Latest news with #UniversityOfConnecticut
The Sun
09-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Football fans' most exciting part of matchday revealed in study – and ‘deeply meaningful' moment may surprise you
FOOTBALL fans get a bigger rush from the pre-match pint than from the game itself, a study suggests. Supporters' interactions with friends were found to be 'deeply meaningful' and the most exciting part of matchday. The findings are from 17 hard-core fans fitted with heart rate monitors ahead of a final. The participants were tracked for four hours before the game then 90 minutes of action. A large, prolonged and collective spike came during the time spent with mates before kick-off. The only time there was a bigger rush was when the Brazilian fans' team scored in the first half of a game near Rio de Janeiro — but the high did not last as long. Researcher Professor Dimitris Xygalatas, from the University of Connecticut, said: 'What we see is that the pre-game ritual generates more emotion than the game itself. 'There's just one moment in the entire game when they have more collective emotion, and that's when they scored a goal. 'Rituals are the kinds of things that, at first glance, don't make any sense in terms of human behaviour, but are deeply meaningful to people.' Prof Xygalatas, a fan of Greek football, said the same effect also probably applied to concerts, festivals and religious events. He added: 'Our study supports the idea that sports are about more than just the game.' 2
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As UConn enrollment spikes, a housing squeeze tightens. What's being done across state to address it
A major housing crunch on the main campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs had at least one unanticipated benefit: some UConn students enrolled at the Hartford regional campus will have a university-sponsored housing option in the city a year earlier than expected. UConn's lease in downtown Hartford encompassing nearly all of a Main Street building being converted to apartments comes amid a surge in enrollment at the state's flagship university. UConn is pushing to meet the accompanying housing demand that is particularly acute on its main campus in Storrs. To help meet the housing needs in Storrs, UConn decided not to offer students enrolled in Hartford the option to live in Storrs this fall. In the last academic year, about 275 first-years and sophomores at the Hartford campus took up the option. About 1,500 undergraduates were enrolled at Hartford as of the fall of 2024. UConn already planned its first residence hall in Hartford on Pratt Street for up to 200 — to be completed by the fall of 2026. The conversion of 525 Main St., a short walk to the Hartford campus at Front Street, provided a way to accommodate at least some of the Hartford students, and it could be ready by fall. 'We thought, what a great opportunity to provide housing for those students who are Hartford students who are unable to live on the Storrs campus,' Cynthia Costanzo, UConn's assistant vice president for student life, said. 'This allows UConn one more time to step forward and try an resolve a problem for some students in a different way.' The decision to temporarily lease 33 of the 42 apartments being created at 525 Main — to accommodate about 60 students — to free up space on the Storrs campus illustrates the depth of UConn's housing crunch at its main campus. UConn is looking for all available space in existing residence halls at its main campus, often converting lounges to rooms. The university has warmed to the development of student housing by private developers at its borders, where as once it fought such projects as competing with its own residence halls. The university also has changed its housing policy and will now only guarantee first-year students housing, making it more competitive for upperclassmen, leaving some to look off campus. But Costanzo said 66% of those enrolled at the Storrs campus will have housing — including all first-year and sophomore-level students, who applied by the deadline. That's nearly 14,000 students, including juniors and seniors, who will have housing this fall on and close by the Storrs campus, Costanzo said. Costanzo said the percentage of UConn undergraduates students obtaining housing also is well above its peer universities, the next closest being 62% at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Some are half of what UConn provides, such as the University of Delaware, at 38%, Costanzo said. Enrollment has steadily climbed in recent years at UConn, increasing the need for housing. The number of undergraduates enrolling at the main campus and across the university's four regional campuses rose to 24,979, up 4%, compared with 24,007 the previous year, according to the university. Since 2020, there has been a 4.2% increase. First-year students across all campuses jumped by nearly 12%, as of last fall, compared with 2023. And at the regional campuses, first-year enrollment spiked by 25%, led by Stamford and Hartford. On the Storrs campus, the university opened its newest residence facility — the $215 million Connecticut Hall with 657 beds in a suite design — last fall. Major features include ample collaboration space for students to work together and lounge space on every floor and a 'living room' on the ground level. The lounge space — accounting for about 10% of the building — is intended to build community and friendships which UConn believes is essential to academic success. The new, 275,000-square-foot building is a centerpiece of South Campus, at the corner of Gilbert and Mansfield roads. When it was built, the residence hall was the first new student housing to be constructed on the Storrs campus in six years and nearly two decades before that. A planned redevelopment of UConn's Mansfield Apartments on South Eagleville Road — now demolished — has languished. And a vision for tearing down the 1950s-era North Campus, nicknamed 'The Jungle,' and replacing it will more modern housing has been shelved, at least for now. 'Certainly there was conversation about that, but, quite frankly, with the population of students and the demand for housing right, we're hardly in a position to close North,' Costanza said. 'We need it.' How the 2-year budget passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Ned Lamont will affect the university's future plans for housing is yet to be determined, with a university spokesperson saying 'it is too soon to know.' UConn President Radenka Maric told students and staff in a message sent after the state budget was adopted that the approved FY26 budget provides $268.2 million, which will create a shortfall of $72 million in FY26 for the university. Maric said that UConn Health faces a 'shortfall of $61.8 million.' Costanza said UConn also is increasing the number of off-campus beds it is leasing for student use. At The Oaks on The Square apartments, a privately-owned complex in downtown Storrs on the campus' southern border, UConn is leasing 384 units to accommodate more than 600 undergraduates, Costanza said. And this fall, the first of two new major, off-campus apartment complexes will come up for leasing. In the past, UConn fought off-campus housing plans by private developers, worried that they would compete with on-campus housing. But today, UConn sees the developments as helping to ease housing shortages, especially projects that are just beyond the campus borders. 'It's a very different landscape now,' Stephanie Reitz, a university spokesperson, said.. 'There really doesn't have to be a stark line between one and the other. There can be a blending of service and community and support that doesn't end at the campus border.' The university's office of off-campus and commuter services always helped with housing, Reitz said. 'It also connects them with services on campus so people realize if you live off campus you still have access to (mental health services), Reitz said. 'You can get a UConn meal plan. Living off campus doesn't exclude you from community involvement.' The project, developed by Landmark Properties, that will begin leasing this fall is the 390-unit Standard at Four Corners on Storrs Road, which includes 890 beds. Landmark also has announced that it will break ground later this year on another 738-bed development on North Eagleville Road, adjacent to the campus. In addition to Hartford, UConn also is expanding its housing options in Stamford, its fastest-growing regional campus. First-year enrollment jumped more than 50% to 935, as of fall 2004, compared with 622, the previous year. Total undergraduates rose nearly 11% in the same period. UConn plans to add about 350 student beds for the 2026-2027 academic year at 1201 Washington Blvd., not far from a portion of its student housing at 900 Washington Blvd and just down the street from the Stamford campus. UConn expects to eventually have 750 beds for the Stamford campus. And at UConn's Avery Point campus in Groton, the university is exploring the potential for housing that could be built on 1-acre baseball practice field. But the studies are in the earliest stages and scope or cost has not been determined, Reitz said. In Hartford, the number of first-year students rose nearly 19% in the fall of 2024, compared with the previous year. Overall enrollment rose a little over 3%. Matt Levy, a partner in the $8 million redevelopment of the four-story offices at 525 Main, said he always believed the building would be suitable for UConn housing. Levy, the son of Coleman Levy, a former chairman of the UConn Board of Trustees, said he had reached out to UConn periodically,. But once the Pratt Street location was chosen, Levy saw chances as slim. Then, in late March, Levy said he was contacted by UConn. 'I was surprised, pleasantly surprised,' Levy said. 'Times had changed, and our property was well positioned to take advantage of that opportunity.' Reporting by Courant Staff Writer Sean Krofssik is included. Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@
Reuters
03-06-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Canadian wildfire smoke spreads into US Midwest
DULUTH, Minnesota, June 3 (Reuters) - Smoke from wildfires burning in three Canadian provinces is spreading into the U.S. Upper Midwest, stirring memories of the severe pollution that drifted south from Canada two years ago during that country's worst fire season on record. The particulate matter pollution caused by the smoke is already drifting into Minnesota and neighboring states. It is expected to make its way to New York and other East Coast cities in coming days, posing a health risk to the tens of millions who live in those regions. "Airborne particulate matter is the most serious environmental health risk we know of," said Doug Brugge, a public health researcher at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. "It causes cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological harm, and these plumes of smoke are at very high levels compared to what we're usually exposed to in the U.S." Scores of wildfires have swept across Canada since the start of May, forcing thousands of evacuations and disrupting crude oil production in the country. There were more than 200 active fires as of Monday, 106 of which were out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. So far, 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) have burned, mostly in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Still, the current crisis does not yet come close to rivaling 2023, when 17 million hectares burned. One of the worst spots in the U.S. for air quality on Tuesday morning as a result of the fires was Ely, Minnesota, near the Manitoba border. It registered a "hazardous" air quality index reading of 336, according to IQAir, a website that monitors air quality around the world. An air quality rating of below 50 is considered to be "good," and readings between 100 and 300 are deemed "unhealthy" to "very unhealthy," while higher than that is considered "hazardous," according to the website. In Duluth, Minnesota, the rating stood at 309 at midmorning Tuesday, while in Flin Flon, Manitoba, about 800 miles (1,300 km) to the north and in one of the areas where the Canadian wildfires are concentrated, the AQI was at 359. In IQAir's list of the world's major cities, Minneapolis ranked as second worst air quality, with a 210 reading, trailing only Kuwait City, which led the list with a 318 reading. Children, the elderly and people with chronic cardiac, respiratory and other illnesses are most vulnerable to the effects of the smoke, especially those with cardiovascular problems, according to Brugge. "The risk of hospitalization and death is low in people who are healthy and at a young age," he said, adding that there is still evidence that air pollution exposure increases blood pressure and inflammation for those people. Experts have said that particulates from wildfire smoke enter most buildings in high concentrations, although the problem is greater in older structures. The concentration of wildfire pollutants indoors is on average about half of what it is outdoors, but if a building is not well sealed, the concentration may be up to 70% of what it is outside, experts have said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advises that during wildfire smoke events, people avoid indoor activities that put more fine particles into the air, such as smoking cigarettes, frying or broiling food, burning candles or incense, and vacuuming without a HEPA filter. Exposure to wildfire smoke may also increase lung cancer patients' risk of dying from their disease, particularly among non-smokers, although the effect may be mitigated by certain cancer treatments, according to a large California study presented last month. Nonetheless, some farmers believe the effects of the fires are not all negative. In online forums like Facebook, some farmers have said some of their best yields ever came from years with a heavy pall of wildfire smoke from Canada. The smoke can protect vulnerable crops from scorching sunlight, they think.
Fox News
29-05-2025
- Climate
- Fox News
America's second-largest cicada swarm is about to emerge across the East Coast
The low hum of summer typically includes lawnmowers and sizzling burgers — and this year, it may be the sound of cicadas. This year's brood of insects may be the second-biggest ever. Two types of cicadas commonly exist in the Eastern United States: annual cicadas, which emerge every year, and periodical cicadas, which emerge every 13 or 17 years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The insects reside primarily in trees and shrubs. Broods are a way of categorizing cicadas based on this pattern, and less of a biological trait. Because broods emerge in different areas, places that had cicadas last year may not have them this year, according to Dr. John R. Cooley, associate professor-in-residence of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut. Brood XIV is referred to as a "keystone" brood, Cooley told Fox News Digital. It is the second-largest behind Brood XIX, the "Great Southern Brood," which last emerged in 2024 in 15 states from Oklahoma to Maryland. While there is another "Great Eastern Brood" – Brood X, which emerged in 2021 – Brood XIV is larger, and could thus be considered the "Great(er) Eastern Brood." Brood XIV will emerge in states ranging from Georgia all the way up to New York, according to the University of Connecticut. "Once an emergence gets going, it lasts about a month, depending on the weather," Cooley said. "It seems like the weather this year has been quite strange — the emergence is well underway in North Carolina, but further north, because of the cold weather, it hasn't even really started yet in Pennsylvania," he added. Adult cicadas climb into trees and shrubs to mate, and then females deposit their eggs onto small twigs. The babies, called nymphs, hatch from these eggs after six weeks and fall to the ground. They then burrow into the soil and begin feeding on the roots of trees and shrubs to restart the cicada lifecycle, according to the EPA. Cicadas will not eat leaves, flowers, fruits or garden produce, so it is not necessary to take special precautions to cover or apply additional insecticides in your garden, the above source stated. For more Lifestyle articles, visit "People should keep in mind that what they are seeing is unique — there is no other place in the world where such a thing happens, and they are found only in the U.S.," Cooley pointed out. The EPA also notes that cicadas don't bite or sting, and they are not harmful to humans, pets, household gardens or crops.
