News: Research

2026

XENON experiment finds quietest neutrinos ever detected

October 6, 2026

XENON Collaboration members install the bottom of the experiment’s extremely sensitive detector array. The experiment has been able to capture extremely faint neutrinos coming from the surface of the sun.

Ultra-sensitive detector designed by UChicago team to search for dark matter captures elusive low-energy neutrino particles from the sun.


A $20 bracelet jams nearby smart speakers using ultrasonic static

October 6, 2026

Worn mechanical bracelet.

UChicago researchers built a $20 wrist cuff that jams nearby microphones within three feet using ultrasonic signals.


Vera Rubin Observatory detects one of the smallest and faintest satellite galaxies ever seen — before the telescope’s mission even began

October 6, 2026

The infamous Helix Nebula, imaged here by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer spacecraft, is located deep in the constellation Aquarius. Even farther — beyond the edge of the Milky Way — astronomers using the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have discovered wha

Astronomers looking at Vera C. Rubin Observatory test data have discovered 'Aquarius IV', believed to be a brand new satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located 350,000 light-years away.


Skeletal-editing ‘dream’ realized

October 6, 2026

Chemical reaction.

Second-generation C-to-N swap turns the first generation’s failure into a feature.


Polar potential

October 2, 2026

Zoe Yan's molecular array experiment

UChicago physicist Zoe Yan proposes a novel method to produce near-perfect quantum building blocks.
 


How Argonne is supercharging scientific discovery

September 28, 2026

Evan Jenkins

Argonne’s Ian Foster explains how AI will be used to accelerate research.


A University of Chicago computer scientist pushes past a long-standing math barrier

September 28, 2026

Photo of Haotian Jiang.

For more than 40 years, mathematicians and computer scientists have wrestled with a deceptively simple question: If many overlapping requirements all need to be balanced at once, how evenly can it be done?


MS in Applied Data Science capstone research published in cancers

September 28, 2026

Utku Pamuksuz, faculty advisor for the MS-ADS capstone project.

For many graduate students, a capstone project marks the culmination of months of learning. For one team of students in the University of Chicago’s MS in Applied Data Science (MS-ADS) program, it became something even more: peer-reviewed published research in Cancers.


Webb Telescope discovers new molecule, uncovers hidden photochemistry

September 22, 2026

Artist concept of TOI-6894 b

Finding reveals how starlight drives surprising chemistry, offers new way to study alien atmospheres.
 


University of Chicago researchers share new map of universe thanks to South Pole Telescope

September 21, 2026

Photo of the South Pole telescope.

An effort led by University of Chicago researchers has provided the sharpest and clearest ever map of mass in the universe.


In 2024, University of Chicago researchers turned discarded bio-oil char into graphite; 8 hours of cooling made crystals 5 times thicker and over 15 times wider

September 21, 2026

Discarded bio-oil char (representative image).

US researchers have developed a method to convert plant waste into high-quality graphite. This breakthrough offers a potential domestic source for a critical battery component. The new process involves slow cooling of biochar, creating larger graphite crystals. This sustainable alternative could reduce reliance on imported graphite for electronics. Further development is needed to scale up production and lower costs for commercial use.


David Awschalom wins global breakthrough of the Year Award for interdisciplinary work in molecular and protein qubits

September 21, 2026

Benjamin Soloway, a University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) quantum PhD candidate in David Awschalom’s lab, and Jacob Feder, a former student of Awschalom and Peter Maurer, were co-first authors of a paper about pro

Award by Berlin-based Falling Walls Foundation honors high-risk, multi-field leap across quantum, biology, and chemistry.


Harnessing AI to find new materials

September 21, 2026

PME/Stats PhD student Rodrigo Pires Ferreira uses AI and machine learning to determine the best materials for chemical sensors.

PhD student Rodrigo Pires Ferreira, co-advised by statistics Asst. Prof. Claire Donnat, uses his talents for problem solving to discover new materials for future technologies.


Free UChicago public lectures celebrate 50 years of discovery with talks on the origins of the universe, dark matter, gravitational waves, and particle physics

September 15, 2026

Aurora over south pole telescope

Half a century ago, scientists at the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute helped invent a new way to study the universe: by treating the Big Bang itself as a laboratory to explore nature at energy scales unreachable on earth. This fall, nine of the researchers who carry that legacy forward will share what those fifty years have uncovered — from the invisible matter holding galaxies together to the gravitational ripples of colliding black holes.

The series of free public talks by UChicago scientists, “The Compton Lectures: 50 Years of Discovery,” run every Saturday from Oct. 3 through Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. in the Kersten Physics Teaching Center.
 


UChicago, U of I land $75 million in federal funding for quantum research

September 14, 2026

A series of mechanical devices.

Teams led by University of Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have received new five-year grants from the National Science Foundation for quantum technology research worth $37.5 million apiece.