Natural Sciences & Mathematics - College of Arts and Sciences

View a list of departments in natural sciences & mathematics.

The 10m Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory in Texas (photo by Ethan Tweedie Photography).

New exoplanet is twice the size of Earth and closer in size to Neptune

The exciting new discovery, called G 9-40b, was validated using an astronomical spectrograph built by a Penn State team with the help of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Goodman Laboratory, led by Chris Clemens, stellar astrophysicist and senior associate dean for research and innovation in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Willa King paints during a drawing class at Studio Arts College International in Florence, Italy. (photo courtesy of Willa King)

Psyched for art

Senior Willa King writes about her internship last summer conducting art therapy with patients at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. King is pursuing a major in psychology and a minor in studio art.

Shauna Cooper and her team at the Strengths, Assets and Resilience Lab explore the ways in which families, schools and communities influence positive development among African-American adolescents and youth. (photo by Kristen Chavez), Cooper is sitting in front of a door that has words in blue on it like: "Dream Big. Never Give Up. Focus. Success is Earned. etc."

The Science of Families

Throughout her career, UNC-Chapel Hill developmental psychologist Shauna Cooper has focused on families, especially African-American families — boys, girls, fathers, mothers. But the surprising findings from her early research studies made her especially curious about the lives of fathers and adolescent girls.

Frank Leibfarth won both an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a Cottrell Scholar Award, two top honors given to early-career scientists. (photo by Donn Young) He is pictured here in his lab.

Rising star in chemistry: Leibfarth wins two top awards for early-career scientists

Frank Leibfarth, assistant professor of chemistry in UNC’s College of Arts & Sciences, has won two prestigious awards for early-career scientists. In only one week, he has been awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a Cottrell Scholar Award for 2020.

Picture of the Earth as seen from space with a black nightime sky

Gold’s wobbly nucleus

As Earth rotates along its axis, it wobbles a little bit. Nuclear physics researchers have now observed this same type of wobbling in Au187 – a gold isotope that lives for just eight minutes. Fundamental science research like this can lead to major breakthroughs in a range of fields, including medical care.

A 48-hour marathon

Carolina was one of more than 900 Global Game Jam host locations last weekend, with nearly 90 students developing prototypes of video games over the span of two days.

Idea Machine graphic shows the words NSF Idea Machine" on a teal background, with a bunch of machine gears.

Biologist Karin Pfennig wins grand prize in NSF’s Idea Machine competition

Winning entries will help inform NSF’s research agenda through the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026 and beyond.