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In the news today- A hunch, a mouse and a moment that could change male contraception, MSU apologizes for misspelling name on memorial plaque, College of Nursing deserves a future as bold as its past.
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What is The State - A Podcast from The State News + Impact 89FM?
The State is a daily rundown of the headlines that matter to the East Lansing, MI community.
Hi, and welcome to The State. I'm your host, Rebecca McAvoy. Today's date is 11/07/2025. The forecast predicts there'll be a cold day with a high of being 57 and a low of being 35. The state brings you the stories that matter.
Speaker 1:Male contraception. In a New York lab, a colleague hesitated with a syringe. The mouse needed an injection for an experiment testing compounds to lower eye pressure, but she was too nervous to do it. Melanie Balbatch, then a postdoctoral researcher, offered to take over on one condition. She wanted to see how the compound would also affect sperm.
Speaker 1:The drug blocked an enzyme called subdulioladolinia cyclase, the enzyme that acts as the sperm's internal on switch producing the chemical signal that powers their movement. Within fifteen minutes of the injection, Baubatch found the sperm had stopped swimming altogether. Now, at Michigan State University, Baubatch, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, leads a lab focused on understanding how sperm generates and regulates energy, a question that has remained surprisingly murky despite decades of reproductive research. Her team studies how these tiny cells decide which to burn and which metabolic pathways to activate as they prepare to fertilize an egg. MSU apologizes for misspelling a name on memorial plaque.
Speaker 1:Michigan State University apologized for misspelling a name on its annual student memorial plaque. The MSU student memorial tribute plaque was dedicated in July 2024 and lists the names of students who died during the twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four academic year. Among them is Tyreke Thabet, a former MSU Humphrey fellow who was killed in an Israeli bombing outside his apartment in Central Gaza City in 2023. His name on the memorial was misspelled, Faber. It went unaddressed by MSU until it was mentioned by public commenters at Friday's board of trustees meeting.
Speaker 1:College of Nursing deserves a future as bold as its past. This year, Michigan State University's College of Nursing celebrates its seventy fifth anniversary, a milestone deserving both celebration and serious reflection. With over 9,500 graduates since 1950 and more than 7,300 living alumni, nearly three quarters still in Michigan, the college has shaped health care and leadership across the state and beyond. But in the midst of this historic moment, the independent future of the college is again in question. The university's proposal to fold the College of Nursing into a new College of Health and Sciences is not a routine administrative update.
Speaker 1:It carries real risks for the identity, influence and effectiveness that has defined nursing at MSU for decades. Thank you for joining us for The State Today produced by The State News and Impact eighty nine FM. You can find us online at thestatenews.com and impacting9fm.org. We'll be back next week with more.