News: 2026

At the national laboratory, the first light bulbs lit by nuclear power have given way to supercomputers, quantum research and nanoscale engineering.

Federal award unlocks millions in state and private sector contributions, positioning Midwest to lead U.S. quantum manufacturing.

Assistant Professor Daniil Rudenko was awarded a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in the School of Mathematics for the 2026–27 academic year. This prestigious membership allows for focused research and the free and open exchange of ideas among an international community of scholars at one of the foremost centers for intellectual inquiry.

On Thursday, July 23, mathematics professor Yu Deng was awarded the Fields Medal—the highest honor in mathematics. Deng, together with fellow honoree Hong Wang, became the first citizens of the People’s Republic of China to receive the award in its 90-year history. Read more about this historic win.

UChicago scientists offer new way to read atmospheric data on a vast class of 'sub-Neptune' worlds.

Molten-salt method from UChicago and Argonne could unlock durable materials for printed electronics, flexible devices.

To study molecules with complex structures, UChicago and IBM combined forces to develop a new method that takes advantage of today’s quantum computers.

Artificial intelligence-powered robotics are reshaping how experiments are designed, run and refined.

What University of Chicago scientists call an artificial leaf that mimics photosynthesis could be useful for wireless medical implants and other technologies.

The search for exoplanets—or worlds orbiting other stars—is astronomy’s great Easter egg hunt. For astronomers looking for extraterrestrial life, the true jackpot planet would be Earth-like: smallish and rocky, with an atmosphere, orbiting its parent star in the so-called habitable zone, that sweet thermal spot that is not too hot and not too cold, allowing water to exist in liquid form. In the 34 years exoplanets have been studied, no world that checks all of those boxes has ever been spotted—until now. 

Scientists say marine cloud brightening could weaken El Niño by cooling key Pacific waters, but major questions remain about feasibility, risks, and global oversight.

New benchmark shows specialized guardrails score near-random when content policies change.

Could the James Webb Space Telescope be missing hidden water on distant worlds? A new study suggests the answer may be yes.

An international group of Nobel Prize winners issued a pointed warning on emerging nuclear risks in an era of rapidly developing AI technology. The group’s declaration followed two days of meetings among the Nobel laureates, top scientific and policy experts, and religious leaders in the Papal Villas of Castel Gandolfo, a summer retreat for popes since the 1600s.

The discovery marks a major milestone in the search for life on planets beyond our solar system. Incoming UChicago postdoc Collin Cherubim and current UChicago postdoc Michael Zhang participated in the research.