News
Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin
A More Nuanced Approach is Needed to Manage Coral Reef Ecosystems
Instead of focusing entirely on biomass and one-size-fits-all solutions, researchers recommend finding which fish provide the most useful functions in each reef system and protecting...
![A school of colorful fish swim over a coral reef](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/rangiroa-2400x1350.jpg)
UT News
Invading Hordes of Crazy Ants May Have Finally Met Their Kryptonite
UT Austin scientists have demonstrated how to use a naturally occurring fungus to crush local populations of invasive tawny crazy ants.
![Ants swarm on a larger, dead insect](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/cryptachaea-porteri2_mark-sanders1400.jpg)
New Phononic Crystal Might Enable Better Mobile Communications
UT Austin researchers' new acoustic component, made of aluminum nitride and configured into periodic phononic crystals, allows engineers to direct high frequency elastic waves along...
![Light colored pattern on a dark orange background. A path zigs from the right to left like a backward letter Z.](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/picture1-orange-fill2400x1350.jpg)
Department of Computer Science
Computer Science Researcher Aims to Automate Software Development
Isil Dillig works to improve the security and reliability of software systems and automatically generate programs from high-level specifications.
![Portrait of a woman](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/dillig_isil_0_2400x1600.jpg)
Astronomer Stella Offner Receives Delta Young Astronomer Lectureship Award
Each year, the award is given to one or two international scholars under the age of 45.
![A man in a face mask presents a statuette to a woman in a face mask](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/offner_deltaaward_15march2022_1.jpeg)
Department of Molecular Biosciences
New Vaccine Advances Could Help Against More Viral Illnesses
Jason McLellan and his team advance understanding of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), which can help them develop vaccines.
![Two scientists in lab coats looking at a computer screen](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/20210630_mclellan_lab_020-1400x933-198369e3-00f1-4e12-9abb-f3d0ab106117.jpg)
A Physicist’s Search for Beauty
Steven Weinberg aimed to distill the rules of physics down to their simplest, most beautiful essence.
![Portrait of a man in a suit with arms crossed in front of an illustration of the Standard Model of Physics](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/weinberg-part2-2400x1350.jpg)
Dried Bacteria Could Revolutionize Testing, Laboratory Science
What if there were a way to make proteins, enzymes and reagents right in the lab, in small amounts, on demand?
![Microscopic image of e.coli bacteria stained blue against a black background](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/e-coli-bacteria-1400p_20220303-173817_1.jpeg)
2022 State of the College Address
On March 3, 2022, Dean David Vanden Bout presented to members of the college community his vision and reflections on core college values of community...
![Aerial photo of UT Austin campus during sunrise with the UT Tower on the horizon in burnt orange hues.](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/4-3-ut-austin-campus.jpg)
Department of Molecular Biosciences
Gene Editing Gets Safer Thanks to Redesigned Protein
Scientists have redesigned a key component of a widely used CRISPR-based gene-editing tool, called Cas9, to be thousands of times less likely to target the...
![Illustration of a protein interacting with DNA](/sites/default/files/uploads/images/default/off-target-dna1400.png)