Science & Technology

Birds retreating from climate change, deforestation in Honduras cloud forests

The cloud forests of Honduras can seem like an otherworldly place, where the trees are thick with life that takes in water straight from the air around it, and the soundscape is littered with the calls of animals singing back and forth. Otherworldly, yes, but scientists have found that the cloud forests are not immune […]


Genetic tools uncover cause of childhood seizure disorder missed by other methods

Early childhood seizures result from a rare disease that begin in the first months of life. Researchers at University of Utah Health have developed high-tech tools to uncover the genetic cause of the most difficult to diagnose cases. The results are available online on Aug. 13 in the journal Nature Genomic Medicine. “These tools let […]


Picture this: Camera with no lens

In the future, your car windshield could become a giant camera sensing objects on the road. Or each window in a home could be turned into a security camera. University of Utah electrical and computer engineers have discovered a way to create an optics-less camera in which a regular pane of glass or any see-through […]


Inducing Labor at 39 Weeks Decreases Need for Cesarean Section

Inducing labor in healthy women at 39 weeks into their pregnancy reduces the need for cesarean section and is at least as safe for mother and baby as waiting for spontaneous labor. Choosing to induce could also reduce the risk that mothers will develop preeclampsia and that newborns will need respiratory support after delivery, according […]


Utah artificial heart pioneer dies

Don B. Olsen, a key member of the University of Utah team that developed and implanted the world’s first artificial heart, passed away Aug. 5 at his Cottonwood Heights, Utah, home of causes incident to age. He was 88. Olsen, who was Professor Emeritus in the U’s departments of biomedical engineering and surgery as well […]


Lessons from Flies: Genetic Diversity Impacts Disease Severity

New research offers clues as to why some diseases are highly variable between individuals. The phenomenon is apparent in people with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that causes the light-sensing cells in the eye to degenerate. While some only develop night blindness, others completely lose their sight, even when their condition is caused by the same […]


University of Utah engineers join DARPA effort to remake U.S. electronics

Pierre-Emmanuel Gaillardon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Utah, was awarded close to $2 million over four years to lead two projects for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s new Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) “Page 3” programs. Gaillardon and the rest of the awardees were announced on Monday, July […]


Newly Discovered Armored Dinosaur From Utah Reveals Intriguing Family History

Fossils of a new genus and species of an ankylosaurid dinosaur—Akainacephalus johnsoni—have been unearthed in the Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM), and are revealing new details about the diversity and evolution of this group of armored dinosaurs.  Expected to look like other North American Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaurs with smooth bony armor […]


An easier way to simulate cloud cover

Take a look at the clouds, if there are any in your sky right now. If not, here are a few examples. Watch the billows, the white lofty tufts set against the blue sky. Or, depending on your weather, watch the soft grey edges smear together into blended tones that drag down through the air […]


Variations of a single gene drive diverse pigeon feather patterns

In a new study, a University of Utah-led team has discovered that different versions of a single gene, called NDP (Norrie Disease Protein), have unexpected links between color patterns in pigeons, and vision defects in humans. These gene variations were likely bred into pigeons by humans from a different pigeon species and are now evolutionarily advantageous […]