News: Integrative Biology

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

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

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.

Accolades

College of Natural Sciences Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards

The awards from the National Science Foundation support innovative work by earlier-career faculty.

Photos of five faculty members around the logo of the National Science Foundation

Oden Institute

Summer School on Quantum Materials

Feliciano Guistino led a week-long workshop for graduate-level students in modern techniques for computational data science and high-performance computing.

Students in a lecture hall discussing a problem and looking at laptop screens

Research

The Lesser of Two Weevils: Size Differences in Some Insects Lead to Tradeoffs in the Competition for Mates

The largest males have bigger weapons, but smaller males have other advantages.

three jousting weevils on a wooden log

Dell Medical School

Arbel Harpak: Pursuing the Next Frontier in Genetics

Arbel Harpak, recently named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, researches how genetic makeup can have dramatically different impacts on health and evolution in...

A scientist in white shirt stands in front of a sculpture made of aluminum canoes

Research

For Rainforest Amphibians, the Bigger the Toes, the Higher They Go

In rainforests in Gabon, amphibians with larger toes relative to their body length are found higher in the forest canopy.

Photo of orange and brown frog leptopelis boulengeri on a tree branch

Features

What Will Extreme Weather Events Mean for Texas’s Favorite Bugs?

The answer matters for people, too, given how insects affect whole ecosystems.

A photo of a monarch butterfly on a yellow flower

Research

Targeted Grazing May Help Beat Invasive Buffelgrass

Researchers head to Kenya to unlock the weaknesses of invasive buffelgrass to combat it here in Texas.

Image of buffelgrass and cattle