A new $12 million program will tackle nutrient runoff in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Funded by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the initiative uses a performance-based approach to improve water quality. Partners will work with farmers to target conservation where it delivers the greatest impact.

Michigan State University’s Institute of Water Research has recently received a $12 million investment from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) to address nutrient contributions to the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) in Michigan.

For over 40 years, legume research advanced farming and global food security. The MSU-led Legume Lab, ended in 2025 due to USAID cuts, had aimed to build resilient, sustainable systems and support future scientists.

Assistant Professor Jerome Graham of Michigan State University's College of Education will examine the relationship between chronic absenteeism and student well-being across Georgia with a $450,000 grant.

Caused by stressful conditions like warming ocean temperatures, coral bleaching is a leading threat to some of our planet’s most diverse and vital ecosystems. Now, a team of researchers has found that some corals survive warming ocean temperatures by passing heat-resisting abilities on to their offspring.

Poster session information for the Great Lakes Plant Science Conference

A new study led by Michigan State University found that as people get better at handling stress on a daily basis, they also become more extroverted, agreeable and open to new experiences over a nearly 20-year period. Likewise, the worse they manage daily stressors, the more introverted, unfriendly and closed off from new experiences they become.

New research from MSU, led by agricultural systems scientist Bruno Basso, tackles a key flaw in agricultural carbon markets: inaccurate “baselines” used to measure climate benefits, which can distort carbon credit calculations and undermine market trust.

Some professional football players practice ballet. An NCAA champion runner also swims. An Olympic gold medal speed skater does six-hour biking sessions. According to researchers from Michigan State University, these athletes are ahead of the game because cross-training can help prevent injury in youth athletes.

Kandace Griffin, a fisheries and wildlife doctoral student, and Michael Wagner, professor in the MSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, found that sea lampreys — a parasitic fish considered an invasive species in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. — follow a clear pattern of staying in the deepest parts of a river.