In The News: College of Sciences

Candida auris presents ongoing challenges for Nevada’s healthcare facilities. In 2025, the Silver State on its own accounted for 22% of the nation’s nearly 7,200 C. auris cases — reporting 1,605 infections to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and outpacing California’s roughly 1,550 cases and Texas’ 830. When adjusted for population, Nevada logged 20 times more cases per capita than its coastal neighbor.
A new UNLV-led study found that testing wastewater from hospital sewer lines can detect drug-resistant strains of C. auris months before patients begin showing symptoms, offering health officials an earlier warning of potentially deadly outbreaks.
Every hospital has drains. Sinks, toilets, floor gullies in procedure rooms, the slow trickle from IV lines flushed between patients. For years, all of that went down the pipes and nobody thought much about it. But researchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas have spent the better part of four years paying very close attention to what hospitals are washing away, and what they’ve found in Southern Nevada’s sewer lines is, by any measure, alarming: a drug-resistant killer fungus circulating through healthcare facilities months before a single patient tests positive.
UNLV-led research team uses wastewater surveillance to suss out C. auris strains with greater precision, paving way for potential new therapeutic development

The owner of a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon wants state regulators to allow a higher level of arsenic in groundwater under the facility. Two scientists, however, object to the proposal, arguing regulators shouldn’t approve it until a more robust investigation into the elevated arsenic levels takes place. Energy Fuels Resources, the owner of the Pinyon Plain Mine, says its investigation was thorough and that operators aren’t at fault.

According to Donald K. Price, Ph.D., an ornithologist and professor of biology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, water features are key when it comes to bringing in the birds.
If you’re newly into birdwatching, you might be wondering how to attract more flying friends to your backyard. Aside from the obvious (supplying food), it helps to add a bird bath.
Flecks of minerals captured in diamonds show hidden connections between Earth’s surface and its deep interior

Last summer, UNLV students and staff planted 18 trees in a North Las Vegas neighborhood. Saturday’s giveaway continued the valleywide effort, aiming to reduce higher temperatures in often low-income, underserved neighborhoods caused by a lack of green space and tree cover.

While no cases have been reported in Nevada, researchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who conduct local wastewater surveillance and have monitored COVID-19 variants, say hantavirus is not currently included in their testing panel. However, they note that detection may be possible since the virus is shed through urine. Researchers say it is something they will continue to monitor as they consider targeted applications.
You dry pots with it, wipe your hands on it, and use it to swab the counter, but when you’re done—if you’re like me—you probably hang your trusty kitchen towel right back on the oven or dishwasher door handle. And this cycle repeats for days, weeks, maybe even months with a single dish rag. And yet, we all know that the kitchen is the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of potentially harmful germs. The dish towel, unfortunately, is not immune to this.
Feeding pigeons birdseed in the park can be fun, but having these birds settle into your yard may be less appealing. For starters, their droppings contain uric acid, which can damage cars, roofs, and other surfaces over time. And because pigeons are non-migratory and tend to stay in one area year-round, they may repeatedly feed on garden seeds and seedlings. For bird lovers, the cooing and pretty color may be a boon. But if you prefer to keep these birds out of your garden and yard, we have expert-backed strategies to help.
