Former piece of Pacific Ocean floor imaged deep beneath China
November 16, 2020
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.
US wealth, income inequality has declined, Baker Institute expert finds
October 28, 2020
HOUSTON – (Oct. 28, 2020) – Analysis of Federal Reserve survey data shows U.S. wealth inequality has declined for the first time in nearly 30 years, while income inequality has seen its largest decline in three decades, according to a new working paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
At our cores, we’re all strengthened by ‘dumbbells’
October 21, 2020
Scientists at Rice’s Center for Theoretical Biological Physics detail the structure of dumbbell-like sequences in DNA during interphase that suggest several unseen aspects of chromosome configuration and function.
A trillion turns of light nets terahertz polarized bytes
October 19, 2020
Nanophotonics researchers at Rice University, the Polytechnic University of Milan and the Italian Institute of Technology have demonstrated a novel technique for modulating light at terahertz frequencies with plasmonic metasurfaces.
NSF renews Rice-based NEWT Center for water treatment
October 15, 2020
The National Science Foundation renews the Rice-based Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center for five years. The Engineering Research Center is dedicated to enabling access to clean water around the world.
Study: Darwin's theory about coral reef atolls is fatally flawed
October 12, 2020
Rice marine geologist and oceanographer André Droxler knows Charles Darwin's theory about atoll formation is incorrect, and Droxler and former Rice postdoc Stéphan Jorry are hoping to set the record straight with a comprehensive new paper about the subject.
There’s a reason bacteria stay in shape
October 6, 2020
A primal mechanism in bacteria that keeps them in their personal Goldilocks zones -- that is, just right -- appears to depend on two random means of regulation, growth and division, that cancel each other out. The same mechanism may give researchers a new perspective on disease, including cancer.
Earth grows fine gems in minutes
October 6, 2020
Aquamarine, emerald, garnet, zircon and topaz are but a few of the crystalline minerals found mostly in pegmatites, veinlike formations that commonly contain both large crystals and hard-to-find elements like tantalum and niobium. Another common find is lithium, a vital component of electric car batteries.