Engineered wood grows stronger while trapping carbon dioxide
Rice University scientists have figured out a way to engineer wood to trap carbon dioxide through a potentially scalable, energy-efficient process that also makes the material stronger for use in construction.
Rice scientists reengineer cancer drugs to be more versatile
Rice University scientists enlist widely used cancer therapy systems to control gene expression in mammalian cells, a feat of synthetic biology that could change how diseases are treated.
Black girls benefit most when STEM teachers train up
When middle and high school teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics pursue continuing professional development, their students benefit, and a new study from Rice University shows the payoff can be dramatic.
Scientific AI’s ‘black box’ is no match for 200-year-old method
Rice engineers discovered a 200-year-old technique called Fourier analysis can reveal crucial information about how a form of artificial intelligence called a deep neural network learns to perform tasks involving complex physics.
Mosquito’s DNA could provide clues on gene expression, regulation
Rice University researchers discover that the Aedes aegypti mosquito’s DNA has the physical properties of a liquid crystal, a unique feature not found in any other species that could provide new clues on the factors that govern gene expression and regulation.
Bite this! Mosquito feeding chamber uses fake skin, real blood
Rice bioengineers teamed up with tropical medicine experts from Tulane to invent a high-tech way to study the feeding behavior of mosquitoes. To eliminate the need for live volunteers, the system uses patches of "synthetic skin" made with a 3D bioprinter.
Two Rice University professors elected AAAS fellows
Rice University professors Thomas Killian and Marek Kimmel are elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a distinction that honors scientists, engineers and innovators whose efforts on behalf of science and its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.
STAT’s Hopkins co-authors National Academies report. CAREER Awards keep coming. DOE funds NEWT desalination research.
Researchers can ‘see’ crystals perform their dance moves
Rice University researchers already knew the atoms in perovskites react favorably to light. Now they’ve seen precisely how the atoms move when the 2D materials are excited with light. Their study this week in Nature Physics details the first direct measurement of structural dynamics under light-induced excitation in 2D perovskites.
Rice scientists’ discovery could lead to new Alzheimer’s therapies
A new approach to the study of amyloid-beta, a peptide associated with Alzheimer’s disease, has led Rice University scientists to findings that could have a significant impact on the understanding and potential treatment of the disease.
Naomi Halas named University Professor
Rice University has promoted nanotechnology pioneer Naomi Halas to its highest academic rank, University Professor. Halas, a 33-year member of Rice’s faculty, becomes only the 10th person and second woman to earn the title in Rice’s 111-year history.
New enzyme could mean better drugs
Biomolecular engineers at Rice University identified a new enzyme that catalyzes the Nobel Prize-winning Diels-Alder reaction.
Rice’s Jamie Padgett wins Texas academy’s O’Donnell Award
Rice University structural engineer Jamie Padgett has received the 2023 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas.
Inner ear has a need for speed
Rice bioengineers and applied physicists, together with and colleagues at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago, have unlocked the mechanism of the fastest synapses in the human body. A previously hidden mechanism in the inner ear that helps mammals balance via the fastest-known signal in the brain, and researchers from Rice University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago have modeled a hidden mechanism in the inner ear that helps mammals balance via the fastest-known signal in the brain.
New fluorescent dye can light up the brain
Rice chemist Han Xiao and Stanford researcher Zhen Cheng have developed a tool for noninvasive brain imaging that can help illuminate hard-to-access structures and processes. Their small-molecule dye is the first of its kind that can cross the blood-brain barrier, allowing researchers to differentiate between healthy brain tissue and a glioblastoma tumor in mice.
