In The News: College of Liberal Arts

Researchers have identified which brain proteins might be most influential in controlling neural activity associated with epilepsy and anxiety, paving the way for better prevention and treatments someday.
We have a strange nostalgia for our hunter-gatherer days. Despite the fact that many of our ancestors died grim deaths at the hands of animal teeth and simple infections, we seem to cling to the idea that humans were somehow healthier and just, well, better when living off the land. It’s for this reason that many turn to diets based on what either ancestral humans or modern-day hunter-gatherers would eat.
We have a strange nostalgia for our hunter-gatherer days. Despite the fact that many of our ancestors died grim deaths at the hands of animal teeth and simple infections, we seem to cling to the idea that humans were somehow healthier and just, well, better when living off the land. It’s for this reason that many turn to diets based on what either ancestral humans or modern-day hunter-gatherers would eat.

If you regularly watch TV, you’ve probably seen a cartoon bear pitching you toilet paper, a gecko with a British accent selling you auto insurance and a bunny in sunglasses promoting batteries.

It’s pink, nine-inches long, and twirls, flutters and vibrates. Known for its disarmingly cute bunny ears, the Rabbit vibrator catapulted to fame 20 years ago this month when it made its star turn during the first season of HBO’s Sex and the City. It became not only a pop culture sensation, but a case study in sex-toy product placement that ushered in a new era of sexual consumerism, one in which female shoppers boldly strutted into sex-toy stores looking to purchase the vibrator they’d seen on Sex and the City.

Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller's sliding positions last year on a long-held GOP promise to repeal Obamacare are providing plenty of fodder for Democrats and activists hoping to stymie his re-election.
It's tough to create the perfect lunch-break read. Ideally, the article takes less than 30 minutes to read, and you don’t have to be an academic to understand it. Maybe it’s thought-provoking enough that you can’t concentrate on eating. Then you send it to a friend.
BYU Radio/ Top of Mind with Julie Rose interviews UNLV sociology professor Simon Gottschalk: The pace of life and work has accelerated drastically in the past 70 years. Even in the last 10 years since phones got smart, things have sped up. What are the consequences of being connected and on-call all the time? Can anything be done to slow it all down?

The future of some of Nevada’s most well-known brothels is in voters’ hands, according to the Associated Press. A November ballot initiative seeks to shut down the four legal brothels in Lyon County, all of which are owned by Dennis Hof, who is currently running as a Trump-loving Republican candidate for the Nevada Legislature.

With the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to join the Supreme Court, Nevada’s senior senator must decide whether to support a nominee who issued a pivotal decision on the state’s most explosive political issue: Building a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Nevada twice has come close to carrying out its first execution in 12 years. And twice it failed.

Ancient tools and bones unearthed in China suggest our early hominid ancestors left Africa and arrived in Asia 270,000 years earlier than previously thought.