In rats fat/sugar sparked strong memory responses (helping find that food in the future?) but chronic exposure worsened memory formation over time. This diet early in life => weaker communication btwn gut & hippocampus later=> reduced memory-related brain responses later in life

USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences@dornsife.usc.edu · last wk.

A memorable meal may begin in the stomach as well as the brain. USC Dornsife biologists found that nutrients in food trigger gut signals that activate the brain’s memory system: dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

Congratulations to Yu Deng, recipient of a 2026 Fields Medal, one of mathematics’ highest honors. The award recognizes work he carried out while on the USC Dornsife faculty, advancing fundamental questions in mathematics and mathematical physics. dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

2026 Fields Medal honors math research conducted at USC Dornsife

Yu Deng, now at the University of Chicago, is recognized for mathematics studies he carried out during his years on the USC Dornsife faculty

dornsife.usc.edu

Excellence in academia is like a river. Great people often flow from place to place. But the environments they flow through are constants. Proud that former @dornsife.usc.edu Prof. Yu Deng was recognized with a Fields Medal today for the work he did here @usc.edu www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/s...

Four Young Mathematicians Receive Prestigious Fields Medals

The awards are bestowed only once every four years to mathematicians under the age of 40.

nytimes.com

Mark Schroeder, USC Professor of Philosophy @dornsife.usc.edu has devoted much of his research to understanding how the way that we interpret each other as people shapes our relationships. That work has helped him understand why he struggled to be grateful a bit about how to do better.

How to be grateful to someone – even when you don’t want to

Struggling to find your sense of gratitude? Try thinking differently about what caused the person’s actions.

dornsife.usc.edu

AI-enabled drug design promises to improve lives. However, existing models often produce compounds that are not easily synthesized and therefore not practically useful. @dornsife.usc.edu biologists have introduced a way to fix this problem. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Circumventing the Synthesizability Problem in Generative Molecular Design

Generative structure-based drug design (SBDD) models have shown great promise for accelerating our ability to discover novel drug candidates. However, these models have been criticized for producing c...

pubs.acs.org

USC @dornsife.usc.edu Public Exchange CLEAN project is offering free rapid-response soil testing for Boyle Heights and Los Angeles County neighbors. www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/b...

USC is offering free soil testing amid Boyle Heights pollution concerns

Concerns of water contamination and air quality were raised during a days-long fire at a Boyle Heights warehouse, but what about other pollutants?

nbclosangeles.com

Excited to announce a new academic credential at USC @dornsife.usc.edu Intensives 12 units / document skills that are valuable to you & employers Our first three: 📊Survey Design and Analysis ✍️Writing and Responsible AI 🧬AI for Molecular Biology dornsife.usc.edu/intensives/

Dornsife Intensives - USC Dornsife

University of Southern California

dornsife.usc.edu

After global innovation win, USC Dornsife graduate aims to make calling for help safer dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

USC Dornsife grad’s global win could make calls for help safer

Darnell Adler’s Lifeline AI took Red Bull Basement’s World Final top prize, giving him a chance to set a new standard for emergency alerts

dornsife.usc.edu

Check out the nice video that @texasastronomy.bsky.social postdoc Jenna Samuel made to explain her work on galaxy formation in the early cosmos! 🧪

NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins (CosmicAI)@nsfsimonscosmicai.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Using cutting-edge simulations, Dr. Jenna Samuel, Prof. @mbkplus.bsky.social, & Asst. Prof Julian Munoz investigated a major puzzle revealed by the JWST: why do the earliest galaxies appear brighter, more massive, & clumpier than expected? cosmicai.org/news/researc... www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5dI...

Congratulations to @dornsife.usc.edu Loker Institute Director & Chem Prof Surya Prakash and Loker Managing Director Robert Aniszfeld who were inducted into theNational Academy of Inventors at the annual conference hosted at USC.

They designed, tested, calculated, collaborated and competed — all before heading back to middle and high school. California just hosted the Science Olympiad Tournament for the first time, and @usc.edu was the stage, welcoming more than 2,000 of the nation's top young #STEM students. bit.ly/4nVgxVD

Congratulations to Coral Wheeler @socialistscientist.bsky.social on getting tenure! Fantastic news and well deserved!!!

Congratulations to @dornsife.usc.edu Econ PhD student Joshua Levy on his work being featured in the New York Times. -> pro se complaints with AI generated text rose from 0 to 18% since 2019 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/u...

Artificial Intelligence Floods Court Dockets with Home-Brewed Lawsuits

nytimes.com

As an example, the image below shows how early galaxies of different masses (each row) would look if we could see the brightness in all stars (left), or the stars weighted by age (middle), or just what JWST can see (right). As powerful as JWST is, there's a lot going on that it can't resolve!

Hot off the virtual presses: Jenna Samuel @texasastronomy.bsky.social) has led a huge new effort to understand galaxy formation in the early Universe. These simulations can serve as key comparisons with JWST observations to see where our best models do and do not work 🧪 arxiv.org/abs/2605.24104

This is what I assume is an AI-generated short form article on our paper that came out almost coeval with us dropping it on the arXiv … And honestly, it’s a pretty good popular science level summary. gist.science/paper/2605.2...

The formation of galactic disks is a surprisingly tough topic to understand. In a great paper, UCI grad student Olti Myrtaj shows how and why the Milky Way disk undergoes 3 distinct phases (chaotic -> thick disk -> thin disk). A thin disk requires a virialized inner CGM and slow(er) gas accretion. 🧪

James Bullock@jbprime.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Proud to share our latest paper led by PhD student Olti Myrtaj ➡️ Why did the Milky Way evolve in three kinematic phases? arxiv.org/abs/2605.22806

The next generation of scientists and engineers is coming to @usc.edu More than 2,000 K–12 students arrive tomorrow for the 42nd annual Science Olympiad National Tournament. We’re proud to help welcome them to campus. ✌️ today.usc.edu/top-k-12-stu...

Top K-12 students to compete in Science Olympiad at USC

More than 2,000 students will attend the 42nd annual National Tournament.

today.usc.edu

Proud to share our latest paper led by PhD student Olti Myrtaj ➡️ Why did the Milky Way evolve in three kinematic phases? arxiv.org/abs/2605.22806

One of our newest economics graduates is headed to the world final of a global innovation competition. Darnell Adler was named one of three U.S. winners of Red Bull Basement for Lifeline AI, his personal safety startup. We’re cheering you on, Darnell. Fight On! ✌️ dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

USC grad wins US Red Bull competition, heads to world final

Darnell Adler, who studied economics at USC Dornsife, is one of three to win Red Bull Basement, a competition for student innovators.

dornsife.usc.edu

The smiles say it all. Today, we celebrated 2,700+ USC Dornsife graduates as they crossed the stage, cheered on by the people who helped them get here. Congratulations, Trojans. We’re so proud of you. Fight On! ✌️

Congratulations to our 368 outstanding new doctoral graduates! Their scholarship reflects the breadth of USC Dornsife, from chemistry and neuroscience to creative writing and economics. We're proud of you, Trojans. Fight On! ✌️

Here’s the podcast for our Dad Brain episode. What actually happens to a man when he becomes a father — in his brain, his body and his sense of who he is? Great discussion with @darbysaxbe.bsky.social professor of psychology @dornsife.usc.edu podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

The Science of Fatherhood

Podcast Episode · Dornsife Dialogues · April 27 · 57m

podcasts.apple.com

Attn: SF Bay Area alumni -- Hope you can join us for this special event!

James Bullock@jbprime.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Excited to head to the San Francisco waterfront on April 30 for a special evening with @dornsife.usc.edu alumni and parents! Join me at the Ferry Building to hear firsthand about all the amazing things happening at the college. See you in the Bay Area! RSVP by April 26: bit.ly/USCBayArea26

What happens to a man’s brain, body and identity when he becomes a father? Join Dean James Bullock and Darby Saxbe, prof. of psychology and author of Dad Brain, for a conversation about fatherhood and family, with live Q&A. Register here for this free event, held via Zoom: bit.ly/4tVoZpK

Congratulations to Natalia Molina on being named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow! The honor will support her new book project, Hidden Histories in the Garden, which brings to light the stories of the workers who built and maintained the Huntington. dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

Excited to head to the San Francisco waterfront on April 30 for a special evening with @dornsife.usc.edu alumni and parents! Join me at the Ferry Building to hear firsthand about all the amazing things happening at the college. See you in the Bay Area! RSVP by April 26: bit.ly/USCBayArea26

Impressive work by Patricio Gallardo of @upenn.edu and @dornsife.usc.edu Prof. Kris Pardo et al. => pairwise velocities measure gravitational force law on cosmic scales, 1/r^n w/ n= 2.1 ±0.3, MOND is a poor fit (PTE=3.65×10−3), while ΛCDM fits well (PTE=0.17). dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

Test of gravity using galaxy clusters supports dark matter

Scientists test a fundamental rule of gravity across hundreds of millions of light years — and it holds up

dornsife.usc.edu

Join us on on April 24 to discuss the new book "Dad Brain" with the author, @dornsife.usc.edu Prof. of Psychology Darby Saxbe to learn what her research reveals about the ways fatherhood changes men and how being a dad can shape workplaces and society. Register here: usc.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Congrats @dornsife.usc.edu Chem Prof. Richard Brutchey for his 2026 ACS Langmuir Lectureship recognizing his work on molecular programming related to controlled surface chemistry dornsife.usc.edu/chemistry/20...