In the News
Texas measles cases drop, but state must stay vigilant to prevent resurgence, experts say
Houston Chronicle • May 14, 2025“It remains a tenuous situation,” said Rebecca Fischer, an assistant professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. “We can be quite hopeful, but much of measles transmission is up to personal choice and personal behaviors.”
Extreme heat will make it feel more like August than May for Texas, parts of southeastern US
The Associated Press • May 13, 2025This week’s extreme heat was predicted to have some Texas cities experiencing the longest string of triple-digit days they have ever had before in June, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist.
Texas farmers struggle as Mexico and U.S. wrestle with water from the Rio Grande treaty
NPR/National Public Radio • May 13, 2025Rosario Sanchez, a senior research scientist at Texas Water Resources Institute at Texas A&M University, said the state is looking for "predictability and reliability, which is what Mexico has not been able to do over the last 15 years or so."
A research team from Texas A&M University has partnered with Canopy Aerospace to develop and test a 3D-printed material that releases or "sweats" a coolant gas to protect spacecraft from the intense heat encountered when travelling back to Earth at high speeds.
"Common freshwater turtles typically begin mating between March and July," said Dr. Danielle Walkup, a research assistant professor at the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, in a Texas A&M AgriLife news release. "Later in the spring and early summer, they'll start moving and searching for a good nesting place."
Self-healing concrete uses synthetic lichen to repair cracks with air and sunlight
Interesting Engineering • May 8, 2025Led by Congrui Grace Jin, PhD, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, the team designed the innovative system that mimics the natural symbiosis found in lichens by using filamentous fungi and cyanobacteria, one of the oldest photosynthetic prokaryotes on the planet also known as blue-green algae.
Some of the blank sailings currently being recorded are happening because of economic uncertainty, says Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor of maritime business administration who studies port operations at the University of Texas A&M-Galveston. Firms and countries are “delaying until they know what the new rules of the game are. We are setting up the board, we are rolling the dice,” he says. “The rules have changed.” That means that, if deals are made, those goods can come back.
Seaweed surges on Texas coast prompt scientists to study reasons behind recent exponential growth
Houston Public Media • May 2, 2025Peter Morton, an associate research scientist with the Texas A&M Department of Oceanography, said sargassum — a specific type of seaweed — has long been native to the Atlantic Ocean, but has only recently begun to grow exponentially.
New wearable tech aims to transform PTSD care for veterans and first responders
KABB-TV • May 2, 2025Researchers from Texas A&M University College of Engineering are set to introduce a groundbreaking wearable device designed to aid veterans and first responders in managing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
If pronatalism led to more children and therefore more tolerance of children in public space, or even to child-friendly urban design, it could benefit kids. For example, child-centric neighborhoods where kids were able to “flow out their doors” and form “their own little society” would be both fun for kids and beneficial for them as adults by potentially making them more self-sufficient and able to advocate for themselves, Trent MacNamara, a history professor at Texas A&M University who has written about fertility rates, told me.