Aug. 3, 2015 – As grasses grew more common in Africa, most major mammal groups tried grazing on them at times during the past 4 million years, but some of the animals went extinct or switched back to browsing on trees and shrubs, according to a study led by the University of Utah. “It’s […]
Read MoreThe same gene that creates elaborate head crests in domestic rock pigeons also makes head and neck feathers grow up instead of down in domesticated doves to give them head crests, although theirs are much simpler and caused by a different mutation, University of Utah researchers found.
Read MoreJune 15, 2015 – Physicists plan a $6.4 million expansion of the $25 million Telescope Array observatory in Utah so they can zero in on a “hotspot” that seems to be a source of the most powerful particles in the universe: ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Japan will contribute $4.6 million and University of Utah scientists will […]
Read MoreJune 4, 2015 – At times during the past 10,000 years, cottontails and hares reproduced like rabbits and their numbers surged when the El Niño weather pattern drenched the Pacific Coast with rain, according to a University of Utah analysis of 3,463 bunny bones. The study of ancient rabbit populations at a Baja California site […]
Read MoreMay 15, 2015 – Salmon carry a strontium chemical signature in their “ear bones” that lets scientists identify specific streams where the fish hatched and lived before they were caught at sea. The new tool may help pinpoint critical habitats for fish threatened by climate change, industrial development and overfishing. “Using this method, we can […]
Read MoreApril 22, 2015 – Using statistics that describe how an infectious disease spreads, a University of Utah anthropologist analyzed different theories of how people first settled islands of the vast Pacific between 3,500 and 900 years ago. Adrian Bell found the two most likely strategies were to travel mostly against prevailing winds and seek easily […]
Read MoreMarch 26, 2015 – University of Utah students won two individual events, two team events and placed fourth overall at this year’s National Inter-Collegiate Pistol Championships at Fort Benning, Georgia. Wyatt Brown, a sophomore majoring in film and theater studies, won the open air pistol and free pistol competitions. He also brought home all-American honors […]
Read MoreMarch 30, 2015 – Luke Skywalker’s home in “Star Wars” is the desert planet Tatooine, with twin sunsets because it orbits two stars. So far, only uninhabitable gas-giant planets have been identified circling such binary stars, and many researchers believe rocky planets cannot form there. Now, mathematical simulations show that Earthlike, solid planets such as […]
Read MoreMarch 23, 2015 – By crushing minerals between diamonds, a University of Utah study suggests the existence of an unknown layer inside Earth: part of the lower mantle where the rock gets three times stiffer. The discovery may explain a mystery: why slabs of Earth’s sinking tectonic plates sometimes stall and thicken 930 miles underground. […]
Read MoreThe University of Utah received a $25,000 grant from the Daniels Fund to provide two Boundless Opportunity scholarships to non-traditional students for the next two academic years.
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