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From the College of Natural Sciences
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.
New Digital Security Program Doesn't Protect as Promised
University of Texas at Austin scientists have shown that they can break "Vanish," a program that promised to self-destruct computer data, such as emails and photographs, and thereby protect a person's privacy. There is no way to permanently delete any material posted or sent through the Internet, and this leaves people's information vulnerable to ...
Professors Receive $2.5 Million to Better Convert Water Into Clean Hydrogen Fuel Using Sunlight
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have received about $2.5 million to identify new materials that will efficiently absorb sunlight and split water into clean hydrogen fuel, which could power cars and be used to generate electricity.
Making smart materials
Jason Shear, Marvin Whiteley and others are developing "smart materials" in order to study antibiotic resistance, develop new medical devices and explore how 3-D hydrogels can help regrow nerve cells.
Exploring the Cosmos in West Texas
The college’s McDonald Observatory is one of the world's leading centers for astronomical research, teaching, public education and outreach. The observatory sits atop Mount Locke and Mount Fowlkes in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, which offer some of the darkest night skies in the continental United States. The observatory’s showcase Hobby-Ebe...
Ant Has Given Up Sex Completely
The complete asexuality of a widespread fungus-gardening ant, the only ant species in the world known to have dispensed with males entirely, has been confirmed by a team of Texas and Brazilian researchers.
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.
Texas Researchers Tackle Influenza By Studying Human Behavior
AUSTIN, Texas — Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin will participate in a $3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fight influenza and other diseases by creating models that simulate the complex interplay between human behavior and the spread of disease. The grant is part of the Models of Infectiou...
Brain's Center for Perceiving 3-D Motion Is Identified
AUSTIN, Texas — Ducking a punch or a thrown spear calls for the power of the human brain to process 3-D motion, and to perceive an object (whether it's offensive or not) moving in three dimensions is critical to survival. It also leads to a lot of fun at 3-D movies. Neuroscientists have now pinpointed where and how the brain processes 3-D motion u...Read It Now
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.
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