Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Research News

Behind the Scenes Photo of a young man being fitted with a swim cap studded with electrodes.

Monitoring stress from the surface of the body

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Today, my laboratory looks more like a scene from a sci-fi film than a psychology research space. Wires snake across tables, sensors lay carefully arranged on trays, and a bucket of ice water sits in the corner, quietly waiting its turn. This work is part of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s department […]

Health and Medicine A man wearing a dark suit stands with arms crossed in front of a server bank

New AI tool helps match enzymes to substrates

The new AI-powered tool EZSpecificity can help researchers determine how well an enzyme fits with a desired target, helping them find the best enzyme and substrate combination for applications from catalysis to medicine to manufacturing.

Arts Marching Illini director Barry Houser holds a drum top with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade logo while band members cheer.

Marching Illini to perform at 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2026

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Marching Illini will perform in the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2026. Band members learned this morning that they were selected as one of 10 marching bands for the centennial anniversary of the holiday parade. Marching Illini director Barry Houser was notified about the selection a month ago and has […]

Agriculture Photo of Aaron Staples, a a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign agricultural economist who studies food supply chains.

Study: Tariffs have potential to reshape US beer market

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The ripple effects of increased tariffs under President Trump could extend to the $117 billion U.S. beer market, according to new research from a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign agricultural economist who studies food supply chains. While tariffs could stimulate increased domestic beer production, any gains in domestic market share would most likely […]

Expert Viewpoints A smiling woman sits at a microscope

What risks does sickness pose in pregnancy?

Infection while pregnant produces inflammatory factors and fever, which have adverse effects on fetal development, says prenatal neurodevelopment expert Adrienne Antonson

Engineering A man in a dark suit and red tie stands in front of orange fall foliage

How will the government shutdown impact air travel?

Although Transportation Security Administration officers and air traffic controllers are considered essential workers, any reduction in staff could result in long security lines and flight delays or cancellations, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign aviation security expert Sheldon H. Jacobson.

Expert Viewpoints EJP students Ahmed Mohammed, Carlos “Ben El” Bowman and Shenard Lesure. Photo by Rebecca Ginsburg

What is the status of higher education access at Illinois prisons?

Rebecca Ginsburg is the director of the Education Justice Project and a professor of education policy, organization and leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ginsburg spoke with News Bureau research editor Sharita Forrest about a recent report released by the Illinois Department of Corrections that examined access to higher education programs for people who […]

Health and Medicine Life Sciences Science and Technology Photo of the two researchers looking at a computer monitor displaying a cross-section of muscle fibers, with different colors representing different muscle fiber types.

Retraining after a lapse in endurance exercise adds to muscle gains, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — New research offers potential good news for those who’ve lapsed at the gym. The study found that mice that voluntarily ran on an exercise wheel for four weeks, stopped for four weeks and ran again for another four weeks saw unexpected gains. The second bout of wheel running led to a bigger […]

Humanities Diptych image with the book cover of "1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe," and a headshot of history professor Peter Fritzsche.

Illinois history professor’s book shows how 1942 was a global war without end

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — World War II became a global war in 1942, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, drawing the U.S. into the war. All the world’s most powerful nations were at war with one another, and the fighting spanned the globe. But the war was global in other ways too — in the unifying idea […]

Social Sciences Communication professor Emily Van Duyn

Misinformation/disinformation leads to US couples’ divorces, breakups

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Political misinformation or disinformation was the key reason for some U.S. couples’ recent divorces or romantic breakups, a new study found. Emily Van Duyn, a professor of communication at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, conducted in-depth interviews with 28 people who had recently ended a relationship with a partner whose political ideology did […]

Social Sciences Studio portrait of Sharon Zou

Study explores messages that cultivate voter support for green space projects

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Celebrity endorsements are most persuasive with voters who are less engaged with environmental issues, while temporal messages explaining the tax implications of proposed referenda are more impactful with voters who believe conservation projects are important but are also concerned about how the tax increase will affect them, say the authors of a […]

Arts Photo of Albrecht Dürer woodcut “The Four Horsemen.”

Krannert Art Museum exhibition examines significance of early modern European prints

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Krannert Art Museum will present an exhibition of some of the finest early modern European prints held in U.S. collections. The exhibition “Imagination, Faith, and Desire: Art and Agency in European Prints, 1475-1800” will have more than 100 prints on view. They illustrate how prints were the first form of visual mass […]

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