News: Research

Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin

Research

Carbohydrate Polymers Could be a Sweet Solution for Water Purification

In Cassandra Callmann and her team’s proof-of-concept, the sticky materials removed heavy metals including cadmium and lead.

A test tube with a small amount of blue liquid

Research

Newly Discovered Antimicrobial Could Prevent or Treat Cholera

Natural antimicrobials called microcins are produced by bacteria in the gut and show promise in fighting infection.

There are two images side-by-side. In the image on the left, a dark ring separates a blue disk in the middle from a field of grey surrounding the disk. The image on the right is similar, except there is no dark ring.

UT News

Newly Discovered Antibody Protects Against All COVID-19 Variants

Researchers have discovered an antibody able to neutralize all known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as similar coronaviruses.

An artist's rendering of identical virus particles, spheres with protruding proteins, floating in a space.

Research

Scientists Observe How New Fears Can Infiltrate Old Memories

The research has implications for understanding post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias.

Image of a neuron overlaid with images of a dog, a dog toy and a park

Research

In-Person Contact Linked With Lower Levels of Loneliness in Older Adults

Despite our hopes for technological ways to bridge connections between older adults and social partners, phone and digital contact cannot alleviate loneliness in the same...

A younger man with dark hair and a beard, left, sits beside an older man with white hair. The younger man has his arm around the shoulders of the older man. Overlaid on the image are digital distortion lines.

Research

Dark Matter Experiment Sets New Sensitivity Record

The world’s most sensitive dark matter detector still hasn't found evidence of weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, but the search continues.

A large white cylinder in the middle of scientific equipment and a person in a white, full-body cleanroom suit stands nearby for scale

Research

Early Galaxies Weren’t Too Big for Their Britches After All

It got called the crisis in cosmology. But now astronomers can explain some surprising recent discoveries.

In the blackness of space, a bright object in the center of view is surrounded and partly obscured by a dark cloud

Research

Exciting News: Neurons Rely on Glial Cells to Become Electrically Excitable

Husniye Kantarci was part of a team that discovered the role of glial cells in controlling neural development, learning and numerous diseases.

A pair of scientists in lab coats stand before a screen, microscope and other equipment in a lab

Research

Next Time You Beat a Virus, Thank Your Microbial Ancestors

Two of our key defenses against viruses have persisted for billions of years, arising before complex life.

Two curly ribbons, one purple and one green, represent the three dimensional shapes of two related proteins

Marine Science Institute

Digging into the Soil: Shedding Light on Unknown Players in Methane Production

A new study looks at metabolic processes in the previously understudied microbes called Asgard archaea in the soils of freshwater wetlands.

Sunset over wetlands