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From the College of Natural Sciences
Sarah Miller, Rhodes Scholar
Astronomy

Sarah Miller, Rhodes Scholar

Sarah Miller didn’t find out that she was going to be a Rhodes Scholar in the mail, or on the phone. She was standing shoulder to shoulder with the 20 or so other finalists in the Texas/Louisiana region, many of whom she’d gotten to know and like over the course of an intense weekend of interviews. “It was very reality-show style,” says Miller, an...sarah miller
Postcard: Hedy Edmonds at the Gakkel Ridge
Marine Science

Postcard: Hedy Edmonds at the Gakkel Ridge

My graduate student, Lucia Upchurch, and I are standing on the ice above the Gakkel Ridge, which spans deep below us at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. We are here as part of a multi-institution, 40-day expedition to explore the ridge and ocean floor with two robotic autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Our research vessel, an icebreaker named ...upchurch
Chemistry of Self-Repair
Chemistry

Chemistry of Self-Repair

In the first of these scanning electron microscope images, you see an arroyo-like crack running from top to bottom in one of Bielawski’s materials. The physical gap disrupts electrical conductivity from one side to the other because it is difficult for electrons to hop across. Heating the material causes the material to convert to a liquid state w...In the first of these scanning electron microscope images, you see an arroyo-like crack running from top to bottom in one of Bielawski’s materials. The physical gap disrupts electrical conductivity from one side to the other because it is difficult for electrons to hop across.
What the Future Holds
College & Campus

What the Future Holds

We asked faculty from the College of Natural Sciences a big question: "What development in your field is likely to have the greatest impact on the way that we live in the next few decades? How?" Here are their answers: --- J. Strother Moore The Admiral B. R. Inman Centennial EMERITUS Chair in Computing Theory  Department of Compute...
Genes of Attraction
Integrative Biology

Genes of Attraction

This array shows 306 genes in female swordtails turning on (red), turning off (green) or not changing (black). When females were with attractive males, many of their genes turned off (first column, green). The same genes were turned on when females were with other females (second column, red). The third and fourth columns show gene activity when fe...This array shows 306 genes in female swordtails turning on (red), turning off (green) or not changing (black). When females were with attractive males, many of their genes turned off (first column, green). The same genes were turned on when females were with other females (second column, red). The third and forth columns show gene activity when females were swimming with unattractive males or alone, respectively.
Supersonic Sharpshooter
Physics

Supersonic Sharpshooter

Mark Raizen and his research group can now stop over 85 percent of the atoms in the periodic table and many molecules. That means big-named, important elements can now be controlled, and in fact, Raizen has already proven it with molecular oxygen. “Our methods open up whole new avenues of research,” says Raizen, professor of physics. The tool he us...supersonic shooter
Doctors Grown Here
College & Campus

Doctors Grown Here

The college has inspired thousands of students to become doctors. The stories of the alumni who enter the health professions—as so many of our alumni do—can be as different from each other as the story of a Google programmer to a chemist at Pfizer. The medical degree is not the sum of who our doctor-alumni are, but as these three stories show, just...Dr. Everett Simmons
Network Fever
Molecular Biosciences

Network Fever

Edward Marcotte is using networks—like those that could be used to illustrate the connections among users of the Web sites MySpace and Facebook—to study life itself.

Genes Evolve to Minimize Protein Production Errors
Molecular Biosciences

Genes Evolve to Minimize Protein Production Errors

AUSTIN, Texas--Genetic evolution is strongly shaped by genes’ efforts to prevent or tolerate errors in the production of proteins, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University have found. Their study also suggests that the cost of errors in protein production may lie in the malformed proteins themselves, rather than in th...
Scientists Find New Clues to Explain Amazonian Biodiversity
Integrative Biology

Scientists Find New Clues to Explain Amazonian Biodiversity

AUSTIN, Texas--Ice age climate change and ancient flooding—but not barriers created by rivers—may have promoted the evolution of new insect species in the Amazon region of South America, a new study suggests. The Amazon basin is home to the richest diversity of life on earth, yet the reasons why this came to be are not well understood. A team of ...