Texas Science

UT scientist Misha Matz talked with KXAN News about a radical strategy to help save our coral reefs — which help protect against damage from tsunamis & hurricanes.

#CoralReef #CoralReefRestoration @heatshok.bsky.social @utaustin.bsky.social @texas-ib.bsky.social @kxan.com

UT Expands Research on AI Accuracy and Reliability to Support Breakthroughs in Science, Technology and the Workforce AUSTIN, Texas — A National Science Foundation artificial intelligence institute based at The University of Texas at Austin will receive continued funding

A foundation of knowledge about AI has never mattered more. With the U.S. NSF, we are doubling down on research and initiatives to help meet demand for a highly skilled AI workforce.

New AI Tool Accelerates mRNA-Based Treatments for Viruses, Cancers, Genetic Disorders UT Austin and Sanofi partner to build tool that predicts translation efficiency of mRNA sequences.

🧬 A new AI tool from @utaustin.bsky.social & Sanofi could speed the development of mRNA-based therapies for viruses, cancers and genetic disorders. RiboNN predicts which mRNA sequences will be most efficiently translated into proteins. cns.utexas.edu/news/researc... @taccutexas.bsky.social

Three Recent Texas Science Graduates Receive Fulbright U.S. Student Awards Three UT Austin alumni received Fulbright U.S Student Awards for 2025-26.

Congrats to our #TexasScience grads Allie Murphy, Thomas Wynn & Miriam Yampuler on earning Fulbright U.S. Student Awards!

Learn how they’re using those awards in the link below.

#Fulbright @utaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...

Neha Donthineni. A student with long, dark, curly hair wears a black top with white pants. She is wearing a Longhorn pendant on a gold chain and standing in front of a backdrop that is half white (left) and half burnt orange (right). Photo Credit: Matt Wright-Steel

Niels Levy-Thiebaut. A student with short dark hair is wearing a white t-shirt and light khaki pants. He is wearing a silver analog watch and standing in front of a white background. Photo Credit: Matt Wright-Steel

Franchesca Untalan. A student with long, straight black hair is wearing white shorts with a brown belt, a taupe top with matching high-heeled shoes and a white formal jacket with the sleeves rolled up slightly. She is wearing a small pendant on a gold chain and standing in front of a backdrop that is half white (left) and half burnt orange (right) and on top of a black drop cloth with her left hand on her hip. Photo Credit: Matt Wright-Steel

Meet Neha Donthineni, Niels Levy-Thiebaut & Franchesca Untalan, three Texas Science students who won 2025 President’s Leadership Awards!

Learn why at txsci.net/StarStudents.

Bonus: Niels Levy-Thiebaut was also featured in our Texas Scientist magazine! Read his Q&A at txsci.net/Niels.

This functional knee joint, with flexible ligaments & rigid bones, was 3D-printed via a precise new method seamlessly merging soft & hard properties into a single object by using different colors of light.

Learn more at txsci.net/3DBreakthrough

#TexasScience #UTAustin #3DPrinting

Check out our latest issue of the Texas Scientist magazine!

Learn about futuristic fuels, AI in STEM education & healthcare and much more.

Read it now at txsci.net/TexasScientist — or grab a print copy at UT’s Texas Science & Natural History Museum on campus.

#TexasScience #TheTexasScientist

New DNA Evidence Reveals Origins of Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian Languages The study identifies an ancestral population in Central Siberia linked to the origin of Uralic languages.

An international team of geneticists & archaeologists — including UT’s Vagheesh Narasimhan — used #AncientDNA to reconstruct the prehistoric origins of two major Eurasian language families: Uralic and Yeniseian.

#TexasScience #Archaeogenetics @utaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...

How Austin officials are helping to stop measles outbreak with data The University of Texas and Austin Public Health created a measles simulator for school districts and private schools around the county to better …

A measles outbreak simulator developed at The University of Texas at Austin is helping protect communities across the U.S. by modeling how infections might spread, especially through schools. www.statesman.com/story/news/h... #epiEngage @taccutexas.bsky.social ‪@utaustin.bsky.social

A grid of 20 petri dishes showcasing diverse bacterial colonies in varying colors and growth patterns, on a neutral gray background.

A set of weapons bacteria use to fight each other, called microcins, are much more widespread and diverse than previously thought. They might inspire new ways to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria. Learn more in Nature Communications: rdcu.be/eumkH

COSMOS-Web has released the data and images from over 250 hours of observations from NASA’s Webb Space Telescope — including work by UT Austin astronomers — to the public for their use.
@mcdonaldobs.bsky.social @utaustin.bsky.social
mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/release...

Cosmic Detectives BATTLE OF THE BIG BANG: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins. Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper. 360 pp. University of Chicago Press, 2025. $32.50.

New, from me in American Scientists: a mind-expanding new book by Afshordi & Halper asks one of the biggest questions out there: did the Universe have a beginning? 🧪☄️

Andy Ellington of @utaustin.bsky.social was a project participant in this new release, which also features research from the lab of UT marine scientist Brett Baker @archaeal.bsky.social

Idea of Coral Reefs as Oases in Marine Deserts May Be Mistaken New research from Simon Brandl at The University of Texas at Austin challenges a long-held belief about coral reefs.

New research challenges the long-held belief that coral reefs are “oases” in marine deserts. While among the world’s most productive ecosystems, their existence in nutrient-deprived oceans is the exception rather than the rule. @gobyone.bsky.social @utmsi.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...

Deep Microbial Life Beneath Lavey-les-Bains Reveals Surprising Resilience - Marine Science Institute. The University of Texas at Austin. Beneath the warm, mineral-rich waters of Switzerland’s renowned Lavey-les-Bains Thermal Spa, the microbial world reveals surprising stability in the face of seasonal change. A new study published in…

Ancient microbes thrive beneath a Swiss spa—unchanged by the seasons.

New research with Dr. Mark Lever reveals deep underground life stays stable, even as Alpine waters shift above.

utmsi.utexas.edu/deep-microbi...

📸 Lavey-les-Bains

As part of the Simons Foundation’s Open Interval award, @susanscafati.bsky.social describes her collaboration with Stella Offner & Bobby Garza of @longcenter.bsky.social as “mining light, matter, and meaning.” This collaboration is supported by the Simons Foundation @simonsfoundation.org

CosmicAI Director Stella Offner, artist @susanscafati.bsky.social, & Bobby Garza of the @longcenter.bsky.social, are recipients of the Simons Foundation’s Open Interval award, supporting interdisciplinary exploration across art and science! This collaboration is supported by @simonsfoundation.org

Dr Mavridou, Assistant Professor of Molecular Biosciences, at the University of Texas Austin joins the quality quorum (in person!) @markowenmartin.bsky.social @texasscience.bsky.social

YouTube video by MicrobeTV Matters Microbial #93: Preventing Antibiotic Resistance

Episode 93 was recorded at the UT Austin! Dr. Despoina Mavridou, joins the #qualityquorum to talk about how her team is improving antibiotic effectiveness by disrupting protein folding—and why that matters in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
@markowenmartin.bsky.social

2025 Breakthrough Prize Recognizes Collaboration Involving UT Physicists Two UT Austin physicists were part of a collaboration that won the Breakthrough Prize for work at the Large Hadron Collider.

UT physicists Peter Onyisi & Tim Andeen are two of the scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) who shared the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
@cern.bsky.social @utphysics.bsky.social @peteronyisi.bsky.social @utaustin.bsky.social #LHC
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...

Four scientists struggle to push down a coring device through underwater sediment, while standing in waist-high water in a seagrass meadow along the Texas coast.

There’s got to be an easier way to figure out how much carbon is stored by seagrass!

Scientists have found "one weird trick" that involves listening to tiny bubbles. Hear our latest Point of Discovery podcast: cns.utexas.edu/news/podcast...

@utaustin.bsky.social l‬ @cockrellschool.bsky.social

With Evolutionary AI, Scientists Find Hidden Keys for Better Land Use Researchers say the AI system can lead to better decision-making around a wide range of complex policy choices.

Can AI help us do a better job balancing the economy, environment and human wellbeing? Researchers at @utaustin.bsky.social are developing decision making tools to do just that. cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...

University of Texas-led Team Solves a Big Problem for Fusion Energy Their method to speed up the design of “magnetic bottles” offers an answer to a complex 70-year-old challenge.

⚛️ Fusion energy breakthrough: Physicists solved a 70-year-old problem, speeding up the design of “magnetic bottles” that are a key part of fusion reactors called stellarators. cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...

@utaustin.bsky.social @type-one.energy

Two women wearing graduation garb smile and huddle together. The woman on the left is Black and wearing a First-Gen Student stole. The woman on the right is LatinX and is wearing a LatinX Grad stole and holding up her left hand in the Hook’Em Horns sign.

A bearded man wearing a Texas Mascot stole cheers as he holds his right hand above his hand with the Hook’Em Horns sign. Behind him, to his right is the mascot Hook’Em with both hands raised. Behind both of them to their right are several people seated in graduation garb cheering and smiling. A video screen is just visible above the seated people and reads “Alexander Wiedenhoefer” and shows the first man from a different angle.

A middle-aged LatinX man smiles and looks at the woman he is hugging with his left arm. The young woman smiles and looks back at him. She is carrying two bouquets of flowers and a burnt orange teddy bear that is wearing a graduation cap.

Four graduates stand shoulder to shoulder smiling. On the left is an Asian-American woman, to her left is an Asian-American man, to his left is a LatinX woman’s and to her left is a Black man wearing a First-Gen Grad stole.

Commencement 2025 is in the books, & we couldn’t be prouder of our Texas Science graduates!

These world-changers, trailblazers, discovery-makers & innovators made a difference on the Forty Acres. And they’re all set for what comes next: making a difference in our wider world.

#CNSGrad25 #UTGrad25

College of Natural Sciences - Student Success Fund Join me and make a gift to 40 Hours for The Forty Acres

There’s still time to double your impact as we match donations to our CNS Student Success Fund dollar for dollar until 10 p.m. during 40 for Forty: txsci.net/CNSStudentSuccess

#StudentSuccess #40forForty

College of Natural Sciences - Student Success Fund Join me and make a gift to 40 Hours for The Forty Acres

Our grads do amazing internships, volunteer projects, summer research & leadership activities. To connect more Texas Science students with experiences like these, give via 40 for Forty right now. You can double your impact, as we match donations dollar for dollar May 7-8: txsci.net/CNSStudentSuccess

Celebrating the 2025 College of Natural Sciences Dean’s Honored Graduates Dean’s Honored Graduates for the class of 2025 in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin

Meet the Dean’s Honored Graduates of 2025!⁠

The DHG Award recognizes individuals that have demonstrated excellence in research, academics & improving the community.

#CNSGrad25 #UTGrad25 #UT25 #TexasScience #UTAustin #STEMExcellence
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...

Insider Insights: Meet Double-Majoring Student Shriya Bengre At UT Austin, Shriya Bengre studies both psychology and textiles and apparel.

Meet Shriya Bengre, a junior whose double-major in psychology and textiles & apparel at UT Austin have helped her explore interdisciplinary interests by weaving together a passion for art & psychology.

#CNSInsiderInsights @utaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/feature...

Nearly Half of Latin American Frogs and Toads Are at Risk New research from Kelly Zamudio at The University of Texas at Austin and an international team finds climate change threatens hundreds of amphibian species.

A new study by researchers from Brazil, Germany & UT Austin shows that nearly half of frog & toad species in Latin America may lose their habitat range by 2050.
#ClimateChange #NeotropicalFrogs #ConservationBiology @utaustin.bsky.social @kzutaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...

ICYMI - nice paper with a new perspective on the "obstetrical dilemma" from @utaustin.bsky.social's Vagheesh Narasimham.