News Highlights

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

Research

Nuance Needed Regarding Weight-Gain Recommendations During Pregnancy

Patients with obesity while pregnant may receive recommendations from their doctors that need revisiting, researchers say.

A pregnant person, left, speaks with a doctor, right, while she points at a clipboard.

UT News

UT Austin’s Top Research Stories of 2023

From a brain decoder to a supermassive black hole to a cancer drug advance, College of Natural Sciences researchers made breakthroughs this year.

A dense field of galaxies set against a black background of space

Research

Compact Accelerator Technology Achieves Major Energy Milestone

Bjorn “Manuel” Hegelich led the development of a compact laser accelerator that produces an electron beam with an energy of 10 billion electron volts.

A piece of scientific equipment lit from the outside by green light. In a window in the side of the equipment, a pink light glows.

Features

Turtle Pond Offers Research Site for Undergraduates

A new long-running project allows undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience with ecological research in the heart of the UT Austin campus.

Professor Havird and his students take samples from the turtles to learn more about their ecology and health.

Features

Amid the Enhancements at New Museum are Contributions by UT Community

Collaborators across the College of Natural Sciences and UT Austin played a role in the transformation at Texas Science & Natural History Museum.

Image of a large bronze statue of a saber tooth cat in front of a limestone building

Research

Cancer Drug Restores Immune System’s Ability to Fight Tumors

Drug candidate developed by Everett Stone and his team is effective in mice with cancers of skin, bladder, blood and colon.

Microscope image of cancer cell with immune cells attached

Research

The Neighborhood You Grow Up in May Impact Your Cognitive Health Decades Later

Jean Choi, Elizabeth Muñoz and collaborators identified associations between neighborhood cohesion and cognitive health.

A child's sense of neighborhood cohesion could impact their cognitive health later in life.

Announcements

Philanthropic Gift Establishes Historic UT Commitment to Monitoring Texas’ Natural Resources

A transformative donation allows for the expansion of a Texas Field Station Network to study biodiversity and sustainability.

A young man in a hat holding equipment leads a group of students down a creek at a Hill Country-based field station

Research

Genes That Shape Bones Identified, Offering Clues About Our Past and Future

An application of AI to medical imaging datasets has revealed genetics of the skeletal form for the first time.

Image of human skeleton imposed over DNA double helix

Research

Webb Telescope Detects Most Distant Active Supermassive Black Hole

At about 9 solar masses, this black hole is a real lightweight compared to previously seen ones in the early universe that are typically 1...

A dense field of galaxies set against a black background of space