News

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

Research

In-Person Contact Linked With Lower Levels of Loneliness in Older Adults

Despite our hopes for technological ways to bridge connections between older adults and social partners, phone and digital contact cannot alleviate loneliness in the same...

A younger man with dark hair and a beard, left, sits beside an older man with white hair. The younger man has his arm around the shoulders of the older man. Overlaid on the image are digital distortion lines.

Features

Insider Insights: Meet Public Health Major Kena Desai

At the start of the school year, a CNS senior shares insights with newer-to-campus peers.

Kena Desai, left. On the right, Kena Desai kneels and signs the peace wall in Northern Ireland

The Biodiversity Center

Announcing the 2024 Stengl-Wyer Scholars, Fellows and Grant Awardees

UT postdocs, graduate students and faculty receive prestigious awards linked to sustainability and biodiversity.

Six young scientists are shown in separate photos, and some are working in scientific spaces

Research

Dark Matter Experiment Sets New Sensitivity Record

The world’s most sensitive dark matter detector still hasn’t found evidence of weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, but the search continues.

A large white cylinder in the middle of scientific equipment and a person in a white, full-body cleanroom suit stands nearby for scale

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

Announcements

Observatory Remembers Harlan J. Smith on His 100th Birthday

Smith was director of McDonald Observatory from 1963 to 1989 and supported the launch of the StarDate radio program.

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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

Podcast

The Algorithm Will See You Now

Scott Graham helps tease apart the hype and the reality around artificial intelligence and healthcare.

A man looks at his wristwatch and a ghostly hologram of a robot emerges, wearing a stethoscope

Announcements

McDonald Observatory Welcomes New Assistant Director for Research Support

B-G Andersson is McDonald Observatory's new assistant director for research support.

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