Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have designed ultra-flexible, nanoelectronic thread (NET) brain probes that can achieve more reliable long-term neural recording than existing probes and don't elicit scar formation when implanted. The researchers described their findings in a research article published on Feb. 15 in Science Advances.
Glowing electric pickles, flaming money, and flying toilet paper help the Physics Circus at The University of Texas at Austin teach science to non-physicists, especially school children. Now a new matching gift will make it possible to maintain the program and its legacy, so that thousands more young students can benefit from the Circus fun.
People with cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease often develop serious and even life-threatening bacterial infections that are hard to treat, in large part because the bacteria form dense clusters called biofilms. Biofilms are resistant to the host's immune cells and to antibiotics.
Two amazing scientific discoveries, both with ties to the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, were named the top 2 science stories of 2016 by Discover Magazine. Other major media outlets also included them in their year-end "best of" lists, including National Geographic, Science News, Science and the New York Times. A third story from the College of Liberal Arts and Jackson School of Geosciences, which solved the mystery of how the most famous human ancestor died, appears in Discover's top ten as well.
Undergraduate Manuel Díaz advocates for neurodiversity – widening acceptance of neurological differences, ranging from autism to dyslexia to Tourette's syndrome.
As part of an ongoing tradition, this past spring we invited faculty, staff and students in the College of Natural Sciences community to send us images that celebrated the wondrous beauty of science and the scientific process. We were searching for those moments where science and art meld and become one.
Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, recently discussed some of his concerns about the use and interpretation of quantum mechanics at a gathering of science communicators hosted by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW).
Three scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have been elected as fellows of the American Physical Society for their outstanding contributions and leadership in physics. The new fellows are: physicists Greg Fiete and Karol Lang, both in the College of Natural Sciences; and electrical engineer Emanuel Tutuc, in the Cockrell School of Engineering.
Physicists have hypothesized the existence of fundamental particles called sterile neutrinos for decades and a couple of experiments have even caught possible hints of them. However, according to new results from two major international consortia, the chances that these indications were right and that these particles actually exist are now much slimmer.
Read our publication, The Texas Scientist, a digest covering the people and groundbreaking discoveries that make the College of Natural Sciences one of the most amazing and significant places on Earth.
