blog posts Culture shapes willingness to share personal data to reduce COVID spread Jan 27, 2021 10:45 am Culture, civic-mindedness and privacy concerns influence how willing people are to share personal location information to help stem the transmission of COVID-19 in their communities. Current diversity pattern of North American mammals a ‘recent’ trend Jun 13, 2016 2:00 pm Biodiversity is greatest near the equator, and decreases at higher latitudes. This new study shows it wasn't always that way. Current system is best to winnow presidential primary candidates Aug 5, 2015 9:15 am "Sequential elections allow voters to narrow down the field of contenders as a way of avoiding vote-splitting among several similar candidates.” Cyberslug: Virtual predator is self-aware, behaves like the real thing Mar 1, 2018 10:30 am Illinois scientists have built an AI ocean predator that reacts to food and responds to members of its own kind much like an actual sea slug Dads' parenting of children with autism improves moms' mental health Jul 14, 2015 6:30 am Fathers who read to their infants with autism and take active roles in caregiving activities not only promote healthy development in their children, they boost moms’ mental health too, new research suggests. Dance professor uses cellphone app to bring audience into theatrical performances Apr 6, 2016 10:45 am John Toenjes is telling audiences: Leave your phones on, and use them to interact with and enhance what you are seeing onstage. Data-driven global climate model provides projections for urban environments Jan 4, 2021 8:00 am A new climate model that makes projections specific to urban areas predicts that by the end of this century, average warming across global cities will increase by 1.9 degrees Celsius to 4.4 C, depending on the rate of emissions. Daters move toward (or away from) marriage in four different ways—where do you fit? Feb 10, 2016 1:15 pm Partner-focused couples rate highest in terms of increasing commitment and satisfaction. Deadly handshake: How staph bacteria cling to human cells Apr 30, 2018 2:30 am Researchers are using the Blue Waters supercomputer to simulate and decipher the adhesion mechanism of staph bacteria, which could lead to new treatments Decoy receptor neutralizes coronavirus in cell cultures Aug 4, 2020 9:00 am Illinois professor Erik Procko developed a decoy receptor that, in tissue cultures, binds to and neutralizes the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Deer protected from deadly disease by newly discovered genetic differences Feb 23, 2023 11:15 am 'This is the first time this gene has been sequenced completely in white-tailed deer. ...without the sequences, there's no starting point to do any kind of research,' says Animal Sciences Professor Alfred Roca. Delinquent youths with PTSD need individualized treatment, studies suggest Oct 6, 2016 10:15 am Juvenile offenders who have a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder are at 67 percent greater risk of entering substance abuse treatment within seven years, a new study found. Designer enzyme conquers sulfite reduction, a bottleneck in environmental cleanup Sep 14, 2018 3:00 pm Chemistry professor Yi Lu, left, and graduate student Evan Mirts have designed a new synthetic enzyme that reduces the compound sulfite to sulfide – a notoriously complex multistep chemical reaction that has eluded chemists for years. Designing a puncture-free tire Jan 23, 2020 11:15 am Finding a design that balances puncture-free strength with the elasticity needed for a comfortable, shock-free ride like conventional pneumatic tires is the key. Developing a biocompatible nanoparticle to visualize lymph nodes Aug 15, 2019 11:45 am Currently, doctors use a blue dye to identify where the tumors aggregate lymph nodes, but the dye can cause skin lesions. Illinois researchers are developing a biocompatible nanoparticle with no toxic side effects. Developing a flight strategy to land heavier vehicles on Mars Feb 12, 2019 4:30 am To send more ambitious robotic missions to the surface of Mars, and eventually humans, we need to figure out how to land more mass than current systems allow Developing intelligence in Bert, Beckman Institute's iCub humanoid robot May 27, 2015 9:15 am Though language learning comes naturally to a child, encoding this complex process into a computer system is difficult; it lacks the physical and emotional connections to sounds and objects that are vital to the process of interpreting, conceptualizing, and understanding language. Developing label-free microscopic techniques to visualize cancer cells Jan 7, 2020 4:45 pm Researchers have developed an imaging technique that provides better visualization of breast cancer cells and their associated extracellular vesicles. Device helps streamline water purification, environmental remediation Jan 21, 2020 11:00 am Illinois researchers have developed an energy-efficient device that selectively absorbs a highly toxic form of arsenic in water and converts it into a far less toxic form. Diagnoses of suicidal ideation surged among Black pregnant women in 10-year study Nov 29, 2022 11:15 am 'These findings suggest that care for many Black women with antenatal depression – depression that occurs during pregnancy – may be delayed until the condition escalates into a life-threatening emergency,' says Professor Karen Tabb Dina. Diagnostic tool helps engineers to design better global infrastructure solutions Nov 15, 2018 8:45 am Ann-Perry Witmer has developed a new computer algorithm that helps engineers who work internationally incorporate the influences of local values into their infrastructure designs Diet beverage drinkers compensate by eating unhealthy food, study finds Sep 11, 2015 10:00 am Kinesiology and community health professor Ruopeng An found that diet beverage drinkers compensate by eating a greater percentage of unhealthy foods that are high in fats, cholesterol and calories. Digital age creates challenges for public libraries in providing patron privacy May 31, 2023 12:15 pm 'In today's digital age, the responsibility to safeguard patron privacy becomes notably more challenging, and respondents expressed concerns about libraries lacking the necessary tools, budget, and expertise to fulfill this mandate.' Digital publishing projects examine Jay-Z's music, Edward P. Jones' fiction May 28, 2019 10:30 am 'We want to develop model projects illustrating how to use multimedia content (to study black culture) that will attract larger audiences to use them.' Disaster apps share personal data in violation of their privacy policies Nov 16, 2020 10:15 am Information sciences professor Madelyn Sanfilippo examined popular disaster apps and found that many of them provide personal information – including a user’s location – to third parties long after a disaster has passed. Discovering the environmental impact of bursting bubbles Nov 18, 2021 10:15 am Researchers used high-speed photography to demonstrate the mechanism that allows bursting bubbles to transport organic material, such as contaminants and microbes, into the atmosphere. Discovery: Properties of viral DNA determine course of infection Sep 4, 2018 8:45 am Viruses may inject their DNA into a host cell synchronously or randomly, a new study finds. The difference appears to influence the course of infection Displays controlled by flexible fins and liquid droplets more versatile, efficient than LED screens Jul 3, 2023 10:30 am U. of I. engineers have developed a new breed of display screens that use flexible fins, varying temperatures and liquid droplets that can be arranged in various orientations to create images. Distracted dining? Steer clear of it! Dec 2, 2015 11:30 am A new University of Illinois study reveals that distracted dining may be as dangerous to your health as distracted driving is to your safety on the highway. Distracted learning a big problem, golden opportunity for educators, students Oct 13, 2020 12:00 pm Although experts say using electronic media while doing schoolwork negatively impacts learning, many students believe they’re immune to any ill effects because they’re good multitaskers, says Professor Shelly Schmidt. Distracted much? New research may help explain why Oct 5, 2016 7:00 pm University of Illinois psychology professors Simona Buetti and Alejandro Lleras found that as people’s engagement with a task increases, their distractibility tends to go down. Distressed parents who binge eat may restrict children's diets Mar 30, 2016 10:15 am Parents who reported feeling distress when their child was angry, crying or fearful were more likely to binge eat – and to limit the amounts or types of food they provided to their children Division of labor within regenerating liver maintains metabolism, mouse study finds Mar 1, 2021 4:15 pm The liver has a rare superpower among body organs – the ability to regenerate. It even continues its work of removing metabolites and toxins during the process of regeneration. But how? DNA enzyme shuffles cell membranes a thousand times faster than its natural counterpart Jun 21, 2018 10:15 am A new synthetic enzyme, crafted from DNA rather than protein, flips lipid molecules within the cell membrane, triggering a signal pathway that could be harnessed to induce cell death in cancer cells DNA molecules directly interact with each other based on sequence, study finds Mar 22, 2016 11:45 am A new study finds that DNA molecules directly interact with one another in a way that’s dependent on the sequence of the DNA and epigenetic factors. DNA sensor quickly determines whether viruses are infectious Sep 22, 2021 11:00 am A new sensor can detect not only whether a virus is present, but whether it’s infectious – an important distinction for containing viral spread. DNAzymes could outperform protein enzymes for genetic engineering Jun 24, 2021 9:15 am Move over, gene-editing proteins – there’s a smaller, cheaper, more specific genetic engineering tool on the block: DNAzymes – small DNA molecules that can function like protein enzymes. Do COVID-19 apps protect your privacy? Jun 8, 2020 2:45 pm Many mobile apps that track the spread of COVID-19 ask for personal data but don’t indicate the information will be secure. Doctors played a role in ideas about racial differences Feb 6, 2018 10:15 am Slavery and racism played their roles in planting beliefs about race and racial difference, but so did medicine, says history professor Rana Hogarth DOE awards two quantum information science research centers with Illinois as partner Aug 26, 2020 2:15 pm The two centers are part of a large-scale Department of Energy federal program to facilitate and foster quantum innovation in the United States. D.O.E. funds major bioenergy research center at Illinois Jul 17, 2017 10:15 am "Our Center’s holistic approach will generate new products directly from biomass, reducing our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and making us more secure.” DOE funds project to apply AI technologies to sorting plastics Jan 28, 2021 2:00 pm 'Sensor fusion and artificial intelligence algorithms used in the process will increase the speed and accuracy of plastic sorting, eventually making the technology more economical with a cost goal of less than $30 per ton.' DOE grant: $10.6 million to produce more biodiesel, biojet fuel Feb 26, 2018 3:15 pm The five-year grant will help Illinois scientists transform two of the most productive crops in America into sustainable sources of biodiesel and biojet fuel Does a 'fake news' label help audiences identify false information? Jan 11, 2023 9:45 am News organizations’ labeling false or misleading information as 'fake news' may be backfiring – undermining public trust while doing little to improve audiences’ ability to recognize genuine stories. Does artificial intelligence bias human decision making? Aug 17, 2020 11:00 am Can AI bots bias human decision making? According to new research from three Gies College of Business scholars, the answer is 'yes.' Does climate change result in civil unrest? Nov 18, 2015 8:30 am A Minute With...™ Peter Nardulli, political scientist Does conservation funding really help keep our planet more biodiverse? Oct 25, 2017 3:00 pm Environmental policy researcher Daniel Miller says this is the first global study to test whether countries that spend more on conservation actually achieve better conservation results Does our place in society influence how we respond to COVID-19 protocol? Jan 5, 2022 10:45 am A new study explores how social capital influences choices regarding COVID-19 mitigation compliance. Professor Lav Varshney talks about what they learned. Do food pantry environments encourage healthy food choices? New tool can assess Jun 23, 2018 1:30 pm Could improving the consumer nutrition environment of food pantries—placement of items, food choices, freshness, availability of nutritional information, etc.— help people make healthier choices? Dog flu vaccine may not be effective against new flu strain May 27, 2015 9:15 am "One of the first questions veterinarians had about this outbreak was whether the canine influenza vaccines available in the United States would protect against the newly emerged strain." - Dr. Gail Scherba, veterinary virologist