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From the College of Natural Sciences
New Fossil Suggests Dinosaurs Not So Fierce After All
A new species of dinosaur discovered in Arizona suggests dinosaurs did not spread throughout the world by overpowering other species, but by taking advantage of a natural catastrophe that wiped out their competitors.
Electric Fish Plug In to Communicate
Just as people plug in to computers, smart phones and electric outlets to communicate, electric fish communicate by quickly plugging special channels into their cells to generate electrical impulses, neurobiologists have discovered.
Bat Love Songs Decoded
It might not sound like crooners singing about love on the radio, but bats sing love songs to each other too, say researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University who are believed to be the first to decode the mysterious sounds made by the winged creatures.
Most Extensive Genetic Resource For Reef-Building Coral Created
AUSTIN, Texas — A nearly complete collection of genes for a species of reef-building coral has been assembled by a team led by biologists from The University of Texas at Austin. The scientists will use the genetic data to understand natural variations in corals from around the world and how they respond, at the genetic level, to rising water tempe...
Sibling Rivalry
Here’s what happens when you put some of the world’s smartest and most creative physicists in the same mental space with some of the world’s greatest bacteriologists: Border maintenance among warring colonies of bacteria is explained by applying a little math. That, my friends, is science at work. Physicists Harry Swinney and Avraham Be’er, coll...
Discovery of Giant Roaming Deep Sea Protist Provides New Perspective on Animal Evolution
AUSTIN, Texas — Groove-like tracks on the ocean floor made by giant deep-sea single-celled organisms could lead to new insights into the evolutionary origin of animals, says biologist Mikhail "Misha" Matz from The University of Texas at Austin. Matz and his colleagues recently discovered the grape-sized protists and their complex tracks on the oce...
Oldest Living Lineage of Ants Discovered in the Amazon
AUSTIN, Texas—A new species of blind, subterranean, predatory ant discovered in the Amazon rainforest by University of Texas at Austin evolutionary biologist Christian Rabeling is likely a descendant of the very first ants to evolve. The new ant is named Martialis heureka, which translates roughly to “ant from Mars,” because the ant has a combinat...
Giant Cane and the Little Wasp That Could
AUSTIN, Texas—Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin will work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to investigate biological control for an invasive cane grass that is choking waterways across North America. The introduced European cane, Arundo donax, grows in dense stands in wetlands and rip...
New Source for Biofuels Discovered
AUSTIN, Texas--A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels, report scientists from The University of Texas at Austin who say the microbe could provide a significant portion of the nation’s transportation fuel if production can be scaled up. Along with cellulose, the cyanobacteria developed by Profe...Read It Now
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