BIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY - Home is where the microbes are. That’s one takeaway from newly published research by an interdisciplinary University of Oregon team that found a shared home environment to be the strongest predictor of human microbiome similarity.

ANTHROPOLOGY - One of the world’s largest ancient cities lay in the jungles of Southeast Asia in the greater Angkor region located in contemporary Cambodia. This medieval site was home to the Angkor or Khmer Empire from the ninth to 15th centuries.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - On April 6, 2021, despite Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto, Arkansas became the first state to prohibit physicians from providing gender-affirming medical care like hormone treatments designed to delay puberty in transgender youth.

BIOLOGY, COMPUTER SCIENCE - Plant community ecologist Lauren Hallett and computer scientist Lei Jiao are getting a boost from the National Science Foundation through prestigious Career Awards, which are among the most sought-after grants from the foundation.

The UO’s Undergraduate Research Symposium is back this year with a virtual format that organizers say will make for an inspiring and accessible event. The symposium itself is May 27, but related events are going on throughout the week as part of the Week of Research.

MATHEMATICS - When I was teaching mathematics in the 1990s, before the internet, I had a book of “women mathematicians.” This was helpful for sharing inspirational stories with my middle school students, but there were just six women in this short book.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art will livestream the premiere of “Sanctuary: A Performance,” an artist collaboration exploring the collective experience of women and queer people of color seeking refuge from persecution under the ongoing violence of colonization.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Archaeologists, including the University of Oregon’s Alison Carter, report that 700,000-900,000 people lived in Cambodia’s medieval Greater Angkor region. The sprawling tropical city thrived from the ninth to the 15th centuries before being abandoned.

EARTH SCIENCES - Two UO graduates let the cat out of the bag this month, identifying a new saber-toothed cat species that roamed North America 9 to 5 million years ago. Weighing in at 600 to 900 pounds, the animal emerges as one of the largest cats in Earth’s history.

Co-organized by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation and the Division of Undergraduate Education and Student Success, the inaugural Week of Research will be held remotely and is open to students, faculty members and staff.

POLITICAL SCIENCE, ENGLISH - Four UO faculty members will serve as the inaugural participants for teaching, mentorship and leadership positions in the new Provost Fellows Program. The program is designed to support faculty members and provide professional development opportunities.

GEOGRAPHY, BIOLOGY - From the plains of Serengeti to the mountains of Wyoming, wildlife herds are facing threats to critical migration routes. But maps created by the UO’s InfoGraphics Lab could be key conservation tools to help these mammals on the move.

COMPUTER SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCES - University of Oregon research inspired by an undergraduate has uncovered a communications hazard that could accompany earthquakes along the Cascadia subduction zone: Internet traffic and cell signaling facilities could be crippled.

THEATRE ARTS - University Theatre will virtually present “Watermelon Kisses” and “Marisol’s Christmas,” two one-act plays that celebrate the importance of family and storytelling within the LatinX community.

ECONOMICS - Ed Whitelaw — University of Oregon economics professor emeritus, founder of the ECONorthwest consulting firm, adviser to governors and presidents, and tirelessly rigorous-but-entertaining educator for a half-century’s worth of UO students — died April 27 at age 80.