ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When parents set up long-term savings accounts for college, business start-ups or home ownership, kids feel more financially and emotionally secure, new research shows.
The studies show the importance of families using child development accounts (CDA) as one measure to shift from an overreliance on credit and create a foundation for asset building. In other words, this program encourages households to maintain less debt and more savings. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Is your character shaped by where you live—or vice versa?
University of Michigan psychology researchers found that some cities lead with their heart—emotional and interpersonal strengths—while others lead with their head—intellectual and self-oriented strengths.
They also found such distinctions are also related to economic and political consequences. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Subprime mortgages were not the main reason behind the housing crisis that started in 2009 and continues to bedevil the faltering U.S. economy, according to a University of Michigan study.
“Our analysis shows that the major underlying driver of the continuing foreclosure crisis was aggressive refinancing using adjustable rate mortgage loans that looked safe at the time because of increasing housing prices,” said Frank Stafford, an economist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR). (more…)
NN ARBOR, Mich.—A groundbreaking new equation developed in part by researchers at the University of Michigan could do for organic semiconductors what the Shockley ideal diode equation did for inorganic semiconductors: help to enable their wider adoption. (more…)
Twisting spires are one of the 3D shapes researchers at the University of Michigan were able to develop using a new manufacturing process. Image credit: A. John Hart
ANN ARBOR, Mich
.— Twisting spires, concentric rings, and gracefully bending petals are a few of the new three-dimensional shapes that University of Michigan engineers can make from carbon nanotubes using a new manufacturing process.
The process is called “capillary forming,” and it takes advantage of capillary action, the phenomenon at work when liquids seem to defy gravity and spontaneously travel up a drinking straw.
The new miniature shapes have the potential to harness the exceptional mechanical, thermal, electrical, and chemical properties of carbon nanotubes in a scalable fashion, said A. John Hart, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and in the School of Art & Design.
The 3D nanotube structures could enable countless new materials and microdevices, including probes that can interface with individual cells, novel microfluidic devices, and lightweight materials for aircraft and spacecraft. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Tuberculosis fights off the toxic agents, acidity and oxidants, that our immune system sends to destroy it, which is why the maddeningly drug-resistant bacterium can survive in harsh conditions in our bodies for essentially as long as its human host lives, new research shows. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— High blood lipids are a big risk factor for developing heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. Approximately one of every six adult Americans has high blood cholesterol and about every 25 seconds, an American will have a heart attack, and nearly one every minute will die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—It’s common knowledge that newlyweds who yell or call each other names have a higher chance of getting divorced. But a new University of Michigan study shows that other conflict patterns also predict divorce.
