News: Research

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

Research

Stephen Hawking Was Right: Black Holes Always Grow in Area

Researchers celebrate 10th anniversary of gravitational wave discovery, announce verification of a Hawking theorem.

In this screenshot from a computer simulation, two objects leaving behind a white trail sprial inward and collide against the black background of space

McDonald Observatory

Astronomers Investigate Complex Heart of a Cosmic Butterfly

The James Webb Space Telescope offers a new view of a planetary nebula located about 3,400 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.

The complicated structure at the centre of the Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302. There is a bright source at the centre that is surrounded by greenish nebulosity and several looping lines in cream, orange and pink. One of these lines appears to form a ring oriented vertically and nearly edge-on around the bright source at the centre. Other lines trace out a figure eight shape. Moving outward from these complex lines and green nebulosity, there is a section of red light on either side of the object.

Research

Helping Others Shown To Slow Cognitive Decline

Regular volunteering or helping others outside the home can reduce the rate of cognitive aging by 15-20%.

A woman with white hair reads to a child on her lap

McDonald Observatory

The Universe’s Secret Harvest: UT Astronomers Shed Light on “the Cosmic Grapes”

The galaxy contains far more star-forming clumps than current theoretical models can explain.

A lumpy purple galaxy with more than a dozen white clumps representing star forming regions

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.