Planting more vegetation, using reflective materials on hard surfaces and installing green roofs on buildings can help cool potentially deadly urban heat islands -- a phenomenon that exists in nearly all large cities -- a new study from Portland State University shows. Those solutions, however, present a growing challenge to developers and planners as neighborhoods become increasingly dense and single-family homes give way to apartment buildings.

Karen Wright worked her way through the small gathering outside her 4-month-old daughter’s room in pediatric intensive care. It seemed to her as if everyone at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital had come to witness this historic moment. Wright leaned down and whispered to her baby, “This drug is going to save your life.” Londyn became the first baby in the country treated with a newly approved gene therapy for a rare and debilitating neuromuscular disease since it won federal approval in May.

Virginia Tech will partner with Lionstone Investments to build its Innovation Campus in Alexandria as part of a new mixed-use development in National Landing, just steps away from the future Potomac Yard Metrorail Station, President Tim Sands announced. The 1 million-square-foot graduate campus will be part of a 65-acre mixed-use district planned and developed by Lionstone and real estate investment trust JBG SMITH. Lionstone is a data-driven real estate investment firm that specializes in investing in U.S. locations with concentrations of highly productive jobs.