Biologists discover new insect species at Rice University
Newly discovered insect Neuroterus valhalla is barely a millimeter long and spends 11 months of the year locked in a crypt. It’s legendary sounding name stems from where it was discovered: A tree outside Rice’s graduate student pub Valhalla.
Black and Hispanic communities bore disproportionate share of Texas’ early COVID-19 deaths
Texas state officials did not publish the race and ages of COVID-19 victims in early 2020, but a county-level statistical analysis spearheaded by Rice University undergraduates in collaboration with university faculty has found deaths statewide were disproportionately concentrated in Black and Hispanic communities.
Data from beneath the South Atlantic Ocean
Rice graduate student Kevin Gaastra is in the South Atlantic Ocean this week, working to process and inspect samples on the scientific drill ship JOIDES Resolution.
Rice physicist Pengcheng Dai wins superconductivity award
Rice University physicist Pengcheng Dai and two European physicists have won the 2022 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Prize, one of the leading awards for experimental research in superconductivity.
NSF funds Rice effort to measure, preserve quantum entanglement
Rice University physicist Guido Pagano has won a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study quantum entanglement and develop new error-correcting tools for quantum computation.
Lost birds and mammals spell doom for some plants
In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers have gauged how biodiversity loss of birds and mammals will impact plants’ chances of adapting to human-induced climate warming.
Earth isn’t ‘super’ because the sun had rings before planets
Before the solar system had planets, the sun had rings — bands of dust and gas similar to Saturn’s rings — that likely played a role in Earth’s formation, according to a new study.
A-list candidate for fault-free quantum computing delivers surprise
Superconducting uranium ditelluride is a promising material in the race to create fault-tolerant quantum computers, but physicists are rethinking how superconductivity arises in the material in light of puzzling new experimental evidence in this week’s issue of Nature.
Air bubbles in Antarctic ice point to cause of oxygen decline
An unknown culprit has been removing oxygen from our atmosphere for at least 800,000 years, and an analysis of air bubbles preserved in Antarctic ice for up to 1.5 million years has revealed the likely suspect.
Swirling bacteria mimic Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’
Scientists discovered a way to transform millions of predatory bacteria into swirling flash mobs reminiscent of painter Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” as the unexpected result of experiments on a genetic circuit the creatures use to discern friend from foe.
NEST360 wins 2021 Innovating for Impact Partnership Award
NEST360, an international alliance with roots at Rice University’s Rice 360º Institute for Global Health, has won the Global Health Technologies Coalition 2021 Innovating for Impact Partnership Award for its efforts to end preventable newborn deaths in African hospitals.
Orbital harmony limits late arrival of water on TRAPPIST-1 planets
Seven Earth-sized planets orbit the star TRAPPIST-1 in near-perfect harmony, and U.S. and European researchers have used that harmony to determine how much physical abuse the planets could have withstood in their infancy.
Big data privacy for machine learning just got 100 times cheaper
Rice University computer scientists have discovered an inexpensive way for tech companies to implement a rigorous form of personal data privacy when using or sharing large databases for machine learning.
Robotics expert Marcia O’Malley, associate dean for research and innovation in Rice’s Brown School of Engineering, co-authored a retrospective in this week’s Science Robotics about the past decade's advances in medical robotics.
Rice professor, grad student strike $45 million deal for startup
A startup biotech company founded by a Rice professor and a graduate student in 2018 has been acquired in a deal that could be worth as much as $400 million.
