Natural Sciences News

PHYSICS - A new design for eye and brain implants draws its inspiration from nature. UO researchers have grown rodent retinal neurons on a fractal-patterned electrode, one that mimics the repeating branching pattern in which neurons naturally grow.
BIOLOGY - When Folake Owodunni came to the University of Oregon from Nigeria in 2005 to study premed, she knew she wanted to help people. Today, her international health technology company is poised to help people across Africa.
COMPUTER SCIENCE - Cybersecurity is a growing emphasis in the University of Oregon Department of Computer Science. Department faculty in the UO Center for Cyber Security and Privacy collaborate with colleagues from philosophy, law, business, and other areas to research—and help thwart—threats to internet traffic, cryptocurrency, social media networks, infrastructure security, and more.
MATHEMATICS - In November 1974, University of Oregon distance runner Steve Bence convinced the legendary Steve Prefontaine, his former teammate and close friend, to run in an outlandish event: the “Great Race.”
PHYSICS - Now that the NASA James Webb Space Telescope has reached its destination a million miles from Earth and begins beaming back images of the deepest parts of space this summer, Charity Woodrum, a 2018 University of Oregon alumna, will be among the first to pore over them, looking for clues to how our galaxy came to be.
Ten UO researchers and scholars whose work focuses on subjects including digital stewardship, pulmonary hypertension and literature in imperial China have received 2022 Faculty Research Awards.
HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - A new app developed at the UO uses technology to help users quantify their time in nature and maximize the benefits.
BIOLOGY - In lab experiments that followed Caenorhabditis elegans worms for many generations, sexual selection after sperm are released was a bigger driver of evolutionary change than sexual selection before mating. Researchers in the lab of UO biologist and Provost Patrick Phillips report their findings in a paper published Feb. 14 in PLOS Genetics.
COMPUTER SCIENCE - Assistant professor Ramakrishnan Durairajan has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation for his research into computer networks that use multiple cloud computing services.
BIOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - Biologist Lauren Ponisio has a plan to help the pivotal pollinators in the Pacific Northwest
COMICS STUDIES, PHYSICS, ANTHROPOLOGY - Three faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences have been awarded the 2022 Tykeson Teaching Awards for their excellence in teaching.
PHYSICS, PSYCHOLOGY - There is a scientific reason that humans feel better walking through the woods than strolling down a city street, according to a new publication from UO physicist Richard Taylor and an interdisciplinary team of collaborators.
BIOLOGY - UO researchers report observations suggest a new lifestyle option for larval-stage invertebrates living in the ocean. Scientists usually think of plankton-dwelling larvae either growing by grazing on nanoplankton — mostly unicellular algae — or relying on the egg's yolk reserves to become full-fledged adults. Instead, it appears there’s a third strategy: carnivory.
CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - For the second year in a row a University of Oregon chemistry professor has been awarded a national prize for groundbreaking research and innovative teaching. Carl Brozek was named a 2022 Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement for his lab’s research in water purification and his practical teaching methods.
BIOLOGY - Caitlin Kowalski is a postdoctoral fellow in the UO’s Barber Lab, led by biology professor Matt Barber, which investigates the evolution of host-microbe interactions. Her award from the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation is the first of its kind to a UO researcher, according to university records, and will fund her research around yeast-bacteria interactions for the next three years, beginning in April.