Behind the scenes
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Building a traditional Japanese boat
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Eighteen students in bright blue happi coats gather around a 21-foot traditional Japanese riverboat sitting on the bank of the pond at Japan House at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The narrow, light-colored boat is a simple structure made of thick pine planks. Used primarily for fishing, its low sides curve gracefully […]

Creating an escape room experience
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The instructors and students are gathered around a computer screen behind two temporary rooms constructed just off the lobby of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. I watch with them as they track via webcam the progress of the players in an escape room they have created. The students playing the […]

Building back a tiny piece of prairie
OUTSIDE URBANA, Ill. – Early November may not be an optimal time to visit a tallgrass prairie in central Illinois. But if you know what to look for, as my two guides do, it’s as good a time as any. Despite recent heavy rains, the prairie looks as dry as a skull. Grass and flower […]

Staging a threatening encounter at a blackbird nest
HERON COUNTY PARK, Ill. – It’s early morning, about 6 a.m. A light fog has settled over the marsh. I park my car, step out and double-check my backpack for all the necessary equipment before heading out. After a short walk on a narrow paved path, I veer into the unmarked marsh. Water pools around […]

Exploring the remnants of an ancient forest
EAST OF URBANA, Ill. – At first glance, Trelease Woods looks like any other central Illinois woodland. There’s a well-worn track inside its fenced eastern edge, and the forest floor is littered with twigs and branches. But as I walk along the path with my companions, I notice that some of the trees are bigger […]

Hunting a creature that hunts me
KANKAKEE COUNTY, Ill. – It’s a sweltering summer afternoon. I’m pushing aside tree limbs and crunching leaves to get back to the trap that I baited two hours ago with dry ice to attract ticks. When I get closer, I can see a gossamer mist hovering over a bright white cloth in the dark underbrush. […]

In pursuit of Indiana bats
YELLOWWOOD STATE FOREST, Ind. – An hour before the sun goes down, my colleagues and I arrive at our site: a human-made pond in the middle of the forest. The high-pitched croaking of Cope’s gray treefrogs greets us as we get out of our truck. Surrounded by trees and full of salamanders, these ponds are […]

Taking a cicada road trip
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A tough semester and an even tougher year have just ended. I need a break. I’m fully vaccinated and want to escape the yearlong lockdown. And I’m an entomologist. What do I do? I grab my best friend, also an entomologist, and we hit the road, of course. This is the year […]

Catching bats for conservation
NORTHEASTERN MISSOURI – The sun just dipped below the horizon and the warm early spring air mixes with the stone-chilled currents flowing out of the mine entrances. The nets are all hung and now we are just waiting for the bats to show up. This is my first mist-netting trip, but I have been warned […]

Pondering a university’s ecological impact
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – It’s a cool spring morning as I stare at the patchwork of colorful leaves and blossoms on the trees outside my home office. The thought of another Earth Day has me pondering all the research conducted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that has direct ecological implications. My colleagues and I have […]

Connecting a virus to cancer – in sea lions
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – I distinctly remember the first day I saw the images proving our hypothesis about the connection between a herpesvirus and urogenital cancer in wild California sea lions. Our research team was the first to use a revolutionary technique to probe preserved cancerous tissue from marine mammals as we looked for signals of […]

Hunting Goodenough Days
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – HUNTING GOODENOUGH DAYS aptly describes what I am doing during the isolation of 2020. These words are surnames found among the 7,000 headstones that I have photographed during my travels to cemeteries seeking new names that are parts of speech – words that I can use to create poetry for my visual […]