Quantcast

New Method Reveals How Businesses Can Run Better Experiments

Many companies today use experiments to gather the data that drives their strategies. That’s how Facebook knows whether a newsfeed change increased user engagement, or how a bank knows whether its new promotional strategy increased deposits.

Racial Demographics Influence School Choices for White, Asian and Latino Parents, Finds Study of NYC School Preferences

White, Asian and Latino parents in New York City all express strong racial/ethnic preferences in where to send their kids to high school, according to a study just published in Sociology of Education.

Latest News

Adapt the Frequency of COVID-19 Testing Depending on Transmission Rate and Community Immunity, Study Finds

Expanding rapid testing stands out as an affordable way to help mitigate risks associated with COVID-19 and emerging variants.

Giving Project Teams More Autonomy Boosts Productivity and Customer Satisfaction

Software development teams given the freedom to tackle their projects in whatever ways they choose are more productive and have more satisfied customers than teams that follow a central corporate standard, according to new research from The University of Texas at Austin.

Native Fish Population Predicted to Rise After Major Expansion of Texas Port

Researchers have predicted that expanding the Aransas Pass — the marine pass between Mustang Island and Saint Joseph Island, offshore from the town of Aransas Pass, Texas — would increase the native red drum fish population.

Hope for Present-Day Martian Groundwater Dries Up

Liquid water previously detected under Mars’ ice-covered south pole is probably just a dusty mirage, according to a new study of the red planet led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

Gentrification Changes the Personality Makeup of Cities in a Short Time

A study of almost 2 million U.S. residents across 199 cities shows that rising housing costs may drive increases in “openness” of character among residents of a city — all in well under a decade.

COVID Forecasting Method Using Hospital and Cellphone Data Proves It Can Reliably Guide US Cities Through Pandemic Threats

Using cellphone mobility data and COVID-19 hospital admissions data, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have reliably forecast regional hospital demands for almost two years, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Big Data Imaging Shows Rock’s Big Role in Channeling Earthquakes in Japan

Thanks to 20 years of seismic data processed through one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, scientists have created the first complete, 3D visualization of a mountain-size rock called the Kumano Pluton buried miles beneath the coast of southern Japan.

Elementary School Class Rank Predicts Student Outcomes, Economics Study Shows

Having a high class rank in third grade, independent of test scores and other measures of achievement, positively affects long-term life outcomes, according to a new study of millions of Texas elementary school students.

Weight Gain in Pregnancy May Be Linked to Later Growth Patterns in Daughters

Rapid weight gain in the first and final months of a pregnancy may play a key role in the development of excess fat tissue in children and adolescents – at least if those children are girls, according to a new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

Versatile ‘Nanocrystal Gel’ Could Enable Advances in Energy, Defense and Telecommunications

New applications in energy, defense and telecommunications could receive a boost after a team at The University of Texas at Austin created a new type of “nanocrystal gel” — a gel composed of tiny nanocrystals each 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair that are linked together into an organized network.

New Method Can Disarm Antibiotic Resistance in Deadly Bacteria

Scientists think they may have uncovered a whole new approach to fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which, if successful, would help address a health crisis responsible for more deaths every year than either AIDS or malaria.

Overlooked Channels Influence Water Flow and Flooding Along Gulf Coast

An unnoticed network of channels is cutting across the coastal plain landscape along the Gulf Coast and influencing how water flows, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin that could help predict flooding from major storms in the future.

Sustainable Groundwater Use Could be Answer to Africa’s Water Issues

Tapping into groundwater can help communities in Africa diversify their water supply and strengthen their drought defenses, according to a study led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin.

Gene Editing Gets Safer Thanks to Redesigned Protein

One of the grand challenges with using CRISPR-based gene editing on humans is that the molecular machinery sometimes makes changes to the wrong section of a host’s genome, creating the possibility that an attempt to repair a genetic mutation in one spot in the genome could accidentally create a dangerous new mutation in another.

New Type of Vaccines Could Help Against More Viral Illnesses

Some of the same researchers at The University of Texas at Austin who created a key to all coronavirus vaccines used in the U.S. have made a similar advance against the human metapneumovirus (hMPV), one of a handful of remaining respiratory viruses for which there is currently no vaccine.

Essential Workers Faced Higher Risk of Infection and Hospitalization During Pandemic Lockdown

Essential workers, low-income earners and people living in dense environments faced higher risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization, even amid COVID-19 shelter-in-place policies, according to a new study from public policy researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. The study, appearing in Plos One, showed that these individuals faced more challenges to comply with pandemic lockdowns.

Ancient El Niños Reveal Limits to Future Climate Projections

The climate pattern El Niño varies over time to such a degree that scientists will have difficulty detecting signs that it is getting stronger with global warming.

On Jupiter’s Moon Europa, ‘Chaos Terrains’ Could be Shuttling Oxygen to Ocean

Salt water within the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa could be transporting oxygen into an ice-covered ocean of liquid water where it could potentially help sustain alien life, according to a team of researchers led by The University of Texas at Austin.