blog posts

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  College students are less food insecure than non-students

  Nov 25, 2020 12:15 pm5 views

  'College hunger' was widely reported in the media after several studies found up to 50 or 60% food insecurity rates among college students. 'That did not make sense to those of us doing research on food insecurity,' says Professor Craig Gundersen.

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  Political chatter and the social media effect

  Nov 25, 2020 12:00 pm3 views

  Social media users who have the most interest and most extreme attitudes – from either political perspective – typically share the most content. But they're not likely to sway many people.

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  Team uses copper to image Alzheimer's aggregates in the brain

  Nov 24, 2020 12:45 pm1 views

  U. of I. chemistry professor Liviu Mirica and his colleagues found that diagnostic agents that contain copper isotopes can detect amyloid deposits in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

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  Cocoa flavanols boost brain oxygenation, cognition in healthy adults

  Nov 24, 2020 9:30 am1 views

  The brains of healthy adults recovered faster from a mild vascular challenge and performed better on complex tests if the participants consumed cocoa flavanols beforehand, researchers report.

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  Gut hormones' regulation of fat production abnormal in obesity, fatty liver disease

  Nov 24, 2020 9:30 am0 views

  The gut releases hormones hours after eating that prompt the liver to stop storing fat, but the process is dysregulated in obesity and fatty liver disease, a study led by Illinois professor Jongsook Kim Kemper found.

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  Paper: Value of a pandemic-ending vaccine 5%-15% of global wealth

  Nov 23, 2020 1:45 pm0 views

  The monetary value of a vaccine that could potentially end the COVID-19 pandemic is between 5%-15% of worldwide wealth, according to a new paper co-written by an Illinois business professor.

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  Indigenous tribe's worship of tigers makes them great conservationists

  Nov 20, 2020 1:15 pm15 views

  Spirituality isn’t usually considered a factor in conservation efforts. But indigenous peoples who worship wildlife may be helping protect endangered species from extinction.

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  Catastrophic concerns shaped by past interactions between science, culture

  Nov 19, 2020 12:45 pm0 views

  An Illinois science historian’s new book, 'Catastrophic Thinking,' looks at how our concerns about threats to the planet and the human race came to be.

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  Songbird parents evict young for their own benefit

  Nov 17, 2020 11:15 am0 views

  Across species, nestlings were about 14% less likely to survive when they left the nest too early. If chicks suffer when they leave the nest too early, why do parents kick them out?

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  Study of non-COVID-19 deaths shows 2020 increase in several demographics

  Nov 17, 2020 11:00 am0 views

  U.S. deaths from non-COVID-19 causes were significantly higher in the first months of the pandemic than in previous years across several demographics, according to a new Illinois study.

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  Driver behavior influences traffic patterns as much as roadway design, study reports

  Nov 17, 2020 10:45 am0 views

  Illinois researchers have developed a new computer algorithm that will help urban planners understand and measure traffic congestion and suggest alternative routes.  

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  Disaster apps share personal data in violation of their privacy policies

  Nov 16, 2020 10:15 am0 views

  Information sciences professor Madelyn Sanfilippo examined popular disaster apps and found that many of them provide personal information – including a user’s location – to third parties long after a disaster has passed.

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  Study: Political representativeness affects trade union membership, influence

  Nov 16, 2020 10:30 am0 views

  A more representative form of governance bodes well for a country’s individual trade union membership, coverage and influence, says new research from U of I professor J. Ryan Lamare.

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  Some U.S. states hit harder by COVID-19 food insecurity

  Nov 13, 2020 2:00 pm13 views

  Food insecurity in America is reaching an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic. But large regional differences exist in the severity of the impact.

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  Cassava may benefit from increased CO2 more than other crops

  Nov 11, 2020 8:45 am15 views

  Researchers found significant yield increases - from 22 to 39 percent in seven out of eight varieties of cassava. Cultivar in the study were ‘farmer preferred’ in Africa, where cassava makes up a quarter or more of diets in several countries.

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  The criminal character

  Nov 2, 2020 10:15 am1 views

  The poor may be punished more frequently, severely for their crimes, but a new study finds that when it comes to evaluating the moral character of those who have committed crimes, the wealthy are judged more harshly than the poor.

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  How will crops cope with changing climate? 30 years of experiments simulate future

  Nov 4, 2020 10:45 am16 views

  This review of 30 years of data portends a less optimistic future than the authors’ previously thought. 'There are likely genetic solutions, should society decide to act on these—however, time is short,' said co-author and UIUC professor Stephen Long. 

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  Corporations directing our attention online more than we realize

  Oct 29, 2020 10:00 am1 views

  Illinois media professor Harsh Taneja found that corporations 'nudge' our attention and browsing behavior on the internet in numerous ways, often hidden or beyond our control.

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  Copolymer helps remove pervasive PFAS toxins from environment

  Oct 29, 2020 10:15 am7 views

  'The process not only removes these dangerous contaminants, but also destroys them simultaneously using electrochemical reactions at the opposite electrode, making the overall system highly energy-efficient,' says Professor Xiao Su.

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  Cicada-inspired waterproof surfaces closer to reality, researchers report

  Oct 22, 2020 1:15 pm3 views

  A multidisciplinary group that studies the physical, chemical properties of insect wings has demonstrated the ability to reproduce the nanostructures that help cicada wings repel water and prevent bacteria from establishing on the surface.

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  Paper: Congress must clarify limits of gene-editing technologies

  Oct 21, 2020 1:30 pm2 views

  How the next Congress decides to handle the issues related to editing human sperm and eggs will affect the science, ethics and financing of genomic editing for decades to come, writes law professor Jacob S. Sherkow.

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  Robots deciding their next move need help prioritizing

  Oct 20, 2020 2:15 pm5 views

  Researchers used a model based on the game Capture the Flag to develop a new take on deep reinforcement learning that helps robots evaluate their next move.

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  Octopus-inspired sucker transfers thin, delicate tissue grafts and biosensors

  Oct 16, 2020 2:00 pm2 views

  Seeking a way to quickly pick up and release the thin, delicate sheets of cells or electronics without damaging them, the researchers turned to the octopus for inspiration.

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  Exercise and nutrition regimen benefits physical, cognitive health

  Oct 19, 2020 8:45 am4 views

  Psychology professor Aron Barbey and his colleagues designed a 12-week exercise and nutrition intervention that enhanced physical and cognitive performance in active-duty Air Force airmen.

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  Distracted learning a big problem, golden opportunity for educators, students

  Oct 13, 2020 12:00 pm3 views

  Although experts say using electronic media while doing schoolwork negatively impacts learning, many students believe they’re immune to any ill effects because they’re good multitaskers, says Professor Shelly Schmidt.

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  U of I professor part of Latino baseball project, book for Smithsonian

  Oct 12, 2020 10:00 am3 views

  Adrian Burgos Jr. is a co-author of a new book, “¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues,” about baseball’s role in Latino culture in the U.S. The book is part of a collection project organized by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

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  Understanding a dream for Utopia

  Oct 12, 2020 9:00 am4 views

  Historian Maria Todorova's new book explores the lives and ideas of early socialists

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  Study finds fungal disease of snakes in 19 states, Puerto Rico

  Oct 8, 2020 1:15 pm3 views

  A new study finds a wide distribution of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, a fungal pathogen that afflicts more than 30 species of snakes. This emerging disease is sometimes fatal.

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  New Gies Business professor: Preventing the misbeliefs that lead to big mistakes

  Oct 8, 2020 11:15 am6 views

  With just a little knowledge under their belt, new learners enter what Sanchez calls the 'beginner’s bubble,' where they can become overconfident, putting too much faith in faulty theories or ignoring feedback that could help them avoid mistakes.

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  Genomic study reveals evolutionary secrets of banyan tree

  Oct 8, 2020 10:00 am9 views

  Researchers have identified regions in the banyan fig’s genome that promote the development of its unusual aerial roots and enhance its ability to signal its wasp pollinator.