blog posts

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  How love, health, and neighborhood intersect for Black Americans

  May 12, 2023 12:45 pm

  People living in better-quality neighborhoods showed lower negative, higher positive affects 10 years later. 'This really speaks to the powerful effect of the community you're in and the amount of stress or support that you get from your neighborhood.'

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  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. 

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  Ice-capped volcanoes slower to erupt, study finds

  May 9, 2022 8:45 am

  Undergraduate researcher Lilian Lucas and geology professor Patricia Gregg found that additional pressure from thick overlying glacial ice can make volcanic systems more stable and slower to erupt than volcanoes without ice.

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  Illinois business experts examine economic fallout from historic wildfires

  Feb 5, 2025 12:15 pm

  Experts warn that the road to recovery from the Southern California wildfires will be long, with significant challenges to the local economy, housing market, and insurance industry. 

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  Illinois journal highlights new findings on the Black Death's timeline, origin

  Oct 24, 2022 10:30 am

  The bacterial cause of the Black Death existed millennia earlier than previously thought and is now known to have caused the First Plague Pandemic, which devastated the 6th century Roman world, says U of I medieval studies expert Carol Symes.

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  Illinois schools sought to participate in 2024 Illinois Youth Survey

  Mar 18, 2024 9:30 am

  The Illinois Youth Survey is a biennial survey of eighth, 10th and 12th grade students that provides important assessments of school climate issues and substance use across Illinois’ middle and high schools.  

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  Illinois Youth Survey finds troubling substance use trends

  May 8, 2025 10:15 am

  U. of I.'s new Illinois Youth Survey finds disturbing trends among teens, such as obtaining alcohol through home delivery services, binge drinking and reports of cyclical vomiting syndrome, which is often associated with prolonged use of cannabis. 

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  Implicit bias prevents women from obtaining prompt treatment for health problems

  Dec 20, 2022 10:00 am

  For some women who experience serious and chronic physical or mental health conditions, one of their most daunting challenges is obtaining the belief and validation of health care providers, family members and friends.

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  Job-quality indicator points to mixed bag for Illinois workers

  Sep 19, 2022 2:00 pm

  A team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign labor experts has developed a metric for measuring the quality of jobs throughout the state of Illinois. The findings are a mix of positive and negative news for Illinois workers.

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  Layered limestone deposits give unique insight to Roman aqueducts

  Aug 8, 2022 12:00 pm

  In studies combining geology, biology, engineering and history, U. of I. researchers are the first to document geologic ripple marks formed by mineral growth and use them to reconstruct the hydraulic history of the Roman aqueducts.

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  Mandatory media literacy education in Illinois schools impaired by digital divides

  Aug 20, 2025 10:30 am

  Teachers and high school students live in vastly different media worlds, and that’s one of several digital divides that undermine the efficacy of state-mandated media literacy instruction in high schools, a recent study suggests. 

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  Men's experiences of sexual racism differ in two online dating communities

  Sep 29, 2022 10:45 am

  While sexual minority men report that racialized sexual discrimination is rampant on dating apps and websites, Black men reported differing experiences on Grindr and Jack’d, according to a study led by social work professor Ryan Wade.

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  Misinformation, disinformation leads to US couples’ divorces, breakups

  Sep 29, 2025 9:30 am

  A new study has found that online misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theory groups and their former partners’ rabbit-holing behaviors caused insurmountable rifts in their relationships, ultimately causing divorces or breakups.

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  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.

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  Mouse model reveals liver involvement in muscular dystrophy

  Oct 24, 2024 12:00 pm

  A new mouse model mimicking the liver symptoms of the most prevalent form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy provides insight into why patients develop fatty liver disease and display hypersensitivity to medications. 

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  Nanoscale observations simplify how scientists describe earthquake movement

  Aug 4, 2022 10:30 am

  Researchers used microscopic-scale observations to simplify how scientists describe macroscale earthquake movement. They hope their work will lead to better earthquake prediction.

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  Navajo scholar’s Indigenous leadership research aids educators of Native students

  Feb 8, 2024 10:30 am

  Sometimes researchers discover something they weren’t looking for—something as valuable, perhaps even more so, than the original treasure they sought. Such is the case with Oliver Tapaha.

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  New analytics-driven framework aims to improve care of chronic disease

  Apr 21, 2025 9:30 am

  New U. of I. research finds that a data-informed approach to scheduling patient appointments can reduce risks associated with diabetes management by up to 19.4%, especially for underserved populations.

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  New book casts anthropologist’s eye on European Court of Human Rights

  Sep 17, 2025 10:45 am

  A new book by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert examines the world’s premier human rights court as rule of law comes under threat.

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  New book details the precarious financial lives of US bankruptcy filers

  Aug 19, 2025 3:30 pm

  'Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy' shows 'what it means to live in a state of financial precarity, where household finances are fragile, and where one small expense can blow up everything,' said author and law professor Robert Lawless.  

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  New book explores complicated relationship between workers and their work

  Jan 8, 2024 9:15 am

  A new book by U. of I. labor expert Robert Bruno explores how workers characterize their relationship to their jobs using personal six-word mini-narratives, serving as a broader exploration of how middle-class workers view work in the U.S.

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  New book explores the history of the phony cancer drug Krebiozen

  Oct 1, 2024 11:15 am

  Journalism professor emeritus Matthew C. Ehrlich examines the dramatic story of a controversial medicine once touted as a miracle cure for cancer in his new book.

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  New climate change model finds nuanced relationship between temperature, conflict

  Feb 17, 2023 8:45 am

  A new framework for studying the intersection of climate anomalies and social conflicts finds a strong link between temperature fluctuations and aggregated global conflicts, says Gies College of Business professor Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee.

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  New database catalogs police shootings in Illinois to improve accountability

  Oct 7, 2022 10:45 am

  An interdisciplinary team of U of I experts has developed a statewide registry on the use of lethal force by police officers in Illinois. It identified more than twice as many police-involved shooting incidents than previously reported.

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  News media trigger conflict for romantic couples with differing political views

  Jan 16, 2024 2:30 pm

  
  Couples with differing political views and identities face unique challenges in their consumption of news, which can create significant stress on their relationship, communication professor Emily Van Duyn found in a recent study.  

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  New study evaluates public policy preferences for limiting children’s access to energy drinks

  Feb 17, 2025 9:45 am

  The U.S. is the leading energy drink market and relies heavily on voluntary industry standards, says professor Maria Kalaitzandonakes. A new study gauged the public’s preferences for energy drink policies and marketing.

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  New study finds link between green spaces and police violence

  Apr 24, 2025 3:00 pm

  Higher levels of greenness may reduce violence in four ways: reduced crime, improved short-term and long-term mental health, sending a signal that a place is well-cared for and increasing the use of outdoor spaces by nearby neighbors.

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  New study reveals nitrous oxide misuse deaths are steeply increasing

  Jul 31, 2025 10:30 am

  U. of I. research shows an alarming rise in fatalities associated with nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas or whippets) in the last decade, potentially driven by efforts to mass-market products to a new generation.  

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  Older workers seeking federal disability benefits during recessions are healthier

  Sep 8, 2022 10:30 am

  The findings suggest disability insurance may be helping individuals smooth over temporary shocks to their employment  – a role that diverges from the program’s aim of protecting individuals from career-ending shocks to their ability to work.

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  Paper: Established employees need adjustment period with new colleagues

  Oct 12, 2022 9:30 am

  Adding new employees to an established work team can have a multitude of consequences for long-standing employees, according to new research co-written by IYihao Liu, a U of I professor of both labor relations and psychology.

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  Paper: FDA should develop labeling standards for AI-powered medical devices

  Jul 9, 2025 8:45 am

  The regulatory framework for AI-based medical devices needs to be improved to ensure transparency and protect patients’ health, says Sara Gerke, an expert in the ethical and legal challenges of artificial intelligence for health care. 

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  Paper: Firms learn more from ‘knowledge-gap’ failures than mere ‘slip-ups’

  Apr 22, 2024 8:30 am

  More organizational learning was associated with design-related product recalls than with process-related recalls. Researchers also learned that a firm’s accumulated patents and investment in R&D enhanced learning from design-related recalls. 

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  Paper: Neurotic personality trait a key risk factor for stress perception

  Nov 29, 2022 11:15 am

  While all of the 'Big Five' personality traits – agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness – are related to experiencing stress, neuroticism showed the strongest link

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  Paper: New law, regulations may diminish appeal of some retirement accounts

  Jan 30, 2023 9:45 am

  A new law and regulations affecting inherited retirement accounts could create hefty taxation issues for some beneficiaries, says Richard Kaplan, an expert on U.S. tax policy and retirement issues.

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  Paper: Social justice storytelling helps librarians advocate for patrons, themselves

  Nov 2, 2022 12:00 pm

  Library schools should teach social justice storytelling skills to students so they can advocate for the needs of underserved patrons, says information sciences professor Kate McDowell.

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  Parentification: The impact of children taking on parental roles in their family

  Dec 13, 2023 12:00 pm

  We expect parents to always take care of their children’s physical and emotional needs. But sometimes the roles are reversed, and the child assumes responsibilities beyond what is appropriate for their age.

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  Peer adversity may cause girls to feel their self-worth is constantly at risk

  Oct 10, 2022 10:30 am

  A history of peer adversity sensitizes teen girls to situational threats to their self-esteem and interpersonal needs, cultivating feelings that their self-worth is constantly in jeopardy, a new study found.

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  People who viewed sex as a leisure activity enjoyed more, better sex during the pandemic

  Oct 13, 2022 10:45 am

  People who strongly viewed sex as a leisure activity before and during the pandemic used their downtime to engage in more frequent, satisfying and creative sexual activity, according to a study by professor Liza Berdychevsky.

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  PFAS found in nearly all fish tested from four northern Illinois rivers

  Jul 31, 2024 8:15 am

  ound PFAS-contaminated fish in every one of the 15 sites they tested along four northern Illinois rivers, with channel catfish having the highest accumulation of PFAS in its tissues.

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  Professor identifies key drivers in decisions to receive COVID-19 vaccine

  Dec 8, 2022 10:15 am

  Republicans 'were far more likely to say that they were getting vaccinated than if they thought other Republicans were not going to be vaccinated,' Bowers said. For Democrats, the intentions of other Democrats were less likely to influence their decision.

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  Raising happy eaters: Unlocking the secrets of childhood appetite

  Oct 18, 2024 11:45 am

  Children are born with a capacity to regulate appetite based on hunger and satiety signals, but with increased exposure to environmental factors, their eating is increasingly guided by psychological reasoning and motivations. 

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  Regional public universities increase access, social mobility for nearby residents

  Oct 20, 2022 9:00 am

  'When legislators are thinking about allocating funding for regional public universities, it’s important for them to know just how many benefits they provide to students in the surrounding community,' said economics professor Russell Weinstein.

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  Report: Conscientiousness, not willpower, is a reliable predictor of success

  Sep 10, 2024 8:45 am

  Two psychology professors argue that psychological science sometimes overemphasizes the role of willpower in human success and well-being. The personality trait 'conscientiousness' is a better predictor of success, they write.

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  Report: ‘Future-proofing’ crops will require urgent, consistent effort

  May 29, 2025 8:00 am

  Droughts, floods, other climate-related events are already disrupting ag systems. Projected temperature extremes and climate instability will further reduce crop yields, increasing starvation and mass migration, writes Professor Steven Long. 

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  Researchers: Green infrastructure plans need to consider historical racial inequalities

  May 21, 2024 9:45 am

  'For the environmental and ecological questions, we have a pretty good handle on what we need to do. The questions that are the hardest... are how to work well with communities, particularly marginalized communities.'

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  Researchers identify unexpected twist while developing new polymer-based semiconductors

  Nov 14, 2023 8:15 am

  Fresh insight into the development of semiconductor materials that can do things their traditional silicon counterparts cannot – harness the power of chirality, a non-superimposable mirror image

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  Researchers illuminate gaps in public transportation access, equity

  Feb 16, 2023 10:30 am

  Reserachers found that public transit systems offering broad coverage of stops and routes may still underserve the communities that rely on them the most. The study uses the Champaign-Urbana MTD as a case study.

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  Research explores Champaign Park District’s relationship with users who are homeless

  Mar 20, 2025 12:15 pm

  'That was something that the Champaign Park District really wanted to understand ― how do the various constituent groups in the community see this issue and what do they want them to do about it?' said Professor Nick Pitas.

  
  

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  Research: Police uses of lethal force dropped dramatically in US from 2021-23

  Jul 24, 2025 8:30 am

  The U. of I.'s SPOTLITE dataset is the most comprehensive nationwide accounting of police uses of lethal force available today. It includes any incident in which police used a firearm, as well as any other use of force that resulted in a death. 

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  Retail app outages have surprising impact on in-store shopping, customer behavior

  Feb 20, 2025 10:45 am

  When the app became unavailable, customers would simply switch to the website, especially if they had used the website before. But what the researchers didn’t expect was that the app outage would lead to a decline in in-store shopping.