Illinois Featured Content

Ph.D. student Brian Graves presented his virus-busting video game. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Teaching generations of students about outbreaks – with art

Jan 26, 2023 12:45 pm

'The art show is a midpoint in a journey to revamp the health district’s Germ Busters program, which conducts outreach to K-8 students on a variety of infectious diseases.'

researcher Rebecca Barzilai maps and collects soil samples from the floor of a religious shrine in Greater Cahokia, an ancient Native American settlement on the Mississippi River in and around present-day St. Louis. Photo by Leslie Drane, the Emerald Acropolis Project

Reading history in the soil

Jan 28, 2020 8:45 am

Archaeologists are often asked, 'What is the most interesting thing you’ve ever found?' My answer...is not as much about the objects I find as it is about the stories I learn from them.

Illinois Natural History Survey avian ecologist Bryan Reiley looks for rare birds on conservation lands. Photo courtesy Bryan Reiley

Destination: Conservation

Feb 12, 2019 8:45 am

My task is to survey randomly chosen fields in the (Conservation Reserve Enhancement) program to figure out whether and how these conservation areas are affecting birds that have declined in numbers

Illinois Natural History Survey medical entomologist Jiayue (Gabriel) Yan peers through a viewing port as he works inside a sealed glove box, using tongs to carefully handle Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Photos by Fred Zwicky

Starving mosquitoes for science

Feb 22, 2024 9:30 am

Go Behind the Scenes with Illinois Natural History Survey medical entomologist Jiayue (Gabriel) Yan as he studies how nutrition influences mosquito infection with dengue virus.

The observers watch as a farmer tosses a net into one of several ponds on the cooperative grounds. Photo by Quang Trieu, Vietnam Academy of Social Science.

Learning by listening to the people who live it

Mar 18, 2024 9:15 am

Experts from Illinois visit a cooperative prawn and rice farm in Southeast Vietnam to hear the farmers' stories about their challenges and adaptations to a changing climate.

Agricultural and biological engineering professor Girish Chowdhari. Photo by Matthew Lester Photography, LLC.

Girish Chowdhary: My path to Illinois

Mar 27, 2020 9:00 am

'At Illinois, this vision has bloomed into an invaluable research collaboration for some of the brightest minds crop sciences. The robots can do the research fieldwork required in a fraction of the time.'

Tyrone Phillips works with the cast and crew as they rehearse prior to opening night at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Returning to Illinois theatre to direct, mentor students

Apr 25, 2023 4:15 pm

Tyrone Phillips, an Illinois theatre program alumnus and the artistic director of Chicago’s Definition Theatre, returned to direct students in a play this spring.

Tracking an invisible world

Jul 22, 2019 9:30 am

Successful experiments are worth the sleepless nights I spend dissecting the processes in living things that are essentially invisible to us.

9) Arisaema triphyllum, collected May 3, 1942, in White Pines Forest State Park, Illinois. Photo by Brian Stauffer

Bringing yesterday's plants to digital life

Jul 31, 2019 1:00 pm

This imaging process is part of Endless Forms, an NSFdigitization project. Our part is to digitize specimens from across the country in three groups: succulent plants, carnivorous plants and epiphytes.

U. of I. field school students at the Pottersville kiln site in 2011. Credit: Photo by Bridget Lee-Calfas

Bringing an enslaved potter's story to the Met

Oct 17, 2022 9:15 am

George Calfas unearthed a jug in 2011 that is now part of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, 'Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina'

curious chickens watch photographer Michelle Hassel as she takes their picture

Learning from chickens

Oct 19, 2022 8:15 am

A tour of the U. of I.’s Poultry Research Farm reveals that chickens are daring, pragmatic and curious about humans. The facility trains students in all aspects of chicken care, breeding and management, and supports research at Illinois and beyond.

Photo of a swath of prairie with more than a dozen tall stalks of yellow flowers reaching up into a blue sky. Photo by Fred Delcomyn (from “A Backyard Prairie”)

Building back a tiny piece of prairie

Nov 15, 2021 11:45 am

Working to restore a prairie on century-old farmland – especially when starting from seed, as the Delcomyns did – requires plenty of patience and a lot of help.

a trail runs through a rainforest reserve in Sri Lanka. Photo by the author

Exploring multispecies relationships by walking 'with' the forest in Sri Lanka

Nov 28, 2023 9:30 am

Emma Lundin, a graduate student in tourism at the U of I, discusses her research in a rainforest in Sri Lanka, exploring how to create sustainable nature-based tourist experiences by walking 'with' the forest.

some members of the U of I Saxaphone Ensemble

Building an orchestra of brass

Feb 21, 2019 10:15 am

The University of Illinois Saxophone Ensemble tackles music never meant for the saxophone.

A flock of hens enjoys a cracked-corn dinner. Photo by Christine Parker

Double the traps, double the turkeys

Apr 11, 2018 9:45 am

Since 2015, I've spent each winter capturing and tagging wild turkeys with GPS transmitters to study their habitat use and nesting behavior in forests managed with prescribed fire

Walking as a group with their eyes closed, Illinois staff and students wind down the stairs of the Architecture Building as they experience campus spaces without sight. Photo by Fred Zwicky

'Blind Field Shuttle' brings a new perspective to campus walk

May 3, 2023 10:00 am

Vancouver-based social practice artist Carmen Papalia's 'Blind Field Shuttle' focuses is on unlearning visual primacy and reconsidering our preconceptions and biases.

basketball hoop. Photo courtesy Daniel Santos

Aiming for hoops and practicing English

May 29, 2018 9:45 am

I can see that their trust is growing. They are looking to their female trainer as a role model, an outlier in a society that doesn’t always encourage young girls to pursue athletics

The author, Juliana Soto, with a sooty ant tanager, Habia gutturalis. Soto is a graduate student in the U. of I. Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology. Photo by Natalia Ocampo Peñuela

Following in the footsteps of early 20th century naturalist Elizabeth Kerr

Jun 5, 2023 9:15 am

Today marks the beginning of our expedition to the Central Andes of Colombia. All eight of us are women. We are all Colombian ornithologists working together to survey the birds here. Interestingly, we are not the first women to do this.

Tommy McElrath collects bees in a net. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Chasing bumble bees on a patch of prairie

Jul 21, 2020 9:15 am

Scientists know so little about bumble bees that it’s hard to make recommendations about the kinds of habitat they need, says Tommy McElrath, insect collection manager of the Illinois Natural History Survey.

3. Wildflowers bloom in the recently burned understory of the pine flatwoods of Floridas Apalachicola National Forest.

In search of ‘white birds in a nest’

Jul 24, 2018 8:00 am

Our willingness to tromp through swamps and brambles is fueled by the hope of catching a glimpse of “white birds in a nest” (Macbridea alba) in bloom

Rohit Bhargava: My path to Illinois

Apr 9, 2020 9:15 am

'Illinois technology has transformed lives, from the transistor to the LED, the MRI and the web browser. I knew we had the science and people to transform cancer too, if only we could bring them together.'

The author helps his colleagues install mist nets around a pond. ALT TEXT: Photo of the author standing near a vertical pole used to secure the nets. He grasps a cord used to tighten the nets in place. Photo by Elizabeth Beilke

In pursuit of Indiana bats

Jun 22, 2021 8:45 am

'My role at this site is to attach temperature-sensitive radio tags to reproductive female Indiana bats. We’ll use these tags to track the bats to roost trees during the day and to monitor their body temperatures.'

young bird nests among leaves on the forest floor. Photo by author

Waiting for the sun to set to find a rare bird

Jun 30, 2022 10:00 am

Each night, we perform checks of Whip-Poor-Will nests to record development of eggs and chicks, as well as instances of predation or failure. Nests are at risk on the ground, but a few broods hatch and reach fledging age, when they begin to fly.

a rare, nearly intact clay pot. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Extracting history from a cornfield

Jul 17, 2019 8:45 am

The scientists and students have access only to the foundations of the 800-year-old village, as plows have erased everything else. Looters, too, have damaged the site.

A view of the thornscrub habitat along the bluffs of the Rio Grande. Credit: Photo by Sara Johnson

Searching the Texas brushland for a rare, temperamental plant

Aug 18, 2022 9:45 am

'As it stands with most rare species, this work isn’t always easy, but it is fulfilling. The excitement of seeing one rare plant – let alone a thriving population – is enough to sustain me in this work.'

The multimedia 'CETACEAN (The Whale)' performance takes you to the sea

Sep 21, 2023 10:30 am

The 'CETACEAN' performances are Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stock Pavilion, 1402 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Urbana. Admission is free and seating is first come, first served.

Following the sounds of prairie cicadas

Sep 24, 2020 1:00 pm

Scientists at the Illinois Natural History Survey study the elusive insect.

tudent volunteers from the Wildlife Society’s U. of I. student chapter move in close to see a tiny yet spirited bird, the house wren, before it is released. Photo by Fred Zwicky

A marvelous morning of migratory bird banding

Oct 25, 2022 10:15 am

Birds throughout the world are in trouble, and habitat loss is one reason for their decline. Understanding their life cycles and habitat requirements during migration is increasingly important – especially as climate change continues to affect the world.

view inside the virtual reality cave. Photo by Cameron Merrill

Excavating a cave without leaving campus

Nov 14, 2018 11:45 am

Students learn to map a cave, lay out an excavation grid and use ground-penetrating radar to locate potential underground features - all in virtual reality

The team hoists Illini kicker James McCourt aloft after he kicks a 39-yard field goal to give the Illini a 24-23 victory. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Surviving a football frenzy

Nov 15, 2019 9:45 am

Photographer Fred Zwicky puts you on the field as bedlam unfolds and Illinois fans celebrate a major upset victory over heavily favored Wisconsin.

workers remove the terra cotta roof tiles from the roof below the bell tower, stacking them to be reinstalled after reinforcements to the roof and the addition of an ice and water shield. All photos by Fred Zwicky

Renovating historic Altgeld Hall

Nov 20, 2023 2:00 pm

'The renovation of Altgeld Hall will mark the rebirth of one of the campus’s most storied and iconic buildings. The facility, which opened in 1897, was instrumental in the university’s early growth, and this project ensures that its legacy will continue,' says project manager Kevin Price.

blog navigation

blog posts