News

UT News

Sociable Chimps Harbor Richer Gut Microbiomes

Spending time in close contact with others often means risking catching germs and getting sick. But being sociable may also help transmit beneficial microbes, finds a multi-institutional study of gut microbiomes in chimpanzees.

UT News

Some Prairie Vole Brains Are Better Wired for Sexual Fidelity

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found that natural selection drives some male prairie voles to be fully monogamous and others to seek more partners. The surprising contrasts in the animals’ brains result from differences in their DNA.

UT News

Fish Skin Provides Invisibility in Open Ocean

Scientists have solved a longstanding mystery about how some fish seem to disappear from predators in the open waters of the ocean, a discovery that could help materials scientists and military technologists create more effective methods of ocean camouflage.

Research

Engineering Bacterial Communities Improves Plant Growth

University of Texas at Austin scientists say there's a simple way for home gardeners and small farmers to give plants a pesticide-free boost: by harnessing the power of often helpful bacterial communities known as the microbiomes of plants.

Features

History Overview of the Department of Integrative Biology

The University of Texas at Austin has a storied and long history of leadership in biology.

A historic old pic shows Old Main on The University of Texas at Austin campus is surrounded by only two small buildings and wide open spaces.

Research

Froggy Went a Courtin'

A graduate student and her advisor in the Department of Integrative Biology at UT Austin have discovered that female frogs are also prone to the decoy effect.

UT News

Corals Are Already Adapting to Global Warming, Scientists Say

Some coral populations already have genetic variants necessary to tolerate warm ocean waters, and humans can help to spread these genes, a team of scientists led by Misha Matz of the University of Texas at Austin has found.

Features

2015 Summer Blockbusters: Meet Our Science Truth Detector

With summer movie season in full swing, cinema-goers are leaving theaters with one big question in mind: “Wait, could that really happen?”