June 15, 2016 – It’s easy to understand why natural selection favors people who help close kin at their own expense: It can increase the odds the family’s genes are passed to future generations. But why assist distant relatives? Mathematical simulations by a University of Utah anthropologist suggest “socially enforced nepotism” encourages helping far-flung kin. […]

When new AIDS virus particles bud from an infected cell, an enzyme named protease activates to help the viruses mature and infect more cells. That’s why modern AIDS drugs control the disease by inhibiting protease. Now, University of Utah researchers found a way to turn protease into a double-edged sword: They showed that if they […]

  A Utah mountainside collapsed 4,800 years ago in a gargantuan landslide known as a “rock avalanche,” creating the flat floor of what is now Zion National Park by damming the Virgin River to create a lake that existed for 700 years. Those are key conclusions of a new University of Utah study that provides […]

  Older Americans with some hearing loss shouldn’t feel alone if they have trouble understanding British TV sagas like “Downton Abbey.” A small study from the University of Utah suggests hearing-impaired senior citizens have more trouble than young people comprehending British accents when there is background noise. “The older hearing-impaired had just a little more […]

By showing that a phenomenon dubbed the “inverse spin Hall effect” works in several organic semiconductors – including carbon-60 buckyballs – University of Utah physicists changed magnetic “spin current” into electric current. The efficiency of this new power conversion method isn’t yet known, but it might find use in future electronic devices including batteries, solar […]

University of Utah scientists identified two genes that make some pigeon breeds develop feathered feet known as muffs, while others have scaled feet. The same or similar genes might explain scaled feet in chickens and other birds, and provide insight into how some dinosaurs got feathers before they evolved into birds. The study found that […]

A raging robot war with metallic catapults and blockades will turn the Maverik Center into a battlefield this Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19. More than 40 high school teams from Utah, the West and beyond will meet at the West Valley City arena, 3200 S. Decker Lake Drive, for the annual Utah Regional […]

The University of Utah’s Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, Office of Engagement, School of Medicine and Women’s Enrollment Initiative are partnering with The V(i)llage to inspire future black medical innovators and doctors by hosting a Medicine U college experience for middle and high school students on Feb. 12. Student participants are members in The V(i)llage, a comprehensive […]

University of Utah professor Nick Wolfinger this month has released new research about the faith and family life among non-white Americans in a new book, “Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love & Marriage Among African Americans and Latinos.”  By 2050, a majority of Americans will be minorities yet we know little about faith and family life among […]

University of Utah lab experiments found that when temperatures get warmer, woodrats suffer a reduced ability to live on their normal diet of toxic creosote – suggesting that global warming may hurt plant-eating animals. “This study adds to our understanding of how climate change may affect mammals, in that their ability to consume dietary toxins […]