News Bureau

A Minute With™... J. Fred Giertz, a professor of economics

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A program designed to boost cognition in older adults also increased their openness to new experiences, researchers report, demonstrating for the first time that a non-drug intervention in older adults can change a personality trait once thought to be fixed throughout the lifespan.

A Minute With™... Asef Bayat, a U. of I. sociologist

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Research into biofuel crops such as switchgrass and Miscanthus has focused mainly on how to grow these crops and convert them into fuels. But many steps lead from the farm to the biorefinery, and each could help or hinder the growth of this new industry.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With one simple experiment, University of Illinois chemists have debunked a widely held misconception about an often-prescribed drug.

A Minute With™... James D. Nowlan, a senior fellow in the Institute of Government and Public Affairs

A Minute With™... Werner Baer, a professor of economics

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - University of Illinois materials scientists have developed a new reactive silver ink for printing high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric substrates.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A turning point in the history of life occurred 2 billion to 3 billion years ago with the unprecedented appearance and dramatic rise of molecular oxygen. Now researchers report they have identified an enzyme that was the first - or among the first - to generate molecular oxygen on Earth.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Francesca Zambello has directed stage productions everywhere from New York's Metropolitan Opera and Broadway to the Paris Opera, the Bolshoi, Covent Garden and Disneyland. On Jan. 19 (Thursday), she will speak at the Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois on "What is American Opera Today?"

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Those making land use decisions to reduce the harmful effects of climate change have focused almost exclusively on greenhouse gases - analyzing, for example, how much carbon dioxide is released when a forest is cleared to grow crops. A new study in Nature Climate Change aims to present a more complete picture - to incorporate other characteristics of ecosystems that also influence climate.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Families that have high amounts of unsecured debt, such as outstanding credit card balances and payday loans, diminish their children's prospects of attending or graduating from college, according to a new study by social work professors Min Zhan at the University of Illinois and Michael Sherraden, the founder of the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With many Americans now spending most of their adult lives owing debts to financial institutions, the need for a consumer financial agency free of "regulatory capture" is now more acute than ever, according to a University of Illinois expert in consumer credit.

A Minute With™... John W. Kindt, a professor of business and legal policy

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In the wake of financial crises, governments that wish to assist crisis victims must choose between publicly financed bailouts and "bail-ins," which use the law to retroactively modify agreements in favor of victims so that private resources support the victims. While bail-ins are politically appealing and may seem fair, a University of Illinois business and law expert argues that they amplify the highs and lows of future business cycles and undermine the policy goals of those who believe free markets allocate investments optimally, as well as those who prefer government guidance in allocating investments.

A Minute With™... law professor Robert M. Lawless

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Creating semiconductor structures for high-end optoelectronic devices just got easier, thanks to University of Illinois researchers.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - When one tiny circuit within an integrated chip cracks or fails, the whole chip - or even the whole device - is a loss. But what if it could fix itself, and fix itself so fast that the user never knew there was a problem?

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new study of more than 346 middle-school children indicates that boys are less likely than girls to intervene to protect a bullying victim, especially if the boy is a member of a peer group in which bullying is the norm. The study also suggests that anti-bullying programs that focus on bystander intervention and empathy training aren't likely to have much impact unless attention is given to reducing bullying perpetration within children's peer groups.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Think of it like sourdough. Or beer. Or yogurt. These popular products are all created through a process that involves using bacteria to systematically break down organic matter. Even though the process relies on living microorganisms, it can be mechanized or industrialized for large-scale production.

A Minute With™... Leanne Knobloch, a professor of communication

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Uninsured adults with serious mental illnesses may have a harder time finding care because state budgetary cutbacks are dramatically affecting services and staffing levels at community mental health agencies in Illinois and other states. But full implementation of the federal health care reform law could help alleviate that, according to scholars in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Researchers have developed a bandage that stimulates and directs blood vessel growth on the surface of a wound. The bandage, called a "microvascular stamp," contains living cells that deliver growth factors to damaged tissues in a defined pattern. After a week, the pattern of the stamp "is written in blood vessels," the researchers report.

A Minute With™... Professor Anna Westerstahl Stenport

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It was an alarming message: A Spanish speaking woman in the Champaign area was on the brink of suicide, and a bilingual mental health professional was urgently needed for crisis intervention, but none could be found. Could anyone help?

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - The 3-year-old Illinois Professional Science Master's program got its start during a recession, but most of its 2010 graduates are already pursuing careers in the fields they chose. It took most a few months to find work, although some - and at least two of the 2011 graduating class - were offered jobs while still in school.

A Minute With™... Craig Gundersen, a U. of I. professor of agricultural and consumer economics

A Minute With™... Don Fullerton, a finance professor and energy policy expert

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With seemingly more extreme weather on the horizon, should Uncle Sam have to foot the bill every time a natural disaster strikes? According to a University of Illinois expert in environmental economics, one way to limit the amount of money the federal government doles out to repair damage would be to mandate disaster-prone areas pay "FEMA premiums" to the federal government.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Eight University of Illinois faculty members have been elected fellows in the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Rashid Bashir, Debasish Dutta, K. Jimmy Hsia, Keith W. Kelley, Wilfred van der Donk, M. Christina White and James Whitfield.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Bass clarinetist Gene Coleman and Ensemble N_JP will perform Coleman's composition "Kyoto_Naigai" with a film directed by Coleman Thursday (Dec. 8) at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The performance, which is free and open to the public, can be viewed live in Krannert's dance rehearsal space at 8 p.m., or online by emailing ijpanproject@illinois.edu with "Gene Coleman" in the subject line and your name and contact information in the body of the message.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Parents are more likely to blame or doubt a child victim of sexual abuse when the suspected perpetrator is an adolescent rather than an adult, according to a new study that examined child molestation cases in four states. The findings also suggest that, regardless of the age of the perpetrator, parental blame/doubt toward the victim significantly increases if the victim is an adolescent.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - An international team of astronomers has mapped in detail the star-birthing regions of the nearest star-forming galaxy to our own, a step toward understanding the conditions surrounding star creation.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Cloud computing is a game-changer for businesses, which now face the choice of adapting to the demand for ubiquitous access to data or losing customers to tech-savvy competitors, says a University of Illinois expert in e-business strategy and information technology management.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Wilma B. Liebman, the former head of the National Labor Relations Board, will be the featured speaker of the annual Derber Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 1) in the Wagner Education Center of the School of Labor and Employment Relations Building, 504 E. Armory Ave., Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - An international team of researchers has reviewed the evidence linking exposure to atrazine - an herbicide widely used in the U.S. and more than 60 other nations - to reproductive problems in animals. The team found consistent patterns of reproductive dysfunction in amphibians, fish, reptiles and mammals exposed to the chemical.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A program designed to give incarcerated people access to upper-division college courses is proving to provide unexpected benefits, not only to the inmates involved in the program but also to their families, the prison and the University of Illinois professors who volunteer to teach behind bars.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With its Nov. 23 deadline looming, the congressional "super-committee" charged with reducing the federal budget deficit may change how the government measures inflation, which could raise tax revenues and lower government expenses such as Social Security, a University of Illinois expert on taxation and retirement issues says.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - About 10 percent of children in low-income families reported at least one homeless episode - and an additional 24 percent had at least one episode where they lived "doubled up" with relatives, friends or other families - before age 6, according to a new study led by Jung Min Park, a faculty member in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois.

Political corruption, minimal policing and firefighting resources, limited transportation, public works deficiencies and condemned buildings. It's not the backdrop for a prime-time cop show - this is a city three hours from Champaign.

Within the past two decades, technological advances have changed the way readers consume text, from online blogs to e-readers. Some critics and scholars have suggested that we were embarking on a radically new age of information.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Emissions regulations do have an environmental impact, according to a long-term study of acidic rainfall by researchers at the University of Illinois.

A Minute With™... political scientist Milan Svolik

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – However the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of a mandate to buy health insurance, the law that imposes the mandate is in serious trouble, says a University of Illinois expert on tax and retirement issues.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Instead of increasing income taxes on its citizens, the cash-strapped state of Illinois should look to dramatically raise casino licensing fees, which are conservatively calculated to be worth between $250 million and $500 million apiece, not the $100,000 they were valued at in the gambling expansion bill recently voted down in Springfield, says a leading national gambling critic.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - An analysis of the remains of ancient midges - tiny non-biting insects closely related to mosquitoes - opens a new window on the past with a detailed view of the surprising regional variability that accompanied climate warming during the early Holocene epoch, 10,000 to 5,500 years ago.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A program established by a University of Illinois business professor looks to generate interest in higher education for underrepresented local high school students.

A Minute With™... William Bernhard, the head of the political science department

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The lineage of every Greek god and every Roman god, along with the complex connections among them, was first spelled out in a set of 15 books written more than 600 years ago. Called Genealogia deorum gentilium, the massive compendium of more than 700 deities was assembled at the request of King Hugh IV of Cyprus by the Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In many states, including Illinois, married couples with children who want to untie the knot must complete court-mandated educational programs - either in group settings or through online classes - before judges will finalize their divorces.