UVA biologist T’ai Roulston had never actually seen one with his own eyes, but the minute he saw the corpse he knew what it was. When Roulston found this bumblebee in Sky Meadows State Park back in 2014, he knew it had been 20 years since this species had been spotted in the region.
While the male birth control pill is still a fiction, a new company called Contraline is working to make at least one non-surgical, reversible birth control procedure a reality. Contraline is the culmination of four years of research conducted by the company’s chief executive, Kevin Eisenfrats, at the University of Virginia.
More than 100 girls from high schools across Virginia spent Saturday at UVA learning about careers in science from the Society of Women Engineers.
While Federal Way was confronting its advanced-learning gaps, UVA professor Carolyn Callahan, an expert in gifted education, was invited to Seattle to assess its program. Her report, released in 2007, was scathing.
“It’s a real problem to have a president that has that kind of obsession,” said Russell Riley, a presidential scholar at UVA’s Miller Center. “The most valuable commodity in Washington is the president’s time, bar nothing. A president who elects to invest a lot of his time in tracking his own media coverage is, to some extent, debasing his own currency.”
Kushner's appearance in Baghdad – a diplomatic tour that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has yet to make – suggested that he might be adding some of the secretary's responsibilities to his ever-expanding portfolio. It can't have been a good sign from Tillerson's perspective, Ken Hughes, a governance expert with UVA's Miller Center of Public Affairs, said Monday. "If I were the secretary of state, I would not be happy about that. I would consider that a sign of my relative unimportance."
The Justice Department will likely continue the Obama administration’s efforts to aggressively prosecute those who violate environmental laws, the officials said, noting that many cases tend to be too blatant to avoid. “There has been real continuity in the approach towards environmental and workplace safety prosecutions over the past decades,” UVA law professor Brandon Garrett said. “I suspect that will continue going forward.”
An internet crystal ball – a metabolic calculator – has been developed by scientists that can predict the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. Researchers said, the tool will prompt patients to make lifestyle changes that would spare them the suffering and expense of avoidable illnesses. Dr. Mark DeBoer of the University of Virginia said, "This boils it down to telling a patient, ‘On the risk spectrum, you are here, and you're in a position where we're worried you're going to have a cardiovascular event in the next 10 years.”
The University of Virginia reports it spends $20 million a year in compliance. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, UVA said it has added at least four full-time positions to handle increased regulations.
A local bakery is raising money for the UVA Children's Hospital with a special Easter treat.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will speak to members of UVA’s Class of 2017 at Valedictory Exercises on May 19. Santos, winner of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize, will speak at UVA’s annual public ceremony, traditionally held on the Lawn the day before Final Exercises.
An artificial pancreas appears to be safe and effective for use in children ages 5 to 8 years, a new UVA-led study finds.
After a 33-year career at the University of Virginia, Cav Man announced his intention to transfer through a release from the Athletics Department early in the morning this April Fool’s Day. The announcement comes as no surprise to well-connected fans who knew of Cav Man’s discontent about his decreasing role. He has been steadily losing his battle for cheering time, as crowds chant for “Wahoos” instead of “Cavaliers,” much to the confusion of the orange and blue man dancing on the sidelines. But Cav Man was especially irate and confused after the elimination of the “Adventures of Cav Man” skit...
The next several months may determine the landscape of the 2018 election. And if this year’s political ferment translates into credible challengers next year, it may be a victory in itself. “You never know what the mid-term environment is going to be,” said Kyle Kondik of UVA’s Center for Politics. “I think the folks stepping up are doing their party a favor.”
Rep. Tom Garrett, R-5th, held his first in-person forum with his congressional constituents Friday at the University of Virginia, well-attended by both supporters and opponents. The forum at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy was preceded by a tense demonstration outside the entrance of the building, with supporters and protesters shouting over one another in the rain, while several dozen police officers monitored the area.
The University of Virginia undeservedly has gotten a bad rap for hosting Rep. Tom Garrett’s controversial town hall late last week. Many of the reasons critics cited for claiming that UVA should distance itself from the event – the University’s hallowed and historic connection with the democracy of Thomas Jefferson among them – are precisely the reasons why UVA could not take sides in the uproar.
A team of UVA students is building a car powered by the sun to compete in an international challenge. UVA is the only university in the commonwealth with a solar car team. 
Barbara Perry, a UVA expert on the presidency, said she spoke about the confirmation process recently. “A woman stood up and said, ‘When did the court become so political?'” Perry recalled. Around the founding of the country, she and a colleague replied, “or at least since we’ve had two political parties.”
Campuses across the country offer similar programs, but UVA’s Alternative Spring Break may be the only one with no faculty or administrative involvement of any sort. A registered nonprofit since 1992, the UVA program is run entirely by student volunteers.
A new study involving a UVA researcher has found a negative correlation between the use of cellphones to get information and trust in strangers.