News: Research

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

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

Department of Molecular Biosciences

Forever Chemical Pollution Can Now Be Tracked

Professor of molecular biosciences David Hoffmann helped develop a new way to fingerprint a type of forever chemical.

A scientist in goggles and a lab coat uses a pipette to add a green liquid to a mostly filled tube.

UT News

Astronomers Use AI to Find Elusive Stars 'Gobbling Up' Planets

The work reveals what planets outside our solar system are made of.

A bright star surrouned by rocky debris from a destroyed planet

Research

AI Opens Door to Safe, Effective New Antibiotics to Combat Resistant Bacteria

Protein large language models identify ways to make antibiotics better at targeting dangerous bacteria, without being toxic to humans.

A green bacteria-shaped object with a red arrow piercing through its center. The bacteria is surrounded by concentric circles and smaller, blue, bacteria-like shapes. The background is a light blue grid with a pattern of binary code.

UT Marine Science Institute

Are Parrotfishes Friends or Foes to Coral Reefs?

Parrotfishes help corals grow and survive, grazing on what can otherwise smother corals. But there are trade-offs.

An underwater image of coral reefs shows clear damage where parts seem to have been nibbled off.

McDonald Observatory

Astronomers Better Identify the Cygnus Loop’s Distance from Earth

Knowing how far away this supernova remnant is will help answer fundamental questions about what happens when stars explode.

A ghostly blue feature in the middle of a field of bright stars and the blackness of space

Research

Paving the Way to Extremely Fast, Compact Computer Memory

Materials with high magnetoelectric coupling could be useful in novel devices such as magnetic computer memories, chemical sensors and quantum computers.

Illustration showing two corkscrew-shaped lines twisting in opposite directions, rising up out of a layer of small spheres that represent atoms, each with an arrow pointing in the direction of a feature called its magnetic moment