A Caltech-led team of biochemists has homed in on an underexplored small transporter called MurJ that is a vital part of the pathway bacteria use to build their chain-mail-like cell wall. An essential component of the cell wall, called peptidoglycan, provides the strength that allows bacteria to resist pressure. Using advanced tools, the scientists have […]

Antibiotics are medical marvels that have transformed once deadly bacterial infections into manageable conditions. But with a rise in antibiotic resistance that renders existing treatments ineffective, new agents are urgently needed. Scientists at Caltech and Princeton University have now shed fresh light on why antibiotics that work well in laboratory tests often fail against real […]

Caltech is filled with inventors, people who create everything from scientific instruments to medical devices, from powerful new algorithms to heretofore unknown materials at the quantum scale. But nearly every advancement that is made today has a scientific lineage that dates back decades or even centuries.Cristiano Zanetti, who was named the inaugural Eleanor Searle Postdoctoral […]

Carl Grillmair, an astronomer at Caltech's IPAC science and data center for astronomy and planetary science, passed away suddenly on February 16, 2026. He was 67 years old.Grillmair's science interests spanned many topics, such as exoplanets and stellar streams, which are remnants from ancient collisions between our Milky Way and other galaxies. He discovered dozens […]

Wealth inequality has bedeviled society for centuries, and in many places around the globe, the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to grow. To help shed light on some of the forces at work in this challenging issue, the latest book by Caltech's Jean-Laurent Rosenthal (PhD '88), the Rea A. and Lela G. Axline […]

A new study published by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS), in collaboration with Caltech, Rutgers University, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed by Caltech for NASA, presents a roadmap for simultaneously combining data on the abundance of greenhouses gases with data on winds to better pinpoint emission sources. The findings […]

Brian Stoltz, the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, has been awarded this year's Shirley M. Malcom Prize for Excellence in Mentoring.The annual prize, first established in 2021 and named for Shirley Malcom, a senior trustee at Caltech, was created to recognize and celebrate the important role mentors […]

A trio of Caltech faculty members have been selected to receive the 2026 Sloan Research Fellowship: Elias Most, assistant professor of theoretical astrophysics; Huy Tuan Pham, assistant professor of mathematics and Rosenberg Scholar; and Lingfu Zhang, assistant professor of mathematics.Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships honor "early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make […]

Sarah Reisman, Bren Professor of Chemistry and Norman Davidson Leadership Chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, has been awarded this year's Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Caltech's highest teaching prize.Reisman's research focuses on the chemical synthesis of organic molecules produced in nature by bacteria, fungi, or plants, and seeks […]

Scientists sifting through archival data captured by NASA's former NEOWISE mission found an unusual star that quickly disappeared, fading to nothing more than a wispy shell. Their conclusion: The star, a dying supergiant named M31-2014-DS1 located in the Andromeda Galaxy, imploded into a black hole instead of undergoing the more common scenario in which a […]