Religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain reward circuits in much the same way as love, sex, gambling, drugs and music, report researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine. The findings will be published Nov. 29 in the journal Social Neuroscience. “We’re just beginning to understand how the brain participates in experiences that […]

At about 3 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2011, as a normal, albeit cold, Washington, D.C., workday drew to a close, heavy snow started to fall. By the time the surprise snowstorm ended six hours later, low visibility, slick roads and 7 inches of snow left hundreds of cars smashed and many others abandoned in roadside […]

A newly created school at the University of Utah aims to provide an intellectual foundation for understanding and addressing some of the most pressing issues surrounding race and gender in American society. That goal is reflected in its name: School for Cultural and Social Transformation—the first school in the Intermountain West to make the intersection […]

From Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility to the Romulan cloaking device that rendered their warship invisible in “Star Trek,” the magic of invisibility was only the product of science fiction writers and dreamers. But University of Utah electrical and computer engineering associate professor Rajesh Menon and his team have developed a cloaking device for microscopic […]

For years, scientists have known that someone who is thin could still end up with diabetes. Yet an obese person may be surprisingly healthy. Now, new research led by scientists at the University of Utah College of Health, and carried out with an international team of scientsts, points to an answer to that riddle: accumulation […]

Oct. 26, 2016 — As U.S. coal production declines due to the rise of natural gas and alternative energies, the question remains: What will happen to those communities of coal workers? The answer may lie in a derivative of coal called “pitch,” which can be used to produce a carbon-fiber material utilized in items from […]

The University of Utah and Utah State University both announced, today, new partnerships with Civitas Learning to identify the complex factors that drive student success in order to inform proactive support for students. University of Utah and Utah State University will also share their findings across campuses to better serve students at both universities and across Utah. “Enhanced advising […]

Biologists at the University of Utah recently used light-weight geolocation technology to follow a species of songbird on its 10,000-kilometer migration from the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa. The study, published October 26 in The Condor: Ornithological Applications identified key regions of importance for the species and highlighted the lack of protection many of these […]

Most people could benefit from a few extra hours of sleep every night. But some people habitually sleep much less than the recommended amount, yet report feeling no ill effects. A new University of Utah study, published Sept. 15 in Brain and Behavior, finds that patterns of neural connections in the brains of so-called “habitual […]

One of the hot-button issues this presidential election is about companies outsourcing work overseas and figuring out how to keep manufacturing jobs here in America. To help convince these businesses they can perform better in their own backyard, two University of Utah mechanical engineering professors are establishing a center to show local manufacturing companies how […]