News Bureau

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - When exposed to nitrogen fertilizer over a period of years, nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia evolve to become less beneficial to legumes - the plants they normally serve, researchers report in a new study.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The people most often cited as "education experts" in blogs and news stories may have the backing of influential organizations - but have little background in education and education policy, a new study suggests.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - No sector of the economy was left unscathed in the aftermath of the Great Recession, which officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009 but whose aftereffects continue to linger today.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Whether pursuing eternal youth or manipulating insects in the lab, female entomologists are themselves a source of horror in many science fiction movies and TV shows. Their roles have shifted over the decades, however, making them a worthy focus of the 2015 Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Whether pursuing eternal youth or manipulating insects in the lab, female entomologists are themselves a source of horror in many science fiction movies and TV shows. Their roles have shifted over the decades, however, making them a worthy focus of the 2015 Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In early 2014, just before Ebola surged in West Africa, leaders of Scientific Animations Without Borders visited with faculty and students at Njala University in Sierra Leone. The SAWBO team was looking for potential collaborators to help create and distribute its animated health and agricultural videos in Sierra Leone. A few months later, the Njala students asked SAWBO to work with them on animated videos about Ebola.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Leading scholars and public intellectuals reflect on the social and political forces in contemporary culture that advocate severing ties with Israeli universities in a new volume of essays titled "The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel."

With dual-earner families increasingly becoming the norm, President Obama trumpeted the importance of "universal child care" in his State of the Union address - a pivot from previous years, when he advocated for universal pre-kindergarten.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A study co-written by a University of Illinois labor and employment relations professor shows that clocking extra hours at the office while juggling family demands takes a toll on the body mass index of individuals in dual-earner families.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - 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.

Eric A.Johnson, expert on criminal law and procedure

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - As Gov. Bruce Rauner readies his first budget address, expect him to propose changes that could have major consequences for certain demographics, a University of Illinois expert on taxation issues says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois' Institute for Genomic Biology has been renamed in honor of a microbiology professor who changed the course of science with his discovery of a third major branch of the tree of life. That professor, Carl R. Woese, died in late 2012.

Christopher Lubienski, expert on student achievement

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A musical tribute to the First Amendment is coming to the University of Illinois campus March 3.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - While it may be tempting to dismiss as a censor anyone who wants to restrict access to a book, such individuals understand that books are powerful and have the potential to change lives, said Emily Knox, who recently wrote about the people who raise challenges to reading material.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois School of Architecture is a charter member of a new research consortium of the American Institute of Architects, focusing on issues of design and health.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Seismic waves are helping scientists to plumb the world's deepest mystery: the planet's inner core.

Stephen Long, expert on developing biofuels

We are right now in the early stages of a revolutionary shift from a medical education and delivery model still rooted in the 19th century to one that will fully integrate the rapid advances of technology with human health improvement.

The U. of I. Flash Index rose to 106.8 in January from its 106.5 level in December. The Illinois economy continues to improve as we enter 2015. This month builds on almost three years of slow and steady growth in which the index remained well above 100, the dividing line between growth and decline.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new study found Illinois educators and lawmakers have homework to do to figure out why fewer girls at the state's high schools study subjects associated with careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields than their peers in other states.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Erik Hemingway says his Urbana home, designed by the late architect John Replinger, is a well-kept secret. With its floor-to-ceiling windows across the back looking onto a golf course, a feeling of openness and spaciousness inside, and an interior courtyard, it's an example of midcentury modern architectural style.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The cute cat video seems to be everywhere online, and it's become a handy epithet for everything that journalism should not be. So what should we make of the fact that The New York Times, that paragon of journalism, has written a lot about cats over 140 years?

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Christos Tsitsaros, a professor of piano pedagogy at the University of Illinois School of Music, has been named the 2014 Distinguished Composer of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Researchers report that trap-jaw ants recognize the unique odor of a fertile queen only if the queen also shares the workers' own chemical cologne - a distinctive blend of dozens of smelly, waxy compounds that coat the ants' bodies from head to tarsus. The discovery offers new insights into how social animals evolved and communicate with others in their group, the researchers say.

Walter W. McMahon, a professor emeritus of economics and of educational organization and leadership at the University of Illinois, is the author of "Higher Learning, Greater Good: The Private & Social Benefits of Higher Education." An expert on the economics of education, McMahon spoke with News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about higher education funding in Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The artwork in the comic books would look familiar to any comic book fan. A well-muscled, green-skinned man and a Wonder Woman-type character square off against several figures with the faces of humans and bodies of snakes. There are explosions, a superhero climbing up the outside of a building and another breathing what appears to be green fire.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - 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.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Two papers co-authored by a University of Illinois expert in the regulation and financing of health care conclude that tort reform has had relatively little impact on the U.S. health care system.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The outcome of a case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court last fall could potentially slow the trend of the ever-increasing number of occupations subject to state licensing, says a University of Illinois expert in the regulation and financing of health care.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Those video ads playing in the corner of your computer screen, in the midst of your multitasking, may have more impact than you realize. They may be as effective as the ads you're really watching, such as those during the Super Bowl, says a University of Illinois researcher.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Donald Mullally, former general manager of WILL and National Public Radio board chairman, died Tuesday (Jan. 20) at home in Champaign. He was 77. Mullally guided NPR through its worst financial crisis and led a restructuring of the public radio system.

University of Illinois law professor Sara R. Benson

Richard L. Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law at Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - 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.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Despite being more commonly thought of as a device designed for the passive consumption of content, touch-screen tablet computers can support the learning process when used in an educational setting - and not just as a mere e-reader or laptop replacement, according to new research from a team of University of Illinois experts in business and e-learning.

U. of I. psychology professor Nicole Allen, an expert in community responses to domestic violence

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - 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?

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Just like physical assets, a company's organizational knowledge can depreciate over time. According to a paper co-authored by a University of Illinois expert in supply chain management, "organizational depreciation" can mute the effects of a company's quality performance initiatives, suggesting that mitigating those effects is essential to sustaining and enhancing quality performance in supply chains.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A curriculum that is widely used by U.S. schools to diminish bullying and other forms of aggression shows promise at reducing gender- and sexual-based violence. However, the program's efficacy may vary between geographic regions, and it may not directly reduce bullying, physical aggression and victimization, a new study found.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It isn't that women don't want to work long hours or can't compete in highly selective fields, and it isn't that they are less analytical than men, researchers report in a study of gender gaps in academia. It appears instead that women are underrepresented in academic fields whose practitioners put a lot of emphasis on the importance of being brilliant - a quality many people assume women lack.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With its emphasis on function and utility, use of modern materials and manufacturing methods, and embrace of abstraction, modernist design was on the cutting edge of mid-20th century style, influencing architecture, art, the design of furniture and household objects, typography and graphic design.

Just say the name "Selma," and anyone who knows the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s will know what you mean. It was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in that Alabama city almost 50 years ago (March 7, 1965) that peaceful marchers were beaten back with billy clubs wielded by state and local lawmen. Captured on network television news, it would become known as "Bloody Sunday." The movie "Selma," which opened nationwide last Friday (Jan. 9), tells the story of that day and events before and after, which would prompt passage of the Voting Rights Act that summer. Sundiata Cha-Jua, a professor of history and of African-American studies at Illinois, teaches courses on both the civil rights movement and African-Americans in film. He talked about the film and the history with News Bureau social sciences editor Craig Chamberlain.

Last Friday (Jan. 9), President Barack Obama introduced an ambitious higher education proposal called America's College Promise, a plan that would make the first two years of community college tuition-free for qualified students nationwide.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Families whose children with autism spectrum disorders spend less than 20 percent of their time in mainstream classrooms are nearly twice as likely to resort to litigation, such as filing for due process hearings or mediation, when they disagree with school officials about their children's education, according to a recent survey of parents.

One of the largest carbon sequestration projects in the U.S., the Illinois Basin - Decatur Project (IBDP) has reached its goal of capturing 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and injecting it deep underground in the Mount Simon Sandstone formation beneath Decatur, Illinois. The project is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of carbon capture and storage. IBDP director Robert Finley talked about the million-ton milestone with News Bureau physical sciences editor Liz Ahlberg. Finley is director of the Advanced Energy Technology Institute at the Illinois State Geological Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities has been awarded a $2,050,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create research groups in three emerging areas in the humanities.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - People who have upbeat outlooks on life have significantly better cardiovascular health, suggests a new study that examined associations between optimism and heart health in more than 5,100 adults.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - If it seems as if most terrorists are Muslims and almost all immigrant lawbreakers are Latinos, it may be because you're watching national TV news - not because those things are true.