August 7, 2017—Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the ancestors of modern humans diverged from an archaic lineage that gave rise to Neanderthals and Denisovans. Yet the evolutionary relationships between these groups remain unclear. A University of Utah-led team developed a new method for analyzing DNA sequence data to reconstruct the early history of the […]

The town of Escalante in southern Utah is no small potatoes when it comes to scientific discovery; a new archaeological finding within its borders may rewrite the story of tuber domestication. Researchers from the Natural History Museum of Utah and Red Butte Garden at the University of Utah have discovered potato starch residues in the […]

You’d think desert woodrats already had a lot of adversity. Besides the constant threat of coyotes and other predators and the scorching Mojave Desert heat, their primary source of food is the creosote bush, or chaparral – a plant so toxic that few other animals will even go near it. But the woodrats’ unique adaptation […]

This fall, the University of Utah’s newly-announced varsity esports team will be gunnin’ for virtual goals. The university’s nationally-ranked Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE) video game design program announced today that its new esports team will be competing in Rocket League, one of the most popular multiplayer video games in the world with a community […]

The American Heart Association (AHA) awarded investigators at University of Utah Health $3.7 million to conduct collaborative research to prevent and treat congenital heart disease. U of U Health is one of four groups across the country to join the AHA’s Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN) for children. Martin Tristani-Firouzi, a clinican-scientist at U of […]

Scientists have solved decades 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 a fundamental property of lithium. Its atoms are arranged in a simple structure, and may be the first direct evidence of a quantum solid […]

“Yarraman flu is a virus quickly infecting the U.S. …” The mock announcement was enough to make readers worry. But when the name of the hypothetical illness was changed to “horse flu,” the news elicited a different reaction. Readers were not as concerned, and reported being less motivated to get a vaccine that would prevent […]

Antibiotics were the wonder drug of the 20th century, but persistent use and over-prescription have opened the door that has allowed bacteria to evolve resistance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than two million people in the United States develop bacterial infections that are resistant to multiple antibiotics every year. Previous […]

  Erhu Cao, assistant professor of biochemistry at University of Utah Health, was named a 2017 Pew Scholar for his exploration of atomic-scale mechanisms to understand how cell membrane proteins function under normal and diseased states. Cao is one of 22 scientists nationwide to receive the honor from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Pew Scholars Program in […]

The University of Utah’s nationally-ranked Entertainment Arts & Engineering (EAE) video game design program announced today that Blizzard Entertainment’s wildly popular multiplayer titles “Overwatch” and “Hearthstone” will be official varsity games in Utah’s new collegiate esports program. Varsity esports at the University of Utah is the first college-sponsored varsity esports program from any school in […]