Texas Scientist 2018
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THE TEXAS SCIENTIST ISSUE 5 • SPRING 2018 HOW MATH-DRIVEN MEDICINE CAN SAVE LIVES 2 SNAP! PYRAMID PATTERNS This otherworldly range of turquoise peaks is a close-up of fabric embroidered using algorithmic design and patterning. Created by Luisa Gil Fandino, a lecturer in The University of Texas at Austin’s Division of Textiles and Apparel, the process begins with programming a repetitive algorithm to create a recurring geometric motif. A pattern that will best hold the encoded structural shape is then designed and tested. Creation of the fi nal product includes hand folding, industrial steaming and chemical treatment of the fabric to preserve the pattern. Fandino’s process can be applied to woven, knit or embroidered textiles. 3 A digest of the people and groundbreaking discoveries that make the College of Natural CONTENTS Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin one of the most creative and interesting places on Earth. #discoverystartshere 4 6 EMULATING 7 QUANTUM 8 MICROBES SWAY 9 MANIPULATING STARS COMPUTING BEE-HAVIOR NEURONS 10 DAN LEAHY 12 TIME CRYSTALS 13 FISH LOVE CALLS 14 INSIDE 15 DETECTING BLACK HOLES CANCER 16 SCIENCE 18 LETICIA 20 VITAL STATISTICS VISUALIZED NOGUEIRA 24 SPACES AND 26 KAYLA 28 FRESH TAKE PLACES EBOREIME ON RESEARCH 30 CHIP McELROY 32 START WITH THE STUDENT 4 LETTER FROM THE DEAN Dear Friends, Editor Christine Sinatra To perceive the world as a mathematician or scientist is to see possibilities and intricacies Contributing Writers that others miss. Wonders are literally Vivian Abagiu, Marc Airhart, Steve Franklin, everywhere, from the inner workings of a Esther Robards-Forbes, Annie Zhang cell to the mysterious black holes swirling in distant galaxies. A wealth of new knowledge Design remains to be discovered, and here in The Texas Scientist, we introduce David Steadman, Jenna Luecke you to people who contribute to those discoveries – in the lab, in the classroom, and in a society that needs science and math to help solve Illustrations problems. Jenna Luecke Many solutions to crucial problems we face involve mathematics and Image credits: data science. If you’ve watched fi lms like The Big Short or Moneyball, PP. 2, 11, 15, 19, 24, 26–27, 32–33, 35: Vivian Abagiu. you have a sense for how acting on the recommendations of data PP. 5–6: Randy Montoya. experts and mathematicians can transform whole industries. In our P. 7: IBM. cover story, we meet leading thinkers here in the College of Natural P. 8: Alex Wild. Sciences who are solving core problems in health care by applying P. 12: E. Edwards/JQI. novel mathematical and statistical insights. P. 13: Octavio Aburto-Oropeza. P. 14: Mark A. Garlick/CfA. We also highlight here our college’s 21st Century education initiatives PP. 28–29: Yeom Jinseok. and the ways UT Austin is leading in providing transformative P. 30: Courtesy of Live Oak Brewing. experiences in STEM education. Our innovations here in CNS have P. 31: Tyler Malone. already made an impact in the lives of students and the communities P. 34: Brett Buchanan. our students return to after graduation. Email: [email protected] As always, what’s here provides only a glimpse of life in the college. For Phone: 512-471-4641 more, read our e-newsletter (sign up at cns.utexas.edu/alumni-friends). Subscribe to our Point of Discovery podcast. Engage with Texas Science Address correspondence to: on social media. And come to an event, like the annual Explore UT The Texas Scientist celebration the fi rst Saturday in March. 120 Inner Campus Dr. G2500 Austin, Texas 78712 I hope you enjoy the stories here and all that Texas Science has to off er. The Texas Scientist is a publication of the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Linda Hicke [email protected] 5 Peek at how Texas scientists are harnessing SCIENCE tomorrow’s technology and ideas for new discoveries IN MOTION 6 SCIENCE IN MOTION EMULATING STARS Traditionally, astrophysics has been a science of observations, not Go online for more on the team making experiments. How in the world (literally) can researchers conduct tests star stuff and how they inspired one involving celestial bodies hundreds of light years away, far hotter and artist’s recent work: txsci.net/emulatingstars denser than anything on our planet? It sounds impossible, but researchers in The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Astronomy conduct experiments that recreate the physical conditions of stars. To replicate the extreme temperatures and densities of plasma, the stuff inside stars, astronomers Don Winget and Mike Montgomery are leading a team that makes use of Sandia National Laboratories’ Z Machine, the world’s most powerful laboratory generator of X-rays. For just nanoseconds, The result is a tiny the X-ray energy chunk of a star. Electricity charges The gas is ionized Finally, the generated by massive capacitors, with lasers, further electricity fl ows the magnetically which store and then compressing pulses into a delicate imploded plasma is release charges in into fi ner spaces and array of tungsten far greater than all microseconds. The shorter increments wires clustered the energy released capacitors compress of time. together in a central by all the power the electricity into compartment the plants in the world. tight pulses, fl owing size of a spool of into containers thread. holding gas. 7 SCIENCE IN MOTION QUANTUM COMPUTING Take the principles of quantum mechanics. Add the imagination of computer scientists. What you get is a mind-bending technological advance called a quantum computer, with links, past and present, to the UT Austin campus. Setting a Foundation: UT Austin physicist John A. Wheeler assembled a group of graduate students and postdocs who made seminal contributions in the 1970s and 80s. Former Longhorns include David Deutsch, who cofounded the fi eld of quantum computation by describing mathematical principles for a universal quantum computer; Wojciech Zurek (PhD ’79), who cofounded the subfi eld of quantum- error correction; and Benjamin Schumacher (PhD ’90), who coined the term “qubit” for a component that processes and stores information in a quantum computer. Showing Supremacy: Scott Aaronson, professor of computer science and founder of a new UT Austin center dedicated to quantum informa- tion, develops tests that quantum computers have to pass to prove they’ve reached a key milestone called “quantum supremacy” – performing a task that would take astronomical amounts of time for a traditional computer. Taking a Test Drive: In a new research stream of the Freshman Research Initiative, undergraduates explore all aspects of quantum computing, from implementing algorithms to performing quantum- error corrections. They work with scientists doing experimental and theoretical work in quantum computing, quantum cryptography and quantum emulation (meaning using analog electronics to mimic the behavior of a quantum computer). Exploring Information: The Departments of Physics and Computer Science are currently recruiting additional faculty members who research quantum information. In addition to continuing his current work, Scott Aaronson plans to study the properties of machine learning algorithms designed specifi cally for quantum computers and to apply tools from quantum information theory to answer questions such as, What happens to information in a black hole? Listen to the podcast interview with our quantum computing expert: txsci.net/quantum-aaronson 8 SCIENCE IN MOTION MICROBES SWAY BEE-HAVIOR Bees injected with gut A complex community of thousands of knowledge to better understand the role of the bacteria that produces microbes live inside the digestive tracts microbiome in human health and behavior. L-DOPA are faster and of humans and other animals. To truly Recently her team has joined efforts with better at retaining understand our health, behavior and even our other UT labs, including that of molecular memories. ability to learn, we must fi rst understand this biosciences professor, Jeffrey Barrick, to gut microbiome inside our bodies. develop tools that allow them to genetically Nancy Moran, an integrative biology engineer the gut microbes in bees. professor, and her team have been studying In one project, the team infected bees the interactions of honeybees and their gut with bacteria that produced L-DOPA, which microbiome in the hopes of both protecting promotes dopamine, a chemical in the the future of the bees and applying this brain that can aff ect memory, emotions and movement. Afterwards, the bees were tested to see how fast they could associate a random smell with an experience, or duration of the association. Scientists could measure both based on observations of when the bees extended their stingers in experiments and what prompted them to do so. Moran and her team found that the bees with the L-DOPA- producing gut bacteria were faster and better at picking up associations and retaining memories. “We’ve been able to improve their learning with the dopamine- promoting gut bacteria,” Moran said. While Moran doesn’t expect any direct applications to humans, this finding highlights the dramatic impact that microbiomes have on a host’s health and performance. In addition, she said these new tools for genetic engineering of microbes might be used to protect honeybees from common pathogens, such as the deformed wing virus, that have contributed to the decline in bee populations in recent years. 9 SCIENCE IN MOTION Optogenetics in practice MANIPULATING Scientists use viruses to express foreign proteins in neurons of a living animal, so that the brain cells either sense or emit light. Light-sensing NEURONS relies on proteins called opsins. With a fl ash of light, neuroscientists can now turn individual brain cells on or off . They do The opsins are so using a set of tools, pioneered in part by inserted into UT Austin neuroscientist Boris Zemelman, specifi c brain called optogenetics.