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New research from two University of Utah professors asserts 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision that led to the creation of Miranda rights may today impede law enforcement’s ability to solve crimes.

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A new research article proposes that more attention be given to what’s right with children who grow up in high-stress environments so their unique strengths and abilities can be used to more effectively tailor education, jobs and interventions to fit them. Stress-adapted children and youth possess traits — such as heightened vigilance, attention shifting and empathic accuracy — that aren’t tapped in traditional learning and testing situations. In addition, these skills may actually allow at-risk children to perform better than their peers from low-risk backgrounds when faced with uncertainty and stress.

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Older Americans are cheating on their spouses more than their younger counterparts, with 20 percent of married Americans over age 55 reporting they’ve engaged in extramarital sex. Just 14 percent of those under age 55 say they’ve cheated

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Researchers have discovered the earliest evidence of wild potato use in North America. This is the first archaeological study to identify a spud-bearing species native to the southwestern United States, the Four Corners potato (S. jamesii), as an important part of ancient human diets.

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While modern marine concrete structures crumble within decades, 2,000-year-old Roman piers and breakwaters endure to this day, and are stronger now than when they were first constructed. University of Utah geologist Marie Jackson studies the minerals and microscale structures of Roman concrete as she would a volcanic rock. She and her colleagues have found that seawater filtering through the concrete leads to the growth of interlocking minerals that lend the concrete added cohesion.

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The University of Utah announced that Elaine Clark, professor of educational psychology at the U, has accepted the appointment as the new dean of the College of Education. For a seamless transition, Clark will begin July 1 as the current dean, María Fránquiz, moves to her new position as deputy chief academic officer for Faculty Development and Innovation. 

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The University of Utah has appointed Martell Teasley as the next dean of the College of Social Work. Teasley, who will begin his term on July 1, 2017, comes to the U from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he served as chair of the Department of Social Work in the College of Public Policy for the past five years. His impressive array of experience also includes the development of a disaster management certificate program at Florida State University’s College of Social Work, employment as a drug and alcohol counselor, time as a licensed practical nurse and a decade of service with the U.S. Army.

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Scientists have solved a decade-long puzzle about lithium, an essential metal in cellphone and computer batteries. Using extreme pressure experiments and powerful supercomputing, the international team has unraveled the mystery of the structure of lithium.

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While most startup companies are lucky to work in a dirty garage, 17 student startups at the University of Utah have dedicated space this summer at the new Lassonde Studios building. The teams are startups-in-residence in the Company Launch program provided by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a nationally ranked division of the David Eccles School of Business.

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Researchers have long shown links between father involvement and daughters’ sexual behavior, with the standard explanation attributing that influence to shared genes that impact both a father’s behavior and relationships and his child’s problem behavior, including engaging in risky sex and affiliating with delinquent peers. But a new study led by a University of Utah researcher and published in Developmental Psychology suggests that even though genes likely play a part, they may not be the whole story.

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The University of Utah has launched a new center dedicated to providing a transformative influence on health care by unifying research on mindfulness and other integrative behavioral health interventions.

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A University of Utah-led team has discovered that a class of “miracle materials” called organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites could be a game changer for future spintronic devices. Spintronics uses the direction of the electron spin — either up or down — to carry information in ones and zeros. A spintronic device can process exponentially more data than traditional electronics. The researchers discovered that the material possess two contradictory properties necessary to make spintronic devices work.

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University of Utah materials science and engineering students have developed a new, 100-percent biodegradable feminine maxi pad that is made of all natural materials and is much more comfortable than similar products. The SHERO Pad uses a processed form of algae for its super-absorbent ingredient.

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Until now, scientists have only had a murky understanding of how these relationships arise. Now Colin Dale and his colleagues at the University of Utah have an answer. It’s good news and bad news, germophobes: The bad news? Mutualistic bacteria start out by invading animal cells just like malevolent disease-causing bacteria do. The good news? Once they’re in, they calm down and play nice.

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University of Utah students have created a new mobile game that demonstrates how software algorithms used by many of the nation’s judicial courts to evaluate defendants could be biased like humans. Justice.exe is a free app in which the software’s algorithm tries to predict how the player would punish criminals.

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The University of Utah is the top research university in the nation when it comes to commercializing technology innovations, according to the Milken Institute’s 2017 ranking of Best Universities for Technology Transfer.

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A U-led study found two ultra-compact dwarf galaxies with supermassive black holes, the second and third such galaxies found to harbor the objects. The three examples suggest that black holes lurk in most ultra-compact dwarf centers. The tiny galaxies were likely leftovers of larger galaxies stripped of their outer layers after colliding into larger galaxies.

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President Trump’s declarations that the press is the “enemy of the American people,” accompanied by overt hostile acts, are not merely different in degree but different in kind from the tensions and antagonisms with the media that have punctuated many previous presidencies, according to two Utah law professors.

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University of Utah professors Bradley R. Cairns, Ph.D., professor and chair of Oncological Sciences and senior director of Basic Science; Dana Carroll, Ph.D., distinguished professor of Biochemistry; and Christopher D. Hacon, Ph.D., distinguished professor of Mathematics, were raised to a high honor in science today with their election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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The University of Utah is launching a first-of-its-kind program designed to address the low enrollment of African-American doctoral students. The African-American Doctoral Scholars Initiative, which begins fall 2017, provides eligible students with annual scholarships worth up to $5,000, among other resources.

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The University of Utah and it’s nationally ranked Entertainment Arts & Engineering video game development program announced today that it is forming the U’s first college-sponsored varsity esports program.

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While studying scavenger behavior in Utah’s Great Basin Desert, University of Utah biologists observed an American badger do something that no other scientists had documented before: bury an entire calf carcass by itself.

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University of Utah bioengineering researchers have discovered that damage to collagen, the main building block of all human tissue, can occur much earlier at a molecular level from too much physical stress. This could be helpful for some who want to know earlier if they are developing diseases such as arthritis or for athletes whose bodies are taking a toll.

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With just an inexpensive micro-thin surgical needle and laser light, University of Utah engineers have discovered a minimally invasive, inexpensive way to take high-resolution pictures of an animal brain, a process that also could lead to a much less invasive method for humans.

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University of Utah engineers have discovered a new material made from a combination of the chemical elements calcium, cobalt and terbium that can create an efficient, inexpensive and bio-friendly material that can generate electricity through a thermoelectric process involving heat and cold air.

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Researchers led by University of Utah bioengineering assistant professor Robby Bowles have discovered a way to curb chronic pain by modulating genes that reduce tissue- and cell-damaging inflammation.

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Carbon emissions to the atmosphere from streams and rivers are expected to increase as warmer water temperatures stimulate faster rates of organic matter breakdown. But a new study led by University of Utah researcher Jennifer J. Follstad Shah, in collaboration with a team of 15 scientists in the U.S. and Europe, suggests these decay rates may not increase as much as expected. In fact, the study indicates average breakdown rates may increase 5 percent to 21 percent with a 1 degree to 4-degree Celsius rise in water temperature — half as much as the 10 percent to 45 percent increase predicted by metabolic theory.

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University of Utah and University of Michigan chemists, participating in a U.S. Department of Energy consortium, predict a better future for these types of batteries, called redox flow batteries. Using a predictive model of molecules and their properties, the team has developed a charge-storing molecule around 1,000 times more stable than current compounds.

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Walking on our heels, a feature that separates great apes, including humans, from other primates, confers advantages in fighting, according to a new University of Utah study published today in Biology Open. Although moving from the balls of the feet is important for quickness, standing with heels planted allows more swinging force, according to study lead author and biologist David Carrier, suggesting that aggression may have played a part in shaping our stance.

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The University of Utah announced the Consortium for Dark Sky Studies, the first academic center in the world dedicated to discovering, developing, communicating and applying knowledge of the quality of the night skies. The consortium will research light pollution and the public health, economic and environmental impacts of the disappearing dark.

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The marriage rate in the U.S. continues to decline and the view that marriage entails a “lack of freedom” is becoming more entrenched, particularly among younger men, according to researchers Nicholas H. Wolfinger and W. Bradford Wilcox.

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University of Utah chemists publish a new method for ammonia production, using enzymes derived from nature, that generates ammonia at room temperature. As a bonus, the reaction generates a small electrical current.

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This study’s findings show there was a 75 percent reduction in suicide attempts among participants who engaged in crisis response planning versus a contract for safety. Crisis response planning also was associated with a significantly faster decline in suicidal thoughts and fewer inpatient hospitalization days.

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University of Utah engineers have created “smart glasses” with liquid-based lenses that can automatically adjust the focus on what a person is seeing, whether it is far away or close up.

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In “The Power of Community Action: Anti-Payday Loan Ordinances in Three Metropolitan Areas,” researchers Robert N. Mayer and Nathalie Martin document how local communities positively organize to control payday lending in their jurisdictions and thereby create important legal change.

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The study, published Jan. 24, 2017, in Pediatrics, is the first to assess how implementation of a state-wide screening can pick up hearing loss in infants due to congenital cytomegalovirus.

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A team including University of Utah mathematician Kenneth Golden has determined how Arctic melt ponds form, solving a paradoxical mystery of how a pool of water actually sits atop highly porous ice.

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Conrad Anker was featured in the 2015 Sundance film, “Meru,” which chronicles his attempt to lead the first team to summit the notoriously difficult Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru in northern India. Anker was a founding member of The North Face Climbing Team and began his relationship with the outdoor company as a retail employee while he was a student at the University of Utah. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in recreation and leisure.

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The University of Utah joins the Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute, a national coalition that aims to drive down the cost of technologies essential to reuse, recycle and remanufacture metals and other materials.

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University of Utah atmospheric scientist Gannet Hallar and colleagues find a correlation between the severity of drought in the Intermountain West and the summertime air quality, particularly the concentration of aerosol particles, in remote mountain wilderness regions.