News & Politics
April 22, 2022
Texas Beaches May Be Filthier Than We Realize
A&M researchers say more-robust testing is needed to understand just how much human feces ends up in Gulf waters.
Science
Reporting and analysis about scientific research and innovation in Texas
Health
April 21, 2022
How Okra Could Clean Up Our Drinking Water
Researchers at Tarleton State have found an all-natural way to prevent Texans from imbibing quite so many tiny plastic particles.
Critters
April 1, 2022
Apocalyptic, Acid-Spewing Crazy Ants Invaded Texas. Now Scientists Have a “Silver Bullet” to Obliterate Them.
Even nastier than fire ants, the insects disable electronics and swarm over people and animals. UT researchers have found a pathogen that destroys them.
Health
March 21, 2022
Your Pets Have Been Getting COVID-19 Too. Here’s Why That Matters.
A team of scientists at Texas A&M has been testing cats and dogs throughout the pandemic. The CDC is furry interested.
Texas History
March 15, 2022
The Forgotten Texas Scientist Who Helped Develop the Polio Vaccine
Northeast Texas–born Byron Bennett was one of four key researchers on the team that created the lifesaving vaccine, but the spotlight shone only on Jonas Salk.
Health
February 23, 2022
This $14,000 Air Filter Promises to “Kill” COVID. Is It Worth the Price?
Taxpayers have spent millions for purifiers promoted by former governor Rick Perry. Could they have gotten the same benefits for far less money?
Critters
February 22, 2022
How the Turtle Lady of South Padre Helped Save the Kemp’s Ridley
Ila Loetscher took costumed turtles on late-night TV and founded a nonprofit that has rescued thousands of the creatures.
Critters
January 27, 2022
The Spider Lady of East Texas Aims to Ease Your Black Widow Fears
Nacogdoches researcher Ashley Wahlberg, whose arachnid collection is nightmare fodder for many, says spiders help us more than they hurt us.
Critters
January 26, 2022
Why Scientists Keep Discovering Strange New Wasps on the Rice University Campus
The newest species is named after the grad student pub Valhalla, on whose grounds it was found.
Texas History
January 17, 2022
The Secrets of Bonfire Shelter
Archaeologists are uncovering new clues at a canyon where ancient Texans once hunted bison en masse.
Business
December 15, 2021
Can This UT Professor Clean Up Outer Space?
Moriba Jah, a self-proclaimed “space environmentalist,” has joined a new effort to map the millions of bits of discarded debris orbiting the Earth.
News & Politics
November 16, 2021
The Most Powerful Telescope Ever Made Will Launch Next Month. A Texas Astronomer Is Leading Its Biggest Project.
UT’s Caitlin Casey will use the Webb Telescope to peer nearly 14 billion years back in time.
True Crime
November 9, 2021
How Walker County Jane Doe Was Identified at Last
Since 1980, police and an army of amateur sleuths have puzzled over the East Texas cold case. New forensic DNA techniques have finally given a name to the teenage girl whose brutal murder has haunted so many for so long.
News & Politics
October 20, 2021
Can This Company Take Pet Cloning Mainstream?
You love your pet. You love her so much that if you could, you’d buy an exact copy of her. Well, you can! Take it from Blake Russell, president of ViaGen Pets & Equine—and owner of a very unusual horse farm.
Health
October 13, 2021
A Dallas Startup Aims to Build a Big Business—and Transform Lives—by Curing Rare Diseases
Taysha hopes to commercialize UT Southwestern’s groundbreaking gene therapies to benefit its shareholders—and desperately ill children.
Critters
October 1, 2021
Goodbye to a Ghost: East Texas’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker Is Now Officially Extinct
So is a little fish that swam along the San Marcos River.
Politics & Policy
October 1, 2021
Biden Pledged to “Follow the Science.” Now He’s Following These Three Texans.
The president has named academics from UT and A&M, as well an Austin CEO, to his science and technology advisory council.
Business
September 13, 2021
This Texan Aims to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth to Save the Planet
Ben Lamm’s latest company, Colossal, hopes to reverse climate change by reintroducing the long-extinct creature to the Arctic. What could go wrong?
Books
August 11, 2021
Are Some People Born Lucky? A UT Psychologist Argues Inequality’s Genetic Roots
Kathryn Paige Harden’s new book says social scientists must acknowledge how DNA shapes our lives. Critics call that dangerous.
Health
July 16, 2021
Can This Houston-Born COVID Vaccine Save the Developing World?
For low-income countries, the less-expensive, easier-to-make Corbevax could prove a godsend.
Health
June 22, 2021
Houston’s Luminare Crunches Medical Data to Save Lives
Houston-based Luminare’s software analyzes patient records to detect sepsis.
True Crime
June 14, 2021
Pecos Jane Has a Name
The young woman who mysteriously drowned in the Ropers Motel pool in 1966 might have remained anonymous forever, if not for cutting-edge genetics, old-fashioned genealogy—and the kindness of a small West Texas town.
Health
May 14, 2021
Turn On, Tune In, Feel Better: The Rise of Psychedelic Therapy in Texas
As clinics across the state offer ketamine therapy for depression, a bill would fund further studies on MDMA use and psilocybin for PTSD treatment of vets.
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.
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.
News & Politics
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?