absolute agreement by all involved. It is an evaluation of the preponderance of evidence. Argued agreement among experts is usually viewed as a measure of confidence.</aside> Though observation, measurement, and evaluation serve as the foundation of the scientific method, and as an element of truth, they are not the only sources of evidence supporting a scientific conclusion.</p>
  360. <p>When investigating complex phenomena, we can never measure things completely. The best measurements still have errors. There are multiple plausible explanations of the observations.</p>
  361. <p>We start to look for coherent, consistent, and convergent explanations of what we observe. Do the explanations make sense and describe what we experience? Over time, if there is convergence of coherent and consistent evidence, an evidence-based consensus begins to emerge.</p>
  362. <p>Consensus does not mean that we are certain. In fact, we are not. Nor does it mean that there is absolute agreement by all involved. It is an evaluation of the preponderance of evidence. Argued agreement among experts is usually viewed as a measure of confidence.</p>
  363. <p>Belief and truth rely on a foundation of different attributes, which, ultimately, we accept or not.</p>
  364. <h2>Into the void</h2>
  365. <p>It is important to recognize the scientific method <a href="https://youtu.be/ErQoxnWkimA">does not produce facts</a>. It produces knowledge with a description of uncertainty. Facts are certain; facts are rare. Absolute truth is rare.</p>
  366. <p>Science, scientists, and federal scientific institutions have, historically, been among the most <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1313548/trust-government-agencies-us/">trusted sources of knowledge</a>. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/05/06/nx-s1-5387367/federal-science-opinion-use-poll">Many people seeking scientific knowledge</a> could look to websites and assessments from these trusted sources. But as federal institutions are defunded and websites and documents are removed or made difficult to find, we are left with a void of knowledge.</p>
  367. <p>The DOE&#8217;s alternative narrative about climate science goes beyond making knowledge hard to find. The goal is for those in power to define the interpretation of science and to shape it to their political goals. The broader behavior to create a void of knowledge makes it easy for that narrative to fill the void.</p>
  368. <h2>Objectively speaking</h2>
  369. <div id="attachment_49257" style="width: 364px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Climate-Blue-Hydroelectric-Dam.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49257" class=" wp-image-49257" src="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Climate-Blue-Hydroelectric-Dam-300x200.jpg" alt="Hydroelectric dam" width="354" height="236" srcset="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2025/09/Climate-Blue-Hydroelectric-Dam-300x200.jpg 300w, https://michigantoday.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/mc-image-cache/2025/09/Climate-Blue-Hydroelectric-Dam.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-49257" class="wp-caption-text">As a power source, scientific knowledge sits there with potential, like the water behind a hydroelectric dam. (Image: iStock.)</p></div>
  370. <p>Ideally, the evidence of science writes an objective narrative.</p>
  371. <p>That ideal is never achieved, because humans write the narrative. People tell the story.</p>
  372. <p>What the attack on science and federal institutions tells us is that there is power in the knowledge generated by the scientific method.</p>
  373. <p>As a power source, scientific knowledge sits there with potential, like the water behind a hydroelectric dam. That knowledge has no intent, but it sits in the midst of powerholders in business,<br />
  374. politics, and government, who do have intent. By its nature, it is subject to exploitation.</p>
  375. <p>There is knowledge stored that power holders want to use. There is knowledge that they want to suppress. When government, wielding its power over the people, decides to shape the knowledge from science to fit the stories it wants to tell, we are in trouble</p>
  376. <p>The story that is written is not objective; it is motivated. The evidence of science is corrupted.</p>
  377. <h2>Damages and decay</h2>
  378. <p><a href="https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2020/01/23/talk-to-me/">Misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda</a> are effective ways to undermine science. It has proved frighteningly easy to damage institutions and destroy intellectual capacity. By mining and exaggerating the mistakes and misbehaviors that are present in all human activities, it has been possible to damage trust in the scientific process and scientists.</p>
  379. <aside class="callout left">Becoming conscious of what is at the foundation of knowledge and truth is an important skill that all informed citizens need to learn. </aside>
  380. <p>We are left in a place where people have to become more self-reliant on their ability to determine the quality of knowledge, the integrity of truth. We need to be aware of how we determine what we believe, and whether it is backed by evidence.</p>
  381. <p>Becoming conscious of what is at the foundation of knowledge and truth is an important skill that all informed citizens need to learn. With the decay of trusted institutions, we need to be able to find credible and legitimate sources of knowledge. We need to quicken and sharpen our efforts of evaluation and critical thinking.</p>
  382. <p>We also need to do more than to speak and to remain present. We need to protect the knowledge we have. We need to continue the development and curation of science-based evidence. We need to elevate our efforts and discipline in providing, to the best of our ability, objective narratives of evidence-based beliefs.<br />
  383. &nbsp;<br />
  384. &nbsp;<br />
  385. <sup><em>1</em></sup><a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/09/13/nx-s1-5539294/climate-change-pollution-repo">This document was removed and the writing team disbanded</a> due to multiple <span class="im">violations of the Federal Advisory Committee Act</span>. DOE&#8217;s action was not a statement about the quality and accuracy of the document.</p>
  386. <p><em>(Lead image: iStock.)</em></p>
  387. ]]></content:encoded>
  389. <wfw:commentRss>https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2025/09/19/navigating-absurdity-in-an-imperfect-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  390. <slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
  393. </item>
  394. </channel>
  395. </rss>
  396.  

If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:

  1. Download the "valid RSS" banner.

  2. Upload the image to your own server. (This step is important. Please do not link directly to the image on this server.)

  3. Add this HTML to your page (change the image src attribute if necessary):

If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:

http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=https%3A//michigantoday.umich.edu/feed/

Home · About · News · Docs · Terms

 
Copyright © 2002-9 Sam Ruby, Mark Pilgrim, Joseph Walton, and Phil Ringnalda