News: Research

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

McDonald Observatory

Some Young Suns Align with Their Planet-forming Disks, Others Are Born Tilted

Lauren Biddle, a UT postdoc, finds about one-third of young Sun-like stars are born with misaligned protoplanetary disks.

An illustration demonstrating how a solar system is tilted with respect to the axis of its central star

UT News

Meet the Universe’s Earliest Confirmed Black Hole: A Monster at the Dawn of Time

A team of astronomers from UT’s Cosmic Frontier Center have identified the most distant black hole ever confirmed.

An artist's rendition of a black hole includes an exploding cloud around a dot of nothingness, surrounded by stars in outer space.

Research

New AI Tool Accelerates mRNA-Based Treatments for Viruses, Cancers, Genetic Disorders

UT Austin and Sanofi partner to build tool that predicts translation efficiency of mRNA sequences.

An illustration of a string of RNA and a wall of letters representing the nucleotides in an RNA sequence

Research

New DNA Evidence Reveals Origins of Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian Languages

The study identifies an ancestral population in Central Siberia linked to the origin of Uralic languages.

An archaeological dig reveals a burial site with human bones and a series of rectangular armor plates made from animal bone.

Research

Digital platform supports personalized diet goals in primary care for diabetes

A new study evaluates Nutri, a clinical decision support tool for brief diet counseling in safety-net clinics, created by UT researchers.

A doctor talks to a patient as both are smiling

Research

3D Printing Breakthrough Paves Way for Next-Gen Medical Devices and Stretchable Electronics

New methods for printing objects lead to materials with the flexibility, strength and complexity that nature offers.

A 3D printed object contains multiple interlocking layers of circles.

Research

Study Finds Early Signs of Widespread Coastal Marsh Decline

The early warning could help the ecosystems that are key to preventing flooding, UT marine science researchers say.

The sun rises over a marsh with a lot of greenery in the foreground and trees in the distance.

Department of Marine Science

Deep Microbial Life Beneath Lavey-les-Bains Reveals Surprising Resilience

Microbes beneath Switzerland’s Lavey-les-Bains Thermal Spa stay stable year-round, revealing the resilience of subsurface life and its role in Earth’s carbon cycle.

Steam rises from man-made pools in front of snow-capped mountains at a thermal spa in Switzerland

McDonald Observatory

COSMOS-Web Releases Deepest Yet View Into the Universe

Over 250 hours of observations from the world’s most powerful telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, are freely available to the public.

A deep view of space is dotted with stars and galaxies

Research

Idea of Coral Reefs as Oases in Marine Deserts May Be Mistaken

New research from Simon Brandl at UT’s Marine Science Institute challenges a long-held belief about coral reefs.

Dozens of fish swim near a coral reef in the Maldives.