News: Research

A team of scientists from the University of Chicago and MIT may have solved the decades-old mystery. A new breakthrough study reveals why the moon has a (very thin) atmosphere.

Chameleon, an experimental testbed for computer science research, has been awarded $12 million to operate a facility to support computer science research on edge, cloud, and AI. Led by Senior Scientist Kate Keahey from Argonne National Laboratory, Chameleon has been a cornerstone of CS research and education for nearly a decade.

Assistant Professor Aloni Cohen, second-year PhD student Gabe Schoenbach, and postdoc Alexander Hoover recently posted a paper that extends the theory of watermarking outputs of language models. One of the main goals of watermarking language models involves embedding detectable signals within the outputs of language models such as ChatGPT.

Researchers from UChicago and Northwestern developed a new ultrasensitive DNA-based test that can detect cancer from small fragments of DNA circulating in the blood. Among this team of scientists is John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry Chuan He, a leading expert in the field of epigenomics.

UChicago researchers set out to use computer simulation to better understand what happens to actin filaments under tension and how they recruit proteins to repair damage when it occurs. This led to a discovery that changes our understanding of the fundamental properties of the actin cytoskeleton.

David Keith, UChicago Geophysical Sciences Professor and Founding Faculty Director of the Climate Systems Engineering initiative, has a proposal to slow global warming: he wants to spray a pollutant into the sky to block some sunlight. He says the benefits would outweigh the danger.

Machine unlearning techniques cleanse generative AI models of unwanted elements. A recent collaborative study that included University of Chicago scientists highlights a troubling trade-off: while striving to purge irrelevant data, these techniques can severely impair the AI’s basic cognitive functions.

Bryan Dickinson, Margaret Gardel, and Vincenzo Vitelli will study topics related to inflammation and the functions of the immune system.
 

UChicago’s Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics celebrates 20 years of discovery.

A UChicago and Fermilab-led experiment reported the ability to enhance signals from dark matter waves using novel quantum techniques. This work will help advance dark matter research, allowing scientists to save both time and resources.

Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have observed new details about the boundary of a tidally locked planet—where half of the planet is always exposed to its star while the other is always shrouded in darkness. University of Chicago's Maria Steinrueck, Jacob Bean, and Diana Powell were co-authors of the paper presenting these results.

PhD student Romain Nith, research collaborator Yun Ho, and Associate Professor Pedro Lopes propose increasing the efficiency of multitasking by incorporating electrical muscle stimulation called “SplitBody.”

UChicago researchers have created Glaze and Nightshade, programs aimed at protecting artists' work from AI scraping. Artists and researchers are embracing these tools as a first step toward fighting against unregulated AI practices.

In work that has been 30 years in the making, mathematicians have proven a major part of a profound mathematical vision called the Langlands program. Justin Campbell and Kevin Lin from the University of Chicago are part of this team of researchers.

Propelled by UChicago’s Climate Systems Engineering initiative, a group of scientists has published a landmark report. It represents the first public effort by glaciologists to assess potential technological interventions that could help address catastrophic sea-level rise scenarios.