Ancient Air Bubbles Trapped in Antarctic Ice Point to Cause of Oxygen Decline
Glacial erosion likely caused atmospheric oxygen levels to dip over past 800,000 years. An unknown culprit has been removing oxygen from our atmosphere for at…
Rice University News
Nanotube Fibers Stand Strong – But for How Long Under Stresses and Strains?
Rice scientists calculate how carbon nanotubes and their fibers experience fatigue. Up here in the macro world, we all feel fatigue now and then. It’s…
A-List Candidate for Fault-Free Quantum Computing Delivers Puzzling Surprise
Puzzling result forces physicists to rethink ‘spin-triplet’ superconductivity. A Rice University-led study is forcing physicists to rethink superconductivity in uranium ditelluride, an A-list material in…
Rice University Creates Effective Recipe To Decontaminate Disposable COVID Facemasks at Home
Heating PPE to the right degree kills 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2 virus without degrading material. Here’s the recipe to decontaminate a disposable facemask: Heat it at…
Orbital Harmony of TRAPPIST-1 Planets Could Survive Only Limited Early Bombardment
Fragile orbits of seven exoplanets limit late arrival of water. Seven Earth-sized planets orbit the star TRAPPIST-1 in near-perfect harmony, and U.S. and European researchers…
Solar Energy Breakthrough: Ultrathin Solar Cells Using 2D Perovskites Get a Boost
Rice lab finds 2D perovskite compound has the right stuff to challenge bulkier products. Rice University engineers have achieved a new benchmark in the design…
Sex and the Symbiont: Can Algae Hookups Help Corals Survive Climate Change?
Rice biologists’ discovery can be used to help climate-challenged reefs survive for now. A little more sexy time for symbionts could help coral reefs survive…
This Pyramid Scheme Could Be Helpful: Controlled Growth of Tetrahedron-Shaped Nanoparticles
Rice chemists discover mechanism in controlled growth of tetrahedron-shaped nanoparticles. Nature clearly likes symmetry. Look at your own hands, for example. But sometimes nature produces…
Modern Simulations Could Improve MRIs to More Efficiently Find Disease
Rice engineers find more efficient models to analyze contrast agents that find disease. Gadolinium-based contrast agents, the gold standard in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the health…
Physicists Probe Light Smashups To Guide Future Research Beyond the Standard Model
Understanding photon collisions could aid search for physics beyond the Standard Model. Hot on the heels of proving an 87-year-old prediction that matter can be…
Physicists Find “Magnon” Origins in 2D Magnet – Could Prove Useful for Encoding Information
Topological feature could prove useful for encoding information in electron spins. Rice physicists have confirmed the topological origins of magnons, magnetic features they discovered three…
“Smart” Shirt Uses Flexible Carbon Nanotube Fibers To Keep Tabs on the Heart
Rice’s flexible carbon nanotube fibers woven into clothing gather accurate EKG, heart rate. There’s no need to don uncomfortable smartwatches or chest straps to monitor…
Bioengineers Using 3D Printing and Smart Biomaterials To Create an Insulin-Producing Implant for Type 1 Diabetes
JDRF funds creation of implant to automatically regulate blood glucose levels. Rice University bioengineers are using 3D printing and smart biomaterials to create an insulin-producing…
In Search of Planets That Support Life: “Cool” Stars in the Cosmos May Not Be So Unique
Rice models infer small stars share similar dynamics to our sun, key to planet habitability. Stars scattered throughout the cosmos look different, but they may…
Nightside Radio Could Help Reveal Details of Exoplanets in Distant Solar Systems
Rice team enhances models that will detect magnetospheres in distant solar systems. We can’t detect them yet, but radio signals from distant solar systems could…
Highly Efficient Solar Energy Collectors Grown From Microscopic Seeds
Engineers create seeds for growing near-perfect 2D perovskite crystals. Rice University engineers have created microscopic seeds for growing remarkably uniform 2D perovskite crystals that are…
Toward Safer Breast Implants: How Implant Surfaces Affect Immune Response
Six-year effort includes researchers from Rice, MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine. Rice University bioengineers collaborated on a six-year study that systematically analyzed how the…
Understanding Frustration Could Lead to Better Medications
Rice scientists’ atomic resolution protein models reveal new details about protein binding. Knowing precisely where proteins are frustrated could go a long way toward making…
