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Proposed Border Wall Will Harm Texas Plants and Animals, Scientists Say

Proposed Border Wall Will Harm Texas Plants and Animals, Scientists Say

Photo credit: Andy Morffew

In the latest peer-reviewed publication on the potential impacts of a border wall on plants and animals, conservation biologists, led by a pair of scientists from The University of Texas at Austin, say that border walls threaten to harm endangered Texas plants and animals and cause trouble for the region's growing ecotourism industry.

Science Programs at UT Austin in Top 10 in U.S. News Ranking of Graduate Schools

Science Programs at UT Austin in Top 10 in U.S. News Ranking of Graduate Schools

Kasie Raymann. Photo by Vivian Abagiu.

The University of Texas at Austin is one of the public universities with the most top-ranked schools and academic programs in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2019 edition of "Best Graduate Schools," released this morning. The university has five programs across campus ranked No. 1 and 49 schools and specialties ranked among the nation's top 10.

Behind the Scenes of UT’s Vast Insect Collection, Plus March Bug Madness

Behind the Scenes of UT’s Vast Insect Collection, Plus March Bug Madness

Alex Wild manages the Biodiversity Center and Integrative Biology Department's Entomology Collection, which houses 2 million specimens of insects, including the world's largest collection of cave-dwelling invertebrates. The collections are focused on Texas and Mexico, with smaller holdings from Trinidad, the Galápagos Islands and elsewhere. A skilled photographer, Wild also oversees Insects Unlocked, a public domain photography project.

New Falcon Cam Offers Live Viewing of UT Tower’s Resident Raptor

New Falcon Cam Offers Live Viewing of UT Tower’s Resident Raptor

The city's only known year-round resident peregrine falcon is getting a global audience. The bird, nicknamed Tower Girl, lives atop the University of Texas at Austin Tower and has a handful of avid fans who love to watch one of the world's fastest animals dive through the skies above campus. And now, UT's Biodiversity Center has launched a live-streaming webcam so that viewers around the world can observe everyone's favorite local raptor in real time.

UT Tower Falcon May Have Finally Found True Love

UT Tower Falcon May Have Finally Found True Love

Photo of Tower Girl, the peregrine falcon that resides in the UT Tower, by Neil Crump.

​Valentine's Day may be over, but for the peregrine falcon that lives in the UT Tower, it may be the beginning of a love story.

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World-renowned UT Animal Behaviorist Publishes New Book

World-renowned UT Animal Behaviorist Publishes New Book

Mike Ryan knows a lot about how circumstances can lead to a change of perspective. Take, for example, the tiny túngara frog, which lives in the jungles of Panama. He may not seem like much, with his mottled brown skin covered in bumps and whiney song. But put this little amphibian at the center of decades of research, and it turns out he can open up a world of discovery, both for Ryan and for dozens of scientists he's helped to train over the years, with new insights into how animals become beautiful – at least to each other. These lessons may also help humans better understand how our own ideas of beauty correspond with those in the animal kingdom.

Gut Microbiome Influenced Heavily by Social Circles in Lemurs, UT Study Says

Gut Microbiome Influenced Heavily by Social Circles in Lemurs, UT Study Says

Social group membership is the most important factor influencing the composition of a lemur's gut microbiome, according to research at The University of Texas at Austin.

Study of Secret Sex Lives of Trees Finds Tiny Bees Play Big Part

Study of Secret Sex Lives of Trees Finds Tiny Bees Play Big Part

A stingless bee visits a Miconia tree near Soberania National Park, Panama. Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin spent nearly four years mapping trees, bees, and pollen to reveal how different pollinators aid in the sexual reproduction of trees in one of the most detailed pollinator-mediated paternity tests in wild plants. Credit: Antonio Castilla/Univ. of Texas at Austin

​When it comes to sex between plants, tiny bees the size of ladybugs play a critical role in promoting long-distance pairings. That's what scientists at The University of Texas at Austin discovered after one of the most detailed paternity tests in wild trees ever conducted.

Scientists on the Trail of Central Texas’ Elusive Satan Fish

Scientists on the Trail of Central Texas’ Elusive Satan Fish

X-ray images of a preserved Widemouth Blindcat, a.k.a. Satan fish (Satan eurystomus). Credit: Smithsonian Institution.

As Halloween approaches, scientists are pondering a mysterious creature that may be lurking in underwater caves deep beneath a major U.S. city. It's eyeless, has see-through skin and spends its life in the total darkness of the Edwards Aquifer, thousands of feet below the bustle of San Antonio. Meet the Widemouth Blindcat, a.k.a. Satan fish. The fish were collected from deep-water wells for decades, but biologists have not seen one alive since 1984.

Why Poison Frogs Don’t Poison Themselves

Why Poison Frogs Don’t Poison Themselves

The phantasmal poison frog, Epipedobates anthonyi, is the original source of epibatidine, discovered by John Daly in 1974. Epibatidine has not been found in any animal outside of Ecuador, and its ultimate source, proposed to be an arthropod, remains unknown. This frog was captured at a banana plantation in the Azuay province in southern Ecuador in August 2017. Credit: Rebecca Tarvin/University of Texas at Austin.

Don't let their appearance fool you: Thimble-sized, dappled in cheerful colors and squishy, poison frogs in fact harbor some of the most potent neurotoxins we know. With a new paper published in the journal Science, scientists are a step closer to resolving a related head-scratcher — how do these frogs keep from poisoning themselves? And the answer has potential consequences for the fight against pain and addiction.