Elevate Research

Manganese for drug catalysis

Manganese makes its mark in drug synthesis

Rice University chemists find manganese far superior to silver and cerium as a way to make building blocks for drug design and manufacture.

Flash Joule heating

Corps of Engineers funds bid to ‘flash’ waste into useful materials

A $5.2 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grant will expand Rice efforts to recycle waste into valuable products through flash Joule heating.

Rice University engineers are developing a noninvasive skullcap to better understand how the brain disposes of metabolic waste while the wearer sleeps.

US Army backs ‘sleeping cap’ to help brains take out the trash

Rice engineers are developing a noninvasive device to understand how the brain disposes of metabolic waste during sleep.

A test subject's breath is captured for analysis by the Gesundheit II device at the University of Maryland. Photo by Todd Treangen

Mask up, and make ’em tight

A loose-fitting mask may be doing you no favors if you’re around SARS-CoV-2.

Coral symbionts and sex

Sex and the symbiont: Can algae hookups help corals survive?

Scientists have discovered that symbiotic single-celled algae that live inside of and feed corals can reproduce not only by mitosis, but also sexually. Encouraging sex in these algae can accelerate their evolution to produce strains better able to help reefs cope with climate change.

An illustration based on simulations by Rice University engineers shows a gadolinium ion (blue) in water (red and white), with inner-sphere water -- the water most affected by the gadolinium -- highlighted. The researchers’ models of gadolinium in water show there’s room for improvement in compounds used as contrast agents in clinical magnetic resonance imaging. (Credit: Illustration by Arjun Valiya Parambathu)

Modern simulations could improve MRIs

Rice University engineers improve simulations that analyze gadolinium-based contrast agents used in clinical magnetic resonance imaging. More efficient simulations could help make better compounds for imaging technologies.

An electron microscope image shows intact Escherichia coli bacteria at top and E. coli leaking chromosomes (green) after disruption by an antimicrobial peptide at bottom. New models by Rice University scientists have determined peptides that invade bacteria and do their damage from the inside are underrated. Source: Wikipedia

For some peptides, killing bacteria an inside job

Rice scientists study the dynamics of the immune system’s antimicrobial peptides, which attack and eliminate harmful bacteria. They find peptides that invade bacteria and do their damage from the inside are underrated.

An illustration shows how optical trapping could be used to investigate collective, force-generating properties in a complex of motor molecules. A National Science Foundation grant to Rice University to acquire an optical tweezer will advance researchers’ investigation of biological and inorganic molecules. (Credit: Diehl Lab/Rice University)

Tweezer grant pleases Rice researchers

Rice researchers have won an NSF grant to acquire a sophisticated optical tweezer microscope to manipulate, measure and monitor micron-scale particles.

The North Atlantic network of sites that preserve records of hurricanes stretches along the coast from Canada to Central America, but with significant gaps. A new study led by scientists at Rice University shows filling those gaps with data from the mid-Atlantic states will help improve the historical record of storms over the past several thousand years and could aid in predictions of future storms in a time of climate change. Illustration by Elizabeth Wallace

Nature’s archive reveals Atlantic tempests through time

Rice scientists uncover how natural archives can record Atlantic hurricane frequency over the past 1,000 years. SUMMARY: Rice University scientists uncover how natural archives can record Atlantic hurricane frequency over the past 1,000 years. More data is needed to help model how climate change will affect storms in the future.

Creative Ventures Fund

Rice announces new faculty funding opportunities

Rice's Office of Research launches three Creative Ventures Funds to seed faculty initiatives and guide them towards commercialization.

Rice University graduate student Lebing Chen used a high-temperature furnace to make chromium triiodide crystals

Rice physicists find 'magnon' origins in 2D magnet

Rice physicists have confirmed the topological origins of magnons, magnetic features they discovered three years ago in a 2D material that could prove useful for spintronics.

Rice University theorists have calculated flexoelectric effects in double-walled carbon nanotubes. The electrical potential (P) of atoms on either side of a graphene sheet (top) are identical, but not when the sheet is curved into a nanotube. Double-walled nanotubes (bottom) show unique effects as band gaps in inner and outer tubes are staggered. (Credit: Yakobson Research Group/Rice University)

Double-walled nanotubes have electro-optical advantages

Rice theorists find that flexoelectric effects in double-walled carbon nanotubes could be highly useful for photovoltaic applications.

Simulations by scientists at the Rice University-based Center for Theoretical Biological Physics suggest how the SARS-CoV-2 spike infects cells. The illustration shows how the spike reconfigures itself in microseconds as it goes from pre- to post-fusion with target cells. The researchers suggest their work to reveal the mechanism by which the virus spreads could lead to new strategies to defeat COVID-19.

Sim shows how COVID virus infects cells

A simulation shows the complicated mechanism by which the SARS-CoV-2 virus may infect cells, leading to COVID-19.

An illustration depicts the atomic structure of double-layer borophene. In this image, all atoms are boron, with the pink atoms specifically involved in bonding between the layers. Courtesy of Northwestern University

Bilayer borophene is a first

Scientists make bilayer borophene for the first time. The versatile 2D material shows promise for quantum electronics, energy storage and sensors.

Man wearing smart shirt

‘Smart’ shirt keeps tabs on the heart

Carbon nanotube thread woven into athletic shirts gathered electrocardiogram and heart rate data that matched standard monitors and beat chest-strap monitors. The fibers are flexible and the shirts are machine washable.