2025-01-31
- At this year’s Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (SICB) Conference, Entomology Assistant Professor Marianne Alleyne and graduate student Yutao Chen showcased their research on the unique properties of insect wings. Their work, part of Yutao's graduate studies, explores how microscopic...
2025-01-27 - A University of Illinois team recently published new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences based on their ongoing work on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), a key research site in the Panama Canal's Gatun Lake. Their new paper discusses the important question of how tropical...
2025-01-25 - Nitrous oxide (N2O) has long been agriculture’s sustainability Achilles heel. While only making up 6% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, N2O has 300 times the heat-trapping ability ofcarbon dioxide (CO2) and stays in the atmosphere for about 100 years.This greenhouse gas is produced by soil microbes whose activity depends on ...
2025-01-13 - A story 60 years in the making ended recently with a peculiar occurrence at the College of LAS winter convocation in December: The final bachelor’s degree recipient to cross the stage was bestowed with a bachelor’s degree in zoology, which hadn’t happened since the 1970s when the Department of Zoology was renamed (it now exists as the ...
2024-12-23 - The Royal Entomological Society (RES) shared its journal award winners from the 2021-2023 publication years. These awards are dedicated to the best articles led by early career entomologists. Amongst the winners is the Entomology Department’s Assistant...
2024-12-18 - The Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has appointed seven new members to its permanent faculty. CAS professors are selected based on their outstanding scholarship, and the appointments are one of the highest forms of campus recognition at...
2024-12-17 - As global food demand continues to grow, researchers are exploring multiple strategies to boost crop productivity. While engineering plant enzymes and biochemical pathways that are more efficient remains a transformative goal, this review highlights another promising approach: increasing Rubisco content. Rubisco is the plant enzyme that captures atmospheric CO2 and converts it into organic...
2024-12-04 - A team from the University of Illinois has engineered potato to be more resilient to global warming, showing 30% increases in tuber mass under heatwave conditions. This adaptation may provide greater food security for families dependent on potatoes, as these are often the same areas where the changing climate has already affected multiple crop seasons.“We need...
2024-12-02 - Globally recognized as one of the most influential modern scientists, Elizabeth “Lisa” Ainsworth has been named Professor and C.A. Ewing Chair of Crop Physiology in the Department of Crop Sciences and the ...
2024-11-22 - A new greenhouse custom-designed to support research at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) is now open at the University of Illinois Research Park. The Plant Biology Innovation Greenhouse (PBIG) features unique cutting-edge capabilities that are already benefiting plant and microbial science researchers on the U. of I. campus. It will propel research by CABBI —...
2024-11-19 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Six researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2024 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list. The list recognizes researchers and social scientists who have demonstrated exceptional influence, as reflected through their publication of multiple papers frequently cited by their peers during the last decade. The highly cited...
2024-11-06 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – I like to encourage people of all ages to help pollinators, the insects, birds and mammals that help flowering plants reproduce. People are more willing to help if they have a chance to get to know their local pollinators. To that end, I like to invite people to visit the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ...
2024-10-29 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In a new study conducted by the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looked back in time at soybean growth and discovered that modern plants have increased mesophyll conductance. This means that carbon dioxide...
2024-10-28 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Thin, stretchy skin — like that of a pig or human — significantly lessens the underlying damage that occurs when it’s punctured. Pig skin even outperforms synthetic materials that are designed to mimic skin, a new study finds. Its special qualities, in particular its ability to dissipate the energy of a puncturing object, greatly reduce the damage to deeper tissues, researchers...
2024-10-24 - URBANA, Ill. – It’s a blazingly sunny September Saturday afternoon at Riggs Beer Company, a family-friendly brewery located on the edge of Urbana. It’s not surprising to see crowds of families basking in the dog days of summer with their food truck lunches and locally brewed pints of beer. Unexpected, however, are the patrons donning medieval and fantasy garb, accompanied by...