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.
Rice Public Art transforms temporary classrooms into public art destinations
October 6, 2020
HOUSTON – (Oct. 6, 2020) – The tent-like structures serving as temporary classroom spaces at Rice University during the pandemic could have been left as they were built: tall, steel-framed, silvery-white facilities tucked behind a row of live oak trees near Hanszen College at the corner of College Way and Alumni Drive.
Gemini South's high-def version of 'A Star is Born'
October 5, 2020
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is still more than a year from launching, but the Gemini South telescope in Chile has provided astronomers from Rice University and Dublin City University a glimpse of what the orbiting observatory should deliver.
Musicians may need more than social distancing to stay safe on stage
October 5, 2020
Keeping musicians safe while they're on stage during the pandemic may require more than just social distancing, according to a study of exhaled aerosols conducted by Rice University engineers and musicians from Rice's Shepherd School of Music and the Houston Symphony.
Ocean water could melt precarious Antarctic glacier
September 28, 2020
Rice University researchers, alumni and staff are part of an international effort that has discovered a pathway for warm ocean water to melt the underside of Thwaites Glacier, a precarious body of west Antarctic ice that could add as much as 25 inches to global sea level if it were to suffer a runaway collapse.
Rice helps give Houston early COVID-19 warnings
September 24, 2020
Scientists and statisticians at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering have worked long hours for months to help the city of Houston monitor the spread of COVID-19 through traces of the coronavirus found in wastewater treatment plants.
How employers can soften the blow of furloughs and layoffs
September 21, 2020
HOUSTON – (Sept. 21, 2020) – Furloughs and layoffs are traumatic — especially during a pandemic —but new research from Rice University offers ways employers can ease the emotional impact when they deliver the bad news to their workers.