Behind the scenes
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Interweaving technology and tradition
EL PASO, Texas – The MakerBot on my desk is making sounds like waves on a beach. Back and forth, back and forth, it gradually builds up my design in layers. My work focuses on the cosmogony and mythology of Zapotecan motifs. I am especially captivated by the fretwork designs of the archaeological site of […]
Discovering treasures in Library’s storage vaults
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I’m guiding a group tour through the Oak Street Library Facility and we’ve reached my favorite part – the big moment of reveal. I step close to open the automatic overhead vault door, and visitors catch their first glimpse of the vaults with their 40-foot-high shelving packed with library materials. One visitor […]
Building an orchestra of brass
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Everything is chaos. We don’t have all our music. We don’t have a permanent rehearsal space. I’ve never had my own ensemble before. Everything is unfamiliar, and everything has come together much more last-minute than I had hoped for. But for this first-ever rehearsal of the University of Illinois Saxophone Ensemble we […]
Destination: Conservation
NEAR CANTON, Ill. – I’m soaking wet from head to toe after walking through a mile of head-high dew-covered grass. Finally, I make it to my destination: an overgrown field dotted with copses of shrubs next to the Spoon River in western Illinois. I take the caps off of my binoculars. I’ve got my clipboard, […]
Highlights for the season
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I’m at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library for its holiday open house, lured here by mulled cider and the opportunity to letterpress print a holiday card. But between the printing and the cider, I find what is for me the highlight of the open house – holiday- and winter-themed books on […]
Saving our natural heritage, one stopper at a time
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The rubber stopper is sticky in my hands. I can see it drooping into the vial, threatening the two tiny insect specimens inside, a pair of small green stoneflies, Alloperla furcula. Vial stoppers should not be sticky, and definitely should not be melting into the glass vial holding these important reference specimens. […]
Finding darters where no one thought to look
McHENRY COUNTY, Ill. – “Pull off in about a mile and a half,” I tell my colleague Josh Sherwood, an ichthyologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey. A minute goes by before he flips on the amber light bar over our heads and pulls the truck into the grass alongside the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, […]
Saying goodbye to an old measure
VERSAILLES, FRANCE — I’m video recording on three DSLR cameras today, which is the most I can handle by myself. But I don’t want to miss a second of this event, because I flew to Paris the day before yesterday just to film this auditorium of international delegates. These serious-looking men and women are actually […]
Excavating a cave without leaving campus
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – I’m in a cave with three identical waterfalls. The roar of water fills my ears as I look around, a little shakily. This is not what I was expecting when I showed up to Davenport Hall for an interview. But when I said, “Yes, I’d love to try out a virtual reality […]
Finding water closer to home
JIMU VILLAGE, ZOMBA DISTRICT, MALAWI – It is just past noon as Zuze Dulanya, Evance Mwathunga and I climb out of the van. The shiny new handpump for Jimu Village sits where just last week a drill rig bored the hole for this much needed, much anticipated new water source. Beneath a nearby row of […]
Deciphering the history of a Chinese vase
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I hold my breath as Walter Wilson, one of our technicians, carefully moves an antique Chinese porcelain vase from its pedestal at Krannert Art Museum to a nearby table. Now, it sits next to an electronic scanning tool and a laptop computer. Wilson positions the vase on its side, using bean bags […]
Playing a parasite for science
Brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in other species’ nests and let the foster parents raise their young. This practice often leads to declines in the host birds’ own offspring. Photo by Michael Jeffords and Susan Post Delete Edit embedded media in the Files Tab and re-insert as needed. align image leftalign image centeralign image right […]