Research

Plant owners with a so-called green thumb often seem to have a more finely tuned sense of what their plants need than the rest of us. A new “smart lighting” system for indoor vertical farms grants this ability on a facility-wide scale, responsively meeting plants’ needs while reducing energy...

Corn bred with genes from wild relatives can reshape soil microbial communities and reduce nitrogen loss — with no yield reduction — according to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-...

Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have helped uncover how fish skin protects fish from sharp, fast attacks in the wild, and the research highlights how curiosity, creativity, and mentorship can come together to drive discovery. The study was co-authored by...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A collaboration between Princeton University engineers and entomologists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign began with the researchers chasing grasshoppers in a hot parking lot. Their eventual focus on the hindwings of one species of grasshopper, Schistocerca...

Research by Plant Biology Professor Andrew Leakey was recently highlighted in the Chicago Tribune in a feature story examining the promise of miscanthus, a fast-growing perennial...

A team of plant biologists has made an exciting discovery about how flowers grow and organize themselves, and one of the key authors was Assistant Professor in Plant Biology Ya Min (Minya) from the University of Illinois. Their new study...

A new study in the journal New Phytologist reveals how plants move sugar to get the energy they need to grow, even in challenging conditions. The research was led by the group of Li‑Qing Chen, Associate Professor of Plant...

Giant, versatile, and genetically complex, miscanthus poses unique opportunities for the farm economy, domestic manufacturing, next-generation biofuels, and the environment. This ancient, highly productive, and resilient grass hails from Asia, where it thrives from the tropics of New Guinea to...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In a new study, scientists used nearly every tool in their toolkit — genomics, transcriptomics, greenhouse experiments and advanced statistical methods — to gain new insight into the complex chemical interactions that take place in underground root nodules, where legumes like...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Laboratory and field experiments have repeatedly shown that modifying the process of photosynthesis or the physical characteristics of plants can make crops more resilient to hotter temperatures. Scientists can now alter the abundance or orientation of leaves, change leaf...