Latest News from: University of Utah

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Released: 14-Sep-2020 5:15 PM EDT
U team offers daily tips for parenting, schooling and e-learning in a pandemic
University of Utah

The Behavior Response Support Team (BRST, pronounced “burst), a joint project of the University of Utah’s Department of Educational Psychology and the Granite School District, provides daily tips and teaches skills for managing kids’ behavior amid remote learning, in-person learning and general pandemic conditions. The animated videos, featuring avatars representing diverse children and families, are provided in seven languages and on five social media platforms.

Released: 1-Sep-2020 8:00 AM EDT
Idle threat
University of Utah

A team led by University of Utah chemical engineering assistant professor Kerry E. Kelly has received a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to design and test the viability of a real-time air pollution monitoring system and display for idling parked cars. The display would work similarly to dynamic speed limit displays in neighborhoods that monitor motorists' speed. In this case, these new displays would give feedback to drivers if air pollution rises due to idling.

   
26-Aug-2020 3:45 PM EDT
Our energy hunger is tethered to our economic past
University of Utah

Current world energy consumption is tied to unchangeable past economic production. And the way out of an ever-increasing rate of carbon emissions may not necessarily be ever-increasing energy efficiency—in fact it may be the opposite.

Released: 24-Aug-2020 7:35 AM EDT
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch surprises University of Utah law students at orientation
University of Utah

Gorsuch, who took his seat on the Court in April 2017, on Friday encouraged law students to persevere through challenging times as they start their legal studies in the midst of a global pandemic.

Released: 19-Aug-2020 1:25 PM EDT
Recursion and University of Utah launch region’s largest life science incubator
University of Utah

Altitude Lab announced its first resident companies and opened applications for its breakthrough collaborative facility and program. It’s the first of its kind—a blended incubator/accelerator program focused on developing diverse and inclusive early-stage life science and health care companies in Utah.

Released: 14-Aug-2020 8:00 AM EDT
Turning a blind eye to sexual abuse: University of Utah law professor explores role of bystanders in new book
University of Utah

In Armies of Enablers: Survivor Stories of Complicity and Betrayal In Sexual Assaults, Guiora explores the role of bystanders complicit in abuse and their effect on victims by interviewing survivors of recent and well-known cases of sexual abuse in communities including higher education, elite athletics, sports organizations, religious institutions, law enforcement, the entertainment industry, and elected officials. He proposes legal, cultural, and social measures aimed at the enabler from the survivor’s perspective.

Released: 12-Aug-2020 1:55 PM EDT
Mutations may have saved brown howlers from yellow fever virus
University of Utah

From 2007 to 2009, a yellow fever virus outbreak nearly decimated brown and black and gold howler monkey populations at El Parque El Piñalito in northeastern Argentina. A study found that in brown howlers, there were two mutations on immune genes that resulted in amino acid changes in the part of the protein that detects the disease.

29-Jul-2020 4:25 PM EDT
Your hair knows what you eat and how much your haircut costs
University of Utah

University of Utah researchers find that stable isotopes in hair reveal a divergence in diet according to socioeconomic status (SES), with lower-SES areas displaying higher proportions of protein coming from cornfed animals. It’s a way, the authors write, to assess a community’s diet and their health risks.

Released: 28-Jul-2020 5:00 PM EDT
How Salt Lake’s buildings affect its climate future
University of Utah

With warmer temperatures in both the summer and winter, we’ll need less natural gas to heat buildings and more electricity to cool them—but what’s the balance between those two effects? University of Utah researchers used hyper-localized climate models and building projections to find out.

Released: 16-Jul-2020 3:15 PM EDT
Pioneering method reveals dynamic structure in HIV
University of Utah

The method reveals that the lattice, which forms the major structural component of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is dynamic. The discovery of a diffusing lattice made from Gag and GagPol proteins, long considered to be completely static, opens up potential new therapies. The method can be applied to biomedical structure.

   
Released: 13-Jul-2020 6:05 AM EDT
Insights into climate change during origin of dinosaurs
University of Utah

In a new study in the journal Gondwana Research demonstrated that the Carnian Pluvial Episode affected the southern hemisphere, specifically South America, which strengthens the case that it was a global climate event.

Released: 7-Jul-2020 1:20 PM EDT
Community science birding data does not yet capture global bird trends
University of Utah

Ornithologists at the University of Utah say that community science bird data shows different trends in bird populations than professional bird surveys do, especially in developing countries. More observations are needed, the researchers say, both by birders and professionals.

Released: 26-Jun-2020 10:20 AM EDT
University of Utah to drop SAT/ACT test requirements
University of Utah

In a two-year pilot study, the University of Utah is electing to make the submission of standardized test scores, the SAT or ACT, optional for applicants beginning with the fall 2021 admissions cycle.

15-Jun-2020 1:20 PM EDT
Know the risks of investing in forests
University of Utah

Some governments are counting on planted forests as offsets for greenhouse gas emissions—a sort of climate investment. But as with any investment, it’s important to understand the risks. If a forest goes bust, researchers say, much of that stored carbon could go up in smoke. Forests can be best deployed in the fight against climate change with a proper understanding of the risks to that forest that climate change itself imposes.

Released: 11-Jun-2020 1:30 PM EDT
Utah’s Arches Continue to Whisper Their Secrets
University of Utah

Two new studies from University of Utah researchers show what can be learned from a short seismic checkup of natural rock arches and how erosion sculpts some arches—like the iconic Delicate Arch—into shapes that lend added strength.

Released: 9-Jun-2020 1:40 PM EDT
Women’s Communication Shapes Division of Labor in Household
University of Utah

A new study led a team that analyzed the role that communication plays in the division of household labor. They found that partner communication is the most important factor linking the division of household labor to satisfaction in the relationship. But the way that the partners’ communication matters depends on gender.

20-May-2020 2:00 PM EDT
A sound treatment
University of Utah

University of Utah biomedical engineering assistant professor Jan Kubanek has discovered that sound waves of high frequency (ultrasound) can be emitted into a patient’s brain to alter his or her state. It’s a non-invasive treatment that doesn’t involve medications or surgery and has a unique potential to treat mental disorders including depression and anxiety and neurological disorders such as chronic pain and epilepsy.

   
Released: 19-May-2020 2:40 PM EDT
Ribs evolved for movement first, then co-opted for breathing
University of Utah

A major transformation in vertebrate evolution took place when breathing shifted from being driven by head and throat muscles—like in fish and frogs—to the torso—like in reptiles and mammals. But what caused the shift? A new study posits that the intermediate step was locomotion—the mechanics follow the same pattern as inhalation and exhalation.

Released: 15-May-2020 4:05 PM EDT
Persistent inequitable exposure to air pollution in Salt Lake County schools
University of Utah

Salt Lake County, Utah’s air pollution is at times the worst in the United States. Underserved neighborhoods—and their schools—experience the highest concentrations. A new study utilized nearly 200 PM 2.5 sensors through the Air Quality and U network and revealed persistent social inequalities in Salt Lake County schools.

Released: 8-May-2020 3:35 PM EDT
Has COVID-19 changed U.S. Supreme Court dynamics?
University of Utah

New commentary from Utah legal scholars suggest new platform for oral arguments unveils insight into the most silent justice in modern history.

Released: 7-May-2020 8:00 AM EDT
Portable, Reusable Test for COVID-19
University of Utah

University of Utah electrical and computer engineering professor Massood Tabib-Azar is developing a portable, reusable sensor for COVID-19 that works with a cellphone. It can detect the presence of the virus in about a minute and just requires a drop of saliva.

Released: 5-May-2020 12:05 PM EDT
Fight for Victims of Dead Multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein Continues
University of Utah

University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Paul Cassell and attorney Bradley J. Edwards have filed a petition for rehearing en banc in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of sex abuse victims of multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The petition asks the full Eleventh Circuit to rehear its earlier divided (2-1) ruling, rejecting the victims’ appeal challenging a secret non-prosecution agreement.

Released: 30-Apr-2020 8:25 AM EDT
Graduating in game
University of Utah

The University of Utah's nationally ranked video game development program, Entertainment Arts & Engineering, will hold its own graduation ceremony for 2020 seniors - in an online video game they created.

Released: 21-Apr-2020 3:30 PM EDT
University of Utah law professor searches for COVID-19 answers through push to share intellectual property
University of Utah

The pledge emerged as a response to reports that intellectual property was emerging as a barrier to research and development of vaccines, diagnostics and therapies for COVID-19, as well as the manufacture and deployment of lifesaving equipment and parts needed to respond to the pandemic.

Released: 20-Apr-2020 12:40 PM EDT
University of Utah exceeds federal energy reduction commitment
University of Utah

The U.S. Department of Energy confirmed the University of Utah has exceeded its goal to reduce energy use by 20 percent by 2020, as part of the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge. The U achieved energy savings of 25% across 17 million square feet of building space since 2008, the base year for the commitment.

Released: 31-Mar-2020 6:00 AM EDT
Mucus and the coronavirus
University of Utah

University of Utah biomedical engineering assistant professor Jessica R. Kramer has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to research how mucus, the slimy substance in human tissue, plays a role in spreading a coronavirus like COVID-19.

   
Released: 30-Mar-2020 1:00 PM EDT
U-led human factors consortium improves medical device design
University of Utah

A University of Utah-led consortium to improve the design of medical devices welcomes Rice University as its newest partner. The Human Factors MEdical DevIce Consortium (hfMEDIC) serves as a consulting resource for medical device manufacturers looking to improve usability and safety of their products.

Released: 26-Mar-2020 3:30 PM EDT
University of Utah libraries produce much-needed supplies for COVID-19 crisis
University of Utah

Library employees at the University of Utah are working together to produce and distribute face shields desperately needed in the health care community while facing the COVID-19 pandemic. In an agreement with University of Utah Health, the shields are 3-D printed to meet personal protective equipment (PPE) standards. Approximately 300 face shields can be produced daily.

   
Released: 23-Mar-2020 1:35 PM EDT
Experienced scholar joins College of Education as new dean
University of Utah

Dan Reed, senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Utah, announced that professor Nancy Songer has accepted an offer to serve as dean of the College of Education. Songer, a recognized researcher in STEM education, is a Fulbright scholar and former dean of Drexel University’s School of Education.

Released: 19-Mar-2020 4:45 PM EDT
NHMU helps students impacted by school closures with Research Quest Live
University of Utah

The Natural History Museum of Utah is now offering an interactive version of its award-winning free online education program, Research Quest, to students throughout Utah and the country. Research Quest Live allows for students to have live sessions with professional educators from the museum while schools are closed.

Released: 18-Mar-2020 12:45 PM EDT
Physicists test coronavirus particles against temperature, humidity
University of Utah

One of the biggest unknowns about coronavirus is how changing seasons will affect its spread. Physicists from the University of Utah have received a NSF grant to create individual coronavirus particles without a genome. They’ll test how the structure of the coronavirus withstands changes in humidity and temperature.

Released: 9-Mar-2020 2:55 PM EDT
Discovery points to origin of mysterious ultraviolet radiation
University of Utah

Lyman-alpha blobs (LABs) are gigantic clouds of hydrogen gas that produce ultraviolet light known as Lyman-alpha emissions. A study of Lyman-alpha blob 6 (LAB-6) is the first LAB with infalling gas feature. The findings suggest that star-forming galaxies are likely the primary energy source of Lyman-alpha radiation emitted from LAB-6.

Released: 6-Mar-2020 4:40 PM EST
NASA satellite offers urban carbon dioxide insights
University of Utah

Using data from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, researchers found connections between the population density of cities and how much carbon dioxide they produce per person.

Released: 27-Feb-2020 8:30 AM EST
University of Utah law professor challenges South Carolina statute that prohibits discussion of LGBTQ relationships in schools
University of Utah

Today, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Clifford Rosky, along with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and private counsel Womble Bond Dickinson and Brazil & Burke, filed a federal lawsuit challenging a South Carolina statute that prohibits public school health education from including any discussion of same-sex relationships except in the context of sexually transmitted diseases. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of the student organization Gender and Sexuality Alliance, as well as the Campaign for Southern Equality and South Carolina Equality Coalition, including their members who are public school students in the state. Click here to learn more and read the complaint. The lawsuit, Gender and Sexuality Alliance v. Spearman, alleges that S.C. Code § 59-32-30(A)(5), a provision of the South Carolina’s 1988 Comprehensive Health Education Act, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by discrimi

Released: 26-Feb-2020 3:55 PM EST
TRAX air quality study expands
University of Utah

In a new study published in Urban Science, researchers including Daniel Mendoza and Logan Mitchell report the latest from the TRAX Observation Project, including data validation studies that bolster the data’s value for other researchers and three case studies from recent events showcasing the abilities of the mobile air quality sensors.

20-Feb-2020 11:50 AM EST
Earliest interbreeding event between ancient human populations discovered
University of Utah

The study documented the earliest known interbreeding event between ancient human populations— a group known as the “super-archaics” in Eurasia interbred with a Neanderthal-Denisovan ancestor about 700,000 years ago. The event was between two populations more distantly related than any other recorded.

Released: 19-Feb-2020 12:35 PM EST
U researchers find public safety risks in bail reform
University of Utah

Discussions of reforming the bail system, which allows defendants to post a monetary bond and leave jail while they await trial, often turn to the question of public safety. Would people out on bail commit additional crimes? The answer, according to two University of Utah professors, appears to be yes.

Released: 6-Feb-2020 4:05 PM EST
University of Utah Law research questions whether national monument management plans follow federal law
University of Utah

New research from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law’s Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment questions whether the federal government followed the law in finalizing management plans for the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.

Released: 5-Feb-2020 12:55 PM EST
Why males pack a powerful punch
University of Utah

Elk have antlers. Rams have horns. In the animal kingdom, males develop specialized weapons for competition when winning a fight is critical. Humans do too, according to new research from the University of Utah. Males’ upper bodies are built for more powerful punches than females’, says the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, suggesting that fighting may have long been a part of our evolutionary history.

22-Jan-2020 5:55 PM EST
New species of Allosaurus discovered in Utah
University of Utah

A remarkable new species of meat-eating dinosaur, Allosaurus jimmadseni, was unveiled at the Natural History Museum of Utah. The huge carnivore inhabited the flood plains of western North America during the Late Jurassic Period, between 157-152 million years ago, making it the geologically oldest species of Allosaurus, predating the more well-known state fossil of Utah, Allosaurus fragilis.

9-Jan-2020 5:00 PM EST
Cracks in Arctic Sea Ice Turn Low Clouds on and Off
University of Utah

The prevailing view has been that more leads are associated with more low-level clouds during winter. But University of Utah atmospheric scientists noticed something strange in their study of these leads: when lead occurrence was greater, there were fewer, not more clouds.


Released: 9-Jan-2020 3:45 PM EST
University of Utah selects Rodney Chatman as new chief of police at the Department of Public Safety
University of Utah

The University of Utah has selected Rodney Chatman as the new chief of police of the Department of Public Safety. Chatman, currently executive director of public safety and chief of police at the University of Dayton in Ohio, will assume his role on Feb. 17, 2020. He will report to Marlon C. Lynch, the U’s newly hired chief safety officer.

   
Released: 31-Dec-2019 12:45 PM EST
“Utah Statement” sets a new course in antitrust policy
University of Utah

In October, Steinbaum and other leading antitrust scholars met at the U to draft a statement that sets out a vision for a new antitrust policy, with specific recommendations for lawmakers to return antitrust laws to their original purpose of deconcentrating power. It’s called the “Utah Statement.”

Released: 23-Dec-2019 2:40 PM EST
University of Utah announces new chief sustainability officer
University of Utah

University of Utah Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dan Reed announced Monday that Kerry Case has accepted an offer to serve as the U’s chief sustainability officer. Case is currently assistant provost for Integrative Learning at Westminster College and has led that institution’s sustainability initiatives for 13 years.

Released: 19-Dec-2019 2:05 PM EST
University of Utah appoints first chief safety officer to lead campus-wide improvements
University of Utah

The University of Utah announced Thursday that Marlon C. Lynch will serve as the university’s first chief safety officer. Lynch, currently senior vice president for campus services and safety at New York University, will assume his role on Feb. 1, 2020.

Released: 13-Dec-2019 3:40 PM EST
Following the lizard lung labyrinth
University of Utah

Mammals inhale oxygen-rich air and they exhale depleted air, exhibiting a so-called tidal flow pattern. In contrast, bird breath travels through part of the respiratory system, but in a one-way loop throughout most of the lung. Biologists have discovered that Savannah monitor lizards have lung structures that are hybrid system of bird and mammal lungs.



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