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Texas Science
@texasscience.bsky.social
Official account for the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.
UT biologists have devised a 1-2 punch that could curb populations of invasive tawny crazy ants — which are wreaking havoc across the U.S. Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas — using a natural pathogen & a little elbow grease.
#InvasiveSpecies @texas-ib.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/researc...
Destroying Crazy Ant Nest Structure Makes Them Vulnerable to Pathogens
Research initiated at a UT field station keeps progressing, in good news for the war on this invasive species.
cns.utexas.edu
November 21, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
November 21, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Kudos to Dr. Norma Fowler on her well-deserved award!
Congrats to Dr. Norma Fowler, winner of the Excellence in Restoration Research Award! Her team’s work on how deer, cattle, fire & thinning shape Central Texas savannas has guided best practices in such things as fire use, deer management, invasive-grass control, and more. chapter.ser.org/texas/
November 17, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Join us for “How Deep is Your Love” on Nov. 20—with a special live stream from UT marine scientist Brett Baker & team on the R/V Falkor (too) as they search the deep seas for #AsgardArchaea!

@archaeal.bsky.social @schmidtocean.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social

cns.utexas.edu/events/publi...
Reel Science: How Deep is Your Love & Special Live Stream From Research Vessel Falkor
Hear from leading researchers and experts in this series that is a partnership with the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
cns.utexas.edu
November 14, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
Reposted by Texas Science
Reposted by Texas Science
Taking my little boat out tomorrow
November 12, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
The science team have boarded the Falkor (too)!

#AsgardArchaea
@schmidtocean.bsky.social
@moorefound.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 8:08 PM
The explosive death of a star at its earliest, fleeting stage has been revealed by the ESO & a group of astronomers — including UT’s J. Craig Wheeler.
#Spectropolarimetry #Supernova @texasastronomy.bsky.social

More: mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/release...

Artist interpretation video by @eso.org:
November 13, 2025 at 10:04 PM
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
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
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
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
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
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
#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
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
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
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
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
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
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/...
October 3, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Texas Science
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
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