A travel advisory issued over the deadly chikungunya virus has been expanded as it continues to spread around the world. The virus, which is spread by the Aedes mosquito, can cause sudden, agonizing joint pain in the hands and feet that can be so severe it leaves sufferers unable to move normally for months.

All around us is a rich world for us to experience. Inside our minds, we have our own understanding of the world, ourselves, and everything in it. How does the brain do any of this? There’s all this information that we have access to in our minds, but how does the brain represent information? What does information in the brain even mean? These are some of the greatest questions that humans have ever pondered, but neuroscience has made great strides in answering them.

Youth tobacco use in Southern Nevada is surging, fueled by the rising popularity of electronic cigarettes — a trend that has compelled the Southern Nevada Health District to declare youth vaping a “serious public health concern.”

In mid-August, the science journal Nature published UNLV research about a newly discovered species of human ancestors. A group of scientists traveled to Ethiopia, where they found 13 teeth fossils. Some of them belonged to the genus Homo — yes, the same genus modern humans belong to. But they also found a set of teeth that belonged to a new species of the genus Australopithecus, indicating that both species were present in Africa at the same time a little over 2 million years ago. 

Expect the Hispanic and Latino community’s contributions to the U.S. economy to be nothing short of monumental in the coming decades. Not only is this demographic expected to make up 28% of the U.S. population by 2060 — translating into large buying power. In addition, nearly one in four new businesses is Hispanic-owned.

President Trump announced plans over the weekend to sign an executive order that would change several election processes across the country, including requiring voter identification. While there is no timeline on when the order will come, it's an issue that has people divided.

The appearance of the genus Homo is close to the Plio-Pleistocene boundary, reflected by fossils reported recently by Brian Villmoare and his colleagues and well dated at about 2.8 million years ago. The origin of Homo may relate to changes in temperature and associated changes in habitat, as recognised five decades ago by South African palaeontologists Elisabeth Vrba and Bob Brain, although they emphasised a date of 2.5 million years ago.

The brace position doesn’t exactly look heroic. Feet flat, head down, hands over neck—it feels more like surrender than survival. But a disturbingly realistic video simulation is now making the case that this dorky little pose might be the reason your spine stays intact.

UNLV has new funding to dig deeper into the sharp rise in deadly crashes on Nevada roads and what can be done to save lives. The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine received $650,000 from the Nevada Department of Public Safety to study vehicle crashes.