Brian Maffly
@brianmaffly.bsky.social
Former journalist with years of service at The Salt Lake Tribune. Now I share the scientific discoveries occurring at the University of Utah. I'm also a crusty old dad who cooks, skis and bikes, plays basketball and rock 'n roll.
Documentary, The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice, details how @utahstate.bsky.social geoscientist Tammy Rittenour helped reveal climate secrets locked in Greenland’s ice sheet. Her Luminescence Lab dated old ice cores, pinpointing time when Greenland was ice free. www.usu.edu/today/story/...
USU Lab Contributes to New Documentary on Findings Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet
A new documentary shows how USU researchers are helping determine when life last existed where the Greenland Ice Sheet is now.
www.usu.edu
November 14, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Documentary, The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice, details how @utahstate.bsky.social geoscientist Tammy Rittenour helped reveal climate secrets locked in Greenland’s ice sheet. Her Luminescence Lab dated old ice cores, pinpointing time when Greenland was ice free. www.usu.edu/today/story/...
Inequities in park access along racial and ethnic lines abounds in the US, despited the many benefits public green space provides people, new @utah.edu study finds. Time to overhaul funding models to improve access for underserved communities. attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff...
Who benefits from neighborhood parks? - @theU
A first-of-its-kind study found that public greenspaces are unevenly distributed in nearly all U.S. communities, leaving some residents—particularly those in ethnic enclaves—without access to a...
attheu.utah.edu
October 30, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Inequities in park access along racial and ethnic lines abounds in the US, despited the many benefits public green space provides people, new @utah.edu study finds. Time to overhaul funding models to improve access for underserved communities. attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff...
Seismology meets botany: Here’s what ambient vibrations reveal about dynamic properties and structure of towering saguaro cacti. @utah.edu attheu.utah.edu/research/sei...
Seismology meets botany: U geologist applies vibration science to saguaros - @theU
Research uses earthquake-monitoring tools to measure how towering cacti resonate from wind and ground motion without harming them.
attheu.utah.edu
October 28, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Seismology meets botany: Here’s what ambient vibrations reveal about dynamic properties and structure of towering saguaro cacti. @utah.edu attheu.utah.edu/research/sei...
Curated by ancient rodents and hardened with their pee: What pack rat middens reveal about Range Creek’s past. Geographers look to pollen grains and macrofossils preserved in poop piles to reconstruct Utah canyon's paleoecology. attheu.utah.edu/feature/the-... @utah.edu
The poop-pile time capsules of Range Creek Canyon - @theU
Paleoecologist Marti Sorensen analyzes pack rat middens to reconstruct the ecology of NHMU-managed archaeological preserve.
attheu.utah.edu
October 13, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Curated by ancient rodents and hardened with their pee: What pack rat middens reveal about Range Creek’s past. Geographers look to pollen grains and macrofossils preserved in poop piles to reconstruct Utah canyon's paleoecology. attheu.utah.edu/feature/the-... @utah.edu
Private timberlands managed for industrial logging are more prone to severe burning in wildfires than national forests. LiDAR-based study led by @utah.edu shows why.
@wilkescenter.bsky.social attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff... 2018 imagery mapped forest structure in Sierra before region burned
@wilkescenter.bsky.social attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff... 2018 imagery mapped forest structure in Sierra before region burned
Industry managed forests more likely to fuel megafires - @theU
Forests managed by timber companies were more likely to exhibit the conditions that megafires love—dense stands of regularly spaced trees with continuous vegetation connecting the...
attheu.utah.edu
August 20, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Private timberlands managed for industrial logging are more prone to severe burning in wildfires than national forests. LiDAR-based study led by @utah.edu shows why.
@wilkescenter.bsky.social attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff... 2018 imagery mapped forest structure in Sierra before region burned
@wilkescenter.bsky.social attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff... 2018 imagery mapped forest structure in Sierra before region burned
Utah’s #BonnevilleSaltFlats have shrunk by 75% since 1925.
@utah.edu geologists Brenda Bowen and Mark Radwin use remote satellite, aerial imagery to analyze loss of halite crusts sciencedirect.com/science/arti... At current decline rate, 185-358 acres a year, they could be gone by 2072
@utah.edu geologists Brenda Bowen and Mark Radwin use remote satellite, aerial imagery to analyze loss of halite crusts sciencedirect.com/science/arti... At current decline rate, 185-358 acres a year, they could be gone by 2072
August 18, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Utah’s #BonnevilleSaltFlats have shrunk by 75% since 1925.
@utah.edu geologists Brenda Bowen and Mark Radwin use remote satellite, aerial imagery to analyze loss of halite crusts sciencedirect.com/science/arti... At current decline rate, 185-358 acres a year, they could be gone by 2072
@utah.edu geologists Brenda Bowen and Mark Radwin use remote satellite, aerial imagery to analyze loss of halite crusts sciencedirect.com/science/arti... At current decline rate, 185-358 acres a year, they could be gone by 2072
Sediment records from #GreatSaltLake show post-Mormon settlement irrigation and the 1959 railroad causeway triggered environmental shifts unseen in 2,000 years.
@utah.edu
attheu.utah.edu/research/the...
@utah.edu
attheu.utah.edu/research/the...
The 8,000-year history of Great Salt Lake and its watershed is recorded in sediments - @theU
Geoscientist's analysis of carbon and oxygen isotopes documents profound human-driven changes arising from agriculture and rail causeway.
attheu.utah.edu
August 18, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Sediment records from #GreatSaltLake show post-Mormon settlement irrigation and the 1959 railroad causeway triggered environmental shifts unseen in 2,000 years.
@utah.edu
attheu.utah.edu/research/the...
@utah.edu
attheu.utah.edu/research/the...
Transdisciplinary study from #UniversityofUtah concludes unborn children are at higher risk of intellectual disabilities from their mothers’, even grandmothers’ exposure to air pollution while pregnant. attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff... @utah.edu
Industrial pollution’s imprint lasts generations - @theU
According to new analysis using Utah Population Database, a woman’s prenatal exposures can increase risk of intellectual disabilities in daughter’s children.
attheu.utah.edu
August 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Transdisciplinary study from #UniversityofUtah concludes unborn children are at higher risk of intellectual disabilities from their mothers’, even grandmothers’ exposure to air pollution while pregnant. attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff... @utah.edu
After 13 years of pouring money down this rathole, the state of Utah still pays people to indiscriminately kill coyotes, despite reams of evidence that this cruel policy does little to control this resilient predator, not to mention flagrant fraud on the part of some bounty collectors.
Utah’s efforts to lower the Coyote population could possibly backfire, according to science.
Coyotes remain as wily as ever, even as Utah has paid millions in bounties
“For a long time, we've had bounties and government agents out after them, trying to kill them. It never works,” one researcher said, describing the coyote’s resilience to hunting.
buff.ly
July 8, 2025 at 9:56 PM
After 13 years of pouring money down this rathole, the state of Utah still pays people to indiscriminately kill coyotes, despite reams of evidence that this cruel policy does little to control this resilient predator, not to mention flagrant fraud on the part of some bounty collectors.
Reposted by Brian Maffly
AI chatbots can be an asset in mental health treatment. But things get risky when they try to do work that requires a license for humans.
In its first year of work, Utah’s AI office laid out mental health best practices
AI has a role to play in mental health care, but it also comes with potential risks.
www.kuer.org
July 8, 2025 at 9:21 PM
AI chatbots can be an asset in mental health treatment. But things get risky when they try to do work that requires a license for humans.
Thanks to federal funding and curious scientists, the U.S. has long driven life-saving discoveries in genetics. That legacy is in serious jeopardy under proposed cuts to NSF and NIH. Retired @utah.edu biomedical researchers explain what's at stake in @sltrib.com op-ed
Proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation “would cause immense and largely irreversible damage to the successful American scientific enterprise,” write Jerry Kaplan and Dana Carroll in an op-ed.
Voices: Federal funding cuts to genetic research will be devastating for years to come
Proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation “would cause immense and largely irreversible damage to the successful American scientific enterprise,” write Jerry Kaplan and Dana Carroll in an op-ed.
www.sltrib.com
July 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Thanks to federal funding and curious scientists, the U.S. has long driven life-saving discoveries in genetics. That legacy is in serious jeopardy under proposed cuts to NSF and NIH. Retired @utah.edu biomedical researchers explain what's at stake in @sltrib.com op-ed
@utah.edu campus is Utah’s official arboretum with 11,600 trees spanning 300 species, from Walter Cottam’s legendary gambel oak hybrids to majestic Japanese zelkova in Cottam’s Gulch. Read the university magazine cover story by Lisa Anderson. @redbuttegarden magazine.utah.edu/issues/summe...
A Tree Grows on Campus - The University of Utah Magazine
As Utah’s official state arboretum, the U campus and Red Butte Garden & Arboretum contain an impressive collection of awe-inspiring trees.
magazine.utah.edu
July 2, 2025 at 9:12 PM
@utah.edu campus is Utah’s official arboretum with 11,600 trees spanning 300 species, from Walter Cottam’s legendary gambel oak hybrids to majestic Japanese zelkova in Cottam’s Gulch. Read the university magazine cover story by Lisa Anderson. @redbuttegarden magazine.utah.edu/issues/summe...
‘Jar of bones’ recovered from Utah’s public lands and held for 20 years in the collections of @nhmu.bsky.social found to be those of a Cretaceous lizard previously unknown to science. Study by @utah.edu gives it a name: Bolg amondol, relative of modern Gila monster. attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff...
New monstersaur species a ‘goblin prince’ among dinosaurs - @theU
Discovery of Bolg amondol, a name inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” universe, reveals the complex evolutionary history of giant Gila monster relatives that roamed Utah’s prehistoric tro...
attheu.utah.edu
June 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
‘Jar of bones’ recovered from Utah’s public lands and held for 20 years in the collections of @nhmu.bsky.social found to be those of a Cretaceous lizard previously unknown to science. Study by @utah.edu gives it a name: Bolg amondol, relative of modern Gila monster. attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff...
@utah.edu medical ethicists are revealing untold story of Black inmate used in malaria experiments at #Stateville Penitentiary and how it led to discoveries that help prevent adverse drug reactions today.
attheu.utah.edu/health-medic...
attheu.utah.edu/health-medic...
A new look at the Stateville prison malaria experiments - @theU
Utah scholars pull back the curtain on the untold story of Black prisoners and the science of preventing adverse drug reactions.
attheu.utah.edu
June 11, 2025 at 4:10 PM
@utah.edu medical ethicists are revealing untold story of Black inmate used in malaria experiments at #Stateville Penitentiary and how it led to discoveries that help prevent adverse drug reactions today.
attheu.utah.edu/health-medic...
attheu.utah.edu/health-medic...
LED lighting doesn't just save electricity, it can also prevent bird collisions with buildings, which kills millions a year. Researchers with @utahstate.bsky.social figure out how shining ultraviolet light on glass makes windows appear solid. www.npr.org/2025/05/26/n...
How LED lights can help birds avoid fatal run-ins with windows
Shining ultraviolet lights on windows can substantially decrease the number of birds that fly into them and die, new research at Utah State University shows.
www.npr.org
May 27, 2025 at 9:03 PM
LED lighting doesn't just save electricity, it can also prevent bird collisions with buildings, which kills millions a year. Researchers with @utahstate.bsky.social figure out how shining ultraviolet light on glass makes windows appear solid. www.npr.org/2025/05/26/n...
Reposted by Brian Maffly
May 23, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Climate change is not just disrupting songbirds’ breeding and migration schedules. The timing of their fall molt is occurring earlier every year, according to bird banding research from @utah.edu @sekercioglu.bsky.social @uofubiology.bsky.social attheu.utah.edu/research/as-...
As climate warms, migratory songbirds’ fall feather molt advances by a day every year - @theU
Study by U biologists taps data from 22,000 songbirds captured at Bonderman Field Station to reveal changes in how they replace their feathers
attheu.utah.edu
May 23, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Climate change is not just disrupting songbirds’ breeding and migration schedules. The timing of their fall molt is occurring earlier every year, according to bird banding research from @utah.edu @sekercioglu.bsky.social @uofubiology.bsky.social attheu.utah.edu/research/as-...
Reposted by Brian Maffly
“It’s like they have a superpower.” Genetic analysis of all-women extreme divers finds changes linked to blood pressure, cold tolerance.
Secrets of the Haenyeo divers ⬇️🤿
Secrets of the Haenyeo divers ⬇️🤿
Secrets of the Haenyeo divers - @theU
“It’s like they have a superpower”: Genetic analysis of all-women extreme divers finds changes linked to blood pressure, cold tolerance.
attheu.utah.edu
May 7, 2025 at 4:54 PM
“It’s like they have a superpower.” Genetic analysis of all-women extreme divers finds changes linked to blood pressure, cold tolerance.
Secrets of the Haenyeo divers ⬇️🤿
Secrets of the Haenyeo divers ⬇️🤿
Reposted by Brian Maffly
Spring runoff is older than you think: Research by #UofU hydrologists finds water flowing out of Western ranges is, on average, more than 5 years old, demonstrating that runoff has a prolonged underground journey.
Spring runoff is older than you think - @theU
Research by U hydrologists finds water flowing out of Western ranges is, on average, more than 5 years old, demonstrating that runoff has a prolonged underground journey
attheu.utah.edu
May 8, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Spring runoff is older than you think: Research by #UofU hydrologists finds water flowing out of Western ranges is, on average, more than 5 years old, demonstrating that runoff has a prolonged underground journey.
Reposted by Brian Maffly
We're partnering with @xprize.org to revolutionize healthy aging. The $101-million, 7-year global competition will leverage our Utah Data Coordinating Center to validate the science of competing XPRIZE teams, who are working toward a goal of extending "health spans."
U and XPrize partner to revolutionize healthy aging - @theU
The U’s Utah Data Coordinating Center will validate the science of teams vying for the $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan, a competition aimed at closing the gap between health and lifespan.
attheu.utah.edu
May 13, 2025 at 9:37 PM
We're partnering with @xprize.org to revolutionize healthy aging. The $101-million, 7-year global competition will leverage our Utah Data Coordinating Center to validate the science of competing XPRIZE teams, who are working toward a goal of extending "health spans."
Reposted by Brian Maffly
University Police find answers in 1973 missing student cold case:
“We never stopped hoping for answers about Doug’s disappearance. We are relieved to finally have some answers. After 52 years, this result, while sad, is nothing short of a miracle.”
📰 attheu.utah.edu/safety/unive...
“We never stopped hoping for answers about Doug’s disappearance. We are relieved to finally have some answers. After 52 years, this result, while sad, is nothing short of a miracle.”
📰 attheu.utah.edu/safety/unive...
May 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
University Police find answers in 1973 missing student cold case:
“We never stopped hoping for answers about Doug’s disappearance. We are relieved to finally have some answers. After 52 years, this result, while sad, is nothing short of a miracle.”
📰 attheu.utah.edu/safety/unive...
“We never stopped hoping for answers about Doug’s disappearance. We are relieved to finally have some answers. After 52 years, this result, while sad, is nothing short of a miracle.”
📰 attheu.utah.edu/safety/unive...
Utah needs more herpetologists like Geoff Smith. Here's the latest news from IguanaThon
“We live in an amazing place, and it has a lot of species that you might not expect.”
IguanaThon takes Utahns into the desert with tiny lassos for rare lizards
Researchers in southwest Utah use the annual event to gather data about the elusive desert iguanas. It illustrates how community science could help a rare species survive.
buff.ly
May 20, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Utah needs more herpetologists like Geoff Smith. Here's the latest news from IguanaThon
This guy is onto what could be an awesome board game!
May 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM
This guy is onto what could be an awesome board game!
Reposted by Brian Maffly
Singularism involves a “tea ceremony” with hallucinogenic mushrooms that allow participants to “have these overwhelming, powerful mastery experiences.”
Provo sees it as a covert way of selling drugs.
Provo sees it as a covert way of selling drugs.
A psychedelic sacrament. A Provo police raid. What counts as a religion?
A Provo group uses hallucinogenic mushrooms to commune with God. Provo authorities don’t think they’re a legitimate religion.
www.kuer.org
May 20, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Singularism involves a “tea ceremony” with hallucinogenic mushrooms that allow participants to “have these overwhelming, powerful mastery experiences.”
Provo sees it as a covert way of selling drugs.
Provo sees it as a covert way of selling drugs.
Reposted by Brian Maffly
You won’t regret reading this delightful story by @sean-greene.bsky.social.
Our friendly neighborhood fence lizard: Why Californians love this reptile
Our friendly neighborhood fence lizard: Why Californians love this reptile
According to one app for nature observers, it's the most commonly seen creature in California: the western fence lizard. Why? The answer reflects how humans have invaded its space and how it has adapted to ours.
www.latimes.com
April 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
You won’t regret reading this delightful story by @sean-greene.bsky.social.