Illinois Featured Content

Contrary to common assumptions, crop-plot responses to the same inputs vary significantly from year to year. The most unpredictable factor – the weather – seemed to have the biggest impact on how the crops responded to these inputs. 

U of I researchers are leading a project to reduce methane production resulting from rumen fermentation in beef and dairy cattle. The 3-year, $3.2-million project is part of the Greener Cattle Initiative, led by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. 

Women whose health problems have been dismissed in the past said they struggle when interacting with physicians who make them feel illegitimate as they pursue diagnoses and treatment. 

New research led by data science experts at Illinois and United Nations Global Pulse found that there is no strong evidence that YouTube promoted anti-vaccine sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer presents differing metabolic signatures in the blood of African American women and non-Hispanic white women.

IKIDS is part of a national initiative to study five areas of child health. IKIDS focuses on the pre-, peri- and postnatal period; neurodevelopment; and contributes to studies of obesity, respiratory health and well-being.  

With cutting-edge imaging and simulation tools, the center will study healthy and diseased cells; accelerate research into gene expression, metabolism, and division; and share science with communities of all ages through a partnership with the popular computer game Minecraft. 

U of I researchers plan to identify which microbes maximize the benefits of broccoli and other brassica vegetables, which could lead to the development probiotics to help level the playing field for people with lower-efficiency microbial communities.  

Families that perceived themselves as members of a team working for their collective benefit were more likely to improve their family's well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, U. of I. professor  Allen W. Barton found in a new study.

Treatments modulating the neurotransmitter GABA and its main receptors in the brain could help address both the affective and cognitive symptoms associated with depression, such as those Vincent Van Gogh is suspected to have suffered.

'These phenolic compounds have the capability of keeping oxidation and inflammation under control, which could help decrease the risk of chronic health issues such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes,' says Professor Elvira de Mejia.  

The mice didn't lose weight, 'they just slowed their gain with the mealworms,' says researcher Kelly Swanson. But, 'their LDL, so-called "bad cholesterol," went down and the HDL, "good cholesterol," went up.'  

'Firms with CEOs who own greater amounts of company stock may, intentionally or unintentionally, allow dangerous medical devices to linger in the market. It’s an enormous public health risk, and such examples of recall delays are all too common...' 

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.

A new paper analyzes how air pollution via the effects of drifting wildfire smoke impacts the U.S. labor market.

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.  

'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.'

Posting videos about intimate relationships to social media platforms may affect offline relationships, according to a case study of the viral 'couch guy' TikTok video by Emily Mendelson, a graduate student at the U of I. 

Many farmers think if they add plenty of nitrogen fertilizer, that nitrogen and carbon will be stored in the soil as organic matter when microbes decompose crop residue. New U of I research suggests those efforts might not work for poor soils.  

'Currently, higher education is still benefitting from COVID-19 relief funding, and when that dries up, many states will face a financial cliff for higher education,' says education professor Jennifer Delaney.

'Currently, there is no definition of a "healthy" microbiome. Understanding how diet may influence the structure of the gut microbiota is important so we can make recommendations on dietary approaches,' says doctoral student Alexis Baldeon.

'In the past we did a similar study in the US and now we're doing it for India. ...the results of this study are telling us that in both countries, although there is a negative impact of climate, crops are adapting,' Professor Madhu Khanna said. 

U of I study finds that blood markers of two saturated fatty acids along with certain omega-6, -7 and -9 fatty acids correlated with better scores on tests of memory and with larger brain structures in the frontal, temporal, parietal and insular cortices.

Illinois history professor Po-Shek Fu wrote about how Hong Kong media was used in a cultural cold war in Asia and the effects it had on the political and cultural environments in Hong Kong. 

'Older estimates were predicting almost 100% of the suitable habitat being wiped out for some of these species. But once we incorporated microclimate data at fine spatial scales for our study area, we found it might not be nearly that severe.'

Particles can be seen raining down, tumbling along stairsteps and sliding around before finally snapping into place to form a crystal’s signature stacked layers. 

Triglycerides, cholesterol were significantly lower in dogs fed these vegan diets. Professor Kelly Swanson says that could benefit obese pets and help maintain a healthy weight. 'Overall, it looked like there were some beneficial shifts from a gut health perspective.'

Study uses electrosorption rather than filters and solvents and combines synthesis, separations testing and computer simulations to help design an electrode that can attract, capture a range of short-chain PFAS from environmental waters. 

'Surprisingly, we did not find that hormone levels can predict sleep disruption. We did, however, find that women who have hot flashes at night also have insomnia. (And) women who had insomnia in the fourth year also had it in the first year.'

Black and Latina women reported high rates of depression and anxiety symptoms early in the  COVID-19 pandemic. But U of I researchers found that prayer as a coping mechanism had differing effects.

Professor Ryan Cordell is leading a project to examine how stories of racial violence circulated in late 19th century and early 20th century newspapers and how those stories relate to trends in contemporary social media.

The theory gives a simple prediction for the threshold at which large quantum systems switch from orderly motion like a clock to random, erratic motion like asteroids moving around in the early solar system.

'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.

A new study led by U of I professor Rachel Hoopsick finds a fiftyfold increase in methamphetamine deaths since 1999 may be the deadly result of the contamination or co-use of meth with opioids like heroin and fentanyl.

Growing competition from Brazil and the effects of recent trade policies are shifting global market trends for cotton. A U of I study  investigates how U.S. cotton exports are impacted by these patterns.

The 'magnetic microrobot' probes gave precise information about both tissue stiffness and traction, revealing for the first time that while malignant tumors may become stiffer in response to surrounding tissues, cancer cells do not alter their tractions.

The results will accelerate efforts to tap the huge potential of this highly productive but genetically complex grass as a source for biofuels, renewable bioproducts, and carbon sequestration. 

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.

'The personal, often vulnerable nature of intimate partner-seeking makes racialized sexual discrimination in online dating venues a unique stressor. Discrimination (can be) more brazen, prejudices more overt and rejection more frequent.'

Phase I clinical trial of an anti-cancer agent developed by U of I researchers found only minor side effects in patients with end-stage cancers. It stalled the growth of tumors in five people and reduced tumor size in two of those patients. 

U. of I. researchers found that taking into account the features of the whole brain – rather than focusing on individual regions or networks – allows the most accurate predictions of intelligence.

Beckman Institute researchers will explore the regenerative power of cells in space. Their research will help protect human health aboard Orion, the spacecraft destined to ferry astronauts from the Earth to the moon and Mars.

Reading is simultaneously engaging and relaxing, and it’s fun to do alone or with friends. Now researchers say reading may help preserve memory skills as people — and their brains — grow older. 

It can be difficult to find crops that thrive under solar panels, but for grazing animals, particularly sheep, the combination works out well. 'Sheep don't really care about hanging wires or poles,' says undergrad researcher Tyler Swanson.

'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.

Cities spend a lot of time and money harassing geese to relocate, but new University of Illinois research shows standard goose harassment efforts aren’t effective, especially in winter when birds should be most susceptible to scare tactics.

Because the model can be applied to a variety of organisms, it will help scientists compare many types of biological puncturing tools, and help engineers develop new systems to efficiently pierce materials or resist being pierced. 

'Every year we try and pick which of the many different co-circulating flu strains to target with the next year's vaccine ...So it's really important to understand the evolution of the virus so that we can better predict the specific pathways it'll take.'

'Instead of saying, "past research found this in this sample, so we should assume it is truth," we need to think about how things may be different and how they may or may not apply to diverse populations," says Professor Brian Ogolsky.

 A new Illinois study finds that toddlers who spend less than 60 minutes looking at screens or engage in more than 60 minutes of exercise per day tend to have better executive function than toddlers who do not.