University of Texas Arlington

Searching for alien worlds

A UT Arlington study that found habitable planets could exist in a two-star system was featured on the websites of National Geographic Daily News, Space.com, Astronomy Magazine, MSNBC, LiveScience, Yahoo! News, EarthSky and The Huffington Post. Graduate student Billy Quarles gave a presentation at the American Astronomical Society’s meeting in Austin Monday about Kepler-16, where a planet orbits around two stars like the fictional Tatooine in Star Wars. Quarles and his coauthors – physics professors Manfred Cuntz and Zdzislaw Musielak - said habitable exomoons or planets could exist there.

• National Geographic Daily News story

Oversharing discouraged

The website PhysOrg.com featured a story on a new book on “oversharing” in the digital age by Ben Agger, sociology professor and director of the UT Arlington Center of Theory at UT Arlington. In “Oversharing: Presentations of Self in the Internet Age,” Agger says it is okay to turn off the electronic connections from time to time so that oversharing doesn’t become a source of stress in its own right.

Students vaccinated

KDAF/CW 33 ran a story on the state requirement that all new college students age 30 and under be vaccinated against meningitis before starting classes. The station interviewed UT Arlington admissions associate director Gayonne Beavers about efforts the university has made to educate students who need the shots. About two-thirds of the new students required to get the shot have already turned in their paperwork.

• CW 33 report

Getting ready to move

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Extra Credit blog said the clock is running out for UT Arlington basketball at Texas Hall. There are only two more games left at the venue, which features teams playing on a raised performance stage. The last game is set for Jan. 21 against Stephen F. Austin. After Feb. 1, basketball and volleyball programs move to the new $78 million College Park Center.