News: Features
Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin
McDonald Observatory
April 8 Eclipse Update from McDonald Observatory
On Monday, April 8, parts of North America will experience a total solar eclipse and the UT observatory offers tips.
![A woman dawns protective eclipse glasses and looks at the sun on a cloudless day](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/womanshades-evanzucker.jpg)
One Year After Chat GPT-4, Researcher Reflects on What to Know about Generative AI
Insights from Risto Miikkulainen, a UT Austin professor of computer science and VP of AI Research at Cognizant Advanced AI Labs.
![An aerial view of the University of Texas at Austin campus and Tower is overlain with bits and burnt orange from the Year of AI theme.](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/ut-year-of-ai-event-banner-3-2.jpeg)
UT News
The Sun’s Corona: A Boiling Pot On An Ice Cube
Jarrod Bianco and Maile Marriott, two graduate students working with physicist Anna Tenerani, talk heliophysics.
![A dark line intersects with rings of color and blackness as a light emenates out.](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/coronal_mass_ejection_on_28_october_2021-1200x800-c-default.gif)
UT News
The Challenges, Possibilities and Ethics of AI-Enabled Robots
Experts weighed in at UT’s Hook ‘Em House at SXSW, including Peter Stone who has devoted his professional life to programming and developing robots.
![A man on a panel gestures with his hands while his fellow panelists look on.](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/sxsw2024-scaled-1200x800-c-default.jpg)
UT News
3 Questions for Peter Stone
The director of Texas Robotics and professor of computer science warms up for South by Southwest.
![A man in a Texas Robotics t-shirt speaks at a mic, gesturing with his hands as robots and people interact in the background.](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/robotics-parade-2023-1200x800.jpg)
UT Entomologists Collaborate on Insect-Inspired Album
An award-winning composer came to class and had scientists lend an ear, resulting in music that’s all the buzz.
![A young treehopper photographed at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory polllinator garden is one of the insects that inspired a scientist-musician collaboraiton. Credit: Alex Wild](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/3f8120a8-be6a-46c2-be48-b7f25ea1c396.png)
Inaugural Class of AI Master’s Students Tackle a Transformative Moment in Tech
The University of Texas at Austin has welcomed its first cohort of students in the new, affordable, online artificial intelligence graduate degree program.
![A student wearing a UT sweatshirt sits at a desk with Essentials of AI and a Longhorn silhouette displayed on two screens](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/year-of-ai-story-3x2.jpg)
McDonald Observatory
LightSound Workshops Make April’s Eclipse More Accessible to Visually Impaired
As the moon eclipses the sun during a solar eclipse the sunlight begins to dim and the LightSound device outputs a change in musical tone.
![A person holds a soldering iron above an electronic circuit board](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/lightsound_3x2_0.jpg)
Texas Engineer
ROBOT SZN
This fall, UT hosted several robotics events, with experts from around the world converging on the Forty Acres to discuss the future of the field.
![Two small white robots crouch next to a tiny soccer ball on a table in front of students wearing orange shirts that say Texas Robotics](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/2023-robot-parade-239-1_1200x800_0.jpg)
The Texas Leader
A Dedicated Educator
Alumnus Jeff Cotten (B.A. Computer Science, ’99) has made several gifts that benefit students as he honors his mother’s life and teaching career.
![5 students laugh and chat, gathering at a picnic table on the UT campus.](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/2_cotten_header.jpg)