In the News

How bird poo fuelled the rise of Peru’s powerful Chincha Kingdom

The Conversation • Feb 11, 2026

Our research combines iconography, historic written accounts, and the stable isotope analysis of archaeological maize (Zea mays) to show Indigenous communities in the Chincha Valley used seabird guano at least 800 years ago to fertilise crops and boost agricultural production.

A researcher’s effort to make edible cotton seeds

NPR/National Public Radio • Feb 10, 2026

If you look at a cotton seed, you'll see that it's covered in little black dots, and for 30 years, Keerti Rathore has been trying to make those dots disappear. Rathore is a professor of soil and crop sciences at Texas A&M University specializing in genetic modification. The black flecks are traces of gossypol, a toxin that makes cotton seeds inedible for most animals.

Sixth year of drought in Texas and Oklahoma leaves ranchers bracing for another harsh summer

The Conversation • Feb 9, 2026

In a recent study with colleagues at the Southern Regional Climate Center and the National Integrated Drought Information System, we assessed the causes and damage from the ongoing drought in the Southern Plains.

“This is exciting because this is the first animal model that affirms the long-standing theory that a virus can trigger permanent neurological damage or disease—like ALS—long after the infection itself occurred,” says Candice Brinkmeyer-Langford, a neurogenerative disease expert with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.

Why this US cold snap feels bone-shattering when it’s not record-shattering

The Associated Press • Feb 3, 2026

“People have forgotten just how cold it was in the 20th century,” Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler said.

"Given that we need to protect Texas and the U.S., I think it's definitely something that had to be done," Sonja Swiger, an entomologist at Texas A&M University, said on Monday.

But by failing to respond to larger criticisms, universities and colleges have become an easy target for critics of such things as their purported ideological leanings, said R. Ethan Braden, vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at Texas A&M University. “If you have a void in how you’re being understood, you have a choice,” said Braden: “You can either fill that void or someone else will fill it for you.”

Since 30-year mortgage rates and other key interest rates track the yield on 10-year treasury bonds, a selloff of treasuries could bring about higher monthly payments for home loans, Raymond Robertson, a professor of trade, economics and public policy at Texas A&M University, told ABC News. "It's a pretty big concern," Robertson said.

The study, led by researchers at Texas A&M University and published in Nature, could explain why many mental health conditions occur together, according to a press release.

Since July, the museum has had the Philadelphia partially cordoned off in a special conservation lab on the third floor of the East Wing. There, experts from the Smithsonian and Texas A&M are working with vacuums, brushes and dental tools to give it a state-of-the art cleaning and look for lost artifacts in areas they said have never been probed before. Visitors can watch the work through a large viewing window.