News

For older adults living alone during the pandemic, in-person visits bring benefits to emotional wellbeing distinct from what they experience from phone calls or electronic communication, University of Texas at Austin researchers have found. 

​When the COVID-19 pandemic brought many couples into the close quarters of quarantine and lockdown, many researchers wondered whether the effect would be more arguments, more divorces or perhaps closer relationships. Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have found that relationships have mostly continued much as they were before, with the happiest couples seeing a small boost. In a new study out today in the journal Psychological Science, the researchers found people's overall satisfaction levels with their relationships changed little during the pandemic, even amid significant stressors, from job losses to health concerns.

A group of 2020 University of Texas at Austin graduates can now see the jewelry they designed on the shelves at Kendra Scott.

No one expected how personal and uncomfortable the fallout of the pandemic would become in every aspect of our lives.

Perhaps today, going to a restaurant with your best friend makes you feel unsafe.

Perhaps your parents would prefer to connect on video chat rather than have you come over.

Or perhaps you and your roommates now need to agree on house rules about grocery shopping and mask wearing.

A team of 20 undergraduates from the University of Texas at Austin created a donation-based e-cookbook titled "Food: For the Love of Community" that offers easy recipes and guidance on how to maintain healthy food habits amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Well-known and colorful fashion icon, Iris Apfel is a visiting professor at The University of Texas at Austin and the inspiration for the decade-old UT in NYC program. In it, she introduces students primarily from UT's Textiles and Apparel Division to every aspect of the fashion world, including leading stars of the industry.

​ A new study performed by a University of Texas at Austin researcher found that snacking on hummus in the afternoon can improve diet quality, curb hunger and desire to eat, and even improve alertness throughout the day when compared to consuming high sugar snacks or eating no snack at all.

For about 100 years, scientists have known about the Reissner Fiber, an enigmatic structure inside the spinal canal of vertebrates. What they didn't know was exactly what role the Reissner Fiber played in the formation of the spine during different life stages and what influence it had on spinal conditions like scoliosis, a condition displaying atypical curvatures in the spine.

If you're struggling with meal planning and eating healthy right now, you're not alone. While trying to avoid grocery stores, you may be ordering more take-out than usual or reaching for snacks you normally would not eat due to stress or because healthier choices are not available. It's completely OK and understandable to cut yourself some slack, but it's also important to make sure you are getting enough nutrients to support yourself.

Aprile Benner, associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, has received the Mid-Career Award for Research Excellence from the Society for Research on Adolescence.

Although this is a time of increased physical distancing between people, there remains real potential for human connection and greater awareness of the things that still tie us together, says Stephen Russell, director of the College of Natural Sciences' School of Human Ecology. 

​This semester, the College of Natural Sciences is checking in with faculty experts about developments, related to their fields of study, that may well affect how we live, work and interact with one another and the world around us over the next 50 years. For this installment, we hear from Professor Karen Fingerman, professor of human development and family sciences and co-director of the Texas Aging & Longevity Center, which this week celebrates one year in operation at UT Austin.

As The University of Texas at Austin's Master of Science in Nutritional Sciences Online prepares to accept applications for the next academic year, it does so with a new partnership under its belt. The Department of Nutritional Sciences has announced it will link up with online learning provider edX to make UT's nutritional sciences master's degree offerings available on the edX platform.

In honor of National Spouses Day (January 26), we decided to check in with a UT scientist whose area of expertise covers the nature of healthy romantic relationships and marriages. Lisa Neff, an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences who holds the Amy Johnson McLaughlin Centennial Professorship in Home Economics, has spent years studying what keeps relationships strong, couples happy and marriages intact. Neff has several tips for more perfect unions.