News: 2024

A study from the UChicago showed a new way to target previously “undruggable” proteins involved in cancer by building a new kind of synthetic molecule. These results are encouraging and will further exploration into new methods to fight diseases.  

The University of Chicago Accelerator Building was home to a particle accelerator that for a decade made landmark contributions to the field of particle physics. However, decades after it was decommissioned, the high bay built to house it was used for everything from building telescopes to extracting dinosaur bones. Learn more about the history of this innovation hub.

At the third annual South Side Science Festival, visitors of all ages were able to participate and observe fun and accessible science experiments: from opportunities to control robots and 3D printers to panels on health trends and AI to a paper airplane design contest and explosive liquid nitrogen demonstrations.

On Oct. 30, UChicago will welcome world-leading scholars and leaders from industry and government to discuss climate and energy policy and research—culminating with the official launch of a groundbreaking new climate and energy institute at UChicago.  

In light of the devastating effects of hurricane Milton, scientists are discussing the possibilities and limitations of scientific responses to climate change. UChicago Prof. David Keith, faculty director of the Climate Systems Engineering Initiative, comments on the potential benefits of geoengineering.

The 2024 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to scientists John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their discoveries and contributions to the field of machine learning. In this article, UChicago Prof. Rebecca Willett comments on the importance of these scientists' work for the development of AI and neural networks.

The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled a new class of cosmic objects. They are colloquially called little red dots, and they indicate something in the early universe that had never been seen. UChicago Prof. Andrey Kravtsov speaks on the significance of this discovery. 

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected the UChicago-URA-led group Forward Discovery Group, LLC to be the new management and operators of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the nation’s leading particle physics and accelerator laboratory.

Chemistry Prof. Gregory Voth was honored by the American Chemical Society with a symposium. Over four days, more than 60 speakers from around the country, made up of researchers, friends, and colleagues, came together to present on a wide range of topics influenced by Prof. Voth’s work. 

The UChicago team led by Dr. Kyle Chard, Dr. Ian Foster, and Dr. Ben Blaiszik plans to create Globus Search, an expansion to Globus that will allow researchers to search, index, access, and manage data across multiple locations, from laptops to supercomputers.

Astronomy and Astrophysics Asst. Prof. Austin Joyce has been selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. Prof. Joyce will use this opportunity to apply cosmological quantum field theory to understand how the universe evolved and acquired its structure.

In new research paper, co-authored by UChicago Asst. Prof. Andrew Higginbotham, scientists demonstrate that Josephson junctions dissipate energy as photons, directly measuring them using a sensitive bolometer.

In this interview, UChicago Prof. Danny Calegari discusses the role of failure in mathematics and how it propelled his latest essay published in a recent issue of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

Two UChicago faculty members were recognized as 2024 APS Fellows. Prof. Tiffany Shaw was selected for her contributions to atmospheric dynamics and its response to climate change, while Asst. Prof. Alex Drlica-Wagner was honored for his work in observational cosmology, including groundbreaking research in dark matter science.

At the 2024 South Side Science Festival, UChicago researchers bring their work out from behind the scenes for the public to experience. Through demos, the hope is to spark interest in young minds to pursue work in science, technology, engineering, and math.