Texas Science
LightNews LightNews
banner
texasscience.bsky.social
Texas Science
@texasscience.bsky.social
270 followers 120 following 88 posts
Official account for the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.
Posts Replies Media Videos
texasscience.bsky.social
Already among the most powerful artificial intelligence hubs in academia, the UT Center for Generative AI is keeping its foot on the gas. “It’s exciting to accelerate discovery and to create more opportunities for our researchers to push the boundaries of what’s possible.”
UT Doubles Size of One of World’s Most Powerful AI Computing Hubs
AUSTIN, Texas — The Center for Generative AI at The University of Texas at Austin, already among the most powerful artificial intelligence hubs in the
news.utexas.edu
November 10, 2025 at 8:45 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
Kudos to Vernita Gordon of UT Physics on winning a 2025 Regents Outstanding Teaching Award!

#TexasScience @utphysics.bsky.social

physics.utexas.edu/news/accolad...
Vernita Gordon Receives 2025 Regents Outstanding Teaching Award
Vernita Gordon Receives 2025 Regents Outstanding Teaching Award
physics.utexas.edu
November 7, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
press.aas.org
Giant Magellan Telescope: Taft Armandroff and Brian Schmidt Elected to Lead Giant Magellan Telescope Board of Directors giantmagellan.org/2025/11/04/t...
Taft Armandroff and Brian Schmidt Elected to Lead Giant Magellan Telescope Board of Directors
New leadership appointed to guide the next phase of construction as Dr. Walter Massey concludes nearly a decade of service as chair of the GMTO Corporation Board of Directors
giantmagellan.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
texas-ib.bsky.social
Meet new Stengl-Wyer Fellow: Tianyi Xu. Her research examines how reptile diversity responds to global change across space and time using tools from #paleobiology, #ecology, and evolutionary #biology. Blog here: tinyurl.com/eb85be2p #herpetology
Meet Steng-Wyer Fellow: Tianyi Xu
This article is about Stengl-Wyer Fellow Tianyi Xu
tinyurl.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
nsfsimonscosmicai.bsky.social
It’s official, our panel "Revolutionizing Astronomy with Next Generation Big Data" has been accepted to @sxsw.com 2026! Thank you to everyone who supported our work!
Panelists: Stella Offner, Paul Torrey, @stephajuneau.bsky.social, & @niall2.bsky.social
Learn more schedule.sxsw.com/events/PP116...
November 4, 2025 at 6:59 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
A new approach called “epimodulation” — developed by UT Austin researchers & collaborators — predicts epidemic peaks better than current models and could boost health care preparations in future outbreaks.

#Epidemiology #PublicHealth @texas-ib.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...
A New Tool for Healthcare Gives Better Outbreak Forecasts
Pinpointing an outbreak’s peak, the approach can boost health systems’ preparedness and risk communication.
cns.utexas.edu
October 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
#CysticFibrosis is hard to treat with gene therapy because it can be caused by many different combinations of mutations. A new gene editing tech from The University of Texas at Austin, using genetic elements borrowed from bacteria, might change that. Full story: cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...
New Gene-Editing Tech Holds Promise for Treating Complex Genetic Diseases
Advanced biotechnology repurposes two bacterial immune systems to correct large stretches of DNA.
cns.utexas.edu
October 23, 2025 at 5:52 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
UT Neuroscience Chair Robert Messing is 1 of 4 faculty to receive TRC4 grants for groundbreaking trauma research — for working on a way to treat chronic pain from nerve damage with a new, non-opioid medication strategy.

#TexasScience #TraumaResearch
research.utexas.edu/news/ut-facu...
UT Faculty Awarded TRC4 Grants to Advance Groundbreaking Trauma Research
The Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative (TRC4) has awarded grants to four UT researchers to dramatically improve the chances of survival from trauma and its after effects — in the b...
research.utexas.edu
October 22, 2025 at 7:02 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
New research from UT astronomers could change how we look at binary star formation.

#BinaryStars @taccutexas.bsky.social @utaustin.bsky.social @mcdonaldobs.bsky.social
oden.utexas.edu/news-and-eve...
Born Together: A New Look at Binary Stars
Two Oden faculty, postdoctoral fellow Aleksey Generozov and professor Stella Offner, published a gro...
oden.utexas.edu
October 21, 2025 at 3:51 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
UT mathematician Maggie Miller has been named a 2025 Packard Fellow for Science & Engineering! 🤘

Miller is a topologist who studies geometric properties in 3, 4 & 5 dimensions.

#PackardFellows #Topology #GeometricTopology @packardfdn.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...
Maggie Miller Receives 2025 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering
University of Texas at Austin mathematician and topological researcher Maggie Miller has won a 2025 Packard Fellowship.
cns.utexas.edu
October 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
lcidatut.bsky.social
Congratulations to LCID member Dr. Jason McLellan on receiving a 2025 MacArthur Fellowship for his groundbreaking work in structural biology and infectious disease interventions! cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...
Virus Slayer Awarded ‘Genius Grant’ by MacArthur Foundation
The award recognizes Jason McLellan’s work to investigate how viruses infect our cells and to develop new treatments for infectious disease.
cns.utexas.edu
October 16, 2025 at 4:13 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
Join us October 21 to watch an award-winning film about what distant moths may be whispering to us, and enjoy activities & a conversation with UT scientists—part of our series with the Long Center & Sandbox Films. #Moths #MothsMatter

Learn more, get PROMO code & buy tickets: txsci.net/nocturnes
Reel Science: Nocturnes at the Long Center
Hear from leading researchers and experts in this series that is a partnership with the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
txsci.net
October 9, 2025 at 9:20 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
UT Austin has a new “genius grant” recipient!

Texas Science professor Jason McLellan has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship — aka the “genius grant” — by The MacArthur Foundation.

#TexasScience @mclellanlab.bsky.social #MacArthurGenius @utaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...
Virus Slayer Awarded ‘Genius Grant’ by MacArthur Foundation
The award recognizes Jason McLellan’s work to investigate how viruses infect our cells and to develop new treatments for infectious disease.
cns.utexas.edu
October 8, 2025 at 6:25 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
The Mexican honey wasp is a bit of an oddball: it makes and eats honey like a bee, but when it’s hankering for protein, instead of pollen, it eats other insects. A new study finds its gut microbiome is more like bees than wasps. Funded by USDA and NSF. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Two Mexican honey wasps, which are bee-like insects with black bodies, yellow stripes on the lower abdomen and honey-colored wings. Photo credit: Alex Wild.
October 3, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
nsfsimonscosmicai.bsky.social
Exciting news! Introducing AstroVisBench: A Code Benchmark for Scientific Computing and Visualization in Astronomy!

A new benchmark developed by researchers at the NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins is testing how well LLMs implement scientific workflows in astronomy and visualize results.
September 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
Biologists at UT Austin found a bird that’s the natural result of a green jay & a blue jay’s mating — it may be among the first examples of a hybrid that exists because of recent changing patterns in the climate.
#TexasScience #GrueJay #BlueJay #GreenJay #ClimateChange
cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...
So What Should We Call This – a Grue Jay?
The rare hybrid offspring of a blue jay and a green jay is likely a result of weather-related shifts in the range of two species.
cns.utexas.edu
September 22, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
texas-ib.bsky.social
The Texas Science & History Museum is having free admission from 1 to 5 pm on Sunday, Sept. 21 during Austin Museum Day! Don't miss this great chance to see all the amazing things this museum has been up to! sciencemuseum.utexas.edu?gad_source=1...
Texas Science & Natural History Museum
Explore Texas’ unique natural history at Texas Science & Natural History Museum at The University of Texas at Austin.
sciencemuseum.utexas.edu
September 15, 2025 at 4:25 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
🚨 Stephen Hawking was right: when two black holes collide, the resulting black hole has a bigger surface area than the originals. Amazing finding on the 10th anniversary of gravitational wave astronomy!
Stephen Hawking Was Right: Black Holes Always Grow in Area
Researchers celebrate 10th anniversary of gravitational wave discovery, announce verification of a Hawking theorem.
cns.utexas.edu
September 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
To kill bacteria, antibodies usually need helpers, but a new method yields antibodies that can kill bacteria directly by busting up their outer membranes. Read more: lcid.utexas.edu/news/researc...
Two microscope images: one shows intact tube-shaped bacteria, the other shows a bacterium whose skin has burst, spilling its contents.
September 4, 2025 at 2:09 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
Peter Stone of @utcompsci.bsky.social & @texasrobotics.bsky.social was part of a panel asking an intriguing question:
cra-hq.bsky.social Computing Research Association (CRA) @cra-hq.bsky.social · Aug 29
🤔 Should artificial intelligence (AI) be taught as a specialization within computer science, or offered as a standalone degree?

Get the full recap of the CS vs. AI smackdown from the 2025 CRA Summit: cra.org/crn/2025/08/...

#CRASummit #AIEducation #CS #AI
September 2, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
texas-ib.bsky.social
Introducing the 2025 Stengl-Wyer Scholars, Fellows, and Grant Awardees! Another talented group we are excited to have! Learn about their fascinating research in our first blog posting of the fall semester. biodiversity.utexas.edu/news/feature...
August 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
Congrats to Stella Offner on earning a Cottrell Scholar Singular Exceptional Endeavors of Discovery (SEED) Award for 2025!

#CottrellScholars #TexasScience @utaustin.bsky.social @texasastronomy.bsky.social @mcdonaldobs.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
Kudos to Edoardo Baldini, William Gilpin & Daehyeok Kim on earning Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Awards from the National Science Foundation!

#NSF #CAREERAwards #EarlyCareerDevelopment #TexasScience @wgilpin.bsky.social @utphysics.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...
Three College of Natural Sciences Faculty Win NSF CAREER Awards
3 UT faculty in computer science and physics won an NSF award recognizing their potential to serve as academic role models.
cns.utexas.edu
August 21, 2025 at 4:46 PM
texasscience.bsky.social
“Everyday acts of support — whether organized or personal — can have lasting cognitive impact.”
— Sae Hwang Han, study lead & UT Austin asst. prof. of human development & family sciences

#HelpingOthers #CognitiveDecline #CognitiveAging #TexasScience @umassboston.bsky.social @utaustin.bsky.social
Helping Others Shown To Slow Cognitive Decline
Regular volunteering or helping others outside the home can reduce the rate of cognitive aging by 15-20%.
cns.utexas.edu
August 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
nsfsimonscosmicai.bsky.social
Vote to bring our panel “Revolutionizing Astronomy + AI with Next Generation Big Data” to SXSW! Register for a SXSW account & vote by clicking the heart ❤️ - open now til Aug 24!
participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sx... @stephajuneau.bsky.social @niall2.bsky.social
PanelPicker | SXSW Conference & Festivals
PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.
participate.sxsw.com
August 6, 2025 at 6:39 PM