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KU sets all-time marks for freshman class size, overall enrollment
KU has its largest freshman class and its highest overall enrollment in history, according to annual data released today. The record-setting freshman class includes 5,323 new Jayhawks – an increase of 1.2% from last year’s class – while overall enrollment has grown 4.8% to 30,770 students.
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Wed, 09/25/2024
Research shows Asia — not Africa — played cradle to snake superfamily that includes cobras, mambas and many common pet species
Based on the fossil record, it’s been assumed that elapoid snakes, found worldwide, had their origins in Africa. But the new University of Kansas study appearing in Royal Society Open Science — which depends on broad genetic sampling as well as fossils — points instead to Asian origins for these snakes.
Mon, 09/23/2024
KGS to explore on-farm integration of solar energy, water management
Kansas Geological Survey scientists have been awarded nearly $900,000 in grants to spearhead the development of an innovative technology system that will leverage underused corners of farm fields to generate energy and collect water.
Mon, 09/09/2024
Species of giant fanged frog went unrecognized in Philippines because it was nearly identical to even larger species
Researchers from the University of Kansas have published findings in the journal Ichthyology & Herpetology describing a new species of fanged frog, named Limnonectes cassiopeia, from the Philippine island of Luzon.
Thu, 09/05/2024
Study of mosquito spit could lead to therapies for viruses like West Nile and yellow fever
With a new two-year grant of $250,000 per year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, Anita Saraf currently is analyzing samples of noninfectious mosquito saliva in the fight against “arboviruses” — viruses spread by arthropods like mosquitoes.
Wed, 09/04/2024
New book ‘Macroevolutionaries’ explores intersection of evolution, art and popular culture
University of Kansas paleontologist Bruce Lieberman co-wrote “Macroevolutionaries,” a collection of natural history essays, with fellow paleontologist Niles Eldredge in the tradition of their late Harvard mentor and famed science popularizer, Stephen Jay Gould.
Thu, 08/29/2024
KU researcher Victor Gonzalez receives two NSF grants to advance research on bees
The National Science Foundation has awarded two grants totaling more than $600,000 to a team led by KU scientists studying bees in North America and plant pollinators in tropical regions.
Thu, 08/29/2024
KU researchers to support sustainable manufacturing through joint Schmidt Sciences/Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research grant
University of Kansas scientists are playing leading roles in a real-life waste-to-treasure story poised to create a more sustainable future for humanity.
Wed, 08/21/2024
University of Kansas awarded $26 million for new Engineering Research Center from National Science Foundation
KU is the lead institution for a new National Science Foundation Gen-4 Engineering Research Center — Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH) — that will focus on developing sustainable refrigerants to address climate change. EARTH is led by Foundation Distinguished Professor Mark Shiflett in the Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at the KU School of Engineering.
Mon, 07/29/2024
KU paleontologist David Burnham resumes final excavation of the juvenile tyrannosaur
Paleontologists from the University of Kansas are back in Montana this summer for their final excavation of a rare dinosaur fossil: a juvenile tyrannosaur.
Fri, 07/19/2024
Research will establish best ‘managed retreat’ practices for communities faced with climate change disaster
A University of Kansas researcher is leading National Science Foundation-funded work to understand how managed retreat — where communities at risk from floods and fires relocate to safer areas — is approached across geographies, nations and cultures.
Wed, 07/10/2024
Researchers show promising material for solar energy gets its curious boost from entropy
In a study appearing in Advanced Materials, researchers in the lab of Wai-Lun Chan, associate professor of physics & astronomy at KU, have discovered a microscopic mechanism partly explaining the outstanding performance of new carbon-based organic solar cells.
Mon, 07/08/2024
KU Aerospace Engineering launches first CubeSat into orbit
A team of KU engineering students successfully launched a small satellite, called a CubeSat, aboard a NASA-sponsored Firefly Aerospace rocket. The university’s first satellite, known as “KUbeSat-1” reached orbit late in the evening July 3 when it was launched through NASA’s ELaNa 43 mission.
Wed, 06/12/2024
Researchers in US, Ukraine simulate cell activity at ‘breathtaking’ timescales
A partnership between scientists at KU and collaborators in Europe, including war-torn Ukraine, will result in computer models of biological cells likely to hasten health breakthroughs by simulating molecular interactions inside cells with near experimental accuracy at vastly longer timescales than similar efforts.
Fri, 06/07/2024
KU researcher Rafe Brown receives Fulbright Award to the Philippines
Rafe Brown, professor of ecology & evolutionary biology, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to travel to the Philippines to study biodiversity. Brown will spend a year in the Philippines conducting fieldwork to sample amphibians and reptiles. The research studies the biodiversity of a rare stretch of pristine tropical forest that extends from a volcanic peak to the sea.
Fri, 05/17/2024
Ancient arachnid from coal forests of America stands out for its spiny legs
A University of Kansas researcher has published a description of a spider with up-armored legs found in an Illinois fossil deposit that's 308 million years old. The ancient critter recently was described in a new paper published in the Journal of Paleontology
Tue, 04/30/2024
Researchers parse oddity of distantly related bats in Solomon Islands that appear identical
A study of body size in leaf-nosed bats of the Solomon Islands that involved evolutionary biologists from the University of Kansas — who collected specimens, conducted genetic analysis and co-wrote research in the journal Evolution — reveals surprising genetic diversity among nearly indistinguishable species on different islands.
Wed, 04/10/2024
Deforestation harms biodiversity of the Amazon’s perfume-loving orchid bees
A survey of orchid bees in the Brazilian Amazon state of Rondônia, carried out in the 1990s, is shedding new light the impact of deforestation on the scent-collecting pollinators, which some view as bellwethers of biodiversity in the neotropics.
Fri, 04/05/2024
KU Engineering professor wins NSF CAREER Award for water resources research
Research conducted by an assistant professor of civil, environmental & architectural engineering at the University of Kansas that examines how humans have and will affect natural water systems was awarded a five-year, $609,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
Tue, 03/12/2024
Rice paddy snake diversification was driven by geological and environmental factors in Thailand, molecular data suggests
A University of Kansas study of rice paddy snakes in Southeast Asia gives key details to their diversification and natural history, adding molecular evidence that the rise of the Khorat Plateau and subsequent environmental shifts in Thailand may have altered the course of the snakes’ evolution some 2.5 million years ago.
Mon, 03/11/2024
KU Department of Physics & Astronomy professor receives prestigious NSF award for black hole research
A prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation will help Department of Physics & Astronomy researcher Elisabeth Mills continue her groundbreaking research on supermassive black holes.
Fri, 03/08/2024
Department of Physics & Astronomy professor receives NSF CAREER Award for work on zinc-ion batteries
University of Kansas researcher from the Department of Physics & Astronomy has been chosen for a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation for his innovative work with zinc-ion batteries, a sustainable alternative to the more widely used lithium-ion batteries that currently are in everything from mobile phones to electric vehicles.
Thu, 02/22/2024
New NSF grant to fund water management data ecosystem in Kansas
The National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator has awarded $650,000 to a team led by KU scientists to develop a water data dashboard for local government officials and state government agencies.
Tue, 02/20/2024
Scientists may have cracked the ‘aging process’ in species
New research from the University of Kansas might resolve a mystery in the “aging process” in species — or, how a species’ risk of going extinct changes after that species appears on the scene.
Fri, 02/02/2024
Neptune-like exoplanets can be cloudy or clear — new findings suggest the reason why
A KU researcher has published findings in The Astrophysical Journal Letters showing new atmospheric detail in a set of 15 exoplanets similar to Neptune. While none could support humanity, a better understanding of their behavior might help us to understand why we don’t have a small Neptune, while most solar systems seem to feature a planet of this class.
Mon, 01/08/2024
Engineering professor receives DARPA grant for research on radar signal processing
A faculty member in the University of Kansas Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science recently received a prestigious grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to research more effective ways of using the radar spectrum.
Thu, 01/04/2024
Author makes case for data-driven language learning
Nina Vyatkina, professor of German and applied linguistics, is a believer in students directly using collections of word usage – corpora – to help them understand and gain fluency in their target language. The proven success of data-driven learning in acquiring the German language can be repeated with other languages and perhaps other fields, she says.
Tue, 12/19/2023
Research offers a reason why diversity in plant species causes higher farming yield, solving ‘a bit of a mystery’
A study appearing in Nature Communications based on field and greenhouse experiments at the University of Kansas shows how a boost in agricultural yield comes from planting diverse crops rather than just one plant species: Soil pathogens harmful to plants have a harder time thriving.
Tue, 09/13/2011
Article shows human genome testing has wide implications on American law
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