News Bureau

High-quality trees and other vegetation in cities can help reduce temperatures and provide shade for residents, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign urban and regional planning professor Fang Fang.

President Biden would likely alienate a key constituency ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle if he used his presidential powers to intervene in a potential UPS strike, says Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Strikes by Hollywood writers and actors are driven by the “existential concerns” posed by the proliferation of streaming services and the rise of artificial intelligence, says Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Russian president Vladimir Putin weathered a recent insurrection by the Wagner mercenary group, but the crisis has damaged his standing, said Illinois professor of Slavic languages and literatures Richard Tempest.

Firms whose chief executive officers also own company stock often delay the decision to recall faulty medical devices until long after they become aware of a defect, says research co-written by Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, a professor of business administration at the Gies College of Business at Illinois.

According to two psychologists who study memory and perception, fraudsters tend to exploit the common habits of thought and decision-making that make us susceptible – and often oblivious – to their fabrications. Their book, “Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It,” gives readers an overview of dozens of types of scams, hoaxes and strategies used by cheaters to deceive, and explains how to evaluate their ploys and avoid becoming a victim.

In an advance that will help scientists track coronavirus variants in wild and domesticated animals, researchers report they can now detect exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in any animal species. Most coronavirus antibody tests require specialized chemical reagents to detect host antibody responses against the virus in each species tested, impeding research across species.

Engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a new test that can predict the durability of cement in seconds to minutes – rather than the hours it takes using current methods. The test measures the behavior of water droplets on cement surfaces using computer vision on a device that costs less than $200. The researchers said the new study could help the cement industry move toward rapid and automated quality control of their materials.

Flexible displays that can change color, convey information and even send veiled messages via infrared radiation are now possible, thanks to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Engineers inspired by the morphing skins of animals like chameleons and octopuses have developed capillary-controlled robotic flapping fins to create switchable optical and infrared light multipixel displays that are 1,000 times more energy efficient than light-emitting devices.

A new report reveals that U.S. beekeepers lost roughly half of the honey bees they managed last year. In an interview, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign entomology professor Adam Dolezal describes the current status of bees in the U.S.

A new paper co-written by team of U. of I. researchers analyzes how air pollution via the effects of drifting wildfire smoke impacts the U.S. labor market.

Women with greater lean body mass, including those with obesity or who are older, eliminate alcohol from their system faster than those of normal weight or who are younger, says research by a team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

50 million years ago in what is now northwestern Colorado, a katydid died, sank to the bottom of a lake and was quickly buried in fine sediments, where it remained until its compressed fossil was recovered in recent years. When researchers examined the fossil under a microscope, they saw that not only had many of the insect’s hard structures been preserved in the compressed shale, so had several internal organs and tissues, which are not normally fossilized.

The loss of OceanGate's Titan submersible this week has triggered questions about how underwater craft navigate and how these vehicles can improve their geolocation abilities. Electrical and computer engineering professor Viktor Gruev spoke with News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian about the current state of the science behind underwater geolocation, and some advances his team is working on now.

Fifteen years of archaeological work in the Tam Pa Ling cave in northeastern Laos has yielded a reliable chronology of early human occupation of the site, scientists report in the journal Nature Communications. The team’s excavations through the layers of sediments and bones that gradually washed into the cave and were left untouched for tens of thousands of years reveals that humans lived in the area for at least 70,000 years – and likely even longer.

Teens who live in Illinois ZIP codes with medical cannabis dispensaries are significantly less likely to use the drug, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found in a new study.

The Heavy Metals Project of the University Library will survey the 19th-century books in the Library’s collection and test those with their original cloth-covered bindings to determine if they contain traces of heavy metals in the pigments used for the covers.

Some people's sex lives sizzled, while others' fizzled, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. New research by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scholar Liza Berdychevsky may explain why.

The seemingly stable regions of the Earth’s continental plates – the so-called stable cratons – have suffered repetitive deformation below their crust since their formation in the remote past, according to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This hypothesis defies decades of conventional plate tectonics theory and begs to answer why most cratons have remained structurally stable while their underbellies have experienced significant change.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are part of the Doris Duke Native Oral History Revitalization Project, which aims to make ethnographic materials collected from Native American tribes accessible online and to return materials to those communities.

Like many ecological scientists, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plant biology professor James O’Dwyer has spent much of his career searching for ways to measure and predict how specific plant communities will fare over time. Which species in a diverse population will persist and coexist? Which will decline? What factors might contribute to continuing biodiversity?

In a new study reported in the journal Nature, O’Dwyer and his colleague, U. of I. graduate student Kenneth Jops, report the development of a method for determining whether pairs or groups of plant species are likely to coexist over time.

I’m in a room with more than 100 police recruits and I can’t believe what I’m hearing. The future police officers are learning about the devastating consequences of criminal prosecutions gone wrong. These aren’t just abstract stories. More than a dozen exonerees are here to share their stories with the police recruits.

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. 

To achieve more effective saltwater desalination, mechanical engineers focused on fluid movement rather than new materials in a new study. By adding microchannels to the inside of battery-like electrodes made of Prussian blue – an intense blue pigment often used in art that also has special chemical properties – researchers increased the extent of seawater desalination five times over their non-channeled counterparts to reach salinity levels below the freshwater threshold.

A wide range of artists will perform during Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ 2023-24 season, which opens with the 10th year of ELLNORA: The Guitar Festival.

Cancer surgeons may soon have a more complete view of tumors during surgery thanks to new imaging agents that can illuminate multiple biomarkers at once, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report. The fluorescent nanoparticles, wrapped in the membranes of red blood cells, target tumors better than current clinically approved dyes and can emit two distinct signals in response to just one beam of surgical light, a feature that could help doctors distinguish tumor borders and identify metastatic cancers.

Researchers have detected complex organic molecules in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth – the most distant galaxy in which these molecules are now known to exist. Thanks to the capabilities of the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and careful analyses from the research team, a new study lends critical insight into the complex chemical interactions that occur in the first galaxies in the early universe. 

Trek through Colombia with graduate student Juliana Soto, who, with her all-female team of Colombian ornithologists, revisits landscapes to study and document the birds of the region. In preparing for the expedition, Soto discovered the work of naturalist Elizabeth Kerr, who in the early 20th century collected wild bird specimens in Colombia for the American Museum of Natural History.

Asian colobines, also known as leaf-eating monkeys, have been on the planet for about 10 million years. Their ancestors crossed land bridges, dispersed across continents, survived the expansion and contraction of ice sheets and learned to live in tropical, temperate and colder climes. 

A new study reported in the journal Science finds parallels between Asian colobines’ social, environmental and genetic evolution, revealing for the first time that colobines living in colder regions experienced genetic changes and alterations to their ancient social structure that likely enhanced their ability to survive. 

Tracy Dace, the founder and chief executive officer of the Driven to Reach Excellence and Academic Achievement for Males Opportunity Center; Kevin Tan, a professor of social work; Sara Benson, a professor and copyright librarian at the University Library; and the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research are the recipients of the 2023 Campus Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement.

Comparative and world literature professor Eric Calderwood wrote about the diverse meanings attributed to al-Andalus and the enduring cultural influence it has today.

Three University of Illinois students received U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships to study foreign languages this summer.

Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors at Illinois high schools and new graduates with autism who are interested in attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are encouraged to apply to I-Ready, a virtual summer camp. 

“The New Normal,” a 30-minute documentary premiering May 23 at 1:30 p.m. CST/ 2:30 p.m. EST on the Big Ten Network, documents the journey of University of Illinois Urbana Champaign researchers to create a fast and inexpensive coronavirus test to ensure that U. of I. students, faculty and staff could remain safe and healthy during the pandemic

Posting videos about intimate relationships to social media platforms may affect offline relationships, according to a case study of the “couch guy” video by Emily Mendelson, a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Thirteen University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students and recent graduates were offered Fulbright grants to pursue international education, research and teaching experiences around the globe this coming year. Another six Illinois students were named Fulbright alternates.

Anxiety about artificial intelligence has been driven by its rapid development as well as knowledge worker concerns about potentially being replaced by the transformative technology, says Robert Brunner, the associate dean for innovation and chief disruption officer at the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Early on a sunny Sunday morning, the chimes tower in Altgeld Hall is filling up with people. Students climb the steep staircase to the tower, several of them carrying snacks. They are all chimes players who will perform for a recording of chimes music.

Benjamin J. Lough will be the next dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. 

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemistry professor Nancy Makri has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest professional honors a scientist can receive. She is among 120 members and 23 international members elected this year to recognize their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Newly developed “smart” coatings for surgical orthopedic implants can monitor strain on the devices to provide early warning of implant failures while killing infection-causing bacteria, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report. The coatings integrate flexible sensors with a nanostructured antibacterial surface inspired by the wings of dragonflies and cicadas.

Recessions and other economic downturns usually portend cuts in states' higher education funding, and U. of I. professor Jennifer Delaney and other experts explore the implications in the new book, "Volatility in State Spending for Higher Education."

Four University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members were honored by the Office of the Provost with the 2023 Campus Awards for Excellence in Faculty Leadership.

Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will lead a National Artificial Intelligence Research Institute focused on developing learning technologies that will accelerate youths' STEM learning and broaden diversity in related occupations.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign staff and students took part in the participatory artwork “Blind Field Shuttle” by artist Carmen Papalia, which offers participants the opportunity to explore the world without sight.

Cari West-Henkelman received the 2023 Office Professional of the Year award from the Illinois Administrative Professionals organization at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

A new study assessed changes in the reproductive output of 104 bird species around the world between 1970 and 2019. Illinois Natural History Survey avian ecologist Jeff Hoover, a co-author of the report, explains how climate change is altering bird ecology and health.

Go Behind the Scenes with U. of I. Extension forestry and research specialist Christopher Evans, who leads a training program for landowners who want to learn how to maintain healthy forests.

Fundamental changes are needed in colleges’ career and disability services so that students with disabilities can access job opportunities aligned with their skills and aspirations, said Chang-kyu Kwon, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Media passes and parking are available for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign commencement.