News Releases

Rice U. expert available to discuss Llama 2 launch

The new open-source large language model, Llama 2, launched by Facebook parent company, Meta, last Tuesday allows users to adapt and develop artificial intelligence tools ⎯ including for use in commercial products ⎯ but the move raises urgent questions about the risks and potential benefits to how information is produced and disseminated.

Device makes hydrogen from sunlight with record efficiency

Rice University engineers’ have created a device that turns sunlight into hydrogen with record-breaking efficiency by integrating next-generation halide perovskite semiconductors with electrocatalysts in a single, durable, cost-effective and scalable device.

Michael Wong named fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Rice University’s Michael Wong was named a fellow to the Royal Society of Chemistry, the oldest chemical society in the world, whose mission is to “advance excellence in the chemical sciences.”

Interracial relationships don’t always make people less racist

The landmark United States Supreme Court ruling in Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia abolished bans on interracial marriage in the United States in 1967, but a new academic paper from Rice University and Texas A&M University said an uptick in interracial relationships since then has not ended discriminatory tendencies, even among individuals who are in these romantic partnerships.

NIH grant backs Rice lab’s sickle cell disease research

Rice University bioengineer Gang Bao and his team have won a grant from the National Institutes of Health to address critical questions surrounding the safety and efficacy of using gene editing to treat sickle cell disease.

Rice study: Men vastly outnumber women in studying legislative politics

New research from Rice University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has found that significantly more men than women study the legislative process in the U.S. and abroad.

Rice engineers’ storage technology keeps nanosurfaces clean

Rice mechanical engineers improved on a 50-year-old idea to create container technology that keeps volatile organic compounds from accumulating on the surfaces of stored nanomaterials.

Rice chemist wins $3.2M National Cancer Institute grant

Rice University chemist Han Xiao has won a $3.2 million research project (R01) grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop the first tissue-specific epigenetic inhibitor drug to treat bone metastasis.

Cellular process that fuels plant growth yields surprising insights

A new study by Rice University bioscientists explains how structures inside plant cells collaborate to fuel germination. The findings could shed light on corresponding mechanisms in human cells.

Rice Business celebrates five years of the Online MBA

This month, the online MBA program at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business celebrates five years since matriculating its first cohort of students. The online MBA has become the fastest growing program at the business school since its launch in 2018.

Light-activated molecular machines get cells ‘talking’

Rice University scientists have used light-activated molecular machines to induce cell-to-cell calcium signaling, revealing a powerful new strategy for drug design. This technology could lead to improved treatments for people with heart problems, digestive issues and more.

Reporters broadcast live, on-the-scene, inside living cells

Synthetic biologists from Rice University and Princeton University have demonstrated “live reporter” technology that can reveal the workings of signaling networks in living cells with far greater precision than current methods. The first-of-its-kind reporting tool can show how quickly signaling networks respond and how responses vary from cell to cell in time and space.

Rice U. physicist to lead world’s longest-running nuclear collider experiment

Rice U. Frank Geurts has been named co-spokesperson of STAR, the world’s longest-running particle collider experiment.

Rice U. expert available to discuss social media giants’ rivalry and the launch of a new app by Meta

The launch of a new social media app by Facebook parent-company Meta yesterday has brought renewed attention to the social media landscape. Rice University Professor and computing expert Moshe Vardi is available to comment on the Meta-Twitter rivalry and its potential impact.

Rice U.’s Songtao Chen wins NSF CAREER Award

Songtao Chen, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University, has won a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award to advance the development of quantum networks by leveraging point defects in silicon.