News

UT News

HIV Not As Infectious Soon After Transmission As Thought

People who recently have been infected with HIV may not be as highly infectious as previously believed, a finding from the lab of Lauren Ancel Meyers that could improve global efforts to prevent HIV transmission and save lives.

Lauren Ancel Meyers at a podium in front of a projection of a global map with dots showing viral transmission

Research

Always and Forever: A Microscopic Love Story

What if you swapped symbiotic bacteria between two strains of aphid, would the resulting aphids look or act differently than their mothers?

A green insect holds its hands over its heart, which is made up of red microbes

Research

Florida Lizards Evolve Rapidly, Within 15 Years and 20 Generations

Competition between brown and green anoles for the same food and space may be driving adaptations of the green anoles

A green lizard and a brown lizard

Features

Visualizing Science 2014: Beautiful Images From College Research

This past spring, we asked faculty, staff and students in the College of Natural Sciences community to send us images that celebrated the extraordinary beauty of science and the scientific process. We were looking for that moment where science and art collide and we succeeded.

Polarized light microscopy image of a copepod

UT News

Diet Affects Men's and Women's Gut Microbes Differently

The microbes living in the guts of males and females react differently to diet, even when the diets are identical, according to a study by scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and six other institutions. These results suggest that therapies designed to improve human health and treat diseases through nutrition might need to be tailored for each sex.

Illustration by Marianna Grenadier and Jenna Luecke.

UT News

Variety in Diet Can Hamper Microbial Diversity in the Gut

Scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and five other institutions have discovered that the more diverse the diet of a fish, the less diverse are the microbes living in its gut. If the effect is confirmed in humans, it could mean that the combinations of foods people eat can influence the diversity of their gut microbes.

Two stickleback fish, the type used in the study, are held in the hand of a researcher collecting them from the wild.

Research

Crazy Ants Dominate Fire Ants by Neutralizing Their Venom

It’s the first known example of an insect with the ability to detoxify another insect’s venom.

One large ant with its hindquarters raised in the direction of smaller ants

UT News

Bats Use Water Ripples to Hunt Frogs

As the male túngara frog serenades female frogs from a pond, he creates watery ripples that make him easier to target by rivals and predators such as bats, according to researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), Leiden University and Salisbury University.

Ripples continue for several seconds after a male túngara frog has stopped calling. Credit: Ryan Taylor/Salisbury University.

UT News

Symbiotic Fungi Inhabiting Plant Roots Have Major Impact on Atmospheric Carbon

Microscopic fungi that live in plants’ roots play a major role in the storage and release of carbon from the soil into the atmosphere, according to a University of Texas at Austin researcher and his colleagues at Boston University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The role of these fungi is currently unaccounted for in global climate models.

An Amanita mushroom from a field site in Harvard Forest. This particular mushroom is the fruiting body of an ectomycorrhizal fungus associated with the roots of a Hemlock tree. Photo by Colin Averill.

Research

Hungry Bats Spy on Neighbors to Find a Good Meal

The use of such social information by animals has been the subject of extensive research.

Illustration by Jenna Luecke.