Critters
April 15, 2021
A DNA Zoo Maps the Mysteries of All Creatures Great and Small
Scientists at a Baylor College of Medicine lab in Houston are sequencing the genomes of the world’s animals, one strand at a time.
Science
Reporting and analysis about scientific research and innovation in Texas
Health
April 9, 2021
This COVID-19 Vaccine Plant Shows Texas Is Becoming Biotech’s Third Coast
With the pandemic spurring officials to keep more high-tech drug manufacturing on U.S. soil, the state stands to benefit.
Critters
March 10, 2021
Do Thousands of Bat Deaths Mean Texans Will Face a Mosquito-Ridden Summer?
Last month’s winter storm decimated the state’s populations of the winged mammals, which may have lasting ecological effects.
Health
February 15, 2021
Has a UT Professor Found a Way to Stop COVID-19 Vaccines From Spoiling?
The pharmaceutical industry may not be ready for a coronavirus medicine you can chew like fruit leather.
Health
February 10, 2021
Sepsis Kills Millions Each Year. This UT-Dallas Device Aims to Stop That.
Graduate student Ambalika Tanak’s biomedical sensor carries the promise of helping doctors fight a silent killer.
Health
January 22, 2021
A New Microscope Developed at Rice Could Revolutionize Cancer Surgeries
Enhanced by deep-learning artificial intelligence, the device promises to aid in the removal of tumors.
Health
December 18, 2020
Why Alzheimer’s Sufferers Seem Lost in Time and Place
New neuroscience research at UT Southwestern in Dallas unlocks mysteries of how our memories work.
News & Politics
December 15, 2020
When SpaceX Rockets Take Flight (Or Blow Up), LabPadre Is Watching
South Padre Island resident Louis Balderas’s around-the-clock monitoring of the Elon Musk company has attracted a worldwide following of space enthusiasts.
Health
December 14, 2020
The Families of Children With Unexplained Disabilities Are Finally Getting Answers
In Houston, genetic testing innovations are helping doctors solve decades-old mysteries.
Travel & Outdoors
December 8, 2020
Jupiter and Saturn Will Soon Align in a Rare Astronomical Marvel, and You Can Start Watching Now
With help from the McDonald Observatory in West Texas, we share seven beginner stargazing tips.
Health
December 2, 2020
How a Llama and a University of Texas Lab Led to the Most Promising COVID-19 Treatment Yet
Researchers Daniel Wrapp and Jason McLellan owe a scientific honor they won this week to a Belgian camelid named Winter.
News & Politics
October 23, 2020
What Is NASA Going to Announce About the Moon?
Ghosts? Aliens? Cheese? A 4G cell tower? We list the possibilities.
News & Politics
July 9, 2020
Texas Scientists Discover That a Dinosaur Made Famous by ‘Jurassic Park’ Was Even More Formidable Than They Thought
Working together with the Navajo Nation—the first discoverers of dilophosaurus—UT paleontologists are revising our understanding of the “best-known worst-known” dinosaur.
Health
June 3, 2020
A New Texas COVID-19 Tracker Offers a Ton of Useful Information
The Texas 2036 project organizes information from the state, Google, and the media to provide a clear picture of the state of the pandemic in Texas.
The National Podcast of Texas
April 15, 2020
Dr. Peter J. Hotez on Why a COVID-19 Vaccine Might Not Be Enough
On a special edition of the National Podcast of Texas, the pioneering vaccine scientist on why he believes banking on miracle cures and treatments is mortally dangerous.
The National Podcast of Texas
March 9, 2020
Geneticist Spencer Wells on COVID-19 as “Evolution in Action”
The population geneticist and UT-Austin professor on pandemics, SXSW, and what our DNA says about our ability to adapt to infectious diseases.
The National Podcast of Texas
February 11, 2020
Kate Murphy on the Lost Art of Listening
On the National Podcast of Texas, the author of 'You’re Not Listening' argues that by tuning each other out, we’re only hurting ourselves.
News & Politics
January 22, 2020
Texas A&M Slaps Back at Harvard Critics of Its Beef-Industry-Backed Research
Chancellor John Sharp pens a strongly worded defense of the integrity of his university’s work.
Health
January 22, 2020
Does the World Need Doctors With Engineering Degrees?
Texas A&M wants to transform medicine by training a generation of innovation-minded physicians.
News & Politics
November 20, 2019
Can Bee Stings Treat Lyme Disease?
Treatments for chronic Lyme disease are controversial and expensive. As a last resort, some patients are pursuing this unproven and painful alternative.
Health
November 6, 2019
How Unproven Stem Cell Therapies Are Costing Desperate Patients
Many researchers believe in the potential of stem cells to treat a host of diseases. But for some patients, lack of oversight of the multibillion-dollar industry has had disastrous consequences.
Health
July 23, 2019
UT Southwestern’s Cutting-Edge Battle Against Rare, Fatal Childhood Diseases
With a new gene therapy center almost completed, the medical center is providing hope for families who previously had little.
News & Politics
June 25, 2019
From the Archives: Can a New Generation of Texans Revive the Dream of Space Exploration?
With NASA’s ambitions trimmed, private space companies come to Texas, dreaming of Mars.
News & Politics
June 25, 2019
Moon Rocks, Megabytes and Fruit Flies: Space, By the Numbers
A numerical gathering of space data.
News & Politics
June 25, 2019
A Time Line of Space Exploration
Two and a half millennia of innovation, from Archytas’s wooden pigeon to Neil Armstrong’s giant leap to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Moon.
News & Politics
June 25, 2019
She Couldn’t Go to Space Because She Was a Woman. But She Hasn’t Given Up on Her Dream.
Nearly sixty years ago, Funk and twelve other women proved that they could be astronauts too. But they never got to walk on the moon.
News & Politics
June 25, 2019
Why Does Presidio Have One of the Best High School Rocketry Clubs in the Country?
The West Texas border town of Presidio is one of the poorest places in the state. So why does it have one of the best high school rocketry clubs in the country?
Health
May 16, 2019
Austin, Fort Worth, and Houston Are at Risk of a Measles Outbreak—Thanks to Anti-Vaxxers
The ”don’t trust the government” right and the ”don’t trust the government” left overlap when it comes to vaccines.
Best Thing in Texas
February 21, 2019
The Best Thing in Texas: A Message in a Bottle Washed Up on Padre Island—57 Years Later
The missive was part of a 1962 study that attempted to track the flow of ocean currents.
January 14, 2019
Sahana Srinivasan: “There Are So Many Talented People Who Look Like Me That Need to Be Heard”
The 22-year-old star of the Netflix science program ’Brainchild,’ also a UT senior, on representation, science, and life as a young role model.
The National Podcast of Texas
December 10, 2018
Dr. Peter J. Hotez: “A Scary Anti-Science Movement Has Become Very Strong in Texas”
On our latest podcast, the co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development offers a warning about the rise of the anti-vaccine movement and Texas’s risk of a measles outbreak.
The National Podcast of Texas
October 16, 2018
Dr. Livia S. Eberlin: “I Always Thought the Word ‘Genius’ Sounded Funny. How Can You Really Define What’s Genius?”
On our latest podcast, a conversation about chemistry and cancer with the UT-Austin assistant professor recently honored with a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
News & Politics
October 3, 2018
Jim Allison Can’t Believe He Actually Won the Nobel Prize
It’s the greatest honor the Houston-based cancer immunologist can imagine—even more than playing onstage with Willie Nelson.
Health
July 27, 2018
The High-Stakes Race to Create the World’s First Artificial Heart
In this exclusive excerpt from 'Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart,' world-renowned Houston surgeon Bud Frazier races to help an ailing patient by implanting a revolutionary device that may one day save millions of lives.
The Culture
July 17, 2018
Why Dust From the Sahara Is Covering the Texas Sky
The Saharan dust brings us hotter days, hazy skies, and nicer sunsets.
Film & TV
May 4, 2018
Watch a Clip From ‘The Iron Orchard’ Before Its Premiere
The film debuts at the Dallas International Film Festival this weekend.
Art
April 12, 2018
Timothy Morton Is Houston’s Own Catastrophe Guru
Morton, renowned eco-philosopher and co-curator of a new art exhibit at Ballroom Marfa, sees global warming as a new beginning, not an end.
Business
January 23, 2018
15 Innovators Reshaping Texas
Today’s wildcatters find rich veins of opportunity in everything from tortillas to interplanetary travel. Meet the dreamers and risk-takers shaping our future.
January 23, 2018
The Astronaut Who Might Actually Get Us to Mars
As an eighteen-year-old immigrant to the U.S., Franklin Chang Díaz dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Now, decades after tying the record for most spaceflights, he might be the best bet to get us to Mars.
Texas History
January 23, 2018
A Brief History of Texas Innovators
Ours is a land of resourceful, imaginative, inventive, and self-reliant people. It has always been this way.
Energy
November 30, 2017
A New Study Offers Further Proof That North Texas Earthquakes Are Drilling- and Fracking-Related
The fault lines had been inactive for 300 million years before fracking started.
News & Politics
November 22, 2017
Peter Hotez vs. Measles and the Anti-Vaccination Movement
Texas is at risk of a measles outbreak, yet few have blamed the state’s anti-vaccine movement. Enter Peter Hotez, an affable scientist who decided he’d had enough.
Energy
November 20, 2017
Houston Museum of Natural Science Opens High-Tech New Energy Hall
One of the museum’s most popular attractions is back and bigger than ever.
The Daily Post
November 15, 2017
Storms as Severe as Harvey Will Become Much More Likely, According to Study
By the end of the 21st century, a 100-year storm like Harvey could become a five-and-a-half-year storm in Texas.
Energy
October 23, 2017
UT Geologists Extract Potential Natural Gas Source From the Ocean Floor
Methane hydrate, the compound recovered by the scientists, could provide power to future generations.
Politics & Policy
September 28, 2017
Did Houston Authorities Hide Harvey Predictions From the Public?
Houston politicians may have lied to the city's residents about the ferocity of the storm. If they did lie, they did the right thing.
September 21, 2017
Why Hurricane Harvey Will Happen Again
Don’t blame Samuel Brody, the professor who’s been warning for years that Houston was at risk for a Harvey-style flood, if he’s feeling a tinge of vindication. Now, will anyone listen to his suggestions for what to do next?
Health
September 4, 2017
Houston Braces for a Mosquito Swarm
Are mosquito-borne illnesses Hurricane Harvey's next threat?
The Daily Post
August 30, 2017
Hurricane Harvey By the Numbers
Eight million Texans—almost the population of New York City—live in areas affected by the storm.
Sports
August 23, 2017
Munro Cullum’s Concussion Count
A chat with the Dallas doctor in charge of the country’s most ambitious study of traumatic brain injuries among student athletes.