blog navigation

Illinois Featured Content
Behind the Scenes

blog posts

  • Sourbette and Sophie, Baudet du Poitou donkeys at the U of I College of Veterinary Medicine, are inseparable. Photos by Michelle Hassel

    Vet Med: Saving an endangered breed of donkey

    Jun 3, 2022 10:45 am

    Numbers of Baudet du Poitou donkeys have dwindled to only 300-400 worldwide. A breeding effort is underway at Illinois to expand their numbers and help save the breed from extinction. Photos by Michelle Hassel.

  • Professor Lisa Lucero does field work in Belize. Anthropology professor Lisa Lucero and her colleagues are working to capture the history from Maya ruins before they are plowed under. Photo by C. Taylor. Photo copyright © 2022 VOPA and Belize Institute of Archaeology, NICH.

    Rescuing ancient Maya history from the plow

    Jun 22, 2022 3:45 pm

    Anthropology professor Lisa Lucero and her colleagues are working to capture the history from Maya ruins before they are plowed under.

  • young bird nests among leaves on the forest floor. Photo by author

    Waiting for the sun to set to find a rare bird

    Jun 30, 2022 10:00 am

    Each night, we perform checks of Whip-Poor-Will nests to record development of eggs and chicks, as well as instances of predation or failure. Nests are at risk on the ground, but a few broods hatch and reach fledging age, when they begin to fly.

  • A view of the thornscrub habitat along the bluffs of the Rio Grande. Credit: Photo by Sara Johnson

    Searching the Texas brushland for a rare, temperamental plant

    Aug 18, 2022 9:45 am

    'As it stands with most rare species, this work isn’t always easy, but it is fulfilling. The excitement of seeing one rare plant – let alone a thriving population – is enough to sustain me in this work.'

  • U. of I. field school students at the Pottersville kiln site in 2011. Credit: Photo by Bridget Lee-Calfas

    Bringing an enslaved potter's story to the Met

    Oct 17, 2022 9:15 am

    George Calfas unearthed a jug in 2011 that is now part of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, 'Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina'

  • curious chickens watch photographer Michelle Hassel as she takes their picture

    Learning from chickens

    Oct 19, 2022 8:15 am

    A tour of the U. of I.’s Poultry Research Farm reveals that chickens are daring, pragmatic and curious about humans. The facility trains students in all aspects of chicken care, breeding and management, and supports research at Illinois and beyond.

  • Tamar Dallal, a senior in engineering physics, creates a flower arrangement for an exhibition at Japan House. Photo by Fred Zwicky

    Vivifying ikebana: Japanese flower arranging

    Oct 21, 2022 9:15 am

    Tamar learned jiyuka, or freestyle arrangement, which encourages contemporary artistic expression using simple design principles to create miniature arrangements highlighting the theme of kokoro, or heart, mind and spirit.

  • tudent volunteers from the Wildlife Society’s U. of I. student chapter move in close to see a tiny yet spirited bird, the house wren, before it is released. Photo by Fred Zwicky

    A marvelous morning of migratory bird banding

    Oct 25, 2022 10:15 am

    Birds throughout the world are in trouble, and habitat loss is one reason for their decline. Understanding their life cycles and habitat requirements during migration is increasingly important – especially as climate change continues to affect the world.

  • steam clouds the view of the ancient works inside one of Illinois' steam tunnels

    Spooky Spaces at U of I: The steam tunnels

    Oct 28, 2022 10:30 am

    You can't go inside them - they're dangerous and you'd be arrested - but the steam tunnels under the campus serve important functions. Plus, the old brick tunnelways produce weird noises that complete their creepy image.

  • Illinois graduate student Martha Larkin pulls a lever to operate a hand press as students get hands-on experience with historical printing technologies.

    Using a 19th-century hand press to teach history of printing

    Dec 8, 2022 9:45 am

    'I want students to literally get their hands on historical technology. Rather than talking about how print worked, students do these things – set print, bind books and use computer technology,' says Professor Ryan Cordell.

  • Ph.D. student Brian Graves presented his virus-busting video game. Photo by Fred Zwicky

    Teaching generations of students about outbreaks – with art

    Jan 26, 2023 12:45 pm

    'The art show is a midpoint in a journey to revamp the health district’s Germ Busters program, which conducts outreach to K-8 students on a variety of infectious diseases.'

  • Greenhouse assistant student worker Alexandra (Lexi) Gomez cuts back dead foliage from a Ischnosiphon pruinosus plant. Photos by Fred Zwicky

    Nurturing a tropical paradise in the heart of the Midwest

    Mar 10, 2023 9:00 am

    The U of I Plant Biology Greenhouse and Conservatory houses more than 200 species and 60 families of tropical and subtropical plants selected for their botanical interest or economic importance.

  • Tyrone Phillips works with the cast and crew as they rehearse prior to opening night at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Photo by Fred Zwicky

    Returning to Illinois theatre to direct, mentor students

    Apr 25, 2023 4:15 pm

    Tyrone Phillips, an Illinois theatre program alumnus and the artistic director of Chicago’s Definition Theatre, returned to direct students in a play this spring.

  • Evans teaching landowners about the safe use of chainsaws. Photo by Taryn Bieri, University of Illinois

    Preserving Illinois forests, one landowner at a time

    Apr 28, 2023 10:15 am

    Illinois Extension forestry and research specialist Christopher Evans describes leading the first field day of a Beginning Forest Landowner Program to give landowners the experience, skills and connections needed to better manage their forests.

  • Walking as a group with their eyes closed, Illinois staff and students wind down the stairs of the Architecture Building as they experience campus spaces without sight. Photo by Fred Zwicky

    'Blind Field Shuttle' brings a new perspective to campus walk

    May 3, 2023 10:00 am

    Vancouver-based social practice artist Carmen Papalia's 'Blind Field Shuttle' focuses is on unlearning visual primacy and reconsidering our preconceptions and biases. 

  • The author, Juliana Soto, with a sooty ant tanager, Habia gutturalis. Soto is a graduate student in the U. of I. Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology. Photo by Natalia Ocampo Peñuela

    Following in the footsteps of early 20th century naturalist Elizabeth Kerr

    Jun 5, 2023 9:15 am

    Today marks the beginning of our expedition to the Central Andes of Colombia. All eight of us are women. We are all Colombian ornithologists working together to survey the birds here. Interestingly, we are not the first women to do this.  

  • The multimedia 'CETACEAN (The Whale)' performance takes you to the sea

    Sep 21, 2023 10:30 am

    The 'CETACEAN' performances are Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stock Pavilion, 1402 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Urbana. Admission is free and seating is first come, first served.

  • workers remove the terra cotta roof tiles from the roof below the bell tower, stacking them to be reinstalled after reinforcements to the roof and the addition of an ice and water shield. All photos by Fred Zwicky

    Renovating historic Altgeld Hall

    Nov 20, 2023 2:00 pm

    'The renovation of Altgeld Hall will mark the rebirth of one of the campus’s most storied and iconic buildings. The facility, which opened in 1897, was instrumental in the university’s early growth, and this project ensures that its legacy will continue,' says project manager Kevin Price. 

  • A stream of extracellular vesicles travels through blood vessels near a tumor. Photo by Stephen Boppart

    Professors Marni and Stephen Boppart: Tracking the traffic between our cells

    Nov 21, 2023 10:30 am

    The 2023 Allen Distinguished Investigators are visualizing and tracking extracellular vesicles: tiny packages of molecular cargo in nanosized lipid carriers, released by all cells in the body. 

  • a trail runs through a rainforest reserve in Sri Lanka. Photo by the author

    Exploring multispecies relationships by walking 'with' the forest in Sri Lanka

    Nov 28, 2023 9:30 am

    Emma Lundin, a graduate student in tourism at the U of I, discusses her research in a rainforest in Sri Lanka, exploring how to create sustainable nature-based tourist experiences by walking 'with' the forest.

  • Illinois Natural History Survey medical entomologist Jiayue (Gabriel) Yan peers through a viewing port as he works inside a sealed glove box, using tongs to carefully handle Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Photos by Fred Zwicky

    Starving mosquitoes for science

    Feb 22, 2024 9:30 am

    Go Behind the Scenes with Illinois Natural History Survey medical entomologist Jiayue (Gabriel) Yan as he studies how nutrition influences mosquito infection with dengue virus. 

  • The observers watch as a farmer tosses a net into one of several ponds on the cooperative grounds. Photo by Quang Trieu, Vietnam Academy of Social Science.

    Learning by listening to the people who live it

    Mar 18, 2024 9:15 am

    Experts from Illinois visit a cooperative prawn and rice farm in Southeast Vietnam to hear the farmers' stories about their challenges and adaptations to a changing climate.