Research

ANTHROPOLOGY - Teeth from an extinct monkey species are a clue to the ages of fossils of human ancestors throughout South Africa. A study from UO anthropologist Stephen Frost and a team of colleagues updates the proposed ages of key fossil sites in South Africa, sites that hold important clues to human evolution.

NEUROSCIENCE - The animal's sophisticated visual system could offer clues to brain evolution

ANTHROPOLOGY - Ever since the first human-controlled spacecraft escaped Earth’s gravity, people have been pushing toward permanent human life inhabiting planets beyond Earth. Some might say it's brand-new territory, but UO professor and Museum of Natural and Cultural History associate director Scott Fitzpatrick argues that humans have already faced similar great unknowns.

BIOLOGY - Gut microbes encourage specialized cells to prune back extra connections in brain circuits that control social behavior, new UO research in zebrafish shows. The pruning is essential for the development of normal social behavior.

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY - A University of Oregon chemist who is studying RNA structures that carry specific biological functions hopes to translate the findings into advances that will impact all of humanity, such as the COVID vaccine.

BIOLOGY - A new gene editing technique developed by UO researchers compresses what previously would have been years of work into just a few days, making new kinds of research possible in animal models.

The University of Oregon continued its multiyear streak of increasing grant funding in fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22). Numerous faculty members received recognition for their contributions to research, as well as the number of research awards with direct positive effects on local and regional communities.

PSYCHOLOGY - A new discipline in psychology at the University of Oregon is broadening the department’s inclusivity with three new dedicated faculty hires.

NEUROSCIENCE - As technology has improved, neuroscientists are now pushing the boundaries of traditional experiments and studying the brain in more naturalistic ways. UO neuroscientist Cris Niell is part of this growing movement. In two recent papers, his team has developed ways to study mouse vision that more realistically represent the way animals navigate the world beyond the lab.

GEOGRAPHY, INFOGRAPHICS - A new report out of a collaboration with the UO InfoGraphics Lab, the Wyoming Migration Initiative researchers and the Pew Charitable Trusts synthesizes the growing body of science regarding the migration of western North America’s populations of mule deer, elk, pronghorn, etc and identifies the most substantive threats to migrating wildlife.