The weather has finally changed, fall is definitely in the air, and Halloween is lurking just ahead. So if you’re looking for something fun to do to celebrate the season with young friends and family, check out Red Butte’s Garden After Dark, this year featuring haunted holidays from around the world.

Create your own paper lantern in the tradition of the Japanese festival of Obon, celebrating the time when the departed spirits of ancestors return to their homes to be honored. 

Or, from a Mexican tradition, make a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) skeleton mask based on traditional designs to remember and celebrate the lives of friends and family who have died.

Red Butte’s outdoor, kid-friendly night of activities, crafts, and storytelling takes place over the last two weekends in October (21-23; 28-30) from 6-9 p.m., with craft stations, fire barrels, and pumpkin painting—and kids can wear costumes. Regular entrance fees apply.

Additional ideas for Halloween fun

Red Butte Garden  is just one of several U of U groups included in the Foothill Cultural District, most of which are offering their own spooky activities in late October, such as “Ghosts at the Fort Douglas Cemetery,” and “Boo at the Zoo.” Other groups included in the district are the Utah Museum of Natural History, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Olympic Cauldron Park, University Guest House in Fort Douglas, the Fort Douglas Military Museum, This is the Place Heritage Park, and Hogle Zoo.

Health Beat: Getting your 30

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends the average adult get at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise five days a week. Sometimes it feels as if this may be unrealistic due to kids, work, and community obligations. However, here are a few tips on how you can fit your 30 minutes in throughout the week:

• Walk laps around the field while your child is at practice.
• Walk briskly during lunch time.
• Take the kids to the park for a family afternoon of active fun.
• Take the stairs whenever possible.
• Break up your 30 minutes into three 10 minute bouts.
• Bike to the grocery store with a backpack for those quick last minute trips.

—Brought to you by WellU.

PEAK offers nutrition workshops 

Join PEAK staff nutrition professionals to discuss topics ranging from weight loss and sports nutrition to healthy holiday eating. The $20 registration fee includes one hour of instruction and dialogue with a registered dietitian, educational handouts and recipes, and food samples. Clinics meet in HPER North on Thursdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m. All U employees are welcome to attend. Register online at Health & Fitness Workshops and Seminars.

Sports Nutrition 101: Fueling Effectively

(Oct. 28 ) This clinic will help ensure that you are getting the most out of your workout. Whether you are training for a marathon, or just getting into exercise, the basics of sports nutrition will be addressed, including pre-sports nutrition, what to eat during exercise, and recovery nutrition. Come with questions, we’ll provide the answers.

Preparing a Healthy Thanksgiving

(Nov. 18) Just because Thanksgiving is a holiday known for lots of food doesn’t mean it can’t also be a perfect opportunity to have a healthy, balanced, delicious meal. We’ll show you how to plan a Thanksgiving meal that integrates all the staples of the holiday yet is still gentle on your waistline. Samples dishes and recipes will be provided.

Holiday Festivities Survival Guide

(Dec. 2) The holidays are a great time to enjoy family and traditions—so don’t let stress about the food consumption hamper the experience. We’ll talk about tips and ideas for ensuring you stay on track with your healthful eating goals while still partaking of—and enjoying—all the festivities that the holidays have to offer.

Register online at Health & Fitness Workshops and Seminars.

New idling rules in effect for U vehicles

In response to President Young’s request for an institutional vehicle-idling policy, the Office of Environmental Health and Safety developed a new policy which was approved by the Academic Senate and accepted by the Board of Trustees. Primarily, this major revision of Policy 3-215, is meant to reduce vehicle idling on campus by University-owned vehicles. The policy states that University vehicles and equipment are prohibited from idling for longer than 60 seconds except under the following circumstances:

• Idling necessary to power auxiliary equipment such as lifts, hoists, computers, or safety lighting. Auxiliary equipment does not include the vehicle’s air conditioner, heater, or defrost for wintertime vehicle warm up.
• Idling necessary for testing, maintenance, repair, or diagnostic purposes
• Idling necessary to maintain factory installed emissions equipment on diesel equipment
• Vehicle is stopped at a traffic control signal, in heavy traffic at a train or railroad crossing, or traveling through a construction zone.
• Situations where turning off the motor could jeopardize the health and safety of the driver, patient, or passenger
• Police vehicles engaged in official business

Read the new Motor Vehicle Rule (Section III.E.) for idling and other University Motor Vehicle Restrictions.

Guidelines for golf carts on campus

An increased number of golf carts are sharing campus walkways with pedestrians, bicycles, skateboards, and vehicles (see Policy 3-233: Operation of Motorized Vehicles on Pedestrian Walks).  To promote the safe operation of these carts and the safety of our students, volunteers, faculty, staff, and visitors, the U has adopted guidelines concerning the use of these carts. The guidelines address areas such as operator qualifications, cart identification, speed limits, and departmental responsibility. Please review the cart guidelines online or contact U Risk Management at 801-581-5590 for additional information.

Having this book available during the process of consultation and decision making is a great way for women to get used to the idea of mastectomy and reconstruction.

—Carol Werner, U faculty member and breast cancer survivor

This patient-education photo book about breast cancer surgery is a collaborative effort by four University of Utah medical professionals including breast cancer surgeon Leigh Neumayer, plastic surgeon Jay Agarwal, medical photographer Anne Vinsel, and medical student Ravinder Ahluwalia. Surgeons Neumayer and Agarwal have successfully treated thousands of women with a total skin-sparing mastectomy and breast reconstruction. The book includes before, during, and after images of one woman’s journey through the surgical process. It also includes notes by the surgeons and the patient herself as they describe each step along the way.

“The book combines beautiful pictures, strong science, and state-of-the art surgery with a human understanding of breast cancer,” says Carol Werner. “The clear, detailed information and the impeccably reconstructed breast provide tremendous reassurance that life will continue pretty much as usual after surgery.”

Meet Virginia: Biography of a Breast is available online.

Popular Science magazine calls Bartl a “young genius.”

Michael Bartl

U chemist Michael Bartl, who found “photonic crystals” needed for future computers in the shimmering green scales of a beetle, has been named to Popular Science magazine’s annual list of “Brilliant 10: America’s Young Science Geniuses” (see the magazine’s November issue). Bartl’s research—widely publicized in 2008—raised hopes that researchers might be able to someday build a “photonic crystal” to manipulate visible light, which would make possible ultrafast optical computers.

Lamprocyphus augustus

In a study published in the journal Physical Review E, Bartl and his students discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure—in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil—an inch-long weevil named Lamprocyphus augustus. Bartl and his colleagues are working to design a synthetic version of the beetle’s photonic crystals, which would be used to develop optical computers that run on light (photons) instead of electricity (electrons). Right now, light in near-infrared and visible wavelengths can carry data and communications through fiberoptic cables, but the data must be converted from light back to electricity before being processed in a computer. The goal—still years away—is an ultrahigh-speed computer with optical integrated circuits or chips that run on light instead of electricity.

A 2008 news releaseon Bartl’s photonic beetle research, along with downloadable high-resolution images of the beetle, is online. You may also visit Bartl’s webpage.