News

​Sixteen Austin-area elementary schools will participate in a study with University of Texas at Austin researchers thanks to a $3.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to learn whether growing fruits and vegetables and learning nutrition and cooking skills can improve health and reduce childhood obesity. The project — a first-of-its-kind controlled experiment in four area school districts — is breaking ground on its first school gardens in Central Texas this spring.

​Recent federal regulations on the labeling of added sugar are a necessary step in combating childhood obesity, writes Jaimie Davis, associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, in the Austin American-Statesman. 

Bugao Xu, UT Austin professor in the School of Human Ecology, and his research team have developed a detection system for textiles using optical sensors, which garnered the praise and support of the Walmart Foundation, including a $350,000 grant. 

​A student majoring in textiles and apparel at The University of Texas at Austin last night was announced to have won a prestigious national scholarship from a leading international fashion industry group. Avani Patel's innovative design idea, which combines 3D printing and 3D modeling to make custom-fit leather shoes, is one of a handful of concepts from UT Austin textiles and apparel students to have won national awards in recent weeks.

Some health experts predict that the next big advance in helping overweight people achieve a healthier weight will be to use an individual's genetic data to customize diets and physical activity plans, an approach known as "precision weight loss." A recent summary report on the genetics of weight loss, developed by some of the leading experts in this field, finds that the biggest challenge to realizing this dream is the need for better analytical tools for discovering the relationships between genetics, behavior and weight-related diseases

Four-year-olds in the nation's largest preschool program fare worse with 3-year-olds in their classrooms, according to new research that shows a common practice in most Head Start programs may stunt children's learning.

​A study by Paul Eastwick, associate professor in the Department of Relationships and Family Sciences, was featured on ABC News and many other media organizations last week. This study found that men's response to intelligent women may not be what men themselves think it will be. 

When Richard Finnell first met her, Rachel was a nine-year-old girl with severe developmental delays. Her condition seemed to be caused by a deficiency in a critical B vitamin called folate. Yet she had plenty of folate circulating in her blood. Somehow it was vanishing before it got to her brain and spine. Eventually Finnell made a surprising discovery. He's now using new genetic tools like CRISPR to better understand her condition and test possible therapies.

Cancer researcher Linda deGraffenried, professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, was featured on Fox 7 Austin for breast cancer awareness month.