Button to scroll to the top of the page.

News

From the College of Natural Sciences

Steve is the Communications Specialist for the College of Natural Sciences. He has a BS in Ecology from Evergreen State College and a BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from UT Austin.

College Welcomes Ten New Faculty

College Welcomes Ten New Faculty

The College of Natural Sciences welcomes ten new faculty members this fall. Whether studying dwarf spheroidal galaxies, unraveling how a healthy brain processes visual input from the natural environment, or studying the physics of everyday materials, these innovative faculty members build on the college’s reputation for cutting-edge research and research-based teaching.

Making Cancer Self-Destruct

Making Cancer Self-Destruct

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and five other institutions have created synthetic ion transporters that can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by ferrying sodium and chloride ions into the cancer cells, confirming a two-decades-old hypothesis that could point the way to new anticancer drugs while also benefitting patients with ...
Synthetic Molecule Makes Cancer Self-Destruct

Synthetic Molecule Makes Cancer Self-Destruct

SyntheticIonTransporters.jpgResearchers from The University of Texas at Austin and five other institutions have created a molecule that can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by ferrying sodium and chloride ions into the cancer cells.

These synthetic ion transporters, described this week in the journal Nature Chemistry, confirm a two-decades-old hypothesis that could point the way to new anticancer drugs while also benefitting patients with cystic fibrosis.

Diet Affects Men's and Women's Gut Microbes Differently

Diet Affects Men's and Women's Gut Microbes Differently

gut_microbes-Rectangle700x420.jpgThe microbes living in the guts of males and females react differently to diet, even when the diets are identical, according to a study by scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and six other institutions published this week in the journal Nature Communications. These results suggest that therapies designed to improve human health and treat diseases through nutrition might need to be tailored for each sex.

Sober Worms In The News

Sober Worms In The News

Apparently the media love the idea of worms that can't get drunk. The work by Scott Davis, Luisa Scott, Kevin Hu, and Jon Pierce-Shimomura, that was recently published in the The Journal of Neuroscience, has gone viral and is appearing all over the web. The worms were created using a mutation found by Scott Davis. You can read the original press re...
Mutation Stops Worms From Getting Drunk

Mutation Stops Worms From Getting Drunk

drunk-sober-worms-humans.jpgNeuroscientists at The University of Texas at Austin have generated mutant worms that do not get intoxicated by alcohol, a result that could lead to new drugs to treat the symptoms of people going through alcohol withdrawal.

Novel Method for Isotope Enrichment

Novel Method for Isotope Enrichment

Mark Raizen and his colleagues have developed a new method for enriching stable isotopes, a group of the world’s most expensive chemical commodities which are vital to medical imaging and nuclear power. The work has attracted some attention from the science and medical world.

Improved Method for Isotope Enrichment Could Secure a Vital Global Commodity

Improved Method for Isotope Enrichment Could Secure a Vital Global Commodity

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have devised a new method for enriching a group of the world’s most expensive chemical commodities, stable isotopes, which are vital to medical imaging and nuclear power, as reported this week in the journal Nature Physics.

Variety in Diet Can Hamper Microbial Diversity in the Gut

Variety in Diet Can Hamper Microbial Diversity in the Gut

Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and five other institutions have discovered that the more diverse the diet of a fish, the less diverse are the microbes living in its gut. If the effect is confirmed in humans, it could mean that the combinations of foods people eat can influence the diversity of their gut microbes.

Trapping a Bacterium in a Laser Beam Aids Study of Biofilms

Trapping a Bacterium in a Laser Beam Aids Study of Biofilms

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a technique to move and position a single bacterium using a highly focused laser. The precise control offered by this tool will allow researchers to better study how bacterial biofilms form.