News: Research

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

Research

Scientists Map Proteins From Ancient Organism and Discover New Links to Rare Diseases

New ‘treasure map’ of ancient life holds clues to modern human diseases.

Cartoon of a microbe showing all its internal structures.

McDonald Observatory

Black Hole Found that Formed Before Its Galaxy

Findings help explain how black holes millions to billions of times the mass of the sun formed so soon after the Big Bang.

A view of space with galaxies and stars

Research

UT Scientists Help Measure Universe’s Expansion with Gravitational Waves

An era of precision gravitational astronomy has arrived, and UT physicists are helping lead the way.

A technician wearing a facemask makes adjustments to a piece of scientific equipment. The person is visible through a round glass window surrounded by metal and regions lit by purple and green light.

Research

Scientists Find Blood-based Biomarkers for Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is highly aggressive, but extremely difficult to tell apart from other breast cancers.

An illustration of a strand of RNA looks like a red, coiled ribbon with short spokes at regular intervals

McDonald Observatory

IGRINS Confirms Long-Suspected Link Between the Composition of Exoplanets and Their Host Stars

A UT Austin spectrograph measures for the first time the magnesium-to-silicon ratio of an "ultra-hot Jupiter."

Illustration of a red planet passing in front of a bluish white star

Cockrell School of Engineering

The Secret Ingredient Is Salt

Eric Anslyn co-led a study revealing how salt can be used to control the formation and aging of nanocrystal gels.

A large piece of scientific equipment with wires and metal tubes sits on a long table in a laboratory

Research

Researchers Disable Antimicrobial Resistance in Cystic Fibrosis-Associated Bacteria

New findings could improve treatment options for people with hard-to-treat infections.

Two black and white microscope images. On the left is an intact bacterium with two lobes like a bar bell. On the right is a similar bacterium whose walls have burst, spilling its contents.

Texas Advanced Computing Center

Little Red Dots: New Clues from the Early Universe

Volker Bromm used TACC supercomputer simulations to shed light on the mysterious origins of these enigmatic cosmic objects.

Six red dots represent early galaxies in the universe as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope

Department of Computer Science

The Research Path from Whimsy to Better Spacecraft Fabrication

That is not a bunny in The University of Texas at Austin computer science space but a showcase of algorithms for designing complex 3D structures.

What looks like a basketwoven rabbit hovers over a field of grass

Research

New Bite-sized CRISPR Molecule May Open Doors for Therapeutic Genome Editing

NIH-funded UT team and colleagues from Metagenomi Thereapeutics discovered highly efficient enzyme could enable targeted gene editing within the human body.

An illustration of a tangle of multicolored ribbons representing the structure of a protein