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From the College of Natural Sciences
Podcast: Tough Talk on the Hard Science of Climate Change
Ray Orbach, director of the Energy Institute, breaks down the science, and the politics of the science, on climate change.Seeing Dark Matter in the Ice
Buried beneath more than a kilometer of ice in the Antarctic may lie answers, or least insights, into one of the great questions confronting 21st century astrophysics: What is dark matter?
On the Birth of Magnetism in the Universe
Physicist Swadesh Mahajan may have identified a mechanism that can explain the origin of magnetic fields in the universe.
Physicist Sudarshan Awarded Dirac Medal
Texas physicist George Sudarshan will share the 2010 Dirac Medal and Prize for his work on the fundamental forces of nature.
Physicists Prove Einstein Wrong with Observation of Instantaneous Velocity in Brownian Particles
A century after Albert Einstein said we would never be able to observe the instantaneous velocity of tiny particles as they randomly shake and shimmy, so called Brownian motion, physicist Mark Raizen and his group have done so.
Physicist Allan MacDonald Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Dr. Allan MacDonald, professor of physics, receives one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer in the United States.
Making Music with Physics
Leah Hesla was 29 when she decided to go back to school to study physics. She already had an undergraduate degree in music, and a Master’s degree in musicology (from UT), but there was something missing. Now, four years later, she’s graduating with her B.S. in physics, and has been accepted into the prestigious Science Writing MFA program at Johns ...
The Dance of Quantum States
Topology is the branch of mathematics that tells you that a donut and a coffee cup are the same type of thing. They are topologically equivalent because they each have one handle, and you can continuously distort the shape of a donut into a coffee cup without changing the number of handles. Greg Fiete, an assistant professor of physics, was rece...
Willy Fischler Honored by Top Physicists
Top physicists from around the world will gather at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on June 15 and 16 for a symposium in honor of two eminent theoretical physicists: Willy Fischler, professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin and Thomas Banks, professor of physics at UCSC. Fischler and Banks, who are being honored on the oc...
Thinnest Superconducting Metal Created
AUSTIN, Texas — A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Ken Shih and colleagues report the properties of their superconducting film in the June 5 issue of Science. Superconductors are unique because they ...Solar Cells, Batteries Research Receives $15 Million
AUSTIN, Texas--With a $15 million grant, scientists and engineers aim to revolutionize solar cells and energy storage technologies as one of two Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) established at The University of Texas at Austin by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The White House announced the creation of 46 new EFRCs nationally in conju...Fusion at Our Service
(L to R) Mike Kotschenreuther, Swadesh Mahajan, Prashant Valanju and Erich Schneider. Photo: Marsha Miller Fusion has long been pursued as a pure and virtually inexhaustible source of energy. It is fusion reactions, after all, that power the stars. When fusion—the joining of two similar atomic nuclei to form a heavier nucleus—occurs in an uncon...
Invisible Waves
This video still of particles suspended in water shows how internals waves can billow and mix water along the continental slope. Hidden beneath the surface of the sea, powerful “internal” waves are shaping the underwater edges of continents and contributing to ocean mixing and climate. Physicists Hepeng Zhang and Harry Swinney simulated such wave...
Nuclear Fusion-Fission Hybrid Could Destroy Nuclear Waste And Contribute to Carbon-Free Energy Future
AUSTIN, Texas — Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have designed a new system that, when fully developed, would use fusion to eliminate most of the transuranic waste produced by nuclear power plants. The invention could help combat global warming by making nuclear power cleaner and thus a more viable replacement of carbon-heavy energy...Read It Now
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