News: Research

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

Research

Central Texas Salamanders, Including Newly Identified Species, At Risk of Extinction

More severe droughts caused by climate change and increasing water use in Central Texas have left groundwater salamanders “highly vulnerable to extinction.”

This newly identified, unnamed salamander lives near the Pedernales river west of Austin, Texas.

Research

Evolution Used Same Genetic Formula to Turn Animals Monogamous

In five cases where vertebrates evolved monogamy, the same changes in gene expression occurred each time.

The non-monogamous strawberry poison frog is pictured on the left and the monogamous mimic poison frog is pictured on the right.

Research

Texas Astronomers Find that Dark Matter Dominates Across Cosmic Time

University of Texas at Austin astronomers report that they have stumbled on an extraordinary galaxy that may corroborate a recently contested theory about dark matter.

A series of red and blue globs against a black backdrop

UT News

Females Prefer City Frogs’ Tunes

Urban sophistication has real sex appeal — at least if you’re a Central American amphibian. Male frogs in cities are more attractive to females than...

Two chirping frogs on soil face opposite directions

UT News

Newly Identified Gravitational Waves Help Pinpoint Black Hole

The scientists looking for gravitational waves reported that last year they observed four additional ripples in space-time. During about a nine-month period, scientists including UT...

Artists rendition of two black holes about to collide in space

UT News

Newly Discovered Deep-Sea Microbes Gobble Greenhouse Gases and Perhaps Oil Spills, Too

They were found living in the extremely hot, deep-sea sediments located in the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California

View of the ocean floor through a round portal

UT News

Undeterred, Gulf Fish Spawn Despite Hurricane

Satellite image of hurricane harvey over Texas

Research

Two Studies Shed Light on How Complex CRISPR Systems Work

Illustration showing DNA helix being snipped by scissors