ANTHROPOLOGY - Early human ancestors used small hand-held stone tools to butcher animals and crush plants. At an archaeological site in present-day Kenya, researchers have unearthed some of the oldest examples of such so-called Oldowan tools, dating to 2.6 million to 3 million years ago.

The College of Arts and Sciences faculty are engaged in a great number of research projects across our three divisions, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities. Across our college’s more than 50 departments and programs, over $75 million in grant dollars are at work uncovering answers to some of the world’s most pressing questions.

EARTH SCIENCES - A better way to predict explosive volcanoes that would produce an ash cloud, also known as a volcanic plume, is the focus of an a UO researcher who recently won a National Science Foundation award.

BIOLOGY - UO scientists have uncovered new clues to the genetic basis for scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine.

ECONOMICS, PHYSICS - Two University of Oregon faculty members have been named 2022 fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), joining 508 other newly elected members whose work has distinguished them in the science community and beyond.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - Even a simple movement like pushing a button sends ripples of activity throughout networks of neurons spanning across the brain, new University of Oregon research shows.

PSYCHOLOGY - Psychology researchers at the University of Oregon think they are getting closer to knowing whether personality and morality can be used to predict whether people adopt prejudicial beliefs.

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY - There’s a new nanomaterial on the block. UO chemists have found a way to make carbon-based molecules with a unique structural feature: interlocking rings.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - The world’s top free divers can hold their breath for minutes at a time, embarking on extended underwater adventures without the aid of scuba equipment.

BIOLOGY - Marine plankton exist as the base of most ocean food webs that support and sustain valuable fisheries. Planktonic organisms remain understudied: researchers find them difficult to sample given that their sizes span from less than one micron to meters.