News

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

Announcements

Texas Memorial Museum is Now Texas Science and Natural History Museum

The museum will reopen in September 2023 with offerings for all ages.

Photo of a limestone art deco building with three tall arched windows. Texas Memorial Museum. Texas Science and Natural History Museum.

Features

Innovative Program Gives Students with Disabilities University Experience

An idea that started with a neuroscientist’s personal experience morphed into a lifelong continuing education program for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

A student from the program partaking in hands on activities.

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

Research

New Technique Reveals Protein Production in Early Embryos

The earliest stages of developing life have been, in many ways, a black box for researchers before now.

Microscope image of a blastoid, a model of an early embryo

Research

Scientists use Exotic Stars to Tune into Hum from Cosmic Symphony

A team of astrophysicists has found evidence for gravitational waves that oscillate with periods of years to decades.

An illustration depicts colliding black holes causing waves in spacetime

Science News

Muñoz Named Among Science News’ SN 10 List of Scientists to Watch

The scientist developed a ruler with the power to size up the early university and shed light on the cosmic dawn.

A bearded man in a patterned collared shirt stands in a building in front of a window

Research

New Era of Exoplanet Discovery Begins with Images of ‘Jupiter’s Younger Sibling’

Astrometry uses the shift in a star’s position on the sky relative to other stars to infer the existence of orbiting planets.

In this side-by-side comparison of two telescope images, a white dot on a blue background changes position as it orbits around a central star symbol

Research

‘We’re All Asgardians’: New Clues about the Origin of Complex Life

All complex life, a.k.a. eukaryotes, trace their roots to a common Asgard archaean ancestor.

An evolutionary tree shows how eukaryotes are related to Asgard archaea

Research

New Material Transforms Light, Creating New Possibilities for Sensors

A group of scientists and engineers that includes researchers from The University of Texas at Austin has created a new class of materials that can...

A solar panel array with bright sunlight shining on it

McDonald Observatory

Giant Tails of Helium Observed Escaping Jupiter-Like Planet

Astronomers used the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at the McDonald Observatory to discover some of the longest tails of gas yet observed escaping a planet.

An orange swirl of light around a bright yellow star against a purple background