The ghosts and ghouls of spooky season had their time in the moonlight, but have once more been laid to rest. That howling in the distance is not a werewolf, but a gobble – signifying the incoming holiday season. And there are no tricks in this month’s Newsmakers; only treats full of knowledge. 

October's stories range in size from the microbial to the expanse of the Grand Canyon. Is UNLV equipped to one day handle 40,000 students? Is there geographic evidence left behind to help us predict our weather cycles? And how did the stereotypical image of a witch come to be?

Read on, if you dare…

'Cause I'm Coming Home Again

Homecoming Week is one of the most exciting times to be on our campus, and 2023 upped the ante. In addition to the athletics, festival, and community engagement, KNPR featured a week’s worth of live interviews with some of our top leadership. Its “State of Nevada” program broadcasted live from the lobby of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, with a different theme featured each day of the week, including research, arts, administration, and sports.

Investing in Nevada’s Future

The Las Vegas Raiders donated $1 million to UNLV Athletics in a show of support for the football program. This partnership and gift was covered by the Associated Press, Las Vegas Review-Journal (twice), KVVU-TV: Fox 5, KLAS-TV: 8 News Now, and Las Vegas Sun (twice).

KTNV-TV: ABC 13 covered the launch of UNLV’s new Kerestesi Center for Insurance and Risk Management. The Lee Business School entity will advance faculty and student research, support professional development, and help meet intense workforce demand for an industry that projects half its current professionals to retire in the next 15 years.

The Nevada Independent reported on the Boyd School of Law’s creation of a new poverty law clinic amid the ‘overwhelming need’ for legal aid.

UNLV’s College of Engineering received grants from Google, the National Security Agency, and Small Business Administration to expand free cybersecurity assistance to small businesses amid high-profile hacks: Nevada Independent and EdScoop

The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine launched a campaign to recruit 100 doctors to Nevada: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Grand Discovery

Will the monsoon season intensify as the climate warms? A crew of scientists led by paleoclimatologist Matthew Lachniet searched for the answer in the Grand Canyon. They analyzed the water record stored in a stalagmite within a cave, tracing water records back to the last ice age. The findings suggest continued warming could bring more rain, but only time will tell.

Nevada Current, KJZZ, Phys.org, Lab Manager, StudyFinds, Technology Networks, Nature World News, Science Magazine, MeteoWeb, Courthouse News, KTNV-TV: ABC 13, TheWeek, DevDiscourse

Science

New research from the lab of microbiologist Helen Wing is turning the page in our understanding of harmful bacteria and how they turn on certain genes, causing disease in our bodies. Her research was featured in Phys.org and Daily Mail.

Infectious disease expert Brian Labus told Verywell Health how much hand sanitizer we need to keep ourselves as germ-free as possible. He also answered questions about a parasite called ‘rat lungworm’ with MDLinx.

Culture

Katherine Walker is a specialist in the history of magic, as well as 16th and 17th-century culture, and helped History.com figure out why witches have such unique wardrobes.

Insider interviewed Tyler Parry, an expert in African American studies, about the use of attack dogs in prisons.

What’s the best age to learn a new language? Erin Hannon, a psychology professor who leads UNLV’s Auditory Cognition and Development Lab, shared insight with Care.com readers.

Journalism professor Michael Easter talked about rucking, exercise with a weighted backpack, with the New York Times.

Aviation expert Dan Bubb listed the rules of engagement for flight etiquette in Newsweek, and chatted about the importance of flight numbers with Reader’s Digest.

Couples and family therapist Katherine Hertlein discussed how challenging it can be to date as a parent with Newsweek.

The Washington Post, Associated Press, Forbes, and MarketWatch all wanted a piece of the ‘Steffen Method’ for boarding an airplane more efficiently. Physicist and astronomer Jason Steffen walked them through his original process.

The Washington Post talked about the popularization of the golf quarter-zip with fashion historian Deirdre Clemente.

KCBS Radio invited history professor Michael Green onto the program to talk about Preserve Nevada and the 11 Most Endangered Places in Nevada.’ KLAS-TV: 8 News Now and KTNV-TV: ABC 13 also highlighted the historic preservation group’s list of Silver State treasures.

KCBS Radio also interviewed journalism and media studies professor Linda Dam about her research into mukbangs, a social media phenomenon where viewers watch influencers consume food.

Is the Meyers-Briggs personality test still valid? Psychologist Stephen D. Benning chimed in as part of a Discover Magazine piece.

Sociologist Barbara G. Brents spoke to Tagesspiegel about the EU Parliament’s debate over law’s surrounding commercial sex.

Economy

Reuters asked law professor Nancy Rapoport about the busy workload of judges, and the consequences a resignation can cause on the legal system.

Employment law professor Ann McGinley was featured in a Bloomberg Law article looking into corporations easing off of diversity in order to avoid lawsuits.

Labor law expert Ruben Garcia joined Gray’s Local News Live, Las Vegas Weekly, and KSNV-TV: News 3 to discuss the impact of the Culinary Union strike on Las Vegas.

Gaming industry expert Alan Feldman appeared in both the Associated Press and U.S. News and World Report regarding the billion-dollar powerball jackpot.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted hospitality specialists Cass Shum and Joseph Lema about how important convention spaces are for attracting major events.