School of Integrative Biology

University of Illinois Wins Freezer Challenge for a Third Straight Year

2020-10-08

The U of I's list of Top Freezer Challenge Labs includes the Downie Lab. Keeping laboratory samples cold can be an essential part of research activities and ensuring the safety and integrity of projects and experiments. As a Tier One...

iSEE researchers receive NSF grant for sustainable future manufacturing

2020-10-08

A research team, including Lisa Ainsworth and D.K. Lee with the University of Illinois' Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (...

Following the sounds of prairie cicadas

2020-09-25

When I arrive at the Loda Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve, Katie Dana is already out there. She’s wearing knee-high boots to ward off chiggers and ticks, and she’s carrying an insect net. Dana is on the prowl for cicadas: the loudest insects on the planet...

Have you become obsessed with bugs or hummingbirds? In the pandemic, you’re not alone.

2020-09-14

In the midst of the grief, confusion and anger of the past few months, many Americans have developed a new obsession with the creepy little things in life, by which I mean bugs. I’ve never heard so many people talking about bugs as I have through this spring and summer, never seen so many social...

In times of ecological uncertainty, brood parasites hedge their bets

2020-08-24

Some birds lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and let the host parents raise their young. A new study finds that in times of environmental flux, these brood parasites “diversify their portfolios,” minimizing the risks...

Scientists further cowpea research—boosting canopy CO2 assimilation, water-use efficiency

2020-08-19

Crops grow dense canopies that consist of several layers of leaves—the upper layers with younger sun leaves and the lower layers with older shaded leaves that may have difficulty intercepting sunlight trickling down from the top layers. In a recent study...

Illinois Team Tracks COVID ‘Spike’ Protein for 2020 iGEM Competition

2020-08-19

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for a worldwide competition that brings high school and college students together to tackle big questions in synthetic biology. But it also provided a unique research opportunity for the University of Illinois team competing in...

Building a prairie & watching for bees with ESA Fellow Alex Harmon-Threatt

2020-08-07

person writing on a clipboard in a field

Join us in celebrating Entomology's Alexandra Harmon-Threatt, elected as a 2020 Early Career Fellow by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) for her...

Study of giant ant heads using simple models may aid bio-inspired designs

2020-07-10

Researchers have developed a simple model to study how ants balance their large heads relative to their body size. Such models may have useful applications in bio-inspired designs. They use a variety of modelling approaches to study form and function. By using a basic biomechanical model for...

Group genomics drive aggression in honey bees

2020-07-07

Researchers often study the genomes of individual organisms to try to tease out the relationship between genes and behavior. A new study of Africanized honey bees reveals, however, that the genetic inheritance of individual bees has little influence on their propensity for aggression. Instead, the...

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