Intersectionality, a term introduced more than 30 years ago, describes how social categorizations such as race, class, gender, and other social characteristics “intersect” and overlap in the experiences of marginalized groups. In 2015, Patrick Grzanka was looking for a way to bring together researchers on campus who study these intersections—and the Intersectionality Community of Scholars was created.

When the fall semester begins, Garriy Shteynberg, associate professor of psychology, will lead a three-year study to examine how Americans’ social and political attitudes have grown more extreme over the past 20 years.

The project was awarded a $351,339 grant from the National Science Foundation in May and is expected to conclude in 2021.

The research is a collaboration among scientists who hold divergent views about how attitudes grow more extreme. In all, the research team will work together on 12 experiments—discussing every aspect of the study design, execution, and analysis with the goal of reaching a joint understanding of the results.

A drug used to treat opioid addiction could cause breathing problems in some obese patients, according to a new study from UT scientists.

Buprenorphine is a Schedule III drug with a lower abuse potential than methadone. It is one of three drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to help patients undergoing treatment for opioid abuse. The UT study found that the drug impairs the ability of obese mice to vary their breathing. These findings in mice may encourage similar studies in humans, since the ability to vary breathing helps us achieve tasks such as climbing stairs and respond to challenges such as disease and surgical stress.