Category: Research

In research reported in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," Texas A&M biologists have found genetic evidence linking circadian clock genes and clock-regulated molecular pathways to the Monarch butterfly's uncanny ability to sense changes in day length that trigger their annual migration and the reproductive dormancy they exhibit during it — a clock-controlled seasonal response the biologists prove is clearly connected to the vitamin A pathway in the iconic insect's brain.

GMTO Corporation officials have signed the largest contract in Giant Magellan Telescope history, paving the way for final design and construction of the massive telescope structure -- another key milestone for Texas A&M and its fellow international partners in building the next-generation wonder expected to see first light late in the next decade.

Texas A&M University and Teysha Technologies have signed a sponsored research agreement to streamline the development of natural degradable polymers that break down in water as a possible solution to the global plastics pollution crisis currently weighing in at an estimate exceeding 10 million metric tons and growing.

In a recent paper published in the September issue of the "Journal of Microscopy," Texas A&M biologist Lawrence Griffing makes the case for an unidentified gentleman in a circa-1680s painting by one of England’s first successful female artists, Mary Beale, actually being the long-sought portrait of 17th century scientist Robert Hooke.

Recent Nature Nanotechnology-reported research by Texas A&M physicist Alexey Belyanin explores the structure and dynamics of electrons in graphene, providing new insight into how it interacts with light at the nanoscale level and with femtosecond time resolution affecting the design of future nanophotonic devices as well as materials used in computers and telecommunications.

A cross-disciplinary team of Texas A&M researchers led by statistician Bani Mallick has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million Transdisciplinary Research In Principles of Data Science (TRIPODS) grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a new institute, the Texas A&M Research Institute for Foundations of Interdisciplinary Data Science (FIDS).

Congratulations to Texas A&M chemist Jonathan T. Sczepanski, who has earned three prestigious research grants this summer aimed at making potential progress toward treating ribonucleic acid-mediated diseases -- specifically, cancer.

Texas A&M astronomers Lucas Macri, Darren DePoy and Jennifer Marshall are part of a bi-national project that has received a National Science Foundation award toward construction of a robotic telescope in Argentina to help them study gravitational wave events in deep space.

An international team of astronomers that includes Texas A&M’s Benjamin Boizelle and Jonelle Walsh has used the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to obtain the clearest view to date of cold gas rotation around a supermassive black hole and calculated the mass of this supermassive black hole — the largest ever measured with ALMA — to be a whopping 2.25 billion times that of our Sun.

Experimentation is the heart of scientific discovery, a process often limited only by drive, imagination and opportunity. Dozens of undergraduate students from across the nation recently seized theirs, spending the past two months at Texas A&M immersed in all things academic research while exploring their potential for graduate study, courtesy of a signature National Science Foundation program, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU).

Senior Ethan Quinn looks every bit like someone who feels more at home in a weight room or chasing down opposing players on the field. This summer, the standout midfielder on the Seton Hill University lacrosse team temporarily traded his jersey in Pennsylvania for a lab coat in Aggieland to participate in Texas A&M Chemistry’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program. Meet the man and learn more about his motivation on the athletic and academic fields.

Texas A&M chemist Karen Wooley's laboratory is fighting hemorrhage — a leading cause of death in traumatic injuries — by developing a bioabsorbable wound dressing with encapsulated chitosan nanofibers that, when applied to liver injury sites in animals, dissolves in as little as seven days, eliminating the need for subsequent physical removal and any chance of re-injury in the process

Armed with new Hubble Space Telescope data and an improved technique, a team of astronomers including Texas A&M professor Lucas Macri has made the most accurate measurement of the universe's expansion rate to date — a surprising 4-sigma discrepancy from Planck's prediction that strengthens the case for new physics.

Timing is everything, including with regard to eating. In research published April 16 in Cell Reports, Texas A&M biologist Jerome Menet’s laboratory found that feeding time influences the liver’s biological clock in mice, with possible implications for overall physiology and health.

Texas A&M statistician Valen Johnson is one of about 40 contributing authors featured in The American Statistician special issue on p-values and statistical significance, along with a related Nature March 28 edition Correspondence. While he acknowledges raising standards would make it harder for researchers to publish, Johnson tells Undark magazine he sees potential for more discoveries and better science as researchers gain confidence in previous work and spend less time replicating studies.