News: Research

Read the latest news from the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin

UT News

Sheltering People With COVID-19 Experiencing Homelessness Curbs Spread

A new study provides public health planning authorities with a method of calculating the number of COVID-19 isolation beds they would need for people experiencing...

Undergraduate Tanvi Ingle at a desk with a laptop, a monitor and papers

Research

Astronomers Disprove Planet Orbiting Nearby Barnard’s Star

An international team that included Michael Endl and Bill Cochran discovered what was thought to an exoplanet was not one.

A large and modern apparatus has tubes, metal boxes, wires and insulation

Department of Molecular Biosciences

'Last Resort' Antibiotic Pops Bacteria Like Balloons

A new study reveals that colistin, a last resort antibiotic “punches holes in bacteria, causing them to pop like balloons.”

A pink bacterium with a long tail

Research

Discovery about Brain Cells that Promote Healing from Strokes Offers Treatment Insights

A type of cell once thought to hinder recovery in stroke patients may actually promote the healing process.

Blood vessels, shown in green, and astrocytes, shown in magenta, adjacent to a stroke.

Department of Molecular Biosciences

Our Immune Systems Blanket the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein with Antibodies

Most antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the blood target areas of the viral spike protein outside the receptor binding domain, or RBD

A spike protein from the virus SARS-CoV-2 with antibodies attached

Department of Molecular Biosciences

Hepatitis C Drugs Boost Remdesivir’s Antiviral Activity Against COVID-19

Four drugs used to treat hepatitis C render remdesivir 10 times better at inhibiting the coronavirus in cell cultures.

A hand holds a pill against a backdrop of other medical interventions such as shots and IV bags

UT News

Climate-friendly Microbes Chomp Dead Plants Without Releasing Heat-trapping Methane

Scientists have identified an entirely new group of microbes quietly living in hot springs, geothermal systems and hydrothermal sediments around the world.

Hot springs

UT News

Exoplanet is Gobbling Up Gas and Dust as it Continues to Build Mass

The Hubble Space Telescope has allowed astronomers including Brendan Bowler from The University of Texas at Austin to get a rare look at a young...

An artist's image suggests a planet is sucking a stream of orbiting light into its mass

Research

UT Chemistry Researchers Encode Jane Austen Quote in a Polymer

The technique, which relies on short polymers called oligourethanes, encodes information with greater density than DNA-based approaches

Illustration of a book showing how to translate chemical components of a polymer into English letters

Research

Cosmic Rumbles: New Faculty Probe Universe for Gravitational Waves

A couple who joined the Department of Physics in 2020, Pablo Laguna and Deirdre Shoemaker, study violent events in the universe, like when cosmic heavyweights...

Portrait of a man and woman