Research Findings

Daniel Weix specializes in developing better ways of creating molecules with the goal of speeding up the discovery of useful compounds, including pharmaceuticals.

Rochester researchers have developed a new conceptual framework for understanding how stars similar to our Sun evolve. Their framework helps explain how the rotation of stars, their emission of x-rays, and the intensity of their stellar winds vary with time. According to Eric Blackman, professor of physics and astronomy, the work could also “ultimately help to determine the age of stars more precisely than is currently possible.”

Computer science graduate student Nabil Hossain and his collaborators have taught computers to analyze tweets about drinking to determine if people were actually drinking at the time they were tweeting and if they were tweeting from home or some other location.

David Cameron, a visiting scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has discovered a new comet – the first to be discovered by an astronomer associated with the University or with the Rochester area in over a century, his colleagues believe.

Polymers that visibly change shape when exposed to temperature changes are nothing new. But a research team led by chemical engineering professor Mitch Anthamatten has created a material that undergoes a shape change that can be triggered by body heat alone, opening the door for new medical and other applications.

“There’s an explosion of insect genome sequencing right now,” said Jack Werren, a professor of biology and a member of the research team. “But the bed bug is particularly interesting because it’s a human parasite, a major pest, and has a unique biology.”

A new study shows that values of social responsibility and caring for others decrease between the ages of 10 to 16. These decreases, however, are in concert with feelings of decreasing support from their parents, schools, and friends.

A research team led by chemistry professor William Jones has developed a series of reactions that results in the selective conversion of ethanol to butanol, without producing unwanted byproducts.

When most people think about pi, they associate the mathematical constant with arcs and circles. Mathematicians, however, are accustomed to seeing it in a variety of fields. But two University physicists were still surprised to find it lurking in a quantum mechanics formula for the energy states of the hydrogen atom.

Scientists have been studying curiosity since the 19th century, but combining techniques from several fields now makes it possible for the first time to study it with full scientific rigor, according to the authors of a new paper.