Jan. 12, 2016 – University of Utah chemist Peter J. Stang shook hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping after Stang and six other foreign scientists were honored with China’s 2015 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. “I said ‘thank you’ to him in Chinese and he smiled,” says Stang, recalling the Jan. 8 award ceremony […]

Mathematical simulations at the University of Utah show parasitic flies may spell extinction for Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands, but that pest-control efforts might save the birds that helped inspire the theory of evolution. The new study “shows that the fly has the potential to drive populations of the most common species of Darwin’s […]

  Dec. 17, 2015 – A University of Utah-led study identified a long-sought “hybrid inviability gene” responsible for dead or infertile offspring when two species of fruit flies mate with each other. The discovery sheds light on the genetic and molecular process leading to formation of new species, and may provide clues to how cancer […]

University of Utah mathematician Christopher Hacon and three colleagues have won an American Mathematical Society prize for best research study – an honor so prestigious that it is awarded only once every three years. “It’s definitely a big deal, and it’s great they chose to recognize my field of research,” Hacon, who studies algebraic geometry, […]

University of Utah chemists devised a new way to detect chemical damage to DNA that sometimes leads to genetic mutations responsible for many diseases, including various cancers and neurological disorders. “We are one step closer to understanding the underlying chemistry that leads to genetic diseases,” says Cynthia Burrows, distinguished professor and chair of chemistry at […]

From the National Science Foundation Oceanographers, marine biologists and geologists are the scientists most commonly associated with studying changes in sea ice. But these days, it just might be a mathematician drilling ice cores in the Antarctic. With 17 trips to the Arctic and Antarctic under his belt, Ken Golden of the University of Utah […]

University of Utah scientists deciphered maternal genetic material from two babies buried together at an Alaskan campsite 11,500 years ago. They found the infants had different mothers and were the northernmost known kin to two lineages of Native Americans found farther south throughout North and South America. By showing that both genetic lineages lived so […]

Award-winning journalist and longtime “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel will speak at the University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics on Nov. 4 about the likelihood of a devastating cyberattack on the infrastructure of the United States. At the event, titled “Lights Out with Ted Koppel,” the well-known newsman will speak about his journalism career and his latest […]

Oct. 22, 2015 – If you think it is okay to talk to your car infotainment system or smartphone while driving or even when stopped at a red light, think again. It takes up to 27 seconds to regain full attention after issuing voice commands, University of Utah researchers found in a pair of new […]

University of Utah biologists used cadaver arms to punch and slap padded dumbbells in experiments supporting a hotly debated theory that our hands evolved not only for manual dexterity, but also so males could fistfight over females. “The idea that aggressive behavior played a role in the evolution of the human hand is controversial,” says […]