News

The psychology of why we overpay for used cars

Dylan Walsh — 10/23/2026 - 11:20am

Consumers routinely ignore information when making purchases. They overlook the tax attached to a price, skim past ingredient lists and often fail to process exact numbers with any precision.

This kind of inattention is well-documented. What is less well understood is how businesses exploit this behavior.

Asst. Prof. Andreas Kraft of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and University of Texas Prof. Raghunath Rao explored a specific form of inattention known as left-digit bias, which is among the most reliably documented quirks in consumer psychology. Their study, focused on the used-car market, suggests that dealerships systematically attract more inattentive buyers and profit handsomely as a result—and also that this bias could be hard to address with increased disclosure or transparency.

Consumers anchor heavily on the leftmost digit when they evaluate a number. Prices such as $1.99 or $1.90 exploit this tendency. Left-digit bias, and the fact that people possess it in varying degrees, creates a distinct dynamic in the used-car market.

Inattentive buyers at a dealership see a car with 49,800 miles and mentally register something closer to 40,000 miles. That misperception inflates both what they think the car is worth and what they think they would pay for an equivalent car in the private market, the researchers explain.

Their study analyzed prices and odometer readings in every title submission to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles between 2014 and 2021—a dataset that captured roughly 10% of all vehicle transactions in the United States during this period. Inattentive buyers tend to purchase used cars from dealerships rather than private sellers, according to the researchers, who add that dealers are generally more aware of left-digit bias and able to capitalize on it.

Dealerships always command a premium over private markets but charge even more for cars near favorable mileage thresholds. To inattentive buyers, those prices can still appear attractive because they perceive the car as having lower mileage than it really does and therefore overestimate what a comparable car would cost elsewhere.

Attentive buyers, by contrast, more accurately determine what a 49,800-mile car should cost, recognize the dealership premium, and go elsewhere. Kraft and Rao find that dealership customers, based on the prices they paid, were about twice as inattentive to exact mileage as customers who shopped in the private market.

This sorting mechanism has clear financial consequences.

In a process the researchers call “behavioral skimming,” dealerships charged significantly more for vehicles with odometer readings just below a 10,000-mile threshold than for comparable cars just above. Kraft and Rao find the difference in profit ranged from roughly $46 to $168 per vehicle across the various thresholds, with the sharpest effects between 60,000 and 100,000 miles, where the bulk of dealership transactions occurred.

How dealerships profit from left-digit bias

For the 14 cutoffs they examined between the intervals of 10,000 and 140,000, the average profit on vehicles 1,000 miles below the threshold was nearly 11% higher than profit on vehicles 1,000 miles above the threshold.

And while raising prices reduces sales volume in most markets, the opposite occurred in this setting. Because the elevated price attracted a pool of inattentive buyers willing to pay, dealerships bid more aggressively on the supply side.

Vehicles with odometer readings just below a 10,000-mile threshold were up to 4% more likely to be sold through a dealership than in the private market. They also sold faster. Cars just below 90,000 miles spent about two fewer days on the lot than those just above, translating to 6% less time in inventory. These lower inventory costs on top of higher margins compounded the benefits.

Competition between dealers didn’t erode this advantage, as standard economic models suggest it should. Conversely, the researchers find, inattention among dealership customers was actually 40% higher in the most competitive markets (as measured by inventory levels) compared with the least competitive markets.

The researchers argue this is because attentive and inattentive buyers essentially create separate markets, while competitive markets make dealership customers even less attentive. More competition ends up making consumers worse off overall.

These results hold troubling implications for disclosure requirements and pricing transparency. Policies that center on these mechanisms assume consumers will respond logically to the cut-and-dry nature of numbers, but many people only skim what’s in front of them. Disclosing the exact odometer reading in big print doesn’t help a buyer who’s going to anchor on the leftmost digit.

A subtler but equally significant policy implication is that estimates of consumer inattention drawn from one segment of the market may misrepresent the population as a whole.

Because inattentive consumers tend to make dealership transactions, a researcher studying only private sales would underestimate inattention among buyers overall; a researcher studying only dealership sales would overestimate it.

—This article was originally published on the Chicago Booth Review website

New UChicago-built tools predict how cancer responds to treatment by studying ‘floor plans’ of tumors

Matt Wood — 10/22/2026 - 09:17am

A new research study from the University of Chicago could help fight cancer by applying lessons scientists have learned from other complex systems, from flocks of birds to communities of microbes.

The result is a new set of AI-powered tools that could someday allow clinicians to sift through huge amounts of data to quickly analyze the structure and organization of a tumor. This would allow them to determine how it will respond to different treatments—a big step toward the goal of personalized medicine.

Arjun Raman, assistant professor of pathology at UChicago and senior author of the new paper published in Cell Reports Medicine, is a systems biologist who studies how complex systems like microbiomes and protein networks behave in the natural world. By learning the rules that helped these systems grow and evolve, one can then develop theories and tools to understand and predict how other systems change under similar conditions.

In the case of the tumor microenvironment, cells interact and organize themselves in complex ways that shape the overall activity of the tumor. Raman compared trying to understand this behavior to studying birds, which behave differently as individuals than as in a collective flock.

“Here, instead of birds, we have cells, and instead of the flock, we have the whole tumor biopsy,” he said. “What we found out was we could describe tumors not as a composition of a whole bunch of cells, but like a flock of birds, where all the cells talk to each other and then create these subunits, and then subunits interact with each other to create meta subunits—and so on and so forth, until you get the whole biopsy sample.”

Raman and his colleagues applied these same principles with spatial transcriptomics, a powerful tool to create a detailed map of not just how genes are expressed in a piece of tissue, but also where genetic activity takes place in different cells and locations within the tissue.

This is especially valuable for studying tumors, which each have their own unique microenvironment that affects how they behave.

Given the massive amount of data involved, however, it has been difficult to compare these data from different tumor microenvironments to spot similarities or predict how a given tumor might develop based on its composition.

Until now, that is. Raman and his team studied spatial transcriptomic data that has been published on 262 solid tumors and then developed statistical formulas to describe how tumor cells and their genetic activity are organized within the microenvironment.

To use another analogy, it’s like they created a detailed floor plan of a home for each tumor. Some cells and their genes cluster in one “room,” and some cells and genes gather in others. The researchers call these rooms “spatial groups.”

Comparing floor plans

These floor plans provided a kind of common language, with measurable dimensions that Raman and his team could now use to compare tumors using new AI tools.

“Before this, there was no way to compare two floor plans. There is so much data in each one that there was no clean way of saying this is what's similar versus this is what's different,” he said. “Now we have the tools to evaluate how far floor plan one is from floor plan two. You can calculate a distance metric between them and see how similar they are.”

The ability to compare becomes important to cancer treatment if physicians know that a tumor with floor plan one responds well to a treatment, but floor plan two does not. Raman tested this out by working with lung cancer specialist Marina Garassino, a UChicago professor of medicine. Garassino’s lab provided 16 tumor samples from patients with non-small cell lung cancer, along with clinical data about how they responded to immunotherapy.

Raman’s team was able to analyze data from these and more than 200 other tumors and found that tumors generally share a stereotyped, hierarchical structure made of the spatial groups. They then were able to compare tumors to each other, not at the level of their cell populations or genes, but at the level of spatial groups—a description that considered how different tumors were from the perspective of their spatial biology.

Doing this allowed the team to make a comparative “latent space,” a strategy used in AI frameworks where objects are placed close or far away based on their statistical similarity. This type of description ended up correctly predicting which non-small cell lung cancer patients ultimately went on to respond to immunotherapy better than the current standard-of-care biomarker.

Raman believes these tools can work with any type of tumor, and he is now collaborating with Kunle Odunsi, the AbbVie Foundation Distinguished Service Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, dean for oncology, and director of the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, to study ovarian cancer tumors and their response to chemotherapy.

In the future, Raman wants to use the same methods to generate synthetic spatial classes, a sort of canonical template of different types of tumors that other researchers can use to compare against their own samples.

“The real promise of AI is that you can do things that humans can't do. It’s not image generation or writing code and text. It's actually using it to do things that push the frontier forward,” he said.

In April 2027, UChicago Medicine will open the AbbVie Foundation Cancer Pavilion, the state’s first freestanding cancer pavilion. Research such as Raman’s will help bring cutting-edge genetic analysis and AI tools from the lab to the clinic, where physicians can someday use precision diagnostics to guide innovative treatments for patients.

“As an oncologist, you will be greatly empowered with tools like this. You could have a person who comes in with their unicorn of a tumor. You then perform profiling on it, put the data into the comparative space, and within a few hours you can see if they should or should not get regimen X,” Raman said.

“That would be the dream one day, where you have precision oncology that isn't just a promise, but is manifest as an intersection of computational theory, medicine and biology.”

The study, “Pan-tumor spatial transcriptomics reveals conserved properties of tumor organization,” was supported by the Duchossois Family Institute, the Department of Pathology, the Center for the Physics of Evolving Systems at UChicago and the National Institutes of Health. Additional authors include Vivek Behera, Alexander Guzzetta, Hannah Giba, Ue-Yu Pen, Anna Di Lello, Bipul Pandey, Benjamin A. Doran, Alessandra Esposito, Apameh Pezeshk, Aliya Husain, Christine M. Bestvina and Justin Kline from UChicago.

—This article originally appeared on the Biological Sciences Division website.

Prof. Matthew Tirrell elected to the National Academy of Medicine

10/20/2026 - 09:44am

Matthew Tirrell, the D. Gale Johnson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for pioneering the design and synthesis of self-assembling polymers to deliver peptide, protein and nucleotide drugs in cardiovascular disease, cancer, infection and vaccination.

Election to the National Academy of Medicine is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Academy membership recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service, and who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health.

With this election, Tirrell becomes a member of all three National Academies, a distinction held by fewer than 30 people in history. Tirrell was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2019.

“Matt has long shown that a deep understanding of how molecules organize themselves can be turned into real solutions for patients,” said Stuart Rowan, interim dean of UChicago Pritzker Molecular Engineering. “This honor reflects the remarkable reach of his science, from fundamental polymer physics to medicine.”

In its citation, the Academy noted that Tirrell developed the fundamentals of self-assembly and skillfully applied them to solve key problems in medicine through delivery targeted at the subcellular, cellular and tissue levels.

His research combines precise measurements of intermolecular forces with the creation of new structures, yielding insight into polymer surface phenomena such as adhesion, friction and biocompatibility, and producing new materials based on the self-assembly of synthetic and bioinspired molecules. Some of his recent work includes polyelectrolyte complex micelles and other biomedical nanoparticles designed to carry therapeutic cargo to specific targets.

Tirrell led the University's molecular engineering program from its inception in 2011, first as founding Pritzker Director of the Institute for Molecular Engineering and, after it became the nation's first school dedicated to the field, as founding dean of UChicago Pritzker Molecular Engineering from 2019 through 2023.

Among his other honors are the Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

—Adapted from an article published by the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

Distrust in the media and courts can cause democratic backsliding, UChicago study suggests

Sarah Steimer — 10/20/2026 - 09:39am

Democratic backsliding can be tricky to spot.

That’s why most citizens rely on researchers, reporters and other third-party oversight bodies to detect and raise awareness of actions that subvert democracy. While these groups shine a crucial spotlight on government actions, what happens when those directing the light are distrusted?

A new study published in Political Science Research & Methods, finds that when an oversight body is contested, individuals may doubt the intent behind the criticisms, thus potentially allowing for democratic backsliding.

Political scientists Assoc. Prof. Robert Gulotty and Asst. Prof. Zhaotian Luo at the University of Chicago wanted to explore why it appeared that warnings from oversight bodies did not always spur corrective actions. To explore the issue, the researchers created a game theory model with three players: citizens, incumbents and oversight bodies. In this model of electoral accountability, a citizen may remove the backsliding incumbent, thus deterring actions that subvert democracy.

Then, the team introduced the element of uncertainty. What counts as backsliding?

When citizens hear of a controversy, they must still decide whether there are sufficient grounds to act. The choice becomes more difficult when controversial policy choices or rhetoric are ambiguous—is it subversive and worthy of removal, or non-subversive and excusable?

“A non-subversive action is not actually harming the citizen, but at the same time, it is not as distinguishable as the clean action,” Luo explained. “It's an action in the gray area.”

The model emphasizes two ways that backsliding may not be obvious.

The first is backsliding by stealth: A power grab may go unnoticed and corruption can go undetected, until it is. For example, President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, which led to his removal.

The second form of nonobvious backsliding is under the cover of an excuse: Citizens must be alerted to suspicious behavior, and also believe that accusations are accurate. The latter is a difficult task both because institutional degradation can be hard to evaluate, but also because individuals may distrust the oversight group issuing the criticism.

In other words, politicians’ claims of “fake news” may cause people not to act.

When oversight is contested by the incumbent, voters use this criticism to decide whether the oversight body is malicious. This creates a strategic dilemma for groups that hold politicians accountable, like the media or courts, in deciding how or when to alert citizens of particular behaviors.

According to Gulotty, more responsible oversight bodies tend to be more cautious when criticizing incumbent politicians to maintain credibility. This creates a problem.

“If you're a citizen or a voter, and you're hearing criticism, who is likely to send that kind of signal? The kind of oversight that's out to get the president,” Gulotty said. “So, you end up learning more about the fact that these guys are out to get [the incumbent] than you learn about the criticism itself. We call that the fake news effect.”

Cautious criticism

In the paper, the researchers distinguish cases of effective and ineffective oversight by the effects it has on incumbent behavior, voter learning and the type of backsliding that occurs.

When oversight is effective, criticism guarantees removal, thus deterring actions that can be mistaken for subversion. When oversight is ineffective, however, warnings to citizens are ignored, the incumbent is undisciplined, and the incumbent takes actions that can be mistaken for subversion.

The breakdown is caused by the dual demands on oversight: Accountability groups must decide whether an action is a grab for power, and also act in a way that ensures its criticisms are believed.

From a citizen perspective, criticism is proportionally more likely to come from a malicious oversight body. Therefore, a responsible, non-malicious oversight body might act cautiously and require stronger evidence of subversion before issuing criticism.

But caution also has a downside.

Together, the caution and fake news effects turn the oversight body against itself. In an effort to adjust to avoid raising false alarms, any criticism can sound like a witch-hunt.

Ideally, citizens hold incumbents accountable for backsliding behaviors identified by oversight bodies. But when politicians engage in actions which, while not subversive, are possibly confused as such, research suggests that backsliding is difficult to deter or correct.

According to Gulotty and Luo, the study underscores the limitations of formal or legal constraints on power, and the threat posed to democratic institutions when oversight bodies' ability to operate is threatened.

—A version of this story was originally published by the UChicago Department of Political Science.

Arts & Humanities Day returns to reconsider familiar stories and America’s legacy at 250

Jina Jeon — 10/19/2026 - 12:41pm

The University of Chicago, in partnership with Chicago Humanities, will welcome audiences from across the region and beyond to its annual Arts & Humanities Day event on Nov. 7.

Now in its 46th year, the event brings scholars, writers and audiences in conversation on the University’s Hyde Park campus. The full day of programming offers an array of visiting luminaries in dialogue with UChicago faculty, in addition to lectures, guided tours and exhibitions.

Highlights of Arts & Humanities Day 2026 include Jesmyn Ward, two-time winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, in conversation with UChicago novelist Stephanie Soileau; Pulitzer Prize winners Hilton Als and David Hume Kennerly; and NPR’s Peter Sagal will moderate two sessions with law, history and English faculty on America’s 250th anniversary, one on democratic erosion and the other on the legacy of the Declaration of Independence.

Free talks led by UChicago faculty offer a closer look at early Black film, Christopher Nolan’s recent adaptation of The Odyssey and why we turn away from human suffering.

A closing musical performance at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel will feature rare solo performances by the critically acclaimed harpist Mary Lattimore and the influential songwriter Haley Heynderickx.

Arts & Humanities Day 2026 features more than two dozen events, both paid and free.

Arts & Humanities Day 2026 At a Glance

“The day offers a vivid expression of what the humanities make possible: the chance to encounter exhilarating ideas, ask big questions, and see the world made new, in all its beauty and difficulty,” said Deborah L. Nelson, dean of the Arts & Humanities. “It has been a joy to welcome so many people to be part of these conversations.”

Last year, more than 4,000 people attended Arts & Humanities with explorations that ranged from the gender politics of Taylor Swift to the cultural history of Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery to a closing performance by the actor Nick Offerman in a sold-out Rockefeller Chapel.

“Chicago Humanities is thrilled to be partnering once again with the Arts & Humanities Division at the University of Chicago,” said Michael Green, co-creative director of Chicago Humanities Festival. “The day will feature a range of conversations and performances that help think critically about our world, make meaning together and find joy in creative expression.”

Learn more about the programs led by UChicago faculty experts. Events are free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Black Love and the Birth of American Cinema

Allyson Nadia Field, Professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies and the College | 12:30 p.m., Ida Noyes Hall | Register

In her book, Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss That Changed Film History, Allyson Nadia Field begins with an extraordinary archival discovery: an 1898 film featuring Black American performers Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown sharing a kiss.

Rather than using a kiss between Black characters as a caricature or joke, the kiss is sincere and affectionate. Its rediscovery more than a century later raises questions about the purpose of film and the politics of preserving them.

“This is a story that not only speaks to film historians but asks broader questions of race, performance, mass culture, and the way old media can be made new again through digital means,” said Field.

Why We Look Away

Benjamin Saltzman, Deputy Dean of the Arts & Humanities and Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature | 3 p.m., Ida Noyes Hall | Register

What makes us turn away from human suffering? In Turning Away: The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture, published by University of Chicago Press, Benjamin Saltzman traces the meanings of a familiar yet enigmatic gesture across art history, literature, philosophy, performance, classics and religion.

He asks the reader not to condemn the impulse to turn away but to examine why we retreat at all.

“[Turning away] is a gesture deeply embedded in the experience of being human,” Saltzman writes in the book’s prologue. “It is how we think and question, how we grieve and show respect, how we respond to others and fall into moral distress, how we fear, how we go mad.”

The Odyssey and Adaptation: Reverence or Relevance?

Emily Austin, Sarah Nooter, and Patrice Rankine, Professors in the Department of Classics | 5:30 p.m., Ida Noyes Hall | Register

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey has brought renewed attention to Homer’s epic and enduring questions about war, identity, desire and homecoming. Professors Emily Austin, Sarah Nooter, and Patrice Rankine will consider how adaptations help audiences encounter ancient stories anew. Their dialogue centers on how Nolan’s cinematic adaptation enhances our engagement with the epic, revealing the enduring significance of classical studies.

“A Greek poem like the Odyssey has something to offer everyone,” said Rankine. “Have you ever been at a difficult crossroad in your life and not known which way to go? Penelope is your woman. Do you wonder how you might be regarded by someone you admire? Telemachus is your young counterpart. Ever been in love? Ever been in lust? Odysseus is your man. And of course, I can ask if you’ve ever been lost, wondered where home is, or if you’ll ever get back to a state of life you found utterly satisfying. The poem addresses all of these things, as many of the classics do.”

—A version of this story was originally published by the Division of Arts & Humanities.

New study abroad program takes student across Sydney to observe Australia’s multilayered history

Sarah Steimer — 10/19/2026 - 09:28am

Direct observation is an important component of social science research. However, students often lack the opportunity to develop this crucial skill in a traditional classroom setting.

Getting students ‘out in the field’ to ‘explore and observe’ was the main goal behind the inaugural Sydney study abroad program designed by Christopher Kindell, assistant instructional professor in the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization and an affiliate faculty member of Department of History.

From Aug. 22 through Sept. 12, Kindell led 16 students through Sydney, Australia, with assignments that included field notes, site reflections and course expansion proposals.

“Syndey has a very complicated and contested history,” Kindell said. “But I have found that in Australia, they're not necessarily afraid to show that through museums, architecture and exhibits. I found upwards of 20 different places that would be potential site visits for this class.”

In “Sydney: Colonization, Health, and the Environments students explored the period between the First Fleet’s arrival in 1788—when British ships brought colonial officials, settlers and convicts to mainland Australia—and the Australian Federation in 1901 that made it a united nation. The goal was to explore how encounters among Aboriginal Australians, British convicts, colonial officials, free settlers and migrant laborers altered the social, environmental and urban fabric of Sydney.

“By the end of the course, I found myself looking at places differently and asking not only what I was seeing, but how they came to look that way in the first place,” said Sebina Avdic, a rising fourth-year BA/MA, majoring in psychology and completing the MAPSS program.

Trekking through history

The first week of the course focused on Sydney’s birth as a colonial seaport.

The texts and site visits explored how settlers reacted to their new environments, setting up ways to sustain themselves, alongside the violence perpetrated against Aboriginal Australians. To understand the role of convict labor in establishing the region as a British imperial outpost, students took an overnight trip to Cockatoo Island in the middle of Sydney Harbor. The site was originally used by Aboriginals for ceremonial practices, then by the British government to imprison reoffending criminals. Later, Cockatoo served as an industrial school and reformatory for girls, a British naval shipbuilding facility, and, today, as a tourist destination.

The second week focused on the relationship between urban development and rural expansion. Sydney exploded in size and population in the mid-19th century, and many of the materials for expansion—wood and stone, for example—had to be transported from Sydney’s hinterlands.

Students traveled to the Blue Mountains to gain a sense of such sourcing treks. To better grasp how land changes as a city develops, they visited public parks, many of which were previously used as agricultural facilities and horse race tracks. Students also visited the Rocks, once the home of early freed convicts, and Elizabeth Farm, a historic estate of wool pioneers.

The third week dove into the late 19th century and how the government managed the fast-growing city and engaged with the rest of the world. They visited Sydney Hospital, historically known as the Rum Hospital, the first major hospital in Australia. They also spent time at Q Station, originally a quarantine station, now a hotel and heritage site. These sites mark the rise of Sydney’s public health and medical professions, where Kindell integrated his expertise in the history of infectious diseases and the environment.

“This is one of the first opportunities that I've had to meld my teaching interests and my research interests into one composite class,” Kindell said. “Students can physically see, when we're talking about British convict labor, what solitary confinement actually looked like by going to Cockatoo Island. We can see how a city managed food shortages because they have giant underground granaries.”

Taking field notes

Throughout the course, students kept a handwritten field notes journal to connect their observations to their readings. Kindell assigned a historical fiction book review, meant to encourage students to consider the differing perspectives of a place that has a contested history. And for their final project, students wrote and presented independent site proposals, pitching them to the class as potential future course additions.

Avdic focused her site proposal on Sydney Park.

“As I walked through its wetlands, the landscape initially appeared completely natural,” she recalls. “I later learned that much of what I was seeing was actually the result of deliberate restoration efforts, including engineered wetlands and stormwater management. It felt like a fitting way to wrap up the course because it brought me back to one of the ideas we had encountered throughout the trip: The environments we see today are often the product of layers of human intervention and change.”

The final independent site research and proposal, Kindell says, was the highlight of student work, crediting the high levels of engagement to giving students a stake in future iterations of the class. He’s also pleased with how adept the students became at navigating Sydney’s public transit systems, often traveling to their sites by bus, train or ferry.

“I expected to have my ‘student life’ and ‘tourist life’ in Sydney very separate, but they ended up blending together and in such a wonderful, enriching way,” said Hannah Park, a third-year public policy and human development major. “Getting to actively visit and immerse ourselves in the sites from our course readings made discussions and doing assignments all the more enjoyable to engage in.”

Future iterations of the Sydney course will incorporate some of the student proposals, along with select sites and assignments from this year’s course. Overall, those in attendance consider the inaugural trip to be a success.

Kindell says it was “the best teaching experience I've ever had.”

Though his teaching focuses on regions outside the U.S., Kindell says the trip has helped him recognize that he can still use Chicago as a site of exploration.

“Sydney loves its heritage,” he said. “They love talking about it, and it is embodied in so many different physical locations around the city. Chicago is similar in many ways. Heritage would be a great theme to explore in experiential learning classes in a city like Chicago.”

—This article originally appeared on the UChicago College website.

Mourning in Colombia, delivery routes in Chengdu: UChicagoans recount discoveries abroad

Peter Kujawinski — 10/15/2026 - 09:07am

Editor’s note: This story is part of Dispatches from Abroad, a series highlighting UChicago community members who are researching, studying and working around the world.

As University of Chicago students and faculty dig into Autumn Quarter, we’re looking back at some of their recent global research. The dispatches below take us from a UNESCO World Heritage site in South Africa to China’s fourth-largest city and Colombia’s waterways.

Studying ancient human ancestors in South Africa

For two weeks this summer, Madeleine Kelly, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, worked at the Kromdraai site in South Africa. Kromdraai is a fossil-bearing cave within the Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage site, in Gauteng Province near Pretoria.

Kelly is part of the Darwinian Sciences cluster in the Biological Sciences Division. Her thesis focuses on “understanding the environmental context that our early ancestors evolved in,” she said.

“I primarily look at fossils from around 2 million years ago, trying to understand how to reconstruct what those environments were like and how do these different sorts of complementary proxies for the environment either agree or disagree with each other,” Kelly said. “Basically I’m asking, how do we know what we know about the past?”

Her dissertation fieldwork has taken her mainly to eastern Africa, particularly in northern Kenya on the border with Ethiopia. The opportunity to visit Kromdraai in South Africa was an excellent contrast.

“The geology in eastern Africa is super well characterized and simpler to understand, versus southern Africa, where the relevant fossil sites for human evolution are all caves—and cave geology is way more complicated,” she said.

Kelly’s time at Kromdraai overlapped with a field school comprised of undergraduate and master’s students, and she enjoyed chatting with them about their career interests and helping them with the intricacies of fossil identification. Kelly’s visit to Kromdraai was facilitated by her advisor, Prof. Zeray Alemseged, who also was doing research at the site.

Kelly is nearing the end of her Ph.D. work and plans to defend her thesis in January. Her time at Kromdraai helped crystalize her desire to pursue a research career, one that investigates the broad circumstances of what was happening on the African continent 2 million years ago.

“Much of what we understand about South Africa and the fossil record there is conditioned on things that we know from eastern Africa, and that assumption deserves to be tested,” Kelly said. “Something that would be really interesting going forward is pursuing broader scale comparisons and comparing fossils from the same species from these two places.”

Tracing the food delivery economy of a Chinese megacity

This summer, fourth-year economics Ph.D. student Haoyang (Stan) Xie spent time researching the sprawling ecosystem of food delivery in the Chinese city of Chengdu,. His work there, conducted together with Chicago Booth School of Business Ph.D. student Zhen Yuan, was made possible by UChicago Global’s Ph.D. student travel grants.

In Chengdu—China’s fourth largest city and the capital of southwestern Sichuan Province—food delivery in recent years has seen astronomical growth, making drivers ubiquitous on the streets.

Xie conducted fieldwork to better understand “the everyday behaviors, constraints and decision-making processes of food delivery workers and their station managers,” he said. “Through time spent in the field, I was able to observe how riders respond to platform incentives, delivery deadlines, route familiarity, order bundling, fatigue and managerial practices.”

Xie chose to research food delivery because it’s a crucial sector that affects all Chengdu residents. It also provides employment opportunities to people who may have had trouble finding other jobs. Delivery in Chengdu is “incredibly fast and efficient,” Xie said, but it has also led to significant increases in traffic accidents, raising concerns about safety.

In his research in Chengdu, Xie focused on delivery drivers, their managers, and the traffic-safety and regulatory environment surrounding their work. He sought to better understand how delivery work is organized and managed and drilled deeper into the process by which orders come in and are delivered across the city.

Xie’s research in Chengdu will form the basis of his doctoral thesis, along with other data and surveys. The goal, he said, is to “develop a richer risk profile of delivery workers and to begin formulating platform governance recommendations aimed at improving safety without ignoring the operational realities of delivery work.”

Documenting grief in Colombia’s countryside

This past summer, anthropology Ph.D. student Lorenzo Granada completed extensive fieldwork researching mourning practices among displaced peasant communities in the wake of state violence and militarization in Colombia. Granada was born and raised in Colombia and spent the last three years conducting research on his doctoral thesis.

Granada’s ethnographic work was concentrated in Puerto Berrío, a small port-town along Colombia’s Magdalena River, as well as Barbacoas, a lagoon located further north downstream. There, he lived with peasants who had been forcibly displaced from small rural plots and whose way of life had become severely undermined by the expansion of agribusiness projects and state-led violence in the region during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

During this period, counter-insurgency paramilitary groups such as the AUC allied with government military forces and led a campaign of extermination of “internal enemies” throughout the country. The rivers were not only fought over but were used to dispose of the bodies of victims as well as to occlude evidence of massacres, turning the Magdalena River into what many called the largest graveyard of the nation.

In Puerto Berrío, Granada worked at a cemetery along the river that received the bodies of victims, many of whom had been made nameless. There, he learned from mothers who dedicated their lives to mourn and seek the missing dead as a response to increasing state violence. This past summer was the culmination of his years-long research into the ethical and political challenge of mourning in a world in which “the boundaries between what is a graveyard and what is not become increasingly untenable.”

Russell Tuttle, renowned scholar of human evolution, 1939-2026

Sarah Steimer — 10/14/2026 - 01:17pm

Prof. Russell Tuttle, a preeminent University of Chicago scholar of hominid evolution, morphology and function, died Sept. 18 at age 87.

Tuttle’s paleoanthropological, anatomical, and primatological research fundamentally changed multiple fields in the study of human evolution. He explored the mechanics, functions, and anatomy of hominoid locomotion and grasping, was the first to use electromyography to analyze muscle function in primates, and conducted groundbreaking analysis of the famous Laetoli footprint in Tanzania.

Remembered for his inclusivity and dedication to truth and known as a firm believer in human potential, Tuttle was also a beloved teacher, mentor and professor of Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, and History of Science and Medicine, spending six decades at the University.

“All who interacted with him knew Professor Tuttle as honest and straightforward,” recalled Prof. Constantine V. Nakassis, chair of the Department of Anthropology. “He would always speak out about what he thought was wrong, championed what he thought was right, and worked to make paleoanthropology and primatology more inclusive fields.”

‘I’m a stickler for the truth’

Tuttle was born in Marion, Ohio, in 1939, eventually attending a branch campus of Ohio State University on his path to becoming a physical anthropologist. He earned his master’s degree at Ohio State’s main campus and completed his Ph.D. in just two years at the University of Berkeley in 1965.

His early-career work in Orange Park, Florida—then one of the largest chimpanzee research operations—set the tone for his scientific practice. There, his study of chimpanzee toe curvature, a feature ideal for climbing, challenged long-held assumptions. As he would say in a 2024 interview upon his retirement from UChicago: “I'm a stickler for truth.”

“His readiness to challenge established interpretations was very much in keeping with his character,” said María Cecilia Lozada, a research associate in anthropology at UChicago who knew Tuttle for almost 40 years as a graduate student, colleague and friend. “He took evidence seriously and believed that scholars had a responsibility to question conclusions that the evidence did not support. He could be direct, and he did not retreat from a disagreement simply because his view was unpopular.”

In 1964, a year before completing his Ph.D., Tuttle joined UChicago, where he initially believed he might become a doctor (he excelled at dissections) and taught medical anatomy. His course on comparative primate anatomy, however, drove him to explore the differences and similarities between apes and people.

When presenting a paper on his research at the British Royal Society, he was introduced to Mary Leakey, who would spark some of his most significant studies. A British paleoanthropologist, Leakey discovered the Paranthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, and she requested that Tuttle study the Laetoli, Tanzania, footprints that her team found at the Olduvai Gorge. Tuttle’s research there would again challenge long-held views: He found the 3.66 million-year-old bipedal footprint trails were probably not made by an Australopithecus afarensis, a chimp-like hominid known for the partial skeleton Lucy from Ethiopia.

The findings shook the science community while further strengthening Tuttle’s commitment to truth-finding. In total, the scholar would undertake field and laboratory studies in Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Japan, and Perú, and in numerous museums in Europe, Asia and North America.

Insistence on truth and fairness

Tuttle’s research, while at times field-shaking, was highly regarded. He was the recipient of the Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (2014), the Distinguished Primatologist Award of the Midwest Primate Interest Group (2010), a Medallion of the Collège de France, and a Medal of the Fondation Singer-Polignac. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1985 and was inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2003.

Notably, his work on footprints brought him to an unexpected twist in his career: the courtroom. Tuttle was asked to join a team of barristers and solicitors in Winnipeg, Canada, who were defending two Hispanic men accused of involvement in a murder. The Queen’s Counsel for the prosecution had engaged Louise M. Robbins, a certified forensic anthropologist who had worked on a different part of the footprints trail, who claimed to have developed a new science of human footprint analysis for forensic use. Her speculations about the makers of some Laetoli prints led Tuttle to question her scientific ability and methods, some of which were also used to make unfounded racial assumptions.

“Dr. Tuttle maintained that the courtroom was not the proper forum for speculative, unevidenced methods that could end up informing matters of life and death,” said Matthew Rossi, a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology who served as Tuttle’s research assistant from 2023 to 2026.

Rossi studies forensic science from an ethnographic and sociopolitical perspective, and he spoke at length with Tuttle about his work opposing Robbins's forensic methods in the courtroom.

“I think it is to his great credit that he spoke up and sounded the alarm on these methods. A common refrain from Dr. Tuttle was that, as scientists interested in the past, we never ‘reconstruct’ the past, as this implies that we already have the full picture and we just need to put it back together. Rather, we are always doing work that is ‘construction,’ and there needs to be a solid evidential foundation and willingness to reckon with uncertainty, error, and new developments in our fields.”

After his experience in this and other trials, Tuttle wrote Footprints from Fossils to Gallows in 2023, written in part as a memoir. His goal was to offer a better understanding of how science can serve the courts — and how claims of new forensic methods should be tested thoroughly before used to determine an individual’s fate. He was also the editor of The Functional and Evolutionary Biology of Primates (1972), as well as author of Apes of the World: Their Social Behavior, Communication, Mentality and Ecology (1986), and Apes and Human Evolution (2014). In addition, he served as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Primatology for two decades, as well as the editor of the book series Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects.

Tuttle’s insistence on truth and fairness extended beyond the courtroom: Karen B. Strier, a Vilas Research Professor and the Irven DeVore Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recalls that in Tuttle’s 20 years as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Primatology, he worked hard to open doors for others.

“He was very committed to helping make sure that primatologists for whom English was not their first language weren’t blocked from publishing,” says Strier, who has served on the IJP editorial board since 1990. “He did a lot of editing and made sure people had fair reviews. He really cared about making primatology international. He was super supportive of women in the field and of primatologists from around the world.”

Supporting others was a common theme for Tuttle, whether in large or small gestures. The examples range from Tuttle’s successful nomination of Strier for an honorary doctorate at UChicago to welcoming Lozada into his home for her first Thanksgiving in America upon her arrival in 1987. According to his former students and fellow scholars, Tuttle offered unwavering support of younger colleagues and provided thoughtful mentorship.

“I got to know Dr. Tuttle quite well during my research assistantship, and what always stood out about him was his forthrightness,” Rossi said. “He was a role model for intellectual honesty, evidence-based scientific practice, and abiding by your principles in your scholarship.”

Tuttle also trained generations of researchers, including Hidemi Ishida, a postdoc in electromyography and anthropology from Osaka, Japan, who is now a prominent physical anthropologist. in the winter of 1980, Tuttle was invited by the Japanese Academy of Sciences to lecture throughout Japan and establish laboratories for electromyographic studies on primates at Osaka University.

A passion for teaching

Tuttle’s UChicago colleagues note that his legacy is present in the role of physical anthropology at the University. Rossi and Lozada have undertaken a study of the field’s history, and Lozada said she’s been struck by Tuttle’s persistence in advocating for physical anthropology. In fact, he donated troves of material in the last few years to the University’s Special Collections Research Center, including his correspondence, research, teaching materials, and data and specimens from his various studies of footprints, animal behavior, and functional morphology. He also left a large teaching collection of materials to the Department of Anthropology for instructing future students in primatology, osteology, anatomy and other fields of biological anthropology.

Tuttle placed an enormous emphasis on supporting his students, as evidenced not only through his donations of research and teaching materials, but also through his winning of UChicago’s Quantrell Award in 2006 as well as the McGraw Hill Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from the American Anthropological Association in 2003. He also established a program for 10 Midwest colleges, including UChicago undergraduates, to study biological and physical anthropology at the University of Tanzania for six months.

But Rossi contended that developing the Department of Anthropology's first curriculum for undergraduate students was one of his proudest accomplishments.

“[It] still forms the basis of UChicago's anthropology major today after undergoing its own evolutions over the years,” Rossi said. “Teaching undergraduates was one of Dr. Tuttle's favorite parts of being a professor—a passion that bore out in his ‘Apes and Human Evolution’ class, which frequently had the highest enrollment numbers in the department and an annual waiting list.”

His former students—undergrads and graduates alike—knew Tuttle to be supportive and kind. Lozada said Tuttle was instrumental to her graduate education: “He treated his students as people whose futures mattered to him, and he continued to care about them long after they had completed their studies.”

Outside of the University, Tuttle was a dedicated husband to Marlene and father to Nicole and Matthew. He and Marlene frequently attended the opera, plays, and choral events across the Chicago area, and his love for animals meant even the most aloof critters would respond to him. Perhaps most notably, though, Tuttle is remembered for the depth of his commitment.

“He was devoted to his family and to his students, and he did not put professional convenience ahead of his principles,” Lozada said. “He wanted his students to have a voice in the discipline and opportunities to build their careers.”

Lozada recalls a particular memory that conveys the quality and breadth of those relationships: Years ago, Tuttle walked his former student, Charles Musiba — now a professor of biological anthropology at Duke University — down the aisle at his wedding.

“His wry sense of humor and his passion for life, family, for music, and for knowledge will be deeply missed in Haskell Hall and the University at large,” Nakassis said.

A campus memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Oct. 25 at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.

—Adapted from a story first published on the Social Sciences Division website.

UChicago announces recipients of 2026 Academic Communicators Network Excellence Awards

10/14/2026 - 12:35pm

The University of Chicago has announced the recipients of the 2026 Academic Communicators Network (ACN) Excellence Awards, which recognize scholars who excel in sharing their research and scholarship with public audiences.

Six UChicago scholars were honored in a variety of categories for contributions they made during the past year: Prof. Samuel Bray for media relations; Assoc. Prof. Monica Christmas for media relations; Assoc. Prof. Paul Poast for op-ed writing; Assoc. Prof. Pedro Lopes for digital communications; Asst. Prof. Will Schultz for early career communicator; and Prof. Dana Suskind for best overall communicator.

Award recipients were selected by representatives from University Communications and the Office of the Provost from a competitive pool of nominations submitted by faculty, staff and academic leadership.

“Engaging with broad public audiences can be a vital way for UChicago scholars to amplify the impact of their research and expertise,” said Jeremy Manier, UChicago’s chief communications officer. “Academics often face tremendous demands on their time, which makes our honorees’ choice to prioritize communication all the more meaningful. We are deeply grateful for their commitment to informing society’s understanding of academic research and the most important issues of our times.”

Launched in 2018, ACN supports UChicago faculty and other academic appointees in sharing their expertise with external audiences. A partnership between the Office of the Provost and University Communications, the program offers year-round training on topics such as media engagement, presentation delivery and op-ed writing. It also provides a media engagement platform connecting journalists with faculty experts.

The 2026 ACN award recipients are:

Media relations: Samuel L. Bray and Monica Christmas

The media relations award recognizes scholars who work effectively with broadcast, print and digital media to disseminate their research. This year there are two awardees in this category.

Bray, professor of law and Walter Mander Research Scholar, is a leading expert on equitable remedies, injunctions and judicial power. As those issues moved to the center of national debate over the past year, Bray became one of the country’s most sought-after public interpreters of the Supreme Court’s evolving jurisprudence—reaching journalists, policymakers, podcast audiences and the broader public with clear, rigorous analysis of the Court’s decisions and why they mattered. By the close of the term, his work had been cited in five Supreme Court opinions, by justices across the ideological spectrum, demonstrating that his scholarship helped shape some of the year’s most consequential legal debates.

Christmas is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UChicago Medicine and director of the Menopause Program. Through dozens of media appearances across print and broadcast, Christmas has become a trusted and sought-after voice on menopause and perimenopause, helping to elevate public understanding and awareness of the symptoms, treatments and health questions that arise during this under-discussed phase in women’s lives. Skilled at presenting information in a clear, digestible and consumer-friendly manner, Christmas appeared in more than 1,300 media stories over the past year, including interviews in the New York Times, CNN, Associated Press, NPR’s Science Friday, NBC News and Popular Science.

Digital communications: Pedro Lopes

The digital communications award honors scholars for innovative use of digital platforms to share research and engage broader audiences.

Lopes is an associate professor of computer science and head of the Human-Computer Integration Lab. A pioneer in the field, he engineers interactive devices that connect computation directly with the human body. Lopes has built a distinctive and innovative model of public scholarship that uses his lab’s YouTube channel to introduce the papers that he and his students present at major academic conferences. He produces playful, energetic videos to engage and inspire non-academic audiences, making academic research visible, relatable and exciting to the public. What makes his approach especially notable is his deliberate choice to spotlight his students, presenting the lab’s work alongside them and ensuring they receive credit and visibility.

Op-ed writing: Paul Poast

The op-ed writing award honors scholars who write insightful opinion pieces and have received recognition in noteworthy publications, sharing their academic research with external audiences.

Poast is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. A frequent foreign policy commentator in national and local media, Poast has spent the year translating complex questions of alliance politics, NATO’s future and the shifting terms of American global engagement into accessible written analysis. In addition to writing 50 weekly columns in World Politics Review on a range of global developments, including issues at play in Ukraine, Iran and China, Poast wrote in the New York Times about a new era of World War, plus co-authored op-eds about the Iran War in Time, The Atlantic and The National Interest, with Law School student Pegah Banihashemi, JSD’26. His readiness to communicate his academic expertise with clarity and consistency has helped the public understand issues of global importance.

Early career communicator: William Schultz

The early career communicator award honors scholars early in their career making research accessible to the public.

Schultz is an assistant professor of American religions at the Divinity School and the College. When his debut book, Jesus Springs: Evangelical Capitalism and the Fate of an American City (UNC Press), published last fall, Schultz’s public engagement efforts brought his argument to broad and diverse audiences. He reached national podcast audiences on 99% Invisible, spoke to Colorado’s flagship news program Colorado Matters, served as an expert source for NBC News and wrote his own criticism for The Christian Century. His book drew coverage in Christianity Today and Publishers Weekly. By translating his scholarship to be legible and useful to the public, Schultz has shown how far a first book can travel when its author is willing to meet audiences where they are.

Best overall communicator: Dana Suskind

The best overall communicator award honors scholars who demonstrate excellence across multiple ACN award categories.

Suskind is a pediatric surgeon and founder of UChicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning and Public Health. Her new book Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity, and Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI made the case that human relationship—not technology—is the irreplaceable foundation of child development, and she carried that argument everywhere. Through op-eds in The Atlantic, Time and CNBC, features on NPR, ABC’s Good Morning America, Axios, People and the New York Times’ Wirecutter, and interviews with numerous Substacks and podcasts including CNN’s Chasing Life with Sanjay Gupta and New York Times’ Hard Fork, Suskind brought rigorous research to bear on one of the most urgent questions facing parents today.

Join ACN

All UChicago faculty, other academic appointees and postdoctoral researchers are invited to join and participate in ACN. To learn more, visit the ACN website.

UChicago Space Program takes stratospheric science to new heights with NASA

Paul Dailing — 10/13/2026 - 04:24pm

University of Chicago fourth-year physics major Larry Li cruised through the New Mexican desert night in a tiny hatchback stuffed with toolboxes, a 3D printer and a payload that would soon float to the sky.

“I hit Albuquerque and there were three more hours to go,” Li said. “It was the middle of nowhere.”

The remote destination was NASA’s high-altitude balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The payload was PASCAL, a project designed, built, tested and operated entirely by College students through the UChicago Space Program to capture and study human-created contamination within the mid-stratosphere. This is a region between 15.5 and 25 miles (25-40 kilometers) in altitude, well above where aircraft operate.

Twelve student volunteers created PASCAL, or Particle Acquisition from Stratospheric Conditions for Analysis in Laboratory, to fill a pressing research gap—understanding a level of the atmosphere greatly understudied since the Cold War.

“You could measure the scale of nuclear testing the Soviet Union was doing based on the radioactive particles in the stratosphere,” said project lead Mason McCormack, a fourth-year astrophysics major. “That was a major reason to study this region back then. After the Cold War, that direct sampling mostly stopped and now, decades later, we have all these different questions and we don’t have great ways to sample the particles up there.”

In early September, PASCAL flew aboard NASA’s High Altitude Student Platform (HASP) balloon, collecting vital climate data 23 miles (37 kilometers) in the air. It was one of only 17 university projects accepted for this highly selective honor.

“Every sample collected from these altitudes matters because there have been so few,” said the team’s faculty advisor, geophysical sciences Assoc. Prof. Elisabeth Moyer. “It’s tremendously challenging to operate instruments when pressures are so low. Float altitude is over three times higher than the summit of Mount Everest. So there’s a bit of a race now to build a lightweight particle collector for the stratosphere.”

PASCAL was the UChicago Space Program’s first foray into high-altitude balloon work, having previously been selected to launch a student-designed satellite through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The original idea grew out of a class McCormack was taking: a way to collect and study meteorite particles before they're contaminated by pollution in the lower levels of the atmosphere.

After talking to a few faculty members, the team realized the stratosphere held a more pressing research need.

“A lot of human contamination hangs out up there. Things like satellites that burn up in the atmosphere when they deorbit and particles from solid rocket fuel. Extreme wildfires will often have smoke that gets up into this layer,” McCormack said. “There are all these relevant modern questions we didn’t have an answer to because it had been 40 years since someone had concretely sampled the particles in this layer of the atmosphere.”

PASCAL receives financial support from UChicago’s Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEi). The University created CSEi in 2024 as part of the then-new Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth to advance bold solutions in the face of more than a century of accumulated carbon emission.

“The PASCAL team found a gap in instrumentation for measuring stratospheric aerosols, a gap that could be filled by a small team with strong practical engineering skills,” said CSEi’s founding faculty director, geophysical sciences Prof. David Keith. “I'm proud of the amazing job they've done. There’s no better way to learn practical science and engineering than building such an instrument.”

The first major challenge was technical: designing a way to collect particles in the thin stratospheric air.

“We didn’t know if it would work because the pressure is so low in the stratosphere, and we were looking at trying to pump air with a vacuum,” said Li, PASCAL’s lead engineer. “If there’s not a lot of air, you don’t get a lot of flow.”

“One of the big challenges we faced was that we were designing an entirely new instrument,” McCormack added. “Many of the projects selected for HASP were either improved versions of legacy projects that have flown before or were modeled off existing equipment. We were starting from scratch.”

The second big challenge was logistical: coordinating an entirely student-run volunteer project of 13 undergrads who had scattered to various locations over summer break. After four members received summer internships at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a few recent graduates landed jobs in Los Angeles, the team decided to complete PASCAL in Pasadena, working out of McCormack’s Caltech dorm room at night.

“It’s easy to underestimate the work that goes into putting together a finished project,” said embedded engineer Zumi Riekse, a third-year physics major, who started on the project in Chicago and finished work remotely while working at an internship in Boston. “It takes longer than you think.”

After the midnight drive through the desert and a few days of delays waiting for weather conditions to be right, PASCAL and the other student projects lifted off, floating to the sky. Soon the team received shocking news: NASA initiated an emergency termination of the flight, sending the payload into freefall.

“The balloon had changed directions from where NASA thought it was going to go, and it was now going to go over some forests and mountains near Santa Fe,” McCormack said. “If the balloon comes down over mountains, it's much harder to recover, and we care about recovering our instrument.”

Although the balloon ended up flying for less than seven hours of the planned 20-hour flight, the retrieval was successful, with NASA shipping back PASCAL and its stratospheric particles back to UChicago for study. The UChicago Space Program plans to resubmit PASCAL for next year’s balloon launch as well, continuing to gather this important data.

“We have a lot of interested undergraduates and we will continue making payloads to enter in this competition, hopefully for years to come,” Riekse said.

—This article originally appeared on the CSEi website.

Michael Woodford, UChicago alum and former faculty member, shares Nobel Prize

Tori Lee — 10/12/2026 - 03:13pm

Michael Woodford, AB’77, a University of Chicago alum and former faculty member, won a share of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2026 for his work developing new frameworks to address fluctuations in the economy.

During the announcement on Oct. 12, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited Woodford and Prof. Robert E. Hall of Stanford University for their research exploring the “microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.” Their paradigm-shifting model centers the everyday decisions of households and businesses in policies that aim to smooth out economic peaks and valleys—an approach now used globally.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Woodford said during his Nobel news conference. “It’s a surprise, but I’m feeling very good about it.”

A graduate of the College, Woodford was an assistant professor in UChicago’s Graduate School of Business (now the Booth School of Business) from 1986-89 before becoming a member of the Department of Economics from 1989-95. Currently the John Bates Clark Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University, Woodford is the 102nd scholar associated with the University—and the 14th College alum—to receive a Nobel Prize.

“Michael Woodford holds a special place in the University of Chicago community as both an alumnus of the College and a former faculty member,” said President Paul Alivisatos. “I am delighted that the Nobel Committee has recognized him for his work in addressing economic shocks, research that has proved invaluable to policymakers around the world.”

‘A new framework from the ground up’

As a macroeconomist, Woodford focuses his research on how monetary policy meets real-world decision-making, especially in an economy in constant flux.

To many economists, the economy is like driving on the expressway—it’s important to keep things moving when traffic turns sluggish, but also to hit the brakes when things start to get out of control. Recessions can lead to unemployment; inflation can threaten economic stability. Meanwhile, major world events such as war or natural disasters can upend the global economy.

Banks and governments try to modulate these booms and busts. During the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes proposed that government intervention, such as cutting interest rates to stimulate the economy, was the best way to deal with these swings. However, many believed the devastating oil crisis of the 1970s—and the stagflation that followed—proved the Keynesian model could do more harm than good.

Woodford and Hall’s research “built a new framework from the ground up,” said the Nobel committee. They posited that understanding how individual businesses and households make decisions is key to stabilizing the economy.

In 2003, Woodford published his groundbreaking Interest and Prices: Foundations of a Theory of Monetary Policy, which analyzed how businesses set prices. Woodford emphasized that public understanding of policy and future uncertainty was a critical element of the model.

“The people who are in the markets and making decisions about spending … their expectations and their understanding of what policy is likely to be like in the future are actually crucial to the effects of policy,” Woodford said.

‘A standout colleague’

As a student in the College, Woodford majored in Ideas & Methods before attending Yale Law School and then pursuing a Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Woodford says his non-traditional path to economics gave him an “outsider’s eye” that allowed him to challenge long-held ideas in the field.

Woodford’s former UChicago colleagues welcomed news of his Nobel honor.

Former colleague Anil Kashyap, the Stevens Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Finance at Chicago Booth, called him a “spectacular colleague” who was quintessentially “curious, generous and brilliant.”

“The prize for Hall and Woodford is being celebrated by macroeconomists everywhere,” said Kashyap. “These are two giants in the field who have done groundbreaking work.”

“Mike Woodford did the (almost) impossible. He developed a very rigorous theory that became quantitative and changed the way that central banks do monetary policy,” said Nobel laureate Douglas W. Diamond, the Merton H. Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance. “I miss his days at the (then) GSB. He was a standout colleague.”

“Mike is a brilliant economist who has made a variety of very interesting contributions. I have known him for a long time, including when he was one of my favorite colleagues at the University of Chicago,” said fellow Nobel laureate Lars Peter Hansen, the David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, Statistics and the Booth School of Business. “I was happy to see some of his valuable research recognized with a Nobel Prize.”

Before receiving the Nobel, Woodford was named both a MacArthur Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow among his many accolades.

Woodford joins the more than 35 economists affiliated with UChicago to be named Nobel laureates, including eight current UChicago faculty members: Prof. James Robinson (who won in 2024), Prof. Douglas Diamond (2022), Prof. Michael Kremer (2019), Prof. Richard Thaler (2017), Profs. Eugene Fama and Lars Hansen (2013), Prof. Roger Myerson (2007) and Prof. James Heckman (2000).

Plans advance for new health and science campus in Washington Park

10/12/2026 - 11:29am

Representatives from the University of Chicago, UChicago Medicine and City Colleges of Chicago shared plans at a community meeting Oct. 6 for a clinical laboratory that will support about 550 jobs, as well as Chicago’s first medical laboratory technician program.

The meeting was the latest step for the education, health and science campus in the Washington Park neighborhood, which will open a path to health care careers for South Side residents. Plans include a new clinical laboratory, the Malcolm X College South Campus on Garfield Boulevard as well as a parking structure and shared plaza.

The campus, first announced in March 2024, would be located between the CTA Green Line station and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, bringing classrooms and a working laboratory together on one site. Students at City Colleges’ Malcolm X College would train for laboratory careers, complete clinical rotations in the new UChicago Medicine laboratory and be prepared for in-demand jobs at hospitals across the city and region.

“Our new clinical laboratory in Washington Park is one of the best examples of the investment we continue to make in our community,” said Krista Curell, president of the University of Chicago Medical Center. “It will expand the testing our patients rely on and, through our collaboration with City Colleges’ Malcolm X College, give students from our community a pathway into health care jobs that are in critical shortage.”

UChicago Medicine has submitted a certificate of need application to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to build the laboratory on land owned by the University of Chicago. Construction is planned to begin in spring 2027, pending state and city approvals, and the laboratory is projected to open in 2029.

Laboratory to bring expanded testing, jobs

The four-story laboratory at Garfield Boulevard and King Drive would bring together UChicago Medicine’s pathology laboratories, which now operate in separate buildings across the Hyde Park campus.

The new building would expand testing capacity for patients across the health system. In its first year, testing volume is projected to grow by about 17% as UChicago Medicine brings specialized testing back from out-of-state laboratories and begins offering testing to community hospitals across the region. Laboratory results inform about 70% of clinical decisions, with tests that range from blood sugar checks for people managing diabetes to molecular analysis of tumors for cancer clinical trials. The laboratory would also include space for developing new tests, digital pathology and clinical genomics.

The laboratory would support about 550 jobs in Washington Park: about 350 moving from the Hyde Park campus and about 200 new, entry-level positions. At the meeting, Catina Latham, senior vice president and chief community health transformation officer at UChicago Medicine, described how those roles would connect to the programs at the new Malcolm X College South Campus.

Demand for clinical laboratory technicians has outpaced supply, and hospitals across Chicago, particularly South Side safety-net hospitals, have struggled to fill these roles. The Chicago area expects about 500 openings a year in the field.

Many laboratory jobs are open to people with a certificate or a one- to two-year degree, and based on UChicago Medicine compensation, average pay ranges from about $49,000 with a certificate to about $71,000 with an associate degree.

“We’re excited to help train the next generation of laboratory technicians with Malcolm X College,” said Elizabeth Hood, vice president of clinical labs and executive administrator for the Department of Pathology at UChicago Medicine. “The new laboratory will also give our teams the space and technology to deliver faster results and handle the more complex cancer testing that will come with the AbbVie Foundation Cancer Pavilion opening in 2027.”

Training for careers at Malcolm X College

City Colleges of Chicago plans to build the new Malcolm X College South Campus next to the laboratory. The four-story building would house the first medical laboratory technician program in Chicago, along with programs ranging from phlebotomy to community health worker training, and serve more than 800 students a year when fully operational.

During the community meeting, Malcolm X College President David Sanders and Justin Cafferty of the Public Building Commission previewed the building’s design. City Colleges expects to submit its application for approval of the building next year. With its new medical laboratory assistant and medical laboratory technician programs, Malcolm X College will be the only community college in Chicago to offer both.

“City Colleges is proud to partner in this new development with UChicago Medicine serving the Washington Park neighborhood and the entire South Side of Chicago. Our joint initiative will create pathways for our students to in-demand careers in Chicago’s health care sector. By locating Malcolm X College’s South Campus adjacent to UChicago Medicine’s new state-of-the-art clinical laboratory facility, our students will have the benefit of a seamless transition between their classrooms and hands-on learning through clinical rotations at UChicago Medicine,” said Juan Salgado, chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago.

“Working alongside City Colleges of Chicago, UChicago and UChicago Medicine are building an education-to-career pipeline for South Side residents, activating an important gateway to Washington Park, and helping strengthen the community’s economy for the long term,” said Deborah Gorman-Smith, UChicago’s chief strategist for community engagement and partnerships and dean of the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. “This project builds on more than a decade of UChicago investments in Washington Park, including the nearby Arts Block and Fossil Lab. Together, we will advance community priorities like workforce development and retail growth, while inspiring the next generation of local health care leaders.”

A plan shaped by the neighborhood

At the Oct. 6 meeting, residents and local leaders asked how neighbors can access the training programs and jobs, how the campus will reach students in nearby schools, and whether the site would include green space.

“Washington Park residents have been clear about what they want on this corridor: good jobs, career training and investment that serves the families who live here,” said Ald. Pat Dowell of the 3rd Ward. “The medical field keeps growing, and I want our young people ready for it. I look forward to working with the University, UChicago Medicine and City Colleges to connect this campus with Burke Elementary, Dyett High School and Daniel Hale Williams Prep, so students in our neighborhood schools know these careers are within reach.”

The building’s ground floor would include a food hall at Garfield Boulevard and King Drive, open to the public. UChicago Medicine would build out the space and lease it to vendors, and local and South Side businesses will be invited to apply through a competitive request for proposals.

The Chicago Plan Commission is expected to review the site’s planned development in November, and the state review board is expected to consider the application in December. Residents can sign up for updates on the project at bit.ly/uchicago-washingtonpark.

—Adapted from a story first published on the Office of Civic Engagement website.

What are data centers and why do they need so much power? An expert explains

Louise Lerner — 10/08/2026 - 04:15pm

Americans are increasingly concerned about AI and data centers, and the impact of computing on climate change. A September poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago found that 53% are extremely or very concerned about the environmental impacts of AI—and that the majority of both Democrats and Republicans support policies including requiring data centers to use clean energy and pay for grid upgrades.

We asked leading expert Andrew Chien to answer commonly asked questions about data centers.

Chien is the William Eckhardt Distinguished Service Professor of Computer Science at UChicago. Before joining the University in 2011, he served for five years as the vice president of research at Intel Corporation. Since 2015, he and his research team have studied how to make computing more sustainable and grid-friendly.

What is a data center?

In the simplest terms, a data center is a room or building that’s full of computers.

This can be a single room, a little building on the corner, or a few floors of a skyscraper, all the way up to huge, multi-acre complexes.

What do data centers do?

When people ask this, I explain by saying, “Data centers are where the Internet lives.” All the cloud computing and the data we use—your pictures, your social media and now AI chatbots—those are all supported by data centers.

How has AI changed the need for data centers?

The difference now is that AI-based services require massive amounts of power.

When you used to type something into Google, it would search a copy of the internet. Now, when you ask a chatbot or an AI agent something, it literally performs a supercomputer-class numerical computation in order to figure out how to tell you that stuff. (It’s approximately a teraflop. That’s not quite the supercomputer of today—it’s a supercomputer of a few years ago—but it’s a gigantic amount of computation.)

Why do data centers need water?

So as data centers consume power, they heat up, and they need to cool themselves; basically you are rejecting heat into the atmosphere. One of the most efficient ways to do this is to spray water into the air—when I was a child they called this “Texas air-conditioning,” but it’s technically called evaporative cooling.

Several companies, with the notable exception of Google, have said they won’t build new data centers with this method. But there’s still this huge existing fleet of data centers using this technology. It could certainly be retrofitted. But, companies are not racing to do that because of the cost involved.

How much power do data centers use?

Data centers come in all different sizes. The biggest are massive 10-gigawatt data centers. The vast majority are much smaller—most of them are tens or hundreds of megawatts.

Overall, the growth has taken off exponentially. As of 2025, data centers consume 5% of all the power generation in the U.S. Our calculations show that by 2030, it will be 15%. By 2040, it will be 50%. And we believe that’s a conservative estimate.

Is there a way to make data centers more green?

Yes. Our research group has studied this and shown multiple ways to reduce the impact of data centers.

One important way is called “data center flexibility.” You increase the data center’s power usage (by running more computations or perhaps charging local batteries) when there is less demand on the electric grid, or when there is excess renewable energy being generated by solar or wind. This reduces the impact of data centers on the grid at peak overall usage times, which is a major driver for the cost of power and infrastructure.

We also pioneered an approach we call “Middlebox.” The idea is to build a little energy station next to the data center. This means the data center itself gets highly reliable power (and doesn’t have to be flexible about when it runs computations). The combined data center + power station can also now actually reduce peak loads overall on the grid, in addition to supporting renewable energy by increasing consumption when there is excess energy from wind or solar.

Remarkably, we did a study on this and showed that in the majority of cases, the data center companies would actually make money from doing this, because they can get better prices for energy and they don’t get charged extra for drawing power during peak usage times.

So technically and economically, it’s absolutely clear that this is the right thing to do. All the technology is there. But the companies are not taking these steps. In fact, several of them are bringing lawsuits against attempts to regulate them.

Are data centers good for a community?

One thing to keep in mind is that data centers don’t employ a lot of people, relative to say, an automotive factory, or even a store of similar square footage. Once the initial construction is done, communities often see very little positive economic impact.

One of the problems is that large data center companies have been pursuing aggressive business tactics. But they do so at the cost of alienating the local community and causing a backlash.

For example, a common tactic is to come into a small town or county and tell the mayor, “We want to build a data center,” and the first thing they do is make the mayor sign a non-disclosure agreement about the discussions. When the deal is done, then the citizens hear about it—often with surprise and dismay.

Worse, some of these deals carry NDAs into their operating stage—where the concessions or permits granted may not be known for many years—or ever.

I think it’s a good idea to ban companies requesting or public officials signing such NDAs and require all such deals to be shared openly. This would decrease the information and power asymmetry, and force the data center companies to compete for community support!

What do you think more people should know about data centers?

Data centers don’t have to be built next door. With the modern fiber-optic internet, communication can travel across the country in less than 15 milliseconds. So, data centers don’t have to be anyplace that people don’t want them. They can be anywhere in the USA and serve AI to the entire population, businesses, etc.

How do you recommend we solve the problem?

National and state government needs to organize infrastructure for data centers. Coordinated regulation is needed because the companies are so powerful. It should be organized and planned to concentrate the data centers in “industrial” areas with power and networking infrastructure. If it’s zoned properly, it will reduce the impact on local community.

Further, data center companies should REALLY cover the cost of new infrastructure—for its full lifetime of 15 to 30 years. They have plenty of profit. If it’s really that important that data centers be built, let’s solve the problem in a way that works for everybody.

I think sometimes people feel that governments can’t force companies to change. But I don’t really believe that’s true. When I was at Intel, my experience was that if public policy changes, the companies change. The auto companies complied with the Inflation reduction act quickly. American tech companies comply with European policies in order to sell there.

We should expect that companies will fight every step of the way to get more profit, but I still believe people can win that battle in the U.S. to reach a balanced solution where we can have the AI computing power we need, but the communities that host data centers get valuable training, community contribution, and good jobs.

UChicago scientists reveal a Jurassic otter that could chew and swallow like modern mammals

Matt Wood — 10/07/2026 - 11:38am

A well-preserved fossil of a 165-million-year-old mammal ancestor from China with hind limbs like a platypus and a broad, flattened tail like a river otter appears to be one of the oldest such creatures adapted for swimming and hunting in the water.

Dubbed Megacauda sungei (meaning “big tail”), the Jurassic mammaliaform also shows the earliest evidence yet of bony structures of the throat that gave this mammal predecessor the ability to feed and swallow like modern mammals—thought to lead to the diversification of mammal species with a wide variety of diets.

“This is an incredibly important evolutionary innovation. After mammals chew their food, be it plants or meat, they all swallow it in the same efficient and effortless way,” said Zhe-Xi Luo, the Mila Pierce-Rhoads Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago and senior author of a new study describing the fossil in Nature. “Once early mammals had this apparatus, each group could develop specialized teeth and diversify into a tremendous range of food resources. They could be carnivores, insectivores, herbivores, omnivores, or anywhere in between.”

A modern way of feeding

All modern mammals, including humans, have hyoid bones that link the mouth and throat passage down to the esophagus and the larynx. They are arranged in a U-shaped saddle, suspended by a chain of bony segments to the skull. This helps adult mammals to use throat muscles to swallow chewed food one lump at a time, instead of gulping down huge bites or whole prey like an alligator. These structures also give babies the ability to suckle mother’s milk.

Megacauda is from an extinct lineage of “docodonts,” which are near relatives of mammals from the Mesozoic Era. In 2019, Luo and his colleagues discovered a tiny docodont from around the same geological age called Microdocodon gracilis, which also had mammal-like hyoid bones.

Megacauda is a much bigger animal, though—40 to 50 centimeters long and weighing one to two kilograms. It also has better preservation than other fossils of the delicate bony structures underneath the skull for suspending the palatal and pharyngeal muscles.

This anatomy is comparable to the throat muscles of the modern opossum, according to co-author Peishu Li, who recently earned his PhD in Integrative Biology at UChicago and is now on the faculty at Ohio University.

The fossil was discovered in the Inner Mongolia region of China. During the difficult years of the COVID-19 pandemic, study co-author Chang-Fu Zhou from Shandong University of Science and Technology took the specimen to several research labs around the country to have it imaged with CT scanning and X-ray fluorescence photography.

The large fossil slab had to be separated into smaller pieces for scanning, but the scans allowed April Neander, a scientific artist and expert on CT imaging at UChicago, to visualize its structures in fine detail.

A semi-aquatic kind of life

In addition to the intricate hyoid bones and throat structure, the fossil is also preserved with the pelvis, hind limbs, and tail that distinguished it as a powerful swimmer. The back legs had long outer digits like a platypus with wide, H-shaped tail vertebrae and a broad outline of a tail to propel itself in the water. The skull had robust canines and shearing cheek-teeth to cut and chew meat in a different way from modern carnivorous mammals.

In 2006, Luo’s team also discovered another swimming docodont called Castorocauda. “The new fossil is particularly interesting because it’s older than Castorocauda. Although both docodonts occupied the same niche in the water, the new fossil is more complete,” Neander said. “In addition to the exciting features of the skull and the hyoid bones, we have this fantastic pelvis, which is more complete than all other specimens from this time.”

The researchers believe that Megacauda had a semi-aquatic lifestyle, dipping into the water to hunt long before modern mammals like platypuses, otters, and minks.

The fossil even has some tiny bits of vertebrate bones in its stomach, suggesting that it likely preyed on small animals like the abundant salamanders also found in the same fossil beds.

Like modern mammals, docodonts were extraordinarily diverse, living in a variety of habitats, from the tree-dwelling Microdocodon to swimmers like Megacauda.

Luo said this nearly complete specimen helps researchers to interpret how such mammals fit in the dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic ecosystems, well before the later diversification of modern mammals.

“Docodonts are the most speciose group of the stem mammals across North America, Europe, and China, and this is probably one of the two most complete specimens for the group,” Luo said. “This fossil shows that the intricate structures of the throat are starting to come together, long before modern mammals split off from their predecessors, and they are very important to the evolutionary innovation that underlies later adaptive radiation.”

Additional authors include Yikun Li and Honggang Zhang from Shenyang Normal University, China, and Thomas Martin from Universität Bonn, Germany.

Citation: “A Jurassic Mammaliaform Swimmer and Transformation of the Mammalian Pharynx.” Li et al, Nature, Oct. 7, 2026.

Funding: National Science Foundation USA, the Taishan Scholar Program of Shandong, China, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Ohio University.

Learning is a blast—literally—at the South Side Science Festival

Paul Dailing — 10/07/2026 - 09:40am

With a flourish, Dr. DiNitrogen capped a suspiciously billowing pop bottle and tossed it in a bin—sealing the lid firmly before stepping toward the crowd of wide-eyed children and their families.

“It’s very important to throw away trash,” he said. “You see, you have to properly dispose of-”

He was cut off by a boom, as the bin’s lid blew a few inches in the air. The blast briefly echoed across the University of Chicago Crerar Science Quadrangle, only outdone by the children’s delighted screams. And “Dr. DiNitrogen,” also known as UChicago chemistry Prof. John Anderson, launched into an explanation of the science behind the liquid nitrogen explosion.

Anderson’s show was just one of the attractions at the fifth annual South Side Science Festival held on Oct. 3. The event, or “S3F” for short, brings thousands of visitors to the University each year for dancing robots, oozy chemicals, quantum card tricks, live jellyfish, a giant inflatable colon named Coco and an inside view of the science found in everyday life.

“S3F brings people from the South Side and across Chicago onto campus to see it and get a taste of inquiry-based learning,” said UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Prof. Aaron Esser-Kahn, who, like Anderson, is one of the event’s faculty organizers. “We want kids to see not just the campus but the people on it: what it looks like to be an undergrad, a grad student, a researcher. The kids who get the most out of it are ages 5 to 15. That includes my own, who have come every year since the start.”

Run by the Office of Civic Engagement, the Physical Sciences Division, UChicago PME and the Biological Sciences Division, the event showcases STEM programs from across campus. It’s all made possible by more than 600 students, postdoctoral researchers, staff and faculty presenting 130 demonstrations with the help of an additional 150 general event volunteers.

This year’s event drew about 4,600 attendees, more than 60% of whom came from neighborhoods on Chicago’s South or Southwest sides.

Outside Abbott Memorial Hall, three members of a local Brownies troop danced alongside a robot from local STEM education company RoboThink Chicago. One 7-year-old, Stevie, said she knew robots could do things, “but not good stuff” like dancing.

Despite also boogieing with the ‘bot, troopmate Ellie, also 7, said her favorite part of the festival was “the thing that you put on your head and then everything gets so different,” i.e., the virtual reality headset demonstration led by the Chemistry Department’s Mazziotti Group.

Kid-friendly methods can teach serious subjects. Committee on Cancer Biology Ph.D. student Sara Woessner helped explain mutation—and possibly tumor growth—using Lego blocks, saying that mutation happens when DNA follows the wrong instructions.

“Mutation might look like if you took a random instruction from a Lego set to build a tiger and used it in a Lego set to build an alligator,” Woessner said. “You might end up with something kind of functional, but you probably are going to end up with a broken protein that doesn't work super well.”

The preparation for the 130 demos offered to the community can be intense. Annabel King, a cell and molecular biology Ph.D. student, for example, spent two and a half hours the previous day just portioning water laden with living algae from a big tankard into 300 tiny vials.

It was worth it, she said, when the attendees peered into the lightless cardboard box on the demonstration table and she gave one of those vials a little shake—filling the box with an eerie, living glow.

“In Chicago, there are no bioluminescent algae just hanging out. I guess that's something only kids in California and various little tropical pockets get to witness,” King said, laughing. “A lot of people don't know bioluminescence is a thing that happens outside of fireflies.”

While many of the events leaned toward the oozy, glowing, colorful, spinning or explosive, all facets of STEM were represented. Attendee Ollie, 11, got a grounding in statistical distribution and “wisdom-of-the-crowd" analysis snuck into a Statistics Department display of balls in a jar.

“We were trying to estimate how many balls were in the jar,” Ollie said. “I guessed 407, and I was 14% off.”

Kyle Kwok, a rising second-year chemistry major, was helping run a demonstration using herbal tea, honey and lemon juice to show the impact of changes in pH balance. The kids’ eyes widened when a squirt of lemon juice turned the purple tea pink. But the biggest surprise came when they were told they could drink their experiment.

“It’s a really good opportunity to draw kids into learning the foundational tenets of chemistry,” Kwok said. “This demo itself is very, very simple. It's just doing some acid-based chemistry. But it’s a good gateway for them, if science is something that interests them later down the line.”

Anderson said sharing the human side of science helps both the community and the University.

“Science is mysterious to some people and boring to a lot of people. Some people ask whether it’s worth it,” Anderson said. “I think it’s important for the public to see some of the cutting-edge science that people are doing, but also see this is something that you do with your hands. This is a craft that people do every day, and it can be really fun and exciting.”

Sometimes those lessons come in surprising ways. At the geophysical sciences display, Ph.D. student Alya Al-Kibbi expected kids to be drawn in watching rocks that glowed under UV light. Instead, kid after kid was enthralled just by the chance to touch different rock specimens—a simple thing she gets to do every day at UChicago.

“Something like this teaches kids that science is interesting and accessible, something that they could do, something that they could be a part of,” Al-Kibbi said. “It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be hard to understand. Science is just what the world around us is.”

—This article originally appeared on the UChicago's civic engagement website.

Book bans are surging. So are efforts to ‘let books be’

Tori Lee — 10/06/2026 - 09:42pm

Dulcey Hunter first read Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) in her 11th-grade English class. The harrowing story of Pecola Breedlove, a young girl from an abusive home who longs for blue eyes, is one of the most challenged books ever published.

“It’s not only a literary masterpiece, but one of the most haunting yet powerful books that I have read,” said Hunter, the University of Chicago’s inaugural banned books postdoctoral scholar. “It changed me as a reader.”

Last year, the American Library Association tracked challenges to over 4,000 unique titles—the second-highest ever documented. Nearly 40% of challenged books featured the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals and people of color.

In response to the surge in book challenges, the UChicago Library launched its Banned Books Initiative, bolstering a collection that now includes over 2,000 banned books and enabling academic research on the impact of book bans. As part of the initiative, Hunter joins the UChicago Library and Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, where she will expand her dissertation research to examine literary censorship from a trauma-informed perspective.

For Banned Books Week, held each October to raise awareness of censorship and champion the freedom to read, we spoke to the former Florida teacher about her research, banned book surges and why classrooms are essential spaces for open dialogue.

The following Q&A has been edited for clarity.

What does it mean when a book is ‘banned?’ By whom? And what is the difference between a book ban and a challenge?

The American Library Association defines a ban as the removal of materials from a collection based on the objections of a person or group, whereas a book challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict access to materials.

A restriction could mean relocating the book to a different section of the library. It might be labeled with a prejudicial content warning. It might require parental permission or be removed from the stacks or the catalog.

In 2025, 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers. These were coordinated campaigns by organizations. Less than 3% of challenges originated from individual parents.

What about within a school? What happens when a book is banned from a curriculum?

Restrictions in the curriculum sometimes mean outright bans—this book may not be taught—but often what we see is an erosion of access and restriction of choice. Teachers are not having the opportunity to provide professional input or choose the texts they will be teaching.

We’re also seeing that the threat of censorship, or the ambiguous language around book banning, creates a chilling effect. Teachers may be self-censoring. Many educators, due to professional strain, fear of retribution or backlash, decide not to incorporate controversial texts and stick with the safe choices.

How does this factor into your own research? I know you worked as a language arts teacher in Florida for over 20 years.

I started teaching full time in 2001, so only a few weeks before 9/11. I love teaching English. I love working with young people, but nothing prepares you for those moments.

When you're caring for young people, your needs are secondary. But teachers are human beings; we're not merely instruments of instruction.

Inspired by my personal experiences, as well as those of my colleagues, my dissertation explored the personal stories of trauma of secondary English language arts teachers through in-depth interviews.

One of the most important findings was that trauma ruptures the lives of those who experience it in a way that shatters their pre-existing frameworks and fundamentally changes them. It's also not just a singular or individual event; it reverberates individually and collectively through repetition, through memory and through story.

A lot of the literature that we study in English courses contains depictions of trauma; so do many of the books targeted by censorship.

How did these teachers feel about teaching books that depict trauma?

Participants said it was critically important to have an open space for students and teachers to be humans together—to talk about the more difficult aspects of human experience.

To bracket these inescapable realities of our lives, to pretend that nothing is happening, is even more harmful. There's a silencing, an erasure, as though your pain doesn't count.

The power of literature is that it's the closest thing that you can get to the lived experiences of others. When you have this portal into another person's world, it can open up perspective and understanding, empathy, awareness and compassion.

What are the most common reasons why books are banned or challenged?

Surges in book bans often follow major periods of social change and political instability. For instance, the spike in book bans in the early 2020s heavily targeted narratives around race and systemic racism in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement. We've also seen a surge in book banning concerning LGBTQIA+ representation and identities at a time when openness to issues of sexual identity and gender is broadening.

These campaigns are frequently driven by traditional power bases anxious about demographic and cultural shifts. Research shows that book bans spike heavily in politically contested counties and during election cycles. Lawmakers and political candidates frequently use book bans as a symbolic political action to mobilize voters.

But book banning goes beyond mere rhetoric. When state policies threaten educators with funding cuts, termination, loss of licensure or even criminal prosecution, institutional compliance forces rapid book removals.

Even if a law doesn't go into effect, the damage is done.

What are your plans for the remainder of your postdoctoral fellowship?

While at UChicago, I’ll be conducting a research study investigating the experiences of teachers who have taught a banned or challenged book and how representations of trauma in literature intersect with the impacts of literary censorship.

We also have several initiatives through both the UChicago Library and the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, including a new series: Banned and Brilliant. Each month, I will select a book that has been banned or challenged and speak about why it's considered banned and brilliant.

The Bluest Eye is definitely my first choice.

UChicago commemorates America’s 250th with exhibition, discussions

10/06/2026 - 09:56am

Since the Declaration of Independence was issued on July 4, 1776, people have long examined its words and debated its meaning.

This fall, members of the University of Chicago community will continue to explore the Declaration and how it has shaped the nation. From exhibitions to panel discussions, UChicago scholars and students will examine our past and future as the United States commemorates its 250th anniversary.

Recently opened to the public, a Library exhibition examines how the “founding” document’s ideas have been used time and time again to radically different aims. Created Equal: The Premises and Promises of the Declaration of Independence, was curated by UChicago constitutional scholar Eric Slauter and a team of 25 undergraduate students.

“The Declaration’s meaning has never been solitary or uncontested,” said Slauter, an associate professor in the Department of English, who has taught a College course on the Declaration since 2017. “From the moment the document hit the streets in 1776, people have wondered what its authors meant and whether the philosophical premise that “all men are created equal” should be understood as a political promise.”

Slauter worked with students to assemble and interpret rare books, manuscripts and historical documents from the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, which is on display on the first floor of the Regenstein Library through Dec. 11.

Learn about the other events happening across the University commemorating the country’s 250th below:

Oct. 7: Conversation on Democratic texts

A panel of experts will examine the Declaration of Independence and its enduring significance—the first in series of conversations this year focused on texts key to the foundation of American democracy.

The event will include Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “Up First” podcast; John Kirby, director of UChicago’s Institute of Politics; Alison LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law; Steven Pincus, the Thomas E. Connelly Professor of British History; and Eric Slauter, associate professor of English.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. at International House. (RSVP here.) It is organized by the Institutions Initiative, the Chicago Center on Democracy, the Institute of Politics, the College, the Social Sciences Division and International House.

Oct. 16-Dec. 14: “Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work”

Artists have always responded to great inflection points in American history. Toni Morrison famously wrote: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair.”

Institutions and organizations from across UChicago—along with Illinois Humanities, in partnership with The Toni Morrison Foundation—have worked together to curate a suite of events that respond to Morrison’s charge. Events in the series will run from October through December at venues throughout Chicago. All events are open to the public.

On Nov. 5, Court Theatre will host a town hall exploring theater’s role as a pillar of civic life and a way to respond to America 250. On Nov. 6, panels of artists, curators and journalists will convene at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts for keynote conversations on creativity and politics.

The events are presented by Court Theatre, the Division of Arts & Humanities, Arts + Public Life, Institute of Politics, UChicago Presents and the Graham School.

Nov. 5: Faculty discussion with David Rubenstein

On Nov. 5, a panel of UChicago scholars will reflect on the Declaration of Independence as “our national experiment.”

David M. Rubenstein, JD’73, chair of UChicago’s Board of Trustees, will moderate a discussion with UChicago experts: Alison LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law; Steven Pincus, the Thomas E. Connelly Professor of British History; Ruth Bloch Rubin, associate professor of Political Science; and Eric Slauter, associate professor of English.

The event, which is open to UChicago faculty, students, and staff, will begin at 4 p.m. at the Rubenstein Forum. Registration is required; RSVP here.

Nov. 7: Peter Sagal Constitution sessions

As part of Arts and Humanities Day, NPR’s Peter Sagal will host two events with UChicago faculty events examining our democracy and the Declaration of Independence.

At 1:30 p.m., Sagal will talk with Profs. Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq about their book How to Save a Constitutional Democracy. The conversation will examine constitutional systems around the world—and what makes some democracies more resilient than others. Tickets are available at the Arts and Humanities Day website.

At 6:30 p.m., Sagal will interview UChicago experts who will examine the construction, reception and contemporary significance of the Declaration of Independence. The panelists will include Alison LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law; Steven Pincus, the Thomas E. Connelly Professor of British History; and Eric Slauter, associate professor of English. Tickets are available at the Arts and Humanities Day website.

Earlier in the day, Slauter will lead a guided tour of a special Library exhibition at UChicago commemorating the Declaration’s 250th. Register here for tour, which begins at 3:15 p.m.

Nov. 11: Discussion on AI and democracy

As part of its America at 250 series, the Graham School will host an event, entitled “Could AI Put Our Democracy at Risk?”

Matthew Botvinick, a senior fellow at Yale Law School and leading AI researcher at Anthropic, will discuss his new book AI and Political Freedom: The Risk to Democracy and How to Respond. Prof. Nick Feamster, who directs the Network Operations and Internet Security Lab at UChicago, will moderate the discussion. RSVP at the Graham School website.

Now through Jan. 8: Pierre Bismuth: Love Bless America

The Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society is hosting an exhibition this fall featuring works by French artist and filmmaker Pierre Bismuth. The centerpiece of Love Bless America is a long-form meditative film by Bismuth, which documents a creative collaboration between Joshua Abrams and Sharon Udoh—two leading figures from Chicago’s jazz and improvised music scene.

In addition to this new film, Bismuth will present a series of digital images resembling American flags emblazoned with lyrics from the hymn. Learn more at the Neubauer Collegium website.

Does birth order shape our health? UChicago scientists analyze 5 million families to understand

Grace Niewijk — 10/05/2026 - 11:44am

Anyone who has a brother or sister knows that siblings raised under the same roof can show stark dissimilarities when it comes to everything from favorite colors to food allergies.

But for Andrey Rzhetsky, the Edna K. Papazian Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, those everyday observations turned into a scientific hunch.

“I have casually observed a lot of differences among sets of siblings in both my research and my own family, such as older siblings often being overachievers,” he said. “I came to wonder if diseases might also differ across siblings. Fortunately, we have the data to tackle this question.”

The resulting study, published in Nature Health, suggests that some of those differences run deeper than personality.

Rzhetsky's team analyzed anonymized insurance claims from over 5 million American two-child families, and found that the order in which a child is born into a family is meaningfully associated with the diseases they are likely to develop later in life.

Among 418 conditions the researchers examined, 150 showed statistically significant links to birth order, with firstborns more prone to neurodevelopmental disorders and allergies and second-borns more prone to substance use disorders, migraines, and certain gastrointestinal and infectious conditions.

The findings, drawn from one of the largest sibling datasets ever assembled, suggest that early-life environment leaves a durable fingerprint on adult health.

This doesn't mean anyone is destined to get sick because of where they fall in the family lineup, but the knowledge could help inform preventative care and shed light on health trends.

An enormous natural experiment

As someone who studies complex human phenotypes on a large scale, Rzhetsky says siblings offer a rare gift to researchers: a built-in control group.

“Genetically, two siblings have the same probability of getting genes from each parent,” he explained. “It's kind of a natural randomization process.”

That randomization allowed the team, led by first author Benjamin Kramer—a summer research student in Rzhetsky's lab at the time—to isolate and closely scrutinize an array of environmental influences.

The researchers ran two parallel analyses: a between-family comparison of 1.6 million matched pairs and a within-family comparison across all 5.1 million families, controlling for parental age, sex and the gap between births. Both approaches produced results that pointed in the same direction.

Firstborns showed elevated odds of being diagnosed with autism, ADHD, Tourette's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and anxiety, as well as asthma, allergic rhinitis, food allergies and acne.

In contrast, second-born siblings carried higher odds of substance use disorders, gastritis, duodenitis, migraines, shingles, biliary tract disease and kidney infections.

The overall split was surprisingly even: 79 conditions were more likely to appear in firstborns, while 71 favored second-borns.

Importantly, Rzhetsky emphasized, this doesn't mean one sibling is doomed to encounter more health issues.

“It's not that order of birth makes a person sicker,” he said. “Just the probability of what hits first changes.”

The mystery of the age gap

One of the study's most intriguing findings involves the space between siblings.

Shorter gaps between births were associated with reduced risk of several conditions, particularly neuropsychiatric diagnoses in older siblings, and allergies and asthma in both.

That pattern hints at a biological explanation Rzhetsky finds especially compelling.

“We can’t yet prove this hypothesis, but we suspect the exchange of microbiome between two siblings may play a role,” he said. “It would make sense for the microbiome exchange to be more protective when the age gap is small.”

The theory aligns with the long-standing “hygiene hypothesis,” which proposes that early exposure to a diverse array of microbes helps train the developing immune system. A younger sibling arriving soon after the first may both contribute to and benefit from a richer microbial mix in the household.

Future studies may explore sibling microbiomes and other possible explanations, including subtle differences in parental attention, diagnostic timing and the biology of successive pregnancies.

Potential to inform proactive care

Rzhetsky says that for now, parents and patients shouldn’t read too much into these results when considering their own families’ health. The associations are real but modest at the individual level, and birth order is only one thread in a very tangled web of disease risk factors. Still, he sees opportunities for practical implications on a broader level.

“First and second siblings might benefit from different prophylaxis,” he suggested. “Physicians may want to watch different populations more closely for different things.” For example, a pediatrician who knows a whole family could tailor screening or preventive advice according to birth order, watching more closely for allergies in a first child, or for signs of gastrointestinal disorders in a second.

The team is already extending the work internationally, examining national health data from other countries to see if the core findings are replicated.

Rzhetsky's longer-term hope is to move from observing patterns to identifying mechanisms — to figure out how and why being born first, or second, or three years after a sibling instead of one, nudges the body down subtly different paths.

The other author on the paper was Steven A. Kushner of Columbia University.

Citation: “Birth order and disease risk across the human phenome” Kramer, Kushner and Rzhetsky, Nature Health, Aug. 3, 2026.

Funding: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health

—Adapted from an article posted by the Biological Sciences Division.

Chicago in Conversation: Partnership to foster dialogue around city and its future

10/02/2026 - 10:30am

The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and Chicago Public Media are partnering on a new initiative, which will bring together 40 civic-minded Chicagoans of different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences to explore some of the most consequential issues facing the city. Called Chicago in Conversation: People, Policy, and the City We Share, the program also will explore what it takes to have productive conversations across those differences.

The program’s participants will begin by taking part in civil discourse training led by Leila Brammer, the director of curriculum at UChicago’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression. Then they will join a series of intimate, facilitated conversations guided by Harris Public Policy faculty members and Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ journalists, to learn more about and discuss some of the most complex public policy questions confronting Chicago.

The aim is not to persuade participants to agree with one another. It is to create a space in which Chicagoans can engage seriously with difficult questions, encounter perspectives different from their own, and develop the skills and relationships needed to carry those respectful conversations into their own communities in ways that inspire change.

“Chicago in Conversation was born of the notion that in a healthy civil society we need to be able to engage constructively with perspectives and information that challenge our own ways of thinking, especially about our most deeply held views,” said Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, the Sydney Stein Professor and dean of the Harris School of Public Policy. “The University of Chicago has long believed in the value of open inquiry and respectful conversation across differences. This initiative gives us an opportunity to put those principles into practice directly with Chicagoans.”

The partnership brings together two institutions with a shared commitment to the civic life of Chicago. Harris contributes deep expertise in policy research and UChicago’s tradition of open inquiry, while Chicago Public Media brings storytelling and longstanding connection to the issues that matter most to Chicagoans.

The initiative comes at a moment when Chicagoans recognize the depth of the nation’s current political division, but remain considerably more hopeful about their ability to work through it close to home. A new poll supported by Harris and Chicago Public Media, relying on NORC’s ChicagoSpeaks Panel, finds that 80% of Chicago residents describe the United States as extremely or very politically divided. Forty percent say the same of Illinois, while just 27% describe Chicago that way.

More importantly, 60% of Chicagoans are optimistic that people with different political views can still come together and work out their differences in Chicago. The poll also suggests that political conversations matter even when they do not change minds: 74% of Chicagoans say they have learned new information through a political conversation, while 71% say they have taught someone else something new.

Those findings point to both the challenge and the opportunity that Chicago in Conversation is designed to explore.

“Every day, journalism helps people make sense of complex issues,” said Ariel Van Cleave, managing director of audio at Chicago Public Media. “But understanding a city also requires creating opportunities for people to listen to one another. Chicago in Conversation is built on the belief that curiosity, thoughtful reporting, and respectful dialogue can deepen public understanding, even when people leave the room with different conclusions.”

Topics the program participants will be asked to wrestle with include Chicago's fiscal future; economic inequality; and local government, democracy and representation. Each conversation will bring data and policy expertise that help clarify trade-offs, paired with the experiences and perspectives participants bring from their own communities.

Participants in the initial cohort will be encouraged to carry the tools, relationships, and habits of constructive dialogue into their workplaces, neighborhoods, organizations and personal networks, creating opportunities for thoughtful exchange well beyond the program.

—This article originally appeared on the Harris School website.

Driven, curious, ready: Meet the UChicago Class of 2030

Colin Terrill — 10/01/2026 - 11:50am

The Class of 2030 has arrived. The University of Chicago welcomed its newest students to campus last week, each of them ready to begin a journey that will build an intellectual foundation for life.

Among the newest cohort of Maroons are undergraduates that grew up under Montana’s big skies, have created music or even competed in sport on an international level.

We spoke with five of these students to learn more about them and what they hope to learn and experience during their time at UChicago.

Tyler Ferguson

Tyler Ferguson has no shortage of hobbies. An avid guitar player who has recorded a couple of EPs, he also plays several other instruments while working out and maintaining his ever-growing comic book collection. However, the first-year student from Troy, Missouri is most passionate about his academic future.

“I graduated at the top of my class, but I didn’t feel like I was really challenged,” he said. “So, I searched for an environment that was going to be most conducive to my academic growth and give me a place where I could get into the type of intellectual discussions and spirited debates that I’ve always wanted to have.”

UChicago was that place. While he has never been to the city, he’s excited to experience the melting pot of Chicago along with its museums, restaurants and, of course, local music scene—especially its venues that showcase blues and jazz.

Ferguson intends to bring his love of music into his academic plans by finding a speciality in the artform along with his other interest in sociology. He feels the latter subject can be integrated into any other discipline he might want to explore in the future.

With his desire to blend majors and interests, it should come as no surprise that he views the Core curriculum as one of the best learning opportunities the College has to offer.

“I think that you bring a little bit of whatever you're passionate about into whatever subject you're studying, regardless of whether it's tied to your prospective majors or not,” Ferguson said. “That is what makes the Core so special.”

He wants to make a solid group of friends that he can explore the city with in his first year. Beyond that, he’s thinking of someday earning a doctorate. But whatever happens, he already knows he’ll take UChicago with him.

“I want to take that spirit of deep inquiry no matter where I end up on my journey,” Ferguson said.

Brexton Fraelich

A native of Wakeman, Ohio, Brexton Fraelich’s graduating high school class was around 80 students. Needless to say, his UChicago experience has already been a little different than he’s used to.

“It feels like I’ve already met 80 new people since I’ve been here, but honestly, that was one of the things that I was looking forward to most,” he said.

Fraelich is a member of the Maroons’ football team, for which he plays wide receiver, but decided to come to UChicago because of the challenges it offers academically. He is leaning towards majoring in business economics but says the College will give him the chance to really explore through the Core curriculum.

“I’m super excited to take Core classes because I like learning about various things like geography and history,” he said. “Being with other students who have different academic interests and backgrounds will offer a lot of unique perspectives and learning experiences”

Coming from the “tiniest town ever,” he is excited to get to Chicago and see what it has to offer.

“Every time I travel, I’m always wanting to walk around each new city that I visit,” Fraelich said. “To me, Chicago offers endless opportunities to explore and make it feel like home.”

His goals for his first year in the College are simple—get comfortable and settle in. When he thinks further down the road, his vision takes him far after graduation.“I want to be able to use my experience here to set myself up for a long and successful career no matter where that will take me, and UChicago is the best place to put me in that position.”

Maria Li

Maria Li was born in Shanghai, but has called the Netherlands home since 2020. It was there that she began taking an uncommon sport seriously.

“My mom always told me that I couldn’t sit still as a kid, so my parents enrolled me in fencing,” she said.

Li had been fencing since she was 10 years old but began competing on a more professional level when she joined her current club in Amsterdam. Along with other sports including badminton and volleyball, she also plays the flute, piano and guitar.. She intends to stay busy once she gets to campus.

“I plan on being involved with as many intramural sports as possible,” she said. “The same goes for RSOs like investing or hip-hop dancing. Actually, I’m really bad at dancing but I like to try everything at least once.”

This open-mindedness is going to guide Li in some of her most important decisions on campus. Originally wanting to study climate and sustainable growth, she learned from her tour guide that students commonly double- and even triple-major. So, while environmental studies are still at the top of her list, she might incorporate computer science into the mix or another subject that grabs her attention.

All these examples help one understand why she picked UChicago.

“The rigorous academics and activities and clubs all really fit me and my goal of having a full and fulfilling life.”

As far as what she wants to get out of her first year studying in the College?

“I want to prove to myself that I can keep up and succeed at the highest of levels. But I also want to have fun and see the Bean so it’s all about building that confidence that I can have the best of both worlds here.”

Alexandria Myers

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico but a resident of Montana since 2020, Alexandria Myers will miss “Big Sky Country” but couldn’t be more excited to start her Chicago adventure.

“There are so many things to see and do in the city, and that’s without even mentioning all the reasons why I chose to study at UChicago,” Myers said.

Myers plans to double major in molecular engineering and economics. She chose the College based on the interdisciplinary nature of the Core and the research that takes place on campus.

Research was a key aspect of her decision to come here as she lives with severe food allergies and was drawn to UChicago's Immunoengineering Innovation Center, which studies the immune system and new methods to treat those immunological issues.

Myers likes that she can further her interest in languages at the College too.

"This is a time when I can truly broaden my horizons,” she said. “So, taking courses that might not have anything to do with my career path with others that are in the same position will allow me to do that and add to the learning experience.”

Outside of the classroom, Myers tries to find time to tap into her creative side by sketching, specifically animals. She has worked as a teacher’s assistant for Coding for Kids, a nonprofit that provides technology-based classes for grades 1-12 in her area and volunteered at her high school as a unified partner for Special Olympics.

“It costs nothing to give someone your time, and volunteering has allowed me to meet all sorts of people and develop relationships and bonds” she said. “That, along with being a teacher’s assistant, were part of some of the most impactful moments of my high school career, and I hope to continue doing that on campus and around the city.”

Myers wants to discover new passions during her years on campus. Down the road, she plans to start a career in industry, research or academia after graduation.

Nola Sherrod

Nola Sherrod, born and raised in Los Angeles, is focused on goals both in the classroom and on the pitch. A member of the Maroons women’s soccer team, she ended up choosing UChicago because it was somewhere she could be challenged in all facets of her life.

“I wanted a place that I could explore outside of what I already liked,” she said. “UChicago prides itself on being a place where there isn’t just one way to approach a specific major or topic. I love that this place forces you to widen your view and explore everything.”

She applied as a biology major, but is now redirecting her focus to public policy. She looks forward to further narrowing down the direction she wants to go.

While downtime will be at a premium during her first few months of the school year, thanks to both athletic and academic demands, Sherrod wants to keep up with her hobby of making jewelry, something she picked up from her mom. She also wants to experience everything that the third coast has to offer.

“Lollapalooza is big on my list, and I hope to check that box off next summer,” she said. “But in the end, I’m just looking forward to living in a big city that has everything a little closer together than things are in LA. That and experiencing seasons for once.”

Outside of trying to win a national championship, Sherrod has one major goal she wants to accomplish in her first year at UChicago.

“UChicago has such a diverse community with people that come from all over the world to study here,” she said. “So, it goes without saying that I can’t wait to get to know my fellow classmates’ backgrounds, traditions and why they too ended up in Hyde Park.”

—This story originally appeared on the College website.

What goes on in your brain when you’re trying to multitask

Matt Wood — 10/01/2026 - 10:30am

Multitasking feels like a required skill in modern life, but as anyone who has tried keeping track of multiple chat windows, an email inbox and a stream of phone notifications during a video call can tell you, figuring out which messages are important comes at a cost.

New research by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago looked at what happens in the brain when it tries to complete multiple tasks. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, showed that limits to our ability to juggle multiple tasks come from “interference” between the way our brains represent different inputs, especially when their relevance to a given task is uncertain.

“The brain is good at keeping track of a lot of different things, but it becomes a big job to make sure they don’t get in the way of each other,” said Marlene Cohen, professor of neurobiology at UChicago and senior author of the study. “When you’re under high cognitive load, you’re trying to do too many things at once. Information gets mixed together in your brain even if you know it very well, and that turns out to be an explanation for this behavior.”

Mixing up information

Cheng Xue, a postdoctoral researcher who led the project, developed a series of experiments to understand why it’s so difficult to juggle multiple tasks.

The researchers asked more than 200 human subjects to perform a task where they watched a series of images on a monitor. First, an image of a circle with stripes would appear, and then after a short amount of time, another one would appear, either rotated in one direction or another or with differently sized stripes. The subjects were then asked to report which feature of the circle they were supposed to be tracking, and the type of change they observed.

Sometimes they were asked how confident they were with this choice, but with a catch: they were never told which feature they should track. Instead, they needed to infer this from their performance on previous tasks. The “correct” answer would periodically change, introducing uncertainty. Did they choose the wrong feature, rotation over stripes? Or did they get the rotational direction or change of the size of stripes wrong?

While people were usually able to recover after a few more tries, they performed worse on the tasks when they were uncertain, indicating that they weren’t sure which information to use to make their choices.

“What surprised us was that making mistakes under uncertainty isn't just about losing focus or being sloppy,” Xue said. “When we aren’t sure which rule to follow, our brains hold onto visual details we’re supposed to ignore. That extra information bleeds into our decisions, directly contaminating how well we perceive the things that actually matter.”

The researchers also trained two rhesus monkeys to perform similar tasks, and they were also able to get back on track after a few incorrect, unrewarded tries. While the animals performed these tasks, the researchers also recorded brain cell activity in their primary visual cortex and parietal cortex, which helps with task switching.

Using computer models that simulated the tasks and choices of the animals, Xue and his teammates found clues that helped them look deeper into the brain activity data recorded from the animals. They saw that there were separate groups of neurons that encoded visual features of the stimuli on the screen, either the size of the stripes or where they moved.

When the test subjects were less certain, like after a couple of failed tasks, this information was no longer encoded independently—instead, the visual representations were mixed up in the same sets of neurons. The researchers call this “feature interference.”

“It’s not that the visual information for one feature or another isn’t there and you can’t remember, it’s that you can’t keep the different features separate anymore,” Cohen said.

"It’s comforting to know that when we struggle to multitask, it isn't a failure of willpower or discipline. The brain’s hardware is prone to rely on the wrong information when switching gears,” Xue added. “Accepting that leaves us with a simple solution: tackle one task until it's finished and give our brain enough time to turn to another."

Explanations for complex cognitive behaviors

There are many examples in life where we see this kind of interference among other senses, like how it’s hard to focus on reading if someone is talking nearby.

Cohen said this suggests that it might be a general mechanism that limits our ability to switch tasks.

It may also provide clues as to what goes wrong in cognitive diseases. Her group recently published another study showing that they saw similar interference in an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease, even when the subjects weren’t under high cognitive load or conditions of uncertainty.

“We can understand much more complicated aspects of our behaviors, our thoughts and our perceptions than we ever could before with the technological and modeling improvements that give us so much insight,” she said.

“There are so many people who have some sort of disorder that affects their cognition. These are not conditions that are going to have simple answers, but I think as we start to understand mechanisms for complex cognitive behaviors, we can also start to use that knowledge to diagnose people earlier and more accurately, and perhaps even identify targets for treatments.”

Additional authors include Sol K. Markman from UChicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ruoyi Chen from the California Institute of Technology and Lily E. Kramer from UChicago.

Citation: “Feature interference underlies a neuronal basis for the behavioral cost of task uncertainty.” Xue, Markman, Chen, Kramer and Cohen, Nature Neuroscience, Sept. 10, 2026.

Funding: Simons Foundation, National Institutes of Health.

—Adapted from an article published by the UChicago Biological Sciences Division.

New simulation projects what the Milky Way looked like at ‘cosmic dawn’

Louise Lerner — 09/29/2026 - 03:56pm

In the early days of the universe, our home looked very different than it does today.

Back then, the region in our universe that would eventually become our Milky Way neighborhood was a collection of thousands of smaller galaxies—some pumping out tons of new stars, others filled only with gas or littered with dead stars and black holes.

You can watch how these galaxies coalesced over time and formed the familiar spiral disk we see today, thanks to a new set of simulations by a group of scientists led by Harley Katz, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

The simulations, which took three years to run even on high-powered supercomputers, are the most detailed model to date of how a galaxy like the Milky Way might have evolved over the first several billion years of existence.

“What does the Milky Way look like at what we call cosmic dawn?” said Katz. “For the first time, we can directly predict what the early Milky Way would have looked like to telescopes like Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope.”

The six papers from the project, which is named MEGATRON, provide new insight into the makeup of early galaxies and how the elements formed over time.

The papers are published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics on Sept. 30.

How the Milky Way evolves over time

Since we cannot travel to the dawn of the universe to study it, one of the only ways we have to understand how space evolved over time is to build detailed computer models based on what we know about the laws of nature.

“Essentially, we put in all of the physics we think is relevant—gravity, hydrodynamics, radiation, chemistry, etc.—and then let it evolve and see if it reproduces what we actually see when we look around us today,” said Katz.

New data coming in from the powerful James Webb Space Telescope has added a new dimension to our understanding of the universe. So three years ago, a team of scientists undertook a project to incorporate this newfound knowledge into a model of what our galaxy might have looked like back in the first billion years of its existence. Then they can compare it to the readings Webb gets today to see what matches, and what’s missing.

If you run the clock back, the scientists said, you see a web of large and small galaxies of all different types, which will eventually merge into the modern Milky Way.

“We follow thousands of subsystems in the model and directly compute what they all would have looked like with our most powerful space telescopes, which is many orders of magnitude more than what had been simulated before,” said Katz. “Within those you see an incredible diversity. Some of them are bursting out in star formation, others are dead, others are in the process of dying.”

One unique finding was that the model predicts the existence of “galaxies” that don’t have any stars at all, but still shine. Some of these might have once had stars that exploded or collapsed directly into black holes; others might have only ever contained gas.

Another discovery addresses a long-standing puzzle in stellar astrophysics. In our Milky Way, we typically see that smaller and fainter galaxies have less iron. However, this trend breaks down in extremely faint systems where the amount of iron appears constant, independent of mass. Thus far, simulations have been unable to reproduce this behavior.

The culprit, the simulation suggests, is explosions from an exotic type of star left over from right after the Big Bang. These stars, known as population III stars, are so old that they are made of only the first elements that existed in the universe—hydrogen and helium—and when they explode, they can produce more iron than other supernovae do. If a galaxy is large enough, it will have enough gravity to hold onto this iron; but if it’s too small, the iron will be lost to space.

These population III stars, in fact, are so old that none have ever been directly seen by telescopes. Another paper in the set is the first to show how these stars form in an environment like the Milky Way, and predicts where these stars would be most likely to exist if any still do—which may help astronomers search for them.

The physics of stars and elements

A hallmark of these simulations is that they are much more complex than anything before attempted.

“What’s unique about our simulation is that it’s the first time we have modeled the enrichment of individual chemical elements from individual stars after the Big Bang, coupled to detailed models for gravity, chemistry, radiation and stellar processes,” said Katz.

This model, for example, was the first large-scale simulation to include a detailed computation of “non-equilibrium physics.” Most physics operates assuming, for the sake of simplicity, that a system’s chemistry is more or less in equilibrium. But of course, in the real Universe, galaxies are constantly evolving, which often breaks this key assumption.

Scientists weren’t sure how much this would affect the end result—and including it in a simulation slows down the computation significantly.

However, two of the papers that are part of the study shows adding non-equilibrium physics made a real difference—especially when dealing with flows of gases around galaxies, known as the circumgalactic medium.

Adding this complexity allows scientists to more accurately interpret observations, and to put limits on the number of possible answers to many questions about the formation of the universe.

“Looking at these results, it’s very clear that the physics happening right after the Big Bang has direct impact on what we see today in the local universe,” said Katz.

“But there are also things we’re not getting right, which is interesting too—what are the parts we’re still missing? That can lead you into new directions and new questions.”

Citation: "MEGATRON: Reproducing the Diversity of High-Redshift Galaxy Spectra with Cosmological Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations." Katz et al, The Open Journal of Astrophysics, Sept. 30, 2026.

Funding: NASA, European Research Council, National Research Foundation of Korea, Yonsei Fellowship, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Flemish Fund for Scientific Research, Swiss National Foundation, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, UKRI Frontier Research, Swedish Research Council, Swedish National Space Agency, LMK Foundation, Oriel College Research Fund.

UChicago physicist Vincenzo Vitelli named 2026 MacArthur Fellow

Louise Lerner — 09/29/2026 - 09:19am

Vincenzo Vitelli, a professor of physics at the University of Chicago known for his innovative work in unconventional materials, has been named a 2026 MacArthur Fellow.

Given each year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the prestigious grants recognize individuals across different fields who demonstrate “exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.” The MacArthur recipients receive a no-strings-attached grant of $800,000.

Vitelli is a pioneer in multiple subfields of physics, including metamaterials, active matter and non-reciprocal systems.

His lab has demonstrated unique forms of motion and adaptive behavior, such as robots that use simple principles of physics to navigate complex terrain, spontaneous rotations arising from “frustration” in nonreciprocal matter, ‘hidden’ symmetries linking apparently unrelated systems, and patterns emerging from turbulent fluids. These and other discoveries could give rise to future technologies that employ these principles.

In awarding the fellowship, the committee wrote: “Vitelli’s research is inspiring new metamaterials in mechanical engineering, robotics, and biophysics, and he is opening up new research directions into how non-reciprocal physics principles could apply to biology, human behavior, and artificial intelligence.”

Visionary and minimalist endeavors

Vitelli’s work focuses on the surprising behavior that can arise when many constituents—from molecules to macroscopic objects—interact. This includes “metamaterials,” artificially created materials which can display unusual properties, and “active matter,” which is created when groups of energy-harvesting constituents act together, like fish forming a school.

“There are two features of theoretical physics that in my opinion make it a creative endeavor: it is visionary and minimalist,” Vitelli said. “Visionary because you are imagining things that do not (yet) exist; minimalist because you try to represent them using a language elegant in its parsimony—mathematics!”

Upon receiving the call notifying him of the award, “I thought it was somebody playing a prank on me,” Vitelli admitted. “It took them a while to convince me otherwise. It wasn’t until they told me to call them back at an official number that it dawned on me that this could be real!”

Vitelli said he plans to use the award to explore a research direction he’s been mulling over for a while, which he calls “agentic many-body theory.”

“What that means is a theory for the collective behavior of information processing agents such as humans, bots, cells or even molecules that individually possess the capacity for adaptive, intelligent behavior,” Vitelli said. “The question I would like to pursue is: what laws emerge when many such agents interact? The generous support of the MacArthur Foundation will provide the personal freedom and peace of mind to launch in this direction.”

At UChicago, Vitelli is affiliated with the James Franck Institute, the Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics, the Data Science Institute and the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics.

He received his bachelor’s of science degree from Imperial College London and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Before joining UChicago, he was a member of the faculty at Instituut–Lorentz for Theoretical Physics at Leiden University and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

Vitelli joins multiple colleagues at UChicago who have received MacArthur Fellowships, most recently including writer Ling Ma in 2024, statistician Rina Foygel Barber in 2023, sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller in 2022 and film scholar Jacqueline Stewart in 2021.

Enjoy these fall exhibitions across UChicago

Tori Lee — 09/28/2026 - 10:40am

As the ivy changes colors and classes get underway, exhibitions across the University of Chicago are opening to the public.

From Anatolian kings to immersive digital art and Nigerian bodybuilders, check out these fall offerings across campus.

Created Equal: The Premises and Promises of the Declaration of Independence

Regenstein Library, The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center | 1100 E 57th St | Open Sept. 8 to Dec. 11 | Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

The story of the Declaration of Independence often centers on its revolutionary authors, prominent politicians such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and (above all) Thomas Jefferson. But the Declaration we know today is equally a product of generations of readers, individuals and groups who discovered divergent meanings among its self-evident truths.

What story, then, best suits our moment?

This exhibition, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the document in 2026, invites visitors to experience the diverse responses to the Declaration in the age of the American Revolution, consider unfolding understandings over time, and explore conflicting interpretations individuals and groups have proposed at significant moments in history.

Hartapu: The Forgotten King of Anatolia

Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures | 1155 E 58th St. | Open Sept. 17 to March 14

In 2019, an inscribed stone pulled from an irrigation canal in central Türkiye introduced the world to a king who claimed to have conquered Phrygia—one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient world.

The exhibition tells the story of Hartapu—who ruled in the eighth century B.C.E. during a period of intense rivalry between great powers—through ancient inscriptions, archaeological finds and new technologies. Contemporary works by artist SaraNoa Mark offer a counterpoint, reflecting on landscape, memory and the labor and care of preserving the past.

How Do We Heal?

Smart Museum of Art | 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. | Open Sept. 22 to July 11

What can art tell us about how people have sought to heal from past traumas and grief? How can the process of making art become therapeutic? How Do We Heal? addresses the connections between art and healing.

How Do We Heal? takes an expansive view of healing from different challenges and considers the role of art in these processes through the Smart’s permanent collection. This thematic exhibition brings together artworks from across time, geography and artistic media to consider the relationship between art and healing both historically and into the present day.

Celebrate the Smart’s new fall exhibitions at the opening reception on Oct. 3. This program is free and open to all; Registration is encouraged.

Intentionality, 1960: Whose Dreams?

Arts Incubator Gallery at Arts + Public Life | 301 E. Garfield Blvd. | Open Sept. 24 to Dec. 12 | Thursday–Saturday 1–5 PM

A new solo exhibition by Chicago artist Candace Hunter centers on communities displaced by the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway and the memories, relationships and histories carried in its wake.

A continuation of Hunter’s ongoing project, 50,831 +/– Dreams, the exhibition brings together photographic collage, architectural fragments, archival materials, maps, sound, sculpture and oral history.

The exhibition will be accompanied by Threshold: Conversations on the Stoop, a series of public dialogues on race, residential space, displacement, memory and belonging.

Karimah Ashadu: Tendered

The Renaissance Society | 5811 South Ellis Ave. | Cobb Hall, 4th floor | Open Sept. 12 to Nov. 1

Tendered, a solo exhibition by British-born Nigerian artist and film director Karimah Ashadu, marks the U.S. debut of MUSCLE, a new moving-image installation centered on bodybuilders training in the heart of Lagos’s slums. The work situates bodybuilding within a broader field of exertion: the body as site of labor, investment and self-fashioning.

MUSCLE was co-commissioned and co-produced by the Renaissance Society, Fondazione In Between Art Film and Camden Art Centre, and is accompanied by a series of new sculptural works that draw directly from the film’s environments.

Karimah Ashadu: Tendered is presented in conjunction with the installation of the artist’s work Machine Boys at the Art Institute of Chicago, opening Sept. 11.

Pierre Bismuth: Love Bless America

Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society | 5701 S. Woodlawn Ave. | Open Sept. 26 to Jan. 8

The centerpiece of Love Bless America is a long-form meditative film by the French artist and filmmaker Pierre Bismuth. The film documents a creative collaboration between Joshua Abrams and Sharon Udoh, two leading figures from Chicago’s jazz and improvised music scene.

Bismuth has tasked them with composing a 21st-century spiritual based on a lyrical hymn he wrote for the project. The film traces the magic and workaday practice of “inspiration,” taking the traditions of religious music as a point of departure for a multi-layered reflection on love, music and the divine. In addition to this new film, Bismuth will present a series of digital images resembling American flags emblazoned with lyrics from the hymn.

teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity

Smart Museum of Art | 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. | Open Sept 22 to Feb 21

The art collective teamLab is renowned for creating immersive digital art installations that blur the boundary between viewer and artwork. Based in Tokyo, teamLab engages in wide-ranging experimentation with digital technology to create art that explores the relationship between the self and the world.

Founded in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, teamLab has grown into an international collective of hundreds of artists, scientists, computer programmers, mathematicians and architects.

teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity is the collective’s first exhibition in the Midwest and presents some of teamLab’s most iconic artworks from the past 25 years as well as new work made specifically for this exhibition.

Celebrate the Smart’s new fall exhibitions at the opening reception on Oct. 3. This program is free and open to all; Registration is encouraged.

Free UChicago talks on origins of universe, dark matter and physics to commemorate 50 years of discovery

09/28/2026 - 09:50am

Half a century ago, scientists at the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute helped invent a new way to study the universe: by treating the Big Bang itself as a laboratory to explore nature at energy scales unreachable on earth.

This fall, nine of the researchers who carry that legacy forward will share what those 50 years have uncovered—from the invisible matter holding galaxies together to the gravitational ripples of colliding black holes.

The series of free public talks by UChicago scientists, “The Compton Lectures: 50 Years of Discovery,” run every Saturday from Oct. 3 through Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. in the Kersten Physics Teaching Center.

"Fifty years ago, cosmology was a fringe area of science, with little data and little theoretical effort," wrote Rocky Kolb, a UChicago cosmologist.

Kolb’s lecture, "Enrico Fermi Institute and the Chicago School of Particle Cosmology," will open the series on Oct. 3 by describing how the institute, in collaboration with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, led the world in the development of the new field of particle cosmology.

The following week, astrophysicist John Carlstrom will take audiences to the South Pole. His Oct. 10 talk, "Exploring the Big Bang from the South Pole," discusses the study of the Cosmic Microwave Background—the faint afterglow of the Big Bang—using specialized telescopes deployed at the South Pole and what that has taught us about the origin and evolution of our universe.

The series then turns to what the solar system's rocky bodies can tell us about the cosmos. Geophysical scientist Andy Davis will explain on Oct. 17 how Enrico Fermi Institute researchers discovered that meteorites carry grains of actual stardust—microscopic bits of material from dying stars and supernovae and what that has taught us about the origins and formation of our solar system.

On Oct. 24, particle physicist Marcela Carena traces the path from UChicago professor Yoichiro Nambu's insight about the quantum vacuum to the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN. Her talk, “Broken Symmetries and the Origins of Mass and Matter,” will discuss the ongoing mystery of why the universe contains matter rather than nothing.

Physicist Jeff Harvey continues the theoretical thread on Oct. 31 with a half-century retrospective on string theory at the Enrico Fermi Institute, followed on Nov. 7 by Luca Grandi's survey of the decades-long hunt for dark matter. Grandi will describe how ultra-sensitive detectors have steadily narrowed the hiding places for the invisible substance that makes up 85% of all matter in the universe—and why the search remains one of the most exciting pursuits in physics.

Daniel Holz will bring audiences up to the present on Nov. 14 with "A Decade of Gravitational-Wave Science." Since the first detection of a gravitational-wave event in 2015, scientists have catalogued hundreds of collisions between black holes and neutron stars. Holz will highlight what that growing census has revealed about how the universe forges and merges these extreme objects.

Astrophysicist Angela Olinto, professor emeritus at UChicago and current provost of Columbia University, will describe on Nov. 21 how NASA science balloons equipped with ultra-fast cameras are catching the most energetic subatomic particles ever observed—cosmic rays and neutrinos arriving from the most violent corners of the cosmos. She will also preview a planned 2028 balloon flight expected to push those observations further.

The series closes on Dec. 5 with Young-Kee Kim tracing Chicago's contributions to precision particle physics over five decades, from landmark discoveries to stringent tests of the Standard Model of Physics, and pointing toward the open questions that may reveal what lies beyond it.

The Compton Lecture Series has been a fixture of UChicago public science outreach since 1976, when it was established by Enrico Fermi Institute Director John Simpson. The lectures are named for Arthur Holly Compton, UChicago Professor of Physics who shared the Nobel prize in Physics in 1927 for establishing that light doesn’t just behave like a wave; it also behaves like a particle with momentum.

All talks are held at the Kersten Physics Teaching Center, 5720 S. Ellis Ave., Room 106, and will also be broadcast online. More information can be found on the event website.