Consortium for Dark Sky Studies

February 10, 2017

The University of Utah has awarded formal recognition to the Consortium for Dark Sky Studies (CDSS), the first academic center in the world dedicated to discovering, developing, communicating and applying knowledge pertaining to the quality of the night skies. The CDSS is an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional research group based in the College of Architecture and Planning […]



Biologists follow ‘fossilizable’ clues to pinpoint when mammal, bird and dinosaur ancestors became athletes

December 22, 2016

Many mammals and birds are remarkable athletes; mice work hard to dig burrows for protection and sparrows fight gravity with each flap of their wings. In order to have the energy to sustain vigorous exercise, the body’s tissues need a steady supply of oxygen, and red blood cells (RBCs) are the center of the oxygen […]



How to survive extinction: live fast, die young

April 1, 2016

Two hundred and fifty-two million years ago, a series of Siberian volcanoes erupted and sent the Earth into the greatest mass extinction of all time. As a result of this mass extinction, known as the Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction, billions of tons of carbon were propelled into the atmosphere, radically altering the Earth’s climate. Yet, some […]



Dinosaur relatives and first dinosaurs more closely connected than previously thought

December 7, 2015

A new study by a team of scientists from Argentina, Brazil, California and the Natural History Museum of Utah at the University of Utah has determined that the time elapsed between the emergence of early dinosaur relatives and the origin of the first dinosaurs is much shorter than previously believed. The discovery not only places […]



76-million-year-old extinct species of pig-snouted turtle unearthed in Utah

October 21, 2015

In the 250-million-year evolutionary history of turtles, scientists have seen nothing like the pig nose of a new species of extinct turtle discovered in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by a team from the Natural History Museum of Utah. “It’s one of the weirdest turtles that ever lived,” said Joshua Lively, who described the new species […]



Natural History Museum of Utah to launch innovative digital program for middle schoolers

October 8, 2015

This month the Natural History Museum of Utah at the University of Utah will launch a new digital program called Research Quest that will give middle school students across the state of Utah the chance to explore some of the museum’s paleontology collections through in-depth, classroom-based investigations. After two years of prototyping the program with […]