blog posts Fast, automated, affordable test for cement durability Jul 5, 2023 12:45 pm Engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a new test that can predict the durability of cement in seconds to minutes – rather than the hours it takes using current methods. U of I researchers develop lower-cost method to desalinate water at scale Jul 7, 2023 10:45 am Design News (July 7) Professor Xiao Su led a team that developed a low-energy, inexpensive way to purify water. 'I see our solution as a platform to tackle both the energy and water crises,' says Su. Novel learning-based method to scoop up extraterrestrial terrain samples Jul 10, 2023 12:15 pm AZO Robotics (July 10) 'Rather than simulating how to scoop every possible type of rock or granular material, we created a new way for autonomous landers to learn how to scoop quickly on a new material it encounters,' says a U of I PhD candidate. Grange Grove football tailgating reservations open for 2023 Jul 7, 2023 10:30 am Starting this season, fans will be required to reserve tailgate spaces in advance, ensuring a safe and organized environment for all attendees. Space reservations will be provided free of charge. Extinct or elusive? Why birders aren’t giving up on the ivorybill woodpecker Jul 6, 2023 1:45 pm Christian Science Monitor (July 3) Experts say the ivory-billed woodpecker is probably extinct. U of I's Jeff Hoover isn't so sure. 'I’ve learned that the natural world can trick and fool you when you say that something can never happen. I’m still hopeful.' Ancient katydid fossil reveals muscles, digestive tract, glands, testicle Jun 23, 2023 11:45 am “Now we know that about 50 million years ago, this genus had already evolved and already had a morphology that mimics the grass in which it lives and hides from predators,' said Sam Heads, director of the U of I’s Center for Paleontology. History of abuse, neglect, torture surrounds Black women’s maternity and mortality Jul 5, 2023 8:30 am Richmond Free Press (June 29) U of I professor Rana Hogarth says we should stop thinking about slavery and racism as just part of our history and think of them more as 'institutions that have been with us every step of the way.' CI MED Welcomes Class of 2027 Jun 30, 2023 1:45 pm Carle Illinois College of Medicine – the world’s first engineering-based medical school – welcomed the Class of 2027, its largest class to date. Are honey bees, wild bees still in trouble? Jun 29, 2023 11:00 am U of I entomology professor Adam Dolezal, who studies how environmental stressors affect honey bees and wild bees, spoke to News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates about the current status of bees in the U.S. Air pollution via wildfire smoke takes toll on labor markets Jun 27, 2023 11:30 am A new paper analyzes how air pollution via the effects of drifting wildfire smoke impacts the U.S. labor market. Lean body mass, age linked with alcohol elimination rates in women Jun 27, 2023 3:00 pm New research examines blood alcohol concentrations and how obesity and age affect the rate of absorption and elimination for women. Partnership, perseverance end food desert in Illinois’ southernmost city Jun 21, 2023 9:45 am Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton praised the Rise opening as a model that can be replicated elsewhere in the state. 'Access to healthy food is not just about groceries, it’s about justice,' she said. NASCAR in Chicago: How will downtown racing affect air quality? Jun 26, 2023 2:45 pm Chicago Tribune (June 26) 'They are now using E15 fuel, which has lower emissions.... But, at the end of the day, (race cars) are still having a very low efficiency. So there’s no way around that,' says atmospheric sciences professor Nicole Riemer. A new ‘SPIN’ on research Jun 21, 2023 10:45 am SPIN gives undergraduates at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign the chance to work with NCSA staff on research and development projects in supercomputing, data analytics, visualization, and more. Conflict in marriage less harmful for kids when dad keeps it constructive Jun 21, 2023 9:30 am 'Fathers using constructive conflict resolution led to more parental involvement, which led to more positive child development. Destructive conflict has the opposite effect on kids,' says family development professor Karen Kramer. What is the state of underwater geolocation technology? Jun 23, 2023 10:00 am Following the loss of OceanGate's Titan submersible this week, U of I professor Viktor Gruev discusses the current state of the science behind underwater geolocation, and some advances his team is working on now. U of I Library: Victorian-era books may have heavy metal-based pigments Jun 15, 2023 1:30 pm The Heavy Metals Project of the University Library will survey the 19th-century books in the Library’s collection and test those with their original cloth-covered bindings to determine if they contain traces of heavy metals in the pigments used for the covers. Cannabis use lower among Illinois teens living near medical dispensaries Jun 20, 2023 10:00 am 'We need to combat the hysteria that legalizing cannabis is going to have a wild and resounding impact on teens in terms of substance use rates and prevalence,' says social work professor Doug Smith. 'That’s simply not the case.' Witherspoon, Howell named Dike Eddleman Athletes of the Year Jun 21, 2023 10:30 am U of I football consensus All-American Devon Witherspoon and track national champion Olivia Howell are winners of the 2022-23 Dike Eddleman Award, presented annually to the top Fighting Illini male and female athlete. Healthy sex life during pandemic tied to an array of sexual coping strategies Jun 15, 2023 10:45 am People who found ways to explore their sexuality and use it as a coping mechanism during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic had more active and fulfilling sex lives, according to U of I studies. U of I geologists challenge conventional view of Earth’s continental history, stability Jun 12, 2023 10:15 am This hypothesis defies decades of conventional plate tectonics theory and begs to answer why most cratons have remained structurally stable while their underbellies have experienced significant change. Mechanical engineers lend fresh insight into battery-based desalination technology Jun 7, 2023 4:15 pm Using fluid movement rather than new materials, mechanical engineers were able to increase the extent of seawater desalination five times over their non-channeled counterparts to reach salinity levels below the freshwater threshold. Illinois unions made significant gains in recently ended legislative session Jun 20, 2023 1:00 pm Labor Tribune (June 19) The $50.6 billion budget approved by the legislature includes $2.3 million for the U of I's Labor and Employment Relations programs, along with more funds to fill nursing shortages and increase the number of DCFS workers. Carle Illinois College of Medicine student speaks to international meeting of Nobel laureates Jun 15, 2023 10:00 am CI MED student Christian Guerrero-Juarez was chosen to present his work at the 72nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Germany. The meeting helps young scientists interact with the world’s foremost scientists. More veterans using marijuana - but not from medical sources Jun 14, 2023 11:00 am Marijuana remains federally illegal, classified as Schedule I by the DEA, so the Veterans Health Administration providers cannot prescribe or recommend marijuana to patients, though they may discuss the drug in a general sense. INHS researchers reveal 'virgin birth' in a crocodile Jun 12, 2023 2:30 pm 'It’s wild... There animals are out there in our world – even in Illinois – that can produce offspring without a mate, but this is the first time that anyone has confirmed this in crocodilians,' says Mark Davis, biologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey. The have and have-nots of higher ed: Enrollments increasingly unequal Jun 15, 2023 10:45 am Chronicle of Higher Education (June 14) – In Illinois, enrollment is up 14.5% at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, down 8.2% at the University of Illinois Springfield, and down 10.1% at Western Illinois University. New ranking reveals Illinois' top public universities Jun 14, 2023 2:00 pm WMAQ-TV (June 13) In the rankings by Niche, the only school that received an A-plus in Illinois, and was ranked the state’s top public university, was the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. U of I researchers work with Native Americans to curate to oral histories Jun 12, 2023 9:00 am Researchers at Illinois are working with Native American tribes across the country to digitize oral histories and ethnographic materials collected from tribal members and to make them accessible online. Can you hear corn grow at this time of year? In fact... Jun 13, 2023 10:45 am KKRC-FM (June 12) 'On very still nights you can hear a popping or cracking noise,' says U of I crop physiologist Fred Below. 'What you hear is the cell walls of the stalk expanding. Mostly I believe it is the tracheids expanding.' Go green with eco-friendly lawn care Jun 13, 2023 10:15 am Rather that dumping great amounts of water, fertilizer and pesticides on your lawn, there are a few simple steps that landowners can take to make more environmentally sound choices when it comes to lawn care. What the chaos at Twitter means for the future of social movements Jun 12, 2023 10:30 am CNN (June 11) Twitter has provided direct access to lawmakers, but 'there are now issues in how people see Twitter as a source of information and a source of political community,' says U of I media professor Rachel Kuo. $4.5 million gift will support brain health innovation Jun 9, 2023 9:45 am The gift from the late Edward (Rick) Heiken emphasized the development and deployment of state-of-the-art assessment of cognitive and brain health, with special interest in being able to conduct assessments remotely. Imaging agents light up two cancer biomarkers to give more complete picture of tumor Jun 5, 2023 12:45 pm 'If you want to find all the cancer, imaging one biomarker is not enough. It could miss some tumors. If you introduce a second or a third biomarker, the likelihood of removing all cancer cells increases,' says Professor Viktor Gruev. Team finds reliable predictor of plant species persistence and coexistence Jun 8, 2023 9:00 am U of I researchers have developed a method for determining whether pairs or groups of plant species are likely to coexist over time. Their approach reliably predicts which plants manage to thrive in a shared habitat. Men's, women's basketball season tickets on sale today Jun 12, 2023 9:00 am Season tickets for 2023-24 Fighting Illini men's and women's basketball go on sale today at noon. Both programs are coming off successful campaigns with anticipation high for the upcoming season. Big universities face admissions dilemma if Supreme Court kills affirmative action Jun 9, 2023 11:00 am Crain’s Chicago Business (June 9) 'The biggest pressure point that we face right now is due to timing because the decision is going to come out this month and we will open admissions in September,' says U of I's Andy Borst. Five Urbana faculty members honored as University Scholars Jun 8, 2023 10:00 am 'Faculty excellence is the University of Illinois System’s foundation, and the basis for the exceptional academic experience of the nearly 95,000 students who enrolled in our three universities last fall,” said Nicholas Jones, vice president for academic affairs. Howell advances to third straight 1500m national finals Jun 9, 2023 9:30 am Junior Olivia Howell led the way by qualifying for her third straight 1500m national finals. She aims to become the first Illini in 21 years to win a NCAA title both indoors and outdoors (Perdita Felicien, 60mH and 100mH, 2002). Houston airport officials increasing perimeter patrols after two security breaches Jun 8, 2023 12:45 pm KHOU-TV (June 7) Professor Sheldon Jacobson explains that airport security at works in layers. 'Perimeter security breaches are not rare. Since airport security is predicated on layers, breaching perimeter fences is just one of the layers.' Krannert Center for the Performing Arts announces lineup for 2023-24 season Jun 6, 2023 10:15 am Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ 2023-24 season will begin with the 10th year of ELLNORA: The Guitar Festival, followed by women singer-songwriters, song and dance from Ghana, a Latin Grammy winner, and much more. Genomics for Faith kicks off, connecting scientists and faith members Jun 6, 2023 10:15 am 'There are two groups of people that the public turns to for trusted information, and that is scientists, and faith leaders. As the situation exists now, those two groups don't talk to each other much. We would like with your partnership to change that...' Changing police culture with stories of wrongful convictions Jun 8, 2023 9:15 am The Wrongful Conviction Awareness and Avoidance course first introduced as an elective class at the Police Training Institute at U of I has been mandated for all Illinois police recruits as part of their standard training. Illinois’ Wang set for Arnold Palmer Cup Jun 8, 2023 9:15 am Wang enters the prestigious tournament after becoming the first Big Ten Champion in Illini program history since 1993, while also garnering Big Ten Player of the Year honors, and leading the program to its first-ever B1G Championship. Q&A with Tesla co-founder, U of I alumnus Martin Eberhard Jun 5, 2023 9:00 am When Martin Eberhard visited campus, we spoke with him about his memories of campus, advice for students and aspiring entrepreneurs, and the future of electric vehicles. Webb Space Telescope detects universe’s most distant complex organic molecules Jun 5, 2023 10:45 am Thanks to the capabilities of the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and careful analyses from researchers, a new study lends critical insight into the complex chemical interactions that occur in the first galaxies in the early universe. As the suburbs go, so goes America Jun 7, 2023 3:45 pm The New York Times (June 7) 'Since 1970, the share of Black individuals living in suburbs of large cities has risen from 16 to 36%,' write Alexander W. Bartik and Evan Mast, economists at the U. of I. and Notre Dame. Ashley Yeah named ITA Midwest Region Senior Player of the Year Jun 7, 2023 8:30 am Yeah joins Cynthya Goulet (2004-05) as the only Illini in program history to be named the ITA Midwest Region Senior Player of the Year. Nature-inspired orthopedic implant coating kills bacteria, monitors strain Jun 6, 2023 10:45 am Bio IT World (June 5) – Researchers at Illinois believe they have come up with an attractive approach to the battle against bacteria that can infect orthopedic implants: an integrated strain sensor that provides a 'warning of instrument failure.' How much nitrogen does corn get from fertilizer? Less than farmers think Jun 5, 2023 9:00 am Recent studies by U of I researchers show that corn takes up the majority of its nitrogen – about 67% on average – from sources occurring naturally in soil, not from fertilizer.