✨🪰Pick Lab’s recent paper gets spotlight in Development. Learn about the inspiration behind their research, the challenges and breakthroughs they had in the lab along the way, and the key findings they eventually published. 🪰✨

New research co-authored by Dr. Evan Economo helps ant-swer fascinating questions about evolution in complex societies.👇

#UMD astronomers discovered that a blast of space rocks ejected during the #DARTMission carried 3X more momentum than the spacecraft itself. Coming in at #2 on our top stories list, this discovery led to insights for future planetary defense missions ➡️ go.umd.edu/topstories2025 🔭

New research co-authored by @umdentomology.bsky.social's Evan Economo finds that some ant species cut corners to build workers more cheaply. The team found that ants from species with the largest social groups grew in numbers by investing fewer nutritional resources in each worker's armor. #EvoDevo

Mathematical biologist Abba Gumel is investigating ways to prevent the spread of human diseases. See how Abba's research group applies mathematical models to understand the spread of diseases such as COVID-19 and malaria ⤵️ #UMDimpact

📢 Announcing our top 10 stories of 2025: go.umd.edu/topstories2025 Starting at #1, Associate Professor Sougata Roy received a perfect score on an NIH grant application to support his work using advanced microscopy to reveal the secrets of cell-to-cell communication.

Hakeem Henry's (Ph.D. '21, chemistry) graduate experience at #UMD laid the groundwork for his successful career as a research scientist at Colgate-Palmolive. Read about his work formulating personal care products that millions use every day ⤵️

Happy holidays, #ScienceTerps! May your holiday season be filled with warmth, relaxation and inspiration for the new year ahead.

One of my first encounters with closed timelike curves (CTCs) took place when I read The Eyre Affair as a teen. I didn't expect to become a physicist who co-writes papers about simulating CTCs to improve quantum metrology. quantumfrontiers.com/2025/12/14/m... @jasperfforde.bsky.social

There is so much to celebrate for our August and December graduating #ScienceTerps 🎓🐢 We are so proud of your accomplishments and can’t wait to celebrate with you all again at commencement in May. #UMDgrad

🐝 Where do University of Maryland bees go in the winter? UMD's Apiary Manager Eric Malcolm and Beekeeping Club President Lila Wilson share how they protect pollinators year-round: go.umd.edu/bees-winter

Cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that vaccines can prevent. #UMD mathematicians identified vaccination strategies that could eliminate HPV-related cancers for good. "The study provides a clear way of showing how science is influencing policy," said study senior author Abba Gumel.

Computer Science and Immersive Media Design Assistant Professor Jun Nishida creates wearable devices, from interactive exoskeletons to #VR systems. His research explores how computer technology can improve our overall well-being. #UMDimpact

🎉 Computer science and international relations dual-degree senior Dhruvak Mirani has been named a 2026 #MarshallScholar ➡️ go.umd.edu/marshall26 Dhruvak plans to use this prestigious scholarship to pursue master's degrees in security at the University of Glasgow and King's College London.

Look at this cool feature of one of our #EspindoLab grad students and her research! Go, Jenan!!💪🏼👩🏼‍🔬👩🏼‍💻 #NSFGRFP #FundScience

@umdentomology.bsky.social graduate student Jenan El-Hifnawi (B.S. ’22, biological sciences) is studying the evolutionary history of bees in the Andes 🐝 Learn about her research experience with Entomology's Anahí Espindola (@analyssi.bsky.social) ⤵️ #EvoSky

Canada's worst wildfire season produced so much smoke that it spilled across national borders. A group of UMD researchers discovered that chemical compounds from the wildfires remained in the atmosphere months after the smoke subsided.

Field conditions are snowy here today at the University of Maryland ❄️

Biology Professor Sean B. Carroll joined the @pbs.org NOVA podcast to reveal the hidden rules behind nature's creativity and the genetic toolkit that makes it possible. #EvoSky

Congratulations to Prof. Gates, recipient of the Barry Prize and new Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and African Academy of Sciences! @umdscience.bsky.social umdphysics.umd.edu/about-us/new...

@umdgeology.bsky.social's Thomas Holtz (@arctomet.bsky.social) suggests that "latchkey kid dinosaurs" may have made Mesozoic communities more ecologically diverse. Unlike mammal "helicopter parents," dinosaurs favored a free-range parenting style, which let them fill distinct ecological niches.

@umdphysics.bsky.social's Maissam Barkeshli was selected by @simonsfoundation.org to participate in an international collaboration investigating emerging phenomena in #AI models ➡️ go.umd.edu/barkeshli-AI

Matt Nolan brings his experience in #GameDesign, music, art and computing to the Department of Computer Science's Immersive Media Design program ➡️ go.umd.edu/mnolan "I feel like I'm shaping this field, but I also think that, more importantly, we're graduating people who will be the future of it."

🙏Thanks Dr. Abba Gumel for stopping by Entomology to share how mathematical models are being used to fight malaria. entomology.umd.edu/news/seminar...

When our community comes together, we can make a difference for #ScienceTerps. Celebrate #GivingTuesday2025 by supporting CMNS programs and initiatives near and dear to your heart ➡️ go.umd.edu/give-cmns

Senior computer science major Nithika Ramanathan made professional and personal connections at #GHC2025 in Chicago! Read about Nithika's Grace Hopper Celebration experience, supported by a University of Maryland Computing Catalyst Conference Scholarship ⤵️

🦟UMD Alum Ben Burgunder (M.S. ’25, Fritz Lab) loves mosquitoes. He shares why even the peskiest species of mosquitoes are worth learning about. youtu.be/iUcaLgHRXxY?.... 🦟 🙏Thanks Natural History Society of Maryland for making this presentation available for broader audiences!

📡🌦️ The Maryland Mesonet provides hyperlocal, timely weather updates for Marylanders. This statewide network of weather monitoring stations is installed and maintained by UMD atmospheric scientists. Mesonet Manager James Hyde spoke with Outdoors Maryland about how the network operates ⤵️

Toward autonomous quantum computation. (If you're an experimentalist who'd like to try out any of these proposals, let me know!) arxiv.org/abs/2510.07372 @umdscience.bsky.social

Error detection and correction at @umdscience.bsky.social has a long history: the guy who invented the barcode is an alum! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...

Federal support of science research has catalyzed economic growth and advanced life-saving cures, diagnostics and therapies. At Science on Tap next Tuesday (11/18), Biology's Joshua Weitz (@joshuasweitz.bsky.social) will discuss his efforts to confront federal cuts to science ➡️ go.umd.edu/sot1125

🦟Turns out St. Leger Lab results are simply irresistible (queue the music🕺), to mosquitoes that is! St. Leger Lab helped develop a floral-scented fungus to attract and kill mosquitoes🦟 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/s...

Computer Science Assistant Professor Nirupam Roy explores how machines can sense, interpret and reason by integrating acoustics, wireless signals and embedded AI. Submit your questions now for Nirupam's #RedditAMA on his research and the future of secure machine hearing: redd.it/1otq9qr

#UMD astronomer Megan Weiner Mansfield co-led the creation of the first 3D temperature map for a distant exoplanet. Published in Nature Astronomy, the team's technique lays the groundwork for more detailed future explorations of faraway planets. 🔭

"I'm sad, play something to cheer me up," 🎵 Music Flamingo, a new AI model by @umdscience.bsky.social and NVIDIA, can actually feel music and suggest tunes like a human would. Learn more about the innovative tech at Maryland Today go.umd.edu/2489

Theoretical chemist Pratyush Tiwary blends theoretical and computational methods, including #AI, to advance drug discovery and materials science. Ask Pratyush about the role of AI in chemistry in today's #RedditAMA: redd.it/1ois95t #AIMaryland

Every time we make a call, our voices reveal personal information that #AI can extract and exploit. Computer Science Assistant Professor Nirupam Roy and his team developed a system that defends our data from automated surveillance while keeping conversations clear ⤵️

Now that mosquitoes are evolving resistance against chemical pesticides, scientists are looking to nature in the fight against deadly insect-borne diseases. @umdentomology.bsky.social's Raymond St. Leger helped develop a new way to trap mosquitoes: a fungus that smells like flowers ⤵️ #BugSky

I'll be at the @sacnas.bsky.social #NDiSTEM meeting next week, attending sessions and at the the tri-soc @systbiol.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @asn-amnat.bsky.social, and the @umdscience.bsky.social booths! Get in touch if you want to chat/meet! 👩🏼‍🔬👩🏼‍💻🌻🐝🧬💪🏼

As #ArtificialIntelligence scientists for Google Translate, #ScienceTerps Sweta Agrawal and Eleftheria Briakou help millions of people make real-time connections in 200+ different languages. Their research in natural language processing and machine translation at #UMD started it all ⤵️ #AIMaryland

🌳🐝Interested in creating habitat for beneficial insects but just don't know where to start? Plant native! Ento Alums Lisa Kuder & Maddie Potter identify plants native to the region & explain how these plants support insect species with resources to thrive. go.umd.edu/23up 🐝🌳

Sophomore biological sciences major Priya Tyagi is pursuing a career in #ComputationalBiology to demystify disease: go.umd.edu/tyagi In UMD's Spatial Biology Lab, Priya is evaluating #ArtificialIntelligence segmentation tools and developing computational methods for tissue analysis.

🎧 ‘To squish or not to squish?’ Michael Raupp, Professor Emeritus at University of Maryland shares current management strategies for spotted lanternflies. 🙏WAMU885 for reporting on insects and their impacts in the DMV! wamu.org/story/25/10/...

🎓 Congratulations to our college's August 2025 graduates! We're excited to celebrate their accomplishments at commencement next May. See the full list of #ScienceTerp graduates: go.umd.edu/grads-0825

Tomorrow (10/21), computer science and finance junior Alma Hagstrom is taking over our Instagram story: instagram.com/umdscience Alma will start her day in her #ArtificialIntelligence and financial markets classes, followed by an e-board meeting and a shift with CS Advising.

Using #JWST 's Mid-Infrared Instrument, Astronomy Research Scientist Marta Sewilo led the discovery of complex organic molecules frozen in ice near a forming star in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This is the first time these building blocks of life have been detected in ice beyond our galaxy 🔭

So excited for our latest paper! Here’s to the start of some amazing lunar civil engineering exploration! 🍻 🌙 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Biology Assistant Professor Nikolas Francis combines #DataAnalysis with neuroimaging methods to examine the neurophysiology of listening. He hopes to help identify therapeutic targets for treating hearing disorders and advance our understanding of how we listen to sound. #ResearchWithImpact

Nearly half of geostationary satellite signals have been left vulnerable to eavesdropping, according to research co-led by Computer Science Associate Professor Dave Levin. Dave spoke with @wired.com's @agreenberg.bsky.social and @mattburgess1.bsky.social about their findings 📡

New York health officials recently confirmed the state's first locally acquired case of the chikungunya virus. See how @umdentomology.bsky.social's Raymond St. Leger is fighting chikungunya and other mosquito-borne diseases with fungi 🦟