Research


Featured research news

Crowd walking through urban space.
"On Bigotry: Twenty Lessons on How Bigotry Works and What to Do About It," a new book by Nicholas Ensley Mitchell of the University of Kansas, takes a critical, nonpartisan look at bigotry to help readers better understand it. Mitchell writes that bigotry is taught, and, as an education scholar, believes anything that is taught has curriculum that can be analyzed.

Science and Technology



Paleontologists from the University of Kansas have described for the first time a species of Swaindelphys discovered in Texas’ Big Bend National Park, though the ecosystem was drastically different in the Paleocene, when it thrived, than today.
A new study appearing in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One from a psycholinguist at the University of Kansas explores how ChatGPT, the popular artificial-intelligence chatbot, responded to nonwords.
KGS staffers accept check from NextEra representatives.
A $10,000 donation to the Kansas Geological Survey is earmarked for the development of an experimental solar array in southwest Kansas.

Health and Well-Being



In a new study, David Slusky, professor of economics at the University of Kansas, evaluates the impact of the 2017 “Muslim Ban” on preventive care use among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) ancestry children in the U.S., finding decreased well-visits and associated vaccinations.
A University of Kansas study measured the thickness of the UCL in throwing and nonthrowing elbows of both pitchers and position players of a college baseball team. The study can showed arm slot is not correlated with UCL thickness, contradicting a common belief of throw angle contributing to the common injury.
Coronavirus illustration
A study published in mBio details the vulnerability of coronaviruses to inhibitors of a small protein domain called Mac1, found in all coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. The findings point toward potential antiviral therapies.

Teaching, Learning and Behavior



The tool can help identify strengths in very young students and allow parents, teachers and others to start building on them from an early point in their lives and education. Previous strengths research had focused on older students and adults.
A new study appearing in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One from a psycholinguist at the University of Kansas explores how ChatGPT, the popular artificial-intelligence chatbot, responded to nonwords.
Crowd walking through urban space.
"On Bigotry: Twenty Lessons on How Bigotry Works and What to Do About It," a new book by Nicholas Ensley Mitchell of the University of Kansas, takes a critical, nonpartisan look at bigotry to help readers better understand it. Mitchell writes that bigotry is taught, and, as an education scholar, believes anything that is taught has curriculum that can be analyzed.

Arts, Architecture and Humanities



A University of Kansas professor is headed to Lake Tahoe this summer to continue his experiments refining the best types of nature-conservation signage. Jeremy Shellhorn and colleagues emphasize the importance of “telegraphic messaging” and proper tone in the effectiveness of designing warning signs in bear country.
Jonathan Hagel, an assistant teaching professor of history at the University of Kansas, is a plaintiff in a case against the state of New Jersey about the handling of the Charles Lindbergh archive. The lawsuit seeks to force the state police to allow DNA testing on envelopes used to send a series of ransom notes in the infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping case and trial.
Artwork depicting man riding on a turtle's back across the sea, with a bronze bell in tow.
Where does the triangular relationship among dragons, bells and water come from, and how has it been portrayed and explained through the centuries? Sherry Fowler, professor in the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas, explores those questions in “Buddhist Bells and Dragons: Under and Over Water, In and Out of Japan.”

Business, Economics and Innovation



The University of Kansas School of Business received a $10 million gift commitment from an anonymous donor that ensures the construction of a new entrepreneurship hub building that benefits the greater KU community by teaching students to solve problems in meaningful ways. The new gift supplements the donor's lead gift of $50 million in 2023.
Nataliya Bredikhina of the University of Kansas led a study analyzing how factors like team, media and market affect European professional women's soccer players' online brands and social media following. All factors played a part, but not equally.
A gloved hand provides a key to a hand holding money as the image of a locked computer screen appears in the background.
In a new study, University of Kansas business researcher Debabrata Dey examines when organizations accede to ransomware payment demands and, in doing so, incentivize attackers to launch more attacks, elevating the chance of a future breach not just for themselves but for others.

Law, Politics and Society



A University of Kansas scholar of African digital humanities examines how social media tends to reduce important discussions to name-calling in a new book titled “The Algorithmic Age of Personality: African Literature and Cancel Culture.”
Alex Platt, University of Kansas professor of law, has received one of the highest honors in the field of corporate and securities law. His article, “The Administrative Origins of Mandatory Disclosure,” was selected as one of the Top 10 Corporate and Securities Articles of 2024 by the Corporate Practice Commentator.
An illustration depicts a black woman being showered by dollar bills.
In a new study, ChangHwan Kim, a professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, examines why the stronger the power of race in accounting for earnings inequality among men in a local labor market, the weaker double disadvantage married women of color experience.