A team of researchers uncovered a surprising physical mechanism explaining how isolated filaments form knots in fluids under strong gravitational forces. The discovery provides insight into polymer dynamics, with implications for understanding DNA behavior, designing soft materials, and nanomaterials fabrication.
Researchers at Rice University developed a material that uses light to break down PFAS and other contaminants. The covalent organic framework (COF) material, grown directly onto a hexagonal boron nitride film, requires only light to activate its photocatalytic reactions.
A new study at Rice University found that individuals with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can accurately estimate the arrival time of an approaching vehicle using a combination of visual and auditory cues. Despite impaired central vision, participants relied on both modalities to make collision judgments.
Christina Tringides' CHAMELEON project aims to develop soft, sensor-laden brain implants that can monitor and treat glioblastoma with greater precision. Her lab creates hydrogel-based arrays with conductive electrodes to track neural signals in real-time.
Researchers at Rice University have developed a way to make serum markers more sensitive by editing them inside the bloodstream, enabling clearer observation of gene-expression changes in the brain. This approach could lead to more precise diagnostic capabilities using simple blood tests.
A Rice University study found that financial worries shape bedtime behaviors and predict poor sleep quality. The research identified "stress-before-bed behaviors" as a key mechanism linking economic worry and job insecurity to declining sleep health. Practicing healthy sleep hygiene behaviors can help break the stress-sleep cycle.
A new study from Rice University and the University of Alberta reveals that flood-driven contamination significantly increases concerns about future flooding in coastal industrial communities. Residents who suspect their neighborhoods are contaminated by floods express higher worry about climate futures.
Researchers at Rice University have developed lab-grown diamond coatings that can naturally resist scale formation without constant intervention. The nitrogen-terminated diamond surface accumulated significantly less scale than other surfaces, making it a promising anti-scaling material for water desalination and energy systems.
Researchers developed a comprehensive theory to interpret how water molecules interact with contrast agents in MRI scans, offering more accurate predictions and explanations of NMR relaxation. This advancement paves the way for new insights into medical imaging and materials science.
A new recycling process recovers nearly all valuable materials from used batteries with high purity, requiring less energy, chemicals, and costs compared to existing methods. The two-step flash Joule heating method separates lithium and transition metals quickly and cleanly.
A nonsurgical approach has been demonstrated to quiet a specific brain circuit in an animal model by delivering engineered gene therapy only to the targeted region. The method uses low-intensity focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier, allowing precise control over brain activity without impacting off-target areas.
Pedro J.J. Alvarez has been awarded the 2026 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Civil Engineering for his groundbreaking research on water quality engineering. His work spans nanotechnology, microbiology, chemistry, and hydrogeology to make water cleaner, safer, and more sustainable.
A team of engineers at Rice University has developed a cleaner approach to recycling lithium-ion battery waste by recharging the cathode materials. The process produces high-purity lithium hydroxide with minimal energy consumption, making it a promising solution for sustainable battery production.
Researchers at Rice University have developed a new method to generate radio wave patterns that can identify signal direction with unprecedented accuracy, enabling rapid establishment of wireless links. This breakthrough enables high data-rate links to form almost as soon as the signal is sent.
Rice University researchers outline emerging solutions to make graphite production cleaner and more resilient, including synthetic graphite from renewable sources. The study emphasizes the critical role of graphite in energy storage technologies and the need for sustainable supply chain management.
A team of researchers from Rice University and the Houston Methodist Research Institute will study how the brain responds to neural implants. They aim to develop more stable and longer-lasting brain-computer interfaces and neuroprosthetics, which could treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and stroke.
Kono recognized for his contributions to optical physics, light-condensed matter interactions and photonic applications of nanosystems. His research explores how light interacts with materials at the nanoscale, potentially leading to new technologies in electronics and quantum communication.
Researchers at Rice University have discovered that light can trigger a physical shift in atomic lattice, creating tunable behavior and properties in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials. This effect could advance technologies using light instead of electricity, such as faster computer chips and ultrasensitive sensors.
A $2 million NSF-funded project is creating microscopic robotic swarms that can move and think collectively like schools of fish. The Adaptive and Responsive Magnetic Swarms (ARMS) project aims to design materials that adapt to their surroundings and can be used for medicine, energy and environmental applications.
A new collaboration between Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine aims to predict kidney injury sooner after heart surgery, potentially reducing hospital stays and mortality. The project uses artificial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of data from thousands of cardiac surgery patients.
Researchers at Rice University have engineered living cells to use a 21st amino acid that illuminates protein changes in real time, providing a new perspective on the inner workings of life. This breakthrough addresses a long-standing challenge in biology by allowing scientists to track subtle protein changes within living systems.
Researchers developed a computational tool to identify genetic vulnerabilities in memory-making brain cells linked to Alzheimer's. The 'seismic' algorithm integrates genetic data with single-cell RNA sequencing, revealing a detailed picture of affected cell types and their genetic programs.
Researchers link Jupiter's birth to the formation of chondrites, a family of stony meteorites that preserve clues about the solar system's origins. The study suggests that Jupiter's rapid early growth created gaps and rings that protected the separation between inner and outer solar system material.
Protein clumps associated with Parkinson's disease can actively break down ATP, draining brain cells of vital energy. Researchers discovered that these clumps transform into molecular machines when they bind to ATP, highlighting a new mechanism of damage.
Rebecca Richards-Kortum has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for her major contributions to global health. She created low-cost, lifesaving technologies for underserved communities, transforming health systems worldwide through her innovations in cervical cancer diagnostics and neonatal care technologies.
Han Xiao, a pioneer in medicinal chemistry, has been awarded the David W. Robertson Award for his contributions to therapeutic discovery. His research focuses on developing chemical tools to probe and manipulate biological systems, with a focus on cancer therapy.
MetaSeg achieves the same segmentation performance as U-Nets but requires 90% fewer parameters, making medical image segmentation more cost-effective. The new approach leverages implicit neural representations to quickly adjust to new images and decode accurate labels.
A research team led by Frank Geurts measured quark-gluon plasma temperatures at various stages of its evolution, providing critical insights into a state of matter believed to have existed just microseconds after the big bang. The study revealed two distinct average temperatures depending on the mass range of dielectron pairs, indicati...
Researchers at Rice University developed a new catalyst that reduces iridium needed in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers, maintaining industrial-level performance for over 1,500 hours. The innovation uses just one-sixth as much iridium as conventional systems, addressing a significant economic and supply chain bottleneck.
Geoffroy Hautier, a materials scientist at Rice University, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society for his groundbreaking research in high-throughput computational materials design and discovery. His work bridges quantum mechanics, computation, and artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of new materials...
Researchers developed a faster and cleaner method using flash Joule heating to extract high-purity lithium from spodumene ore. The technique achieved nearly instantaneous lithium extraction with 97% purity and 94% recovery, outperforming traditional methods.
The Chevron Energy Graduate Fellowships support research advancing low-carbon technologies and reducing emissions, with the 2025-26 cohort addressing pressing energy challenges in fields like storage, carbon capture and resilient infrastructure.
Researchers at Rice University have developed an eco-friendly technology to rapidly capture and destroy toxic PFAS in water, outperforming traditional methods. The new approach uses a layered double hydroxide material that can adsorb PFAS with record-breaking efficiency and be reused multiple times.
Lauren Stadler, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, has been awarded a $100,000 research prize to develop real-time biosensors that can detect pathogens, health biomarkers, and chemicals in wastewater. Her goal is to create a decentralized, continuous monitoring system that enables near-instan...
A new membrane developed by Rice University selectively filters out lithium from brines, achieving high selectivity and using considerably less energy. The membrane's design can be adapted for other valuable minerals like cobalt and nickel, and its durability makes it suitable for large-scale synthesis.
The Rice Laboratory for Emergent Magnetic Materials aims to investigate fundamental interactions of magnetism and its role in next-generation technologies. Researchers will focus on emergent phases of matter, including unconventional superconductivity and quantum magnetism.
Researchers at Rice University discovered that energy transfers faster between molecular sites when starting in an entangled state. This finding has implications for creating more efficient light-harvesting materials and understanding biochemical processes like photosynthesis.
Researchers create nanoscale slots to tune phonon vibrations, enabling ultrastrong coupling and hybrid quantum states in lead halide perovskite. This breakthrough could improve energy flow and performance in optoelectronics.
Icefish reorganized their skulls in ways that unlocked new feeding strategies and ecological opportunities. The team found that during times of climate instability, correlations among bones broke down, freeing key elements to evolve more rapidly.
A new gas-solid separation method promises cleaner and cheaper recycling of critical elements. The technique uses flash Joule heating to extract REEs in seconds without water or acids, achieving over 90% purity and yield for REE recovery.
A new test delivers results in under an hour without specialized lab equipment, enabling 'screen-and-treat' strategies to save countless lives. The portable, battery-operated device is projected to cost less than $8 each, making it ideal for low-resource settings.
A new study aims to develop more fair and transparent AI interview systems using psychological measurement principles. Researchers will examine bias at three levels: predictors, outcomes, and perceptions of job seekers.
A recent study led by Rice University anthropologist Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo challenges the long-held idea that Homo habilis was the first species to rise from being prey to predators. Using AI-powered analysis, his team discovered that early humans were still hunted by carnivores like leopards around 2 million years ago.
Elizabeth Roberto's research uses satellite imagery, historical archives, and AI to map how infrastructure decisions reinforce racial and economic divides. Her study spans 50 US cities and introduces new ways to measure spatial features of neighborhoods affecting access to schools and public resources.
Carrie Masiello, Rice University professor, has been elected an American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fellow for her groundbreaking work on global carbon cycling and climate solutions. Her research has led to the development of new tools to measure physical and chemical properties of the Earth.
Gordon's pioneering work revealed diffuse plate boundaries and true polar wander, advancing fundamental understanding of tectonic plates. He also developed widely used global plate motion models, including NUVEL and MORVEL.
Sylvia Dee, a Rice University climatologist, has been awarded the 2025 Nanne Weber Early Career Award from the American Geophysical Union. Dee's research focuses on paleoclimate and climate dynamics, with an emphasis on understanding how natural variability interacts with human-induced climate change.
Rice scientists developed a method to pattern device functions with submicron precision directly into an ultrathin crystal using focused electron beams. The approach created bright blue-light emitting traces that also conduct electricity, potentially enabling compact on-chip wiring and built-in light sources.
The CERCat consortium aims to improve the field of catastrophe modeling by uniting academic rigor with practical expertise, driving real-world solutions that enhance disaster resilience. The consortium is prioritizing projects on multihazard fragility curves, wildfire fragility curves, and AI-powered post-disaster damage assessment.
The project, designed by Juan José Castellón, represents a powerful model of interdisciplinary collaboration between Rice's School of Architecture and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The modular system collects and cleans rainwater through hollow ceramic structural columns and a lightweight canopy membrane.