Natural Sciences

‘Soft’ nanoparticles give plasmons new potential

Bigger is not always better, but here’s something that starts small and gets better as it gets bigger.

Sheets of carbon nanotubes come in a rainbow of colors

Nanomaterials researchers in Finland, the United States and China have created a color atlas for 466 unique varieties of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Vitamin boosts essential synthetic chemistry

Inspired by light-sensing bacteria that thrive near hot oceanic vents, synthetic chemists use vitamin B12 to catalyze valuable hydrocarbons known as olefins, or alkenes, useful precursor molecules for the manufacture of drugs and agrochemicals.

Hidden structure found in essential metabolic machinery

Rice University biochemists have discovered membrane-divided subcompartments within organelles called peroxisomes, essential pieces of metabolic machinery for all higher order life from yeast to humans. The research appears this week in Nature Communications.

Rice physicist shares grant to advance imaging

The lab of physicist Junichiro Kono will share in a $1 million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to improve imaging of proteins, cells and tissues.

Chemists get peek at novel fluorescence

Rice chemists find a second level of fluorescence in single-walled carbon nanotubes. The phenomenon may be useful in solar energy and optoelectronic applications.

Rice scientist joins next Mars adventure

A Rice University geologist is one of 13 scientists recently selected to operate the Mars rover Perseverance and analyze samples for an eventual return to Earth.

Thomas Killian named dean of Wiess School of Natural Sciences

Rice University has named physicist Thomas Killian dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, effective Jan. 1.

Understanding frustration could lead to better drugs

Atom-scale models of proteins that incorporate ligands, like drug molecules, show a strong correlation between minimally frustrated binding sites and drug specificity. Such models could lead to better-designed drugs with fewer side effects.

Study: Early, late stages of degenerative diseases are distinct

Rice University biochemists have proposed that degenerative diseases as varied as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and muscle atrophy occur in two distinct phases marked by protein signaling changes that could result in patients responding differently to the same treatment.

Rice Space Institute, Canada agree to collaborate

Rice Space Institute and the Consulate General of Canada in Dallas agree to collaborate on science and technology related to the space industry.

Christmas week: Worlds will align for spectacular heavenly sight

Early in the evening of Dec. 21, people the world over will get a chance to see Jupiter and Saturn line up closer together in Earth's night sky than they have been since just before daybreak on the morning of March 4, 1226.

Rice names new round of IDEA winners

Six teams of Rice researchers have won backing from the InterDisciplinary Excellence Awards.

Former piece of Pacific Ocean floor imaged deep beneath China

In a study that gives new meaning to the term "rock bottom," seismic researchers have discovered the underside of a rocky slab of Earth's lithosphere that has been pulled more than 400 miles beneath northeastern China by the process of tectonic subduction.

Rice researchers top two categories in ‘Create the Future’ contest

Rice University was a double winner in the annual Create the Future Design Contest, an international competition in its 19th year.