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  • Software teaches computers to translate words to math

    If Johnny has five apples and seven oranges, and he wants to share them with three of his friends, can a computer understand the text to figure out how many pieces of fruit each person gets? Thanks to new software developed at the University of Illinois, machines now can learn to understand mathematical reasoning expressed in language, which could greatly improve search engines and access to data as well as boost mathematics education.

  • Medical malpractice reform does little to contain health care costs

    Tort reform advocates have hailed caps on noneconomic damages as a silver bullet for controlling health care costs – as a way to reduce defensive medicine and attract more physicians to a state, particularly those practicing in high-risk specialties. But according to David Hyman, the H. Ross and Helen Workman Chair in Law and professor of medicine at Illinois, there’s scant evidence to support any of those claims.

  • Illinois' muskrats and minks found to harbor toxoplasmosis

    A new study of muskrats and minks in central Illinois indicates that toxoplasmosis, a disease spread by cats, is moving rapidly through the landscape and contaminating local waterways. Researchers found antibodies for Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, in 18 of 30 muskrats and 20 of 26 minks tested for the disease in central Illinois.

  • Making biofuels more attainable

    Biofuels may be good for the environment, but farmers who decide to grow bioenergy crops face risk like any other commercial venture. Researchers at the University of Illinois, however, have made growing the crops easier by mapping where they thrive best.

  • Fascination with cats preceded 'social media' phenomenon

    Journalism professor Matthew Ehrlich found hundreds of cat tales, both fun and serious, over 140 years of New York Times history. In the process, he also found evidence of our evolving relationship with animals and reasons to “take animal news seriously.”

  • Optimistic people have healthier hearts

    Optimists are twice as likely to be in ideal cardiovascular health, according to a new study led by Rosalba Hernandez, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois.

  • Technology from Professor Martin Burke behind $25M medical startup

    Illinois chemistry professor Marty Burke explains how his research group breaks down complex chemicals into simple 'building blocks.' His group recently discovered that thousands of molecules that could be very useful as medicines can be built with only 12 different building blocks, which could dramatically speed up drug development. Hear his full story here.

  • U. of I. Library's unique collection of Indian comic books

    South Asian Studies librarian Mara Thacker began collecting Indian comics for the University of Illinois in 2012, and its libraries now have what she believes is the largest collection of Indian comics in North America.

  • New drug compounds show promise against endometriosis

    Two new drug compounds – one of which has already proven useful in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis – appear to be effective in treating endometriosis, a disorder that, like MS, is driven by estrogen and inflammation, scientists report in Science Translational Medicine.

  • Tropical fire ants traveled the world on 16th century ships

    Thanks to a bit of genetic sleuthing, researchers now know the invasion history of the tropical fire ant (Solenopsis geminata), the first ant species known to travel the globe by sea.

  • Geologists unlock mysteries of Earth's inner core

    Thanks to a novel application of earthquake-reading technology, a research team at the University of Illinois and colleagues at Nanjing University in China have found that the Earth’s inner core has an inner core of its own, which has surprising properties that could reveal information about our planet. Read more here.

  • More older adults from U.S. volunteering abroad

    Increasing numbers of older Americans are traveling abroad to perform volunteer work – and host communities and organizations are clamoring to recruit them, according to studies by social work professor Benjamin Lough and doctoral student Xiaoling Xiang.

  • Molecule-making machine simplifies complex chemistry

    A machine in University of Illinois chemistry professor Martin Burke's lab assembles complex small molecules out of simple chemical building blocks, like a 3-D printer on the molecular level. Read more here.

  • Structural reform litigation an effective tool for curbing police misconduct

    Despite some shortcomings, structural police reform litigation has been an effective tool for reducing misconduct in several law enforcement agencies, according to a forthcoming study by a University of Illinois expert in criminal law.

  • Economic benefits of medical innovation undervalued

    A new analysis co-written by a University of Illinois expert in health care economics concludes that increases in the pace of medical innovation reduce overall physical risks to health, and thus function in a manner similar to an expansion of or improvement in the efficiency of health insurance markets.

  • New technique paints tissue samples with light

    Using a combination of advanced microscope imaging and computer analysis, the new technique can give pathologists and researchers precise tissue information without using chemical stains or dyes.

  • 'Jailbreaking' yeast could increase wine's health benefits, decrease hangovers

    University of Illinois scientists have engineered a “jailbreaking” yeast that could greatly increase the health benefits of wine while reducing the toxic byproducts that cause your morning-after headache.

  • Photosynthesis hack needed to feed the world by 2050

    Using high-performance computing and genetic engineering to boost the photosynthetic efficiency of plants offers the best hope of increasing crop yields enough to feed a planet expected to have 9.5 billion people on it by 2050, researchers report in the journal Cell.

  • New drug stalls estrogen receptor-positive cancer cells, shrinks tumors

    When mice were treated with the experimental drug, BHPI, “the tumors immediately stopped growing and began shrinking rapidly,” said University of Illinois biochemistry professor and senior author David Shapiro.

  • Ultrasonic hammer sets off tiny explosions

    Ken Suslick led a team of Illinois chemists who developed an ultrasonic hammer to help explore how impact generates hotspots that trigger explosive materials.

  • Blue Waters to help researchers tackle Ebola

    NCSA's Blue Waters supercomputer will be used by three research teams to gain new understanding of the deadly Ebola virus, thanks to allocations provided through the National Science Foundation's Rapid Response Research program.

  • Ancient human fossils from Laos reveal early human diversity

    An ancient human skull and a jawbone found a few meters apart in a cave in northern Laos add to the evidence that early modern humans were physically quite diverse, Illinois researchers report.

  • Study: Amygdala encodes 'cooties' and 'crushes' in the developing brain

    Illinois scientists have found a signal in the brain that reflects young children’s aversion to members of the opposite sex (the “cooties” effect) and also their growing interest in opposite-sex peers as they enter puberty.

  • How we view Lincoln may say more about us than him

    The photo published in McClure’s magazine in 1895 was unlike any the public had seen before. This was not Lincoln in the years leading up to and then during his presidency, where he was visibly worn down by the Civil War. This was a 30-something Lincoln: well-groomed, clean-shaven, looking like a middle-class gentleman.

  • Absence of copyright has its own economic value, social benefits

    A new study co-written by a University of Illinois expert in intellectual property law demonstrates that the value of creative works in the public domain can be estimated at least as precisely as the value of commercially available copyrighted works.

  • Illinois researchers to develop track components for rail transit systems

    The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center in U of I’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) will develop new designs for concrete crossties and fastening systems used in light rail, heavy rail and commuter rail infrastructure that take into account their unique loading conditions.

  • BPA exposure in mice affects fertility in three generations

    In a study of mice, professor Jodi Flaws and her colleagues linked BPA exposure during pregnancy to reproductive problems in the next three generations.

  • Electronic device performance enhanced with new transistor encasing method

    A more effective method for closing gaps in atomically small wires has been developed by University of Illinois researchers, further opening the doors to a new transistor technology.

  • Economists: Pros, cons to raising the gas tax in Illinois

    After the precipitous drop in crude oil prices over the past nine months, some policymakers in Illinois have advocated raising the state’s excise tax on gasoline, which has remained unchanged at 19 cents per gallon since 1990.

  • Paper: 'Considerable scope' for improvement in agricultural pollution

    While different sustainability indicators have been developed at an aggregate level, less attention has been paid to farm-level sustainability measures. A study from a University of Illinois expert in production economics and efficiency analysis has developed technical and environmental efficiency indices for agriculture that can be used to assess sustainability at the farm level.

  • Study: This is your teen's brain behind the wheel

    14-year-old subjects completed a simulated driving task while researchers tracked blood flow in their brains. In one trial, the teen driver was alone; in another, the teen’s mother was present and watching.

  • Historian's tale of colonial Illinois about collaboration rather than conquest

    What’s missing in most histories of colonial Illinois might surprise you: European and native cooperation, interracial marriage and mixed-race communities, according to a University of Illinois history professor.

  • To improve diversity in STEM, fix higher education, scholar says

    The U.S. will make little progress toward changing the predominately white-male face of its science and technology workforce until higher education addresses the attitudes, behaviors and structural practices that undermine minority students’ access and success at college, a new study suggests.

  • Gene mapping reveals soy's dynamic, differing roles in breast cancer

    Scientists have mapped the human genes triggered by the phytonutrients in soy, revealing the complex role the legume plays in both preventing and advancing breast cancer.

  • Six Illinois professors elected to National Academy of Sciences

    Renée Baillargeon, Gary Dell, Steve Granick, Taekjip Ha, Catherine Murphy and John A. Rogers are among 84 new members and 21 foreign associates announced by the Academy on April 28. 

  • Illinois scientists report a new crop virus in North America

    “My fear is that this virus is in corn and wheat, and we are not even aware of it,” said Bright Agindotan, a former postdoctoral researcher at the Energy Biosciences Institute, housed within the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

  • Report: Brain-injured patients need therapies based on cognitive neuroscience

    Patients with traumatic brain injuries are not benefiting from recent advances in cognitive neuroscience research – and they should be, scientists report in a special issue of Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.

  • New Orleans’ school reforms harmful to black community, scholars say

    The racial implications of the school reform movement in New Orleans are explored in a new study led by education policy professor Adrienne Dixson. Kristen L. Buras and Elizabeth K. Jeffers, both of Georgia State University, were co-authors.

  • Artist in-residence helping to create new theatrical work

    Lisa Dixon, a University of Illinois theatre professor, is working with Struan Leslie, formerly the head of movement and a choreographer at the Royal Shakespeare Company, to develop a new theatrical work, “My Case is Altered: Tales of a 21st Century Roaring Girl.”

  • Are we wiping out one African Elephant by not recognizing two?

    “By not recognizing two species, these organizations may be condemning the African forest elephant to extinction,” said University of Illinois Animal Sciences Professor Alfred Roca.

  • Health issues in Africa to be focus of conference

    Infectious disease expert Mosoka P. Fallah, one of five “Ebola fighters” honored as a  Person of the Year by Time in 2014, will be among the speakers at an upcoming symposium at the University of Illinois. 

  • image of professor deepak somaya

    Study: For a competitive edge, keep an eye on your competition's ex-employees

    Companies often overlook the value of the comings and goings of their competitors’ ex-employees, says new research co-written by business administration professor Deepak Somaya.

  • image of trap-jaw ant by adrian smith

    Trap-jaw ants jump with their jaws to escape the antlion's den

    Some species of trap-jaw ants use their spring-loaded mandibles to hurl themselves out of harm’s way when an ant-trapping predator stalks, researchers report in the journal PLOS ONE.

  • image of Research geneticist Ram Singh with soy plants

    Research geneticist develops soybean rust-resistant plant

    It took decades of painstaking work, but research geneticist Ram Singh managed to cross a popular soybean variety (“Dwight” Glycine max) with a related wild perennial plant that grows like a weed in Australia, producing the first fertile soybean plants that are resistant to soybean rust, soybean cyst nematode and other pathogens of soy.

  • image of a bunch of bees by L. Brian Stauffer

    Study: Gene regulation underlies the evolution of social complexity in bees

    A new genomic study of 10 species of bees representing a spectrum of social living – from solitary bees to those in complex, highly social colonies – offers new insights into the genetic changes that accompany the evolution of bee societies.

  • spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) image of prostate cells

    Researchers develop new screening method for prostate cancer recurrence

    Researchers in the Quantitative Light Imaging Laboratory at the Beckman Institute used spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) in order to identify patients at higher risk for prostate cancer recurrence. 

  • image of a bottlenose dolphin

    Researchers link dolphin deaths to Deepwater Horizon oil spill

    Dolphins stranded on Gulf of Mexico beaches following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill were much more likely to have severe lung and adrenal gland damage “consistent with petroleum product exposure” than dolphins stranded elsewhere and prior to the spill.

  • image of education professor jennifer delaney and tyler kearney, an associate director of the Office for Planning and Budgeting.

    Illinois' guaranteed-tuition law making college less affordable

    Illinois’ guaranteed-tuition law is causing tuition rates at the state’s public colleges and universities to escalate faster than they would if schools were allowed to adjust tuition rates annually

  • image of illinois science historian Jimena Canales

    Science historian tells a timely story about Einstein and his most dangerous critic

    Two of the 20th century’s greatest minds, one of them physicist Albert Einstein, came to intellectual blows one day in Paris in 1922.

  • image of M.D./Ph.D. student Marta Zamroziewicz, left, and Carle Hospital-Beckman Institute postdoctoral fellow Rachael Rubin

    Omega-3 fatty acids enhance cognitive flexibility in those at risk of Alzheimer’s disease

    A study of older adults at risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease found that those who consumed more omega-3 fatty acids did better than their peers on tests of cognitive flexibility – the ability to efficiently switch between tasks – and had a bigger anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region known to contribute to cognitive flexibility.