News: Faculty

For National Geographic, Chemistry Prof. Jack Szostak discusses the theory that the early bombardment of Earth by comets and meteorites may have increased the availability of amino acids on the planet.

For a New York Times article, Prof. Wendy Freeman and Emeritus Prof. Michael S. Turner comment on the National Science Board's recommendation that the United States should commit $1.6 billion to build an “extremely large telescope.” 

In an article for PYMNTS, Asst. Prof. Sarah Sebo says AI can help robots understand their surroundings better, recognize objects and people more accurately, communicate more naturally with humans, and improve their abilities over time through feedback.

Prof. Tiffany Shaw discusses faster jet streams for a WFLA (Tampa) video.

Prof. Bozhi Tian and Doctoral Candidate Pengju Li discuss newly designed pacemaker powered by light in a WGN video. 

The FabRobotics team from UChicago and MIT seamlessly incorporates mobile robots into the 3D printing process to improve automation and efficiency.

Andrew A. Chien’s research on sustainable cloud computing and his interdisciplinary course, Sustainable Computing, provides insight into an often overlooked problem.

For years, niobium was considered an underperformer when it came to superconducting qubits. Now scientists supported by Q-NEXT have found a way to engineer a high-performing niobium-based qubit and so take advantage of niobium’s superior qualities.

PalmWatch, a new tool jointly created by DSI and Inclusive Development International, tracks deforestation by palm oil mills and connects that information to major, multinational brands’ sourcing.

In a New York Times article, Prof. Daniel Holz says that "[The researchers] may have the right value, but I don’t think other observers would be shocked if it turned out the true mass was somewhat less."
 

Ultralight membrane can regulate heartbeats with the aid of an optic fiber.

University of Chicago materials researcher Pengju Li holds a prototype pacemaker made of a specially engineered membrane. At just one-fiftieth of a gram, it is significantly smaller and lighter than current pacemakers.

In an MIT Technology Review article, Asst. Prof. Karri DiPetrillo discusses the concept of supersymmetry, saying, “I think SUSY is wonderful—the only thing that’s not wonderful is that we haven’t found it." Article also mentions the potential for a muon collider at Fermilab.

Business Insider article mentions Prof. Ben Zhao's "Nightshade."

In a Phys.org article, Prof. Linda Young discusses a new experiment that isolates the energetic movement of an electron while "freezing" the motion of the much larger atom it orbits in a sample of liquid water.

Scientists report the first look at electrons moving in real-time in liquid water; findings open up a whole new field of experimental physics.