News

New observations and sharper tools are fueling the debate over a long-sought measurement of how fast the universe is expanding.

Profs. Wendy Freedman and Matthew Stephens have been elected to the Royal Society, a fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. This year, 59 scientists from around the world were elected Fellows or Foreign Members of the Society for their outstanding contributions to science.

The National Science Foundation has awarded $52.66 million to upgrade the Simons Observatory, a set of telescopes high in the Chilean desert that looks for traces of light from the earliest epochs of the universe.  Improvements include upgraded receiver, solar panels to power the observatory and data processing pipeline

New Scientist features a mechanical backpack developed by Prof. Pedro Lopes and his colleagues. JumpMod can enhance the sensation of virtual reality by sliding a weight up and down.

An ‘ever blossoming’ newly installed digital artwork can now be seen in the lobby of University of Chicago’s William Eckhardt Research Center. The artwork, titled Ever Blossoming Life – Gold (2014), was created by the interdisciplinary art collective teamLab and is the only digital artwork permanently on view and available to the public at the University. It was recently acquired by the Smart Museum of Art through a unique partnership with the Physical Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

Image courtesy of the artists/Pace Gallery, New York

Two PSD undergraduate students, Cameron Chang and Steven Labalme, have received Barry Goldwater Scholarships, awarded annually based on academic merit and undergraduate research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. They are among the 417 U.S. college students to be selected for this award out of a pool of over 5,000 applicants. Considered the preeminent undergraduate award of its kind, the scholarship covers the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year. It also helps STEM students fund their research during their final years of undergraduate study.

U.S. News & World Report released the 2023 rankings for the top science schools for graduate education in the United States. The Physical Sciences Division at the University of Chicago was well-represented in top rankings for graduate programs and specialties.

A University of Chicago study found links at the atomic level between photosynthesis and exciton condensates—a strange state of physics that allows energy to flow frictionlessly through a material. The finding is scientifically intriguing and may suggest new ways to think about designing electronics, the authors said.

Modern science suggests that we and all our achievements and memories are destined to vanish like a dream. Is that sad or good?

Leading scholars, tech developers, and entrepreneurs discussed how A.I. and machine learning are being used for scientific discovery at the inaugural University of Chicago and Caltech Conference on AI+Science, sponsored by the Tom and Margo Pritzker Foundation. The event, hosted in late March, brought together dozens of leading researchers in core AI and domain sciences to lead conversations and drive partnerships that will shape future research priorities, industry investment and entrepreneurial opportunities. 

Radiocarbon dating, also known as carbon-14 dating, is a method to determine the age of organic materials as old as 60,000 years. First developed in the 1940s at the University of Chicago by Willard Libby, the breakthrough technique ushered in the “radiocarbon revolution” and impacted fields from archaeology to climate science—forever changing our picture of human history.

This month PSD researchers have been recognized for their pioneering discoveries, the quality and innovation of their research programs, and their unique contributions to new fields of inquiry. 

Emma Stoutenburg is a second-year UChicago GeoSci PhD student, with a bachelor’s in Earth Science and a specialization in Geophysics from Ohio State University. Emma works in the field of mineral physics, where she studies the physical properties of the minerals within the deep interiors of planets.  

MyChoice extern and computer science graduate student, Kevin Bryson, writes about Prof. Tiffany Shaw on her journey from teen pilot to climate scientist.

PSD’s April spotlight is Galen Tsongas, Event Administrator for Astronomy and Astrophysics, and KICP.