News Bureau

Krannert Art Museum exhibitions highlight Chicago art and blue and white ceramics from its collection.

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine recognized the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for its diversity efforts by including the campus among the 96 schools receiving the 2018 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award.

Soils are drying out after the early September rain, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.

The National Communication Association announces the selection of Leanne Knobloch, a professor of communication at Illinois, as the 2018 recipient of the Charles H. Woolbert Research Award. 

Roy F. Block ... Carolyn Margaret (Rexroat) Dodd ... Mary Anne Hewing ... Timothy Gerard Hewing ... Raymond Ides ... David Kay ... Frederick “Fred” E. Payne ... Margaret R. Selin ... Joseph Tarbet Woolley

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have cleared one hurdle toward environmental cleanup of certain contaminants with a newly designed synthetic enzyme that reduces the compound sulfite to sulfide – a notoriously complex multistep chemical reaction that has eluded chemists for years.

The first Roger Ebert Symposium will explore the cinematic presentation of science with help from an IMAX film shot from space, a former astronaut and a diverse group of academics and experts.

Five University of Illinois professors at the Urbana-Champaign campus have been named University Scholars in recognition of their excellence in teaching, scholarship and service.

The Critical Conversations on Native Imagery Advisory Committee releases its report on a series of campus events that discussed the use of Native imagery on the Urbana campus.

A geologist, a microscopist and a doctor walk into a lab and, with their colleagues from across the nation, make a discovery that overturns centuries of thought about the nature and composition of kidney stones. The team’s key insight, reported in the journal Scientific Reports, is that kidney stones are built up in calcium-rich layers that resemble other mineralizations in nature, such as those forming coral reefs or arising in hot springs, Roman aqueducts or subsurface oil fields.

Among the Top 10 in numbers in the U.S., the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s freshman class sets new high marks for students from underrepresented backgrounds and first-generation college students, as well as a 10-year high of Illinois residents.

The New York-based Builders Association theater company will premiere “STRANGE WINDOW: The Turn of the Screw,” a new take on Henry James’ novella, at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The company developed the production during a residency at Krannert Center.

Changes to the age for required minimum distributions from retirement accounts could be made after the 2018 mid-term elections, said Richard L. Kaplan, an internationally recognized expert on tax policy and retirement issues, and the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at Illinois.

An exhibit at the University of Illinois Archives commemorates the contributions of Albert Lee, who is considered the unofficial first dean for African-American students.

Wind and solar farms are known to have local effects on heat, humidity and other factors that may be beneficial – or detrimental – to the regions in which they are situated. A new climate-modeling study finds that a massive wind and solar installation in the Sahara Desert and neighboring Sahel would increase local temperature, precipitation and vegetation. Overall, the researchers report, the effects would likely benefit the region.

The brain processes ironic or sarcastic emojis in the same way it does ironic or sarcastic words.

A new study reveals a previously unknown mechanism that governs whether viruses that infect bacteria will quickly kill their hosts or remain latent inside the cell. The discovery, reported in the journal eLife, also may apply to viruses that infect humans and other animals, the researcher said.

A new study finds that 21-month-old infants can distinguish between respect-based power asserted by a leader and fear-based power wielded by a bully.

Exclusionary zoning codes and funding policies that favored wealthy white neighborhoods explain why some Denver residents have less access to the city's parks, a University of Illinois researcher found.

Out-of-town alumni's enjoyment of homecoming events depends almost as much on their fondness for the college town as for the institution itself, University of Illinois researchers found in a new study.

A new point-of-care rapid-sensing device can detect a key marker of eye injury in minutes – a time frame crucial to treating eye trauma.  

University of Illinois researchers developed a gel laden with gold nanoparticles that changes color when it reacts with a teardrop containing ascorbic acid, released from a wound to the eye. In a new study published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, the researchers used the sensor, called OjoGel, to measure ascorbic acid levels in artificial tears and in clinical samples of fluid from patients’ eyes. 

Ancient animal herders added to the ecological richness and diversity of the African savanna thousands of years ago – an effect that persists to the present day, a new study finds. The herders’ practice of penning their cattle, goats and sheep at night created nutrient-rich grassy glades, called hotspots, that still attract wildlife and have increased habitat diversity in the region, researchers report in the journal Nature.

Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, the director of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois, discusses initiatives that are making college degrees attainable for more students.

Obesity is associated with a host of health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. According to a new study reported in the Journal of Physiology, obesity also diminishes a person’s ability to build muscle after engaging in resistance exercise.

The Campus Honors Program announces the names of 159 freshmen and sophomores at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who have been designated Chancellor’s Scholars.

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers reveal techniques – inspired by the study of information theory – to track how changes in precipitation alter interactions between the atmosphere, vegetation and soil at two National Science Foundation Critical Zone Observatory sites in the western United States.

The Flatlands Dance Film Festival – the largest in the Midwest – will kick off the 50th anniversary season of the University of Illinois dance department.

Through a combination of institutional, federal and state aid, including Pell Grants and Monetary Award Program grants, Illinois Commitment will provide financial awards to cover the tuition and campus fees for in-state students whose family income is less than $61,000, the current median family income in Illinois.

Many teens in China are embarking on study tours of U.S. colleges, creating a potentially lucrative market sector for universities, college towns and tourism-related businesses in the Midwest, a new study found.

Many youths lack financial literacy and money-management skills, indicating an urgent need for educational programs that will help them enter adulthood better equipped to handle their financial affairs, a new study found.

Illinois professor Ruby Mendenhall is focused on issues of poverty, inequality and violence, but crosses many academic boundaries in search of answers.

Natural selection – that merciless weeder-outer of biological designs that are out of step with the times – also is a wily shaper of traits. Exhibit A is the pointy murre egg, according to new research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

A new study shows a diminished but “robust” link between the decline of unions and the rise in wage inequality.

It’s 5:30 a.m. in the tree farms outside Urbana, but the birds have been up for an hour already. I sip my coffee, putting on rubber boots that will be little help against the dewy, waist-high grass. A couple of brown birds sit on telephone wires above me, and I have a feeling I am being watched. These are brown-headed cowbirds, which lay their eggs in other species’ nests and then let the nest’s owners raise the offspring.

Krista Wilkinson, the founder of a musical theater troupe for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will give the annual Goldstick Family Lecture in the Study of Communication Disorders at the University of Illinois on Sept. 13.

Kevin Hamilton will become the dean designate of the College of Fine and Applied Arts effective Aug. 17, pending approval of the three-year appointment by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Hamilton is a professor of new media in the School of Fine and Applied Arts and is a senior associate dean for the college. He served as a Provost Fellow during the 2017-18 academic year, working to develop campus programming to facilitate conversation on divisive topics.

In a new study in cells, University of Illinois researchers have adapted CRISPR gene-editing technology to cause the cell’s internal machinery to skip over a small portion of a gene when transcribing it into a template for protein building. This gives researchers a way not only to eliminate a mutated gene sequence, but to influence how the gene is expressed and regulated.

Such targeted editing could one day be useful for treating genetic diseases caused by mutations in the genome, such as Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s disease or some cancers.

A pioneering ballerina, a groundbreaking theater company and nationally known jazz musicians are featured in a new program on the Big Ten Network. “Illinois Artists” captures University of Illinois performing arts professors, students and alumni performing in New York, Chicago and Urbana. The 30-minute documentary premieres Aug. 21 at 11 p.m. CT on BTN.

It may seem off-putting to some, but human waste is full of nutrients that can be recycled into valuable products that could promote agricultural sustainability and better economic independence for some developing countries.

Krannert Art Museum aims to attract more students with new programs that include social activities, internships and free student memberships.

A U. of I. political historian looks back 50 years at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Deep in the untamed lowlands, we search for artifacts buried under hundreds of years of sediment. We are excavating two ancient Maya sites nestled in the sacred landscape of Cara Blanca in central Belize. Both date to A.D. 800-900, when prolonged and severe droughts struck this region, disrupting the daily life of the Maya.

Choreographer Jessica Lang’s new dance piece, created during a residency at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, was inspired by the cultures and layers of history making up urban landscapes.

A long-term study of eastern massasauga rattlesnakes in Illinois reveals that – despite their alarming decline in numbers – the few remaining populations have retained a surprising amount of genetic diversity.

Professor Isabel Molina-Guzman’s new book examines the role of Latinos in TV sitcoms, as well as the changing form of the genre in a “post-racial” television era.

Following up on a similar effort in 2015, students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in spring 2017 participated in a survey regarding sexual misconduct and the campus’s response to such incidents. Results are available at http://wecare.illinois.edu. Sexual misconduct refers broadly to various forms of misconduct including sexual assault, stalking, sexual harassment and dating violence.

The jungles of central Belize contain thousands of species of insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, trees and flowers. They also contain ancient Maya cities, some of which remain unknown and unexplored. 

The effects of global climate change taking place in the Arctic may influence weather much closer to home for millions of Americans, researchers report.

A new study reveals that all insects use specialized odorant receptors that enable them to detect and pursue mates, identify enemies, find food and – unfortunately for humans – spread disease. This puts to rest a recent hypothesis that only some insects evolved the ability to detect airborne odors as an adaptation to flight, the researchers said.

The workplace can function as a springboard for increased democratic participation, says new research co-written by U. of I. labor professor Ryan Lamare.