2023
Crystals from Apollo mission find moon is 40 million years older than scientists thought
October 24, 2023

New UChicago, Field Museum study finds lunar crystals formed at least 4.46 billion years ago.
Congrats to cosmologist Rocky Kolb, winner of the APS Lilienfeld Prize!
October 24, 2023

In an interview with APS News, Kolb urges physicists to combat scientific illiteracy and discusses the Big Bang, parallel universes, and the need for public outreach.
Congrats to Physics professor David DeMille for receiving the APS Ramsey Prize!
October 24, 2023

The Norman F. Ramsey Prize recognizes outstanding accomplishments in the two fields of Norman Ramsey: atomic, molecular, and optical physics; and precision tests of fundamental laws and symmetries. DeMille, along with Gerald Gabrielse (Northwestern), and John M. Doyle (Harvard), earned the prize “for pioneering work in molecular physics, cooling, and spectroscopy that has profoundly advanced the search for the electric dipole moment of the electron, and for placing stringent constraints on modifications to the Standard Model in a tabletop experiment.”
The moon is 40 million years older than thought, ancient crystal suggests
October 23, 2023

The moon’s surface formed at least 40 million years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study of an ancient crystal embedded in rock collected by Apollo 17 astronauts. Washington Post article features GeoSci alumna Jennika Greer and professor Philipp Heck.
Chicago region designated US Tech Hub for quantum technologies by Biden-Harris administration
October 23, 2023

The Chicago region has been named an official US Regional and Innovation Technology Hub for quantum technologies by the Biden-Harris administration, a designation that opens the door to new federal funding and recognizes the growing strength of an ecosystem poised to become the heart of the nation’s quantum economy.
Your personal information is probably being used to train generative AI models
October 19, 2023

Prof. Ben Zhao discusses in Scientific American article how AI models are often trained using information not intended for the public, such as medical images.
Climate change will prompt expansion of farming in northern wilderness
October 19, 2023

New Scientist highlighted the work of former Dept. of the Geophysical Sciences PhD student and postdoc James Franke on shifting agricultural regions under climate change (with Prof. Liz Moyer), and Moyer was quoted.
Research suggests that privacy and security protection fell to the wayside during remote learning
October 19, 2023

A qualitative research study conducted by faculty and students at the University of Chicago and University of Maryland revealed key tensions and breakdowns in the sociotechnical infrastructure of emergency remote learning that contributed to elementary school children’s privacy and data being compromised.
The toll of heat deaths in the Phoenix area soars after the hottest summer on record
October 19, 2023

In Arizona Daily Sun article, Geophysical Sciences Prof. Noboru Nakamura says that "when the jet stream meanders, it creates a heat dome, a pool of very warm air under this displaced jet stream...it's almost like a warm blanket."
Can language models replace programmers?
October 19, 2023

MarkTechPost article highlights UChicago researchers' SWE-bench framework, which focuses on real-world software engineering issues, like patch generation and complex context reasoning, offering a more realistic and comprehensive evaluation for enhancing language models with software engineering capabilities.
FeetThrough tech guides walking users ... by shocking their feet?
October 13, 2023

New Atlas article features FeetThrough, a prototype being developed by Assoc. Prof. Pedro Lopes.
In defense of DEI in science
October 13, 2023

For a Chicago Maroon op-ed, Assoc. Prof. Andrew Ferguson, Prof. Benoît Roux, Assoc. Prof. John Anderson, Biophysical Sciences Curriculum Director Adam T. Hammond, Assoc. Prof. Graham Slater, Prof. Henry Hoffmann, and Prof. Aaron P. Esser-Kahn argue that DEI initiatives in higher education fundamentally align with scientific rigor and institutional policies and play an important role in ensuring that we recruit and retain the absolute best scholars and provide a supportive climate within which all of us can pursue world-class research and teaching.
Arctic sea ice resumes its slide
October 13, 2023

Forbes article mentions a 2018 lecture by James Anderson.
What’s inside Earth?
October 10, 2023

GeoSci Asst. Prof. Sunyoung Park says Earth's mantle isn't liquid, but it's less rigid than sinking oceanic crust, adding that "in geological timescale[s], it's almost acting like a fluid, although it's solid rock."
How many animals have ever existed on Earth?
October 9, 2023

GeoSci Prof. David Jablonski says, "The standard estimate is that 99.9% of species that have ever lived are extinct," but adds that that is "a crude approximation."