Research

​​​​​​​Rice, Baylor to study how screen use affects young children

Rice engineers and Baylor College of Medicine researchers are studying how screen use affects young children.

Early planetary migration can explain missing planets

Computer simulations by Rice University scientists and their collaborators explain two puzzling observations of exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

Rice wins Moore Foundation grant for quantum vacuum research

Junichiro Kono’s lab will study how matter and quantum vacuums become entangled thanks to a new grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Why some Latino communities fear the COVID-19 vaccine, and what can be done to help

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some people in medically underserved Latino communities avoided getting vaccinated due to fears of side effects, mistrust of health officials and vaccine manufacturers and discrimination from health care workers, according to a new study from Rice University.

Bacterial sensors send a jolt of electricity when triggered

Rice researchers develop programmable bacteria that sense contaminants and release an electronic signal in real time.

Rice’s Eduardo Salas receives lifetime achievement award from Association for Psychological Science

Eduardo Salas , department chair and a professor of psychological sciences at Rice University, has received the coveted James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science in recognition of his outstanding career achievements.

Expanding immigration work permits recognizes essential jobs, says Baker Institute report

Expanding work permits for undocumented immigrants could fix the United States immigration system’s “large, overlooked and often invisible crack” that fails to account for essential workers, according to a new report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

New catalyst can turn smelly hydrogen sulfide into a cash cow

Rice engineers and scientists and collaborators have discovered an efficient, one-step process for converting hydrogen sulfide gas into clean-burning hydrogen fuel.

Biden appoints Rice's Ruth López Turley to National Board for Education Sciences

President Biden has appointed Ruth López Turley, director of Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research and professor of sociology, to the National Board for Education Sciences.

Even good gene edits can go bad

A Rice lab leads the effort to reveal threats to the efficacy of gene editing, even when it appears to be working.

Confirming election results possible with risk-limiting audits

Risk-limiting audits that effectively verify the results of an election are underutilized in the United States.

New study to examine effectiveness of antidepressants by analyzing brain MRIs

Antidepressants only have about a 30% rate of effectiveness, and it can take a month or longer for them to fully take effect in patients. In addition, patients often have to try several different drugs before finding one that works.

Rice lab advances water-splitting catalysts

Rice University engineers have developed a stable water-splitting catalyst for clean hydrogen generation that could potentially replace expensive iridium catalysts.

Engineers explore the source of dreams and thoughts

Rice neuroengineers created a 3D electrode array that can identify up to 1 million potential synapses in the brain.

New motorcycle lighting design could save lives

Motorcycle drivers are 27 times more likely to die in an accident than those in regular passenger vehicles. Night driving is especially dangerous, accounting for nearly half of all fatal crashes.