Thomas Oates, chair of the Department of American Studies and associate professor, contributes to this article about a range of football-related topics leading up to Super Bowl LVIII, from the partisan food divide to the numbers behind the biggest gambling bonanza in league history.

University of Iowa biologists have found that a yeast species that can be hazardous to human health can become more resistant when exposed to a prior, mild stress. The researchers also learned this trait does not exist in a close relative, brewer’s or baker’s yeast.

They did it! Almost 1,700 students received their degrees at fall 2023 commencement ceremonies Dec. 14—17.

On Dec. 14–17, nearly 1,700 University of Iowa students will receive their degrees during in-person and livestreamed commencement ceremonies, beginning with the College of Education’s undergraduate and Teacher Education Program recognition Dec. 14 and concluding with the College of Engineering undergraduate ceremony Dec. 17.

A recent petition signed by nearly 900 food professionals calling for a cease-fire raises, once again, questions of contested cuisines.

University of Iowa professor Gregory Howes has received a grant from NASA to study how particles in space are accelerated to high energy.

The commercialization of asteroid mining is still a ways off, but in October 2023, NASA launched a scientific mission to explore the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The main goal of the mission is studying the composition and structure of this asteroid, which could tell scientists more about Earth’s core since the two objects might have a similar makeup.

The University of Iowa plans to remodel and expand the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories—one of its most unique buildings—to create a permanent home for one of its fast-growing programs of study.

The fact that the lip-syncing duo was exploited and the result of industry-wide issues in pop music was irrelevant. That myopic public scorn feels familiar today. Kembrew McLeod, professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa and author of several books such as “Cutting Across Media: Appropriation Art, Interventionist Collage and Copyright Law,” provides his insight.

Thirty-seven University of Iowa faculty and staff members will be honored at the UI’s 2023 Faculty and Staff Awards Celebration on Oct. 26 for achievements ranging from excellence in service and teaching to leadership in outreach and student recruitment.

There is a unique power contained in a room where a woman is giving birth. There is power in the women surrounding her. It's a time of transformation, an alchemy unlike any other. No wonder, in so many places in the world, that power would be regarded as suspicious. Midwives and witches — they've always had a lot in common.

Just as it has for decades, Halloween remains synonymous with witches. But what’s the history behind the plastic cauldrons and pointy hats? University of Iowa German professor Waltraud Maierhofer is an expert on how the history of witchcraft trials in Europe and the United States continues to haunt the modern world. She not only teaches a class on witch trials, but recently translated a noteworthy book on the witchcraft trials of children.