Further Findings

Two of The University of Texas at Austin’s significant inventions were highlighted for the Technology Transfer and Research Committee of the University of Texas Systems Board of Regents at an Aug. 24, 2011 meeting.

Richard Miller, chief commercialization officer at The University of Texas at Austin.

Both inventions bring significant benefits to society and revenue to the university, said Richard Miller, the chief commercialization officer of The University of Texas at Austin.

One invention has provided manufacturers with safe, reliable and rechargeable batteries
Read More …

Alfred W. Crosby, emeritus professor of history, geography and American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, coined the term, “Columbian Exchange.” The term describes the reverberations throughout the New World and Old World after Columbus opened the door between them.

The concept came up recenty up with the publication of “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created,” by Charles Mann. Mann drew on Crosby’s research in “1493″ and his previous book, “1491: New Revelations of the Americans Before Columbus.”

To
Read More …

In the Getting Started series, Further Findings highlights the paths some researchers at The University of Texas at Austin took to the laboratory, the library, the field—wherever they do their work.

This post originated on the College of Liberal Arts Web site. It was written by Katherine Thayer.

The inspiration for Luis Cárcamo-Huechante’s current research project lies in a moment from his childhood in Tralcao, a rural village in southern Chile, in the 1970’s.

“I used to listen to the radio after 8
Read More …

Computer simulations “provide patients with a realistic picture of what they would look like after their surgery and are constrained by what is actually surgically possible,” said biomedical engineer Mia Markey. Photo by Melissa Mixon.

This story was first published on the Cockrell School of Engineering Web site. It was written by Melissa Mixon.

Faculty and students at the Cockrell School of Engineering are developing ways for cancer patients and children born with facial deformities to make more informed decisions about which
Read More …

For a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, spending time crunching numbers is leading to technologies that could save lives.

Thomas Hughes is developing three dimensional models of blood flow of individual patients.

Dr. Thomas Hughes and his colleagues have pioneered patient-specific 3-D models of blood flow through the heart and blood vessels that could help guide best practices for cardiologists.

Rather than relying on earlier computer models — where simple two-dimensional geometry shared little resemblance to actual anatomy —
Read More …

A wet pond at Central Market in Austin, Texas. City of Austin photo.

This story is from Texas Enterprise at the McCombs School of Business. It was written by Matt Turner.

The cityscape of the future will be much greener and more useful, if landscape ecologists have their way. Even business properties in tomorrow’s deliberately planned urban landscape will use nature’s full potential to provide elegant solutions for a host of urban problems — among them energy waste, excess carbon, the heat-island effect,
Read More …

In the Getting Started series, Further Findings highlights the paths some researchers at The University of Texas at Austin took to the laboratory, the library, the field—wherever they do their work.

Archaeologist Cynthia Shelmerdine examining artifacts in Iklaina, Greece. A fourth-grade class sparked her lifelong study of ancient Greece.

Cynthia Shelmerdine met the Greeks in fourth grade and was enchanted with their myths and imagination. That seed, planted in elementary school, led to her life’s work.

Shelmerdine is a renowned scholar of Bronze
Read More …

In the last few months, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin dealt with black holes, dead zones and ice kilometers under the surface of Antarctica.

They found that early mammals evolved bigger brains for the sense of smell. They found that alcohol helps a brain to remember.

They made a carbon “sponge” that could store energy and a $1 biosensing diagnostic device that’s self-powered.

They found that teenagers who don’t fit in are less likely to go for higher education.

To help
Read More …

Associate Professor of History Alberto Martinez. Photo by Judy Hogan.

Jessica Sinn in the College of Liberal Arts conducted a question-and-answer session with Alberto Martinez, associate professor in the Department of History, about his new book, “Science Secrets: The Truth about Darwin’s Finches, Einstein’s Wife, and Other Myths.”

Legend has it Benjamin Franklin ventured out on a stormy day to fly a kite with a lightning rod and a key dangling on the end of the string. When the lightning struck the
Read More …

Greek scholar Cynthia Shelmerdine said the clay tablet with writing from the Late Bronze Age is the most exciting find of her career, hands down.

Listening to Cynthia Shelmerdine describe the writing on a Greek tablet from more than 3,000 years ago, it’s like she was looking over the scribe’s shoulder as he worked.

She points out details and nuance of technique, the condition of the tablet and what it means, literally, and for the world of Greek archaeology.

“Notice how the signs
Read More …