Q&A with UTNY participant and government senior Hannah Hayes.
Features
The Misinformation Age
I first encountered the Weekly World News (WWN) in the mid 90s. A black and white supermarket tabloid that specialized in fictional stories about aliens and cryptid sightings, the WWN seemed humorous and probably satirical. A friend used to joke that each issue contained one real news item and we just had to figure out […]
None of Us Make it Without Community
Ashanté Reese, an assistant professor of African and African Diaspora Studies, discusses her research on food and food access, as well as how she helped mobilize resources for people in need during the winter storm in February.
Blog
A Language for Big Data Neuroscience
Imagine your brain activity displayed on a computer screen — multiple, bustling tabs open, some sparked by a fleeting thought, others derived from prior or underlying behaviors or features. Now, imagine a scientist trying to make sense of that activity. To understand what’s happening, the brain’s development, or whether it’s characterized by any defining features […]
A Texas Politics Explainer
Many Texans learned a new word this year: quorum. And, no, it’s not the collective noun for a group of opossums. A quorum is the minimum number of assembly members that must be present in order to conduct business. For the Texas House of Representatives, that minimum is two-thirds of its members. Earlier this summer, […]
Biden Administration to Nominate Liberal Arts Alumna Sara Bronin to Chair ACHP
President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Sara Bronin, a Plan II Honors and Architecture alumna from The University of Texas at Austin, as Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) chairperson. Bronin is a Mexican American architect, attorney and policymaker specializing in historic preservation, property, land use and climate change. She is a professor […]
The Body’s Real-Time Response to Racism
For the first time, researchers have recorded how the body responds when someone is confronted with racism or discrimination in the real world, providing new insight into health disparities in the United States and the stress experienced by students-of-color. To measure the body’s real-time response to racism, 31 African-American, 24 Latinx, 25 international students from […]
Books
A Look at Our Latest Books
2021 Spring and Summer titles from our college community.
Travel by the Book
Literature and life guide Peter LaSalle’s latest collection of travel essays, The World is a Book, Indeed.
Commentary
Art Markman
Changing your mind about something as important as vaccination isn’t a sign of weakness – being open to new information is the smart way to make choices
Culturally, this is an era in which people are held in high esteem when they stick with their beliefs and negatively labeled as “flip-floppers” or “wishy-washy” when they change what they think. While the courage of convictions can be a plus in situations where people are fighting for justice, sticking with beliefs in a dynamic […]
Sahotra Sarkar
When human life begins is a question of politics – not biology
A Texas law that aims to eliminate almost all abortions in the state is part of a long-standing nationwide movement to restrict the right to abortion. The Texas law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2021, and severely limits the right to have an abortion in that state. But the anti-abortion movement is aiming more […]
Ted Schwaba
Lead exposure during childhood may influence adult personality, and not for the better
Children raised in areas with more atmospheric lead pollution grew up to have less adaptive and less mature personalities, according to a study I led of over 1.5 million people across the U.S. and Europe. As adults, they were less conscientious, less agreeable and, in some cases, more neurotic. Researchers have known for many years […]