News: Research

2022

A wheel made of ‘odd matter’ spontaneously rolls uphill

September 26, 2022

Prof. Vincenzo Vitelli and physicist Corentin Coulais of the University of Amsterdam have engineered an odd wheel that uses component parts to automatically adjust its wiggling motion to compensate for uneven terrain.


The origin of life on Earth, explained

September 19, 2022

Earth at night from space

This explainer from UChicago News explores what geochemical conditions nurtured the first life forms. What water, chemistry and temperature cycles fostered the chemical reactions that allowed life to emerge on our planet?


UChicago earns #6 spot in U.S. News Best Colleges

September 12, 2022

U.S. News and World Report logo on maroon background

The University of Chicago earned the #6 spot in U.S. News Best Colleges national university rankings for 2022-2023.


Surprise finding suggests ‘water worlds’ are more common than we thought

September 8, 2022

Jupiter’s moon Europa

A new study suggests that many more planets in distant solar systems have large amounts of water than previously thought—as much as half water and half rock.


Argonne to establish center on climate change impact in Chicago

September 8, 2022

Cristina Negri speaks at a press conference in Chicagoland.

The DOE has awarded Argonne and a team of academic and community leaders, including UChicago, $25 million over five years to advance urban climate science by studying climate change effects at local and regional scales. It will establish a center called the Community Research on Climate and Urban Science or CROCUS.


UChicago/Argonne researchers will cultivate AI model “gardens” with $3.5M NSF grant

September 8, 2022

lettuce growing in rows

The Garden Project led by Prof. Ian Foster has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from NSF for researchers from materials science, physics, and chemistry, to create “Model Gardens” that publish and curate AI models, link them with data and computing resources, and make it simple for users.


Internet disconnect: CS and social science join forces to plumb the digital divide

September 8, 2022

Illustration of hands reaching up with smart devices

A UChicago Magazine feature on the Internet Equity Initiative that uses existing data to explore the digital divide and develops new ways of measuring internet activity.


UChicago/Argonne computer scientist Ian Foster receives ACM/IEEE Ken Kennedy Award

September 8, 2022

Ian Foster

Ian Foster, a pioneer in cloud and high-performance computing, was named the 2022 recipient of the Ken Kennedy Award, bestowed annually by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).


PSD in the News - August 2022

September 6, 2022

PSD against a white and turquoise background

This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to predict an extreme heat belt coming to the US, understand universe expansion from black hole collisions, and detect carbon dioxide on a faraway planet using the new James Webb Space Telescope.


U.S. Department of Energy Awards $12.5 million to UChicago for new Energy Frontier Research Center

August 29, 2022

Laura Gagliardi in a room with models of molecules. The background is a white screen with another model of a molecule.

The new Catalyst Design for Decarbonization Center will investigate the mechanisms behind sustainably generated hydrogen fuel
 


Scientists announce first detection of carbon dioxide on a faraway planet with James Webb Space Telescope

August 25, 2022

An illustration shows what exoplanet WASP-39 b could look like- an illuminated purple orb next to a bright body

James Webb Space Telescope has allowed a team co-led by Prof. Jacob Bean to capture definitive evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet about 700 light-years away from Earth, the first indisputable evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star.


Scientists prepare to send a balloon to search for ‘messengers from outer space’

August 23, 2022

Two scientists review a partially assembled fluorescence telescope

NASA has awarded $4.3 million for the final phase of construction and flight of the Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon (EUSO-SPB2) experiment led by Prof. Angela Olinto, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Sending a scientific balloon to 110,000 feet above Earth will enable a search for tiny, ultra-high-energy cosmic ray particles and neutrinos.


Fellowship helps College student launch career in aerospace industry

August 22, 2022

Audrey Scott

Third-year Audrey Scott is one of 51 undergrads to earn a competitive Brooke Owens Fellowship. Read about her summer research at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, CO.


Here’s why Earth just had its shortest day on record

August 22, 2022

Earth from space

Geophysical sciences graduate student, Sasha Warren, writes in Scientific American how wind, ice, and rock may have combined to give our planet its shortest day.


Black hole collisions could help us measure how fast the universe is expanding

August 18, 2022

Black holes colliding illustration

In a new study, astrophysicists Prof. Daniel Holz and Jose María Ezquiaga, a NASA Einstein and KICP Fellow, laid out a method for how to use pairs of colliding black holes to measure how fast our universe is expanding.