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From the College of Natural Sciences

Marc Airhart is the Communications Coordinator for the College of Natural Sciences. A long time member of the National Association of Science Writers, he has written for national publications including Scientific American, Mercury, The Earth Scientist, Environmental Engineer & Scientist, and StarDate Magazine. He also spent 11 years as a writer and producer for the Earth & Sky radio series. Contact me

Moran to Receive Waksman Award in Microbiology from NAS

Moran to Receive Waksman Award in Microbiology from NAS

Nancy Moran, an evolutionary biologist at The University of Texas at Austin, will receive the 2023 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

McLellan Wins Major Awards from Welch Foundation, National Academy

McLellan Wins Major Awards from Welch Foundation, National Academy

Jason McLellan, a structural biologist at The University of Texas at Austin, is being honored today with the announcement of two highly prestigious awards—the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Award in Molecular Biology and the Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research from the Welch Foundation.

Remembering High-Energy Physicist Roy Schwitters

Remembering High-Energy Physicist Roy Schwitters

Roy Schwitters, a world-renowned experimental high-energy physicist and emeritus professor at The University of Texas at Austin, passed away earlier this month.

Nanoparticles Make it Easier to Turn Light into Solvated Electrons

Nanoparticles Make it Easier to Turn Light into Solvated Electrons

'Green' reducing agents could help tackle climate change and treat contaminated water.

When scientists shine low-intensity near-ultraviolet light on metal nanoparticles, electrons in the nanoparticles oscillate. This oscillation, referred to as a plasmon, can give the electrons enough energy to emit into the surrounding solution. Credit: Rice University.
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James Webb Telescope Reveals Milky Way-like Galaxies in Young Universe

James Webb Telescope Reveals Milky Way-like Galaxies in Young Universe

New images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal for the first time galaxies with stellar bars — elongated features of stars stretching from the centers of galaxies into their outer disks — at a time when the universe was a mere 25% of its present age. The finding of so-called barred galaxies, similar to our Milky Way, this early in the universe will require scientists to refine their theories of galaxy evolution.

How a CRISPR Protein Might Yield New Tests for Many Viruses

How a CRISPR Protein Might Yield New Tests for Many Viruses

In this illustration based on cryo-electron microscope images, a Cas12a2 protein unzips a DNA double helix, allowing it to cut the single strands of DNA (blue and green). Credit: Jack Bravo/University of Texas at Austin

In a first for the genetic toolset known as CRISPR, a recently discovered protein has been found to act as a kind of multipurpose self-destruct system for bacteria, capable of degrading single-stranded RNA, single-stranded DNA and double-stranded DNA. With its abilities to target so many types of genetic material, the discovery holds potential for the development of new inexpensive and highly sensitive at-home diagnostic tests for a wide range of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, influenza, Ebola and Zika, according to the authors of a new study in the journal Nature.

Right Time, Right Place

Right Time, Right Place

​Like the Hubble Space Telescope before it, the James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to change the course of astronomy and inspire a new generation of astronomers.

Amateur Scientists Have Helped Astronomers Identify Nearly a Quarter-Million Galaxies

Amateur Scientists Have Helped Astronomers Identify Nearly a Quarter-Million Galaxies

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope collects images that citizen scientists use to identify galaxies in the Dark Energy Explorers project.

Astronomers on a historically ambitious and massive galaxy-mapping mission have activated more than 10,000 amateur scientists in 85 countries to help in their quest. Now they hope to significantly scale up their volunteer force for a unique project that could reveal for the first time the nature of dark energy.

Shining a Light on How Bilingual Children Learn

Shining a Light on How Bilingual Children Learn

There's a cute little curly headed cherub in a yellow dress, and she is the star of the show. She's sitting on her mother's lap and her mother is talking to her in that gentle mother voice that says, despite all appearances, this is normal, you are safe and there will probably be a nice treat for you for cooperating. A scientist and her research assistant, neither of whom the child has met before, hover around her in a smallish room with a desk, some electronic equipment and a flat-screen TV.

Wearing a cap with instruments that map brain activity, a child completes various cognitive tasks related to learning. Photo credit: PBS/Otherwords/Spotzen.
Maggie Miller Receives Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize

Maggie Miller Receives Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize

Maggie Miller, a UT Austin alumna in mathematics who will soon return to join the faculty, has been awarded a Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize, an early career award for women in mathematics that is part of the annual Breakthrough Prizes. She is being honored for her work on fibered ribbon knots and surfaces in 4-dimensional manifolds.