Natural Sciences & Mathematics - College of Arts and Sciences

View a list of departments in natural sciences & mathematics.

Ronit Freeman holds a 3D printed model of the coronavirus.

Molecular approaches to detect and mitigate COVID-19

UNC-Chapel Hill researcher Ronit Freeman wins support to capture and disable coronavirus spikes.

A seafood market shows a case of seafood with customers shopping.

Seafood mislabeling in North Carolina

Two recent student-led papers based on research in the undergraduate “Seafood Forensics” class at UNC-Chapel Hill show that seafood mislabeling in North Carolina is a big problem.

In “Introduction to Design and Making,” an applied physical sciences course, students work in groups to do a structured peer evaluation of their projects. The assignment was to design and build a scale model of an innovative furniture project. This is one of many examples in which students are developing an entrepreneurial mindset through applied physical sciences courses.

UNC-Chapel Hill becomes newest partner institution of KEEN

Applied physical sciences receives grant to promote an entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduates.

A hurricane that formed in the Atlantic basin heads for the eastern seaboard. (Adobe stock)

An Active Storm Season

June 1 marked the start of the 2020 hurricane season — and it’s slated to be an active one. In this Q&A, UNC researcher Rick Luettich talks about this year’s above-average hurricane forecast.

shot of the bell tower at an angle with a beautiful blue sky and orange and yellow flowers in the foreground

College of Arts & Sciences recognizes 12 new distinguished professors

Congratulations to the 12 faculty who were recently appointed distinguished professors or distinguished term professors in the College of Arts & Sciences. Their new appointments take effect July 1.

Photo of Old Well with campus seal in the foreground by Donn Young

A Message from Dean Rhodes

This has been a deeply painful and disturbing week for our nation, with the video that has emerged of George Floyd and his horrible death in police custody in Minneapolis.

Artist’s interpretation of the explosion of a recurrent nova, RS Ophiuchi. This is a binary star in the constellation of Ophiuchus and is approximately 5,000 light-years away. It explodes roughly every 20 years when the gas flowing from the large star that falls onto the white dwarf reaches temperatures exceeding ten million degrees.

Class of stellar explosions found to be galactic producers of lithium

A team of researchers has combined theory with both observations and laboratory studies and determined that a class of stellar explosions, called classical novae, are responsible for most of the lithium in our galaxy and solar system.