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Two teams with College of Natural Sciences faculty members and students – and three additional teams with undergraduates from the college – were recently honored with the President’s Award for Global Learning, which aims to highlight innovative solutions to global problems and give interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students the opportunity to take those projects to international sites.

​A team of undergraduate researchers involved with the Department of Molecular Biosciences received awards in two categories at the 2019 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Jamboree, the largest showcase of synthetic biology innovations in the world.

Over the years, scientists have recorded same-sex sexual behavior in more than 1,500 animal species, from snow geese to common toads. And for just as long evolutionary biologists studying these behaviors have grappled with what has come to be known as a "Darwinian paradox": How can these behaviors be so persistent when they offer no opportunity to produce offspring?

If you wanted to deliver a package across the street and avoid being hit by a car, you could program a powerful computer to do it, equipped with sensors and hardware capable of running multiple differential equations to track the movement and speed of each car. But a young child would be capable of doing the same task with little effort, says Alex Demkov, professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin.

The American Mathematical Society has named Thomas Chen, chair of the Department of Mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin, as one of 52 Fellows of the AMS for 2020. The Fellows of the AMS designation recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication and utilization of mathematics.

​National STEM Day, celebrated on November 8, is a chance for everyone to show some love for science, technology, engineering and math. But why take only one day to celebrate when the world of STEM has fascinating offerings right here at The University of Texas at Austin all year round?

Advances in machine learning are announced every day, but efforts to fundamentally rethink the core algorithms of AI are rare.

Biofilms – tightly packed sticky blobs of many bacteria – are a huge problem in the medical world. Biofilms can form on joint replacements and medical equipment, they cause long-term infections in lungs and urinary tracts, and, according to Centers for Disease Control estimates, are responsible for 1.7 million infections in U.S. hospitals every year – and 99,000 deaths.

Texas Science alumni and friends were named among the winners of university alumni awards this year. Colonel (Ret.) Leon L. Holland, Alma Solis, and Michael Young will receive Distinguished Alumni Awards from the Texas Exes, the alumni association of the University of Texas at Austin.

GMTO Corporation, the organization managing the development of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) on behalf of its U.S. and international founders, has signed a contract with MT Mechatronics and Ingersoll Machine Tools to design, build and install the telescope's precision steel structure.