News: Faculty

2024

First neutrinos detected at Fermilab short-baseline detector

September 10, 2024

Display of a candidate muon neutrino interaction

After years of preparation, the first neutrinos have been observed by the Short-Baseline Near Detector collaboration. The data SBND collects will expand our knowledge of how neutrinos interact with matter and will be used to search for evidence of new physics.


Mars tadpole craters

September 7, 2024

Animated icon of Mars

Tadpole craters on Mars, formed by ancient water outflows, provide valuable insights into the planet’s transition from a wet to an arid environment. Researchers, including those at the University of Chicago, are using these unique formations to better understand the climate changes that occurred during Mars's poorly understood late Hesperian period.
 


A breakthrough by UChicago scientists enables greener microfabrication

September 7, 2024

Chuanwang Yang holds an example of the printing process

University of Chicago chemists developed an environmentally sustainable method of microfabrication that uses water and natural materials—including paper—to create and transfer patterns.  


New nanomedicine improves cancer treatment through enhanced chemotherapy drug delivery

September 7, 2024

Icon of a scientifically engineered pill

Researchers at the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, including chemist Wenbin Lin, developed a nanomedicine that increases the penetration and accumulation of chemotherapy drugs in tumor tissues and effectively kills cancer cells through the activation of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway.


For these companies, quantum computing isn’t a far-off dream. It’s now.

September 5, 2024

The startup PsiQuantum plans to build the world’s largest quantum computer at the former U.S. Steel South Works site on Chicago's South Side. UChicago professor David Awschalom, who leads the Chicago Quantum Exchange research consortium, comments on the applications of this technology.


Ransomware attacks on schools threaten student data nationwide

September 5, 2024

Image with icons of safety locks

A concerning amount of cyberattacks are targeting education service databases. In response to this challenge, Marshini Chetty, an assistant professor in UChicago's Department of Computer Science, developed a game app called Cybernaut to help young children learn to be cyber-safe.


Decoding content moderation: analyzing policy variations across top online platforms

September 1, 2024

Animated icon of a social media page

UChicago research scientist Arjun Bhagoji and 5th year PhD student Brennan Schaffner collaborate to study content moderation across the top 43 online platforms.


UChicago lands $7.4 million grant to study how cells adapt to surroundings

September 1, 2024

Photo of scientists leading the research project.

A multidisciplinary eight-member team from UChicago and Northwestern will launch the Cellular Adaptation Lab to study how fundamental cellular behaviors are linked to disease and responses to climate change.


Giant Magellan Telescope mount fabrication begins

August 29, 2024

Icon of small telescope

The Giant Magellan Telescope and Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc. announced the launch of manufacturing and assembly for the largest telescope mount ever constructed in the United States. Leaders in the field gathered to celebrate the start of the telescope's construction, including PSD Dean Ka Yee Lee.


Preparing for the next pandemic: Developing an open science platform for better decision-making in public health

August 28, 2024

Photo of woman wearing a mask

UChicago's Valerie Hayot-Sasson talks to HPCwire about the development of an open science data-flow platform to aid in better and timely public health decisions. This work includes improved data ingestion, curation, and management capabilities, and a shared development environment for rapid response and collaboration. 


Scientists use Jupiter to search for dark matter

August 28, 2024

Icon of Jupiter

In a new study, researchers may have found a way to turn giant exoplanets into sensitive detectors for dark matter particles. UChicago particle astrophysicist Dan Hooper provides insight into the amount of dark matter that passes through Jupiter every second. 
 


How did the first cells arise? With a little rain, study finds

August 28, 2024

Animated image of rainfall

In a new study, researchers found that rain may have been an essential ingredient for the origin of life. This groundbreaking research was conducted by scientists from UChicago's Chemistry Department and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, including Nobel Prize laureate Jack Szostak.
 


Something is wrong with dark energy, physicists say

August 28, 2024

Icon of scientist with a telescope

Recent findings suggest that dark energy, long believed to be a constant force accelerating the expansion of the universe, may weaken over time. Joshua Frieman comments on this discovery and how it challenges our current understanding of the universe's expansion.
 


New Webb Telescope data suggests our model of the universe may hold up after all

August 25, 2024

Photo of space

A new UChicago-led analysis measures universe expansion rate and finds the 'Hubble tension' may not exist. 


Life from a drop of rain: New research suggests rainwater helped form the first protocell walls

August 25, 2024

From left, Nobel Prize laureate Jack Szostak of the Chicago Center for the Origins of Life, UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering postdoctoral researcher Aman Agrawal and UChicago PME Dean Emeritus Matthew Tirrel

A new paper from the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Houston Chemical Engineering Department, and Chicago Center for the Origins of Life suggests rainwater could have helped create a meshy wall around protocells 3.8 billion years ago, a critical step in the transition from tiny beads of RNA to all forms of life.