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New PFAS removal process aims to stamp out pollution ahead of semiconductor industry growth
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study is the first to describe an electrochemical strategy to capture, concentrate and destroy mixtures of diverse chemicals known as PFAS — including the increasingly prevalent ultra-short-chain PFAS — from water in a single process. This new development is poised to address the growing industrial problem of […]

History professor’s book looks at Brazil’s longest-lasting maroon society, its influence today
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The largest and longest-lasting society formed by people who escaped slavery and their descendants endured for a century in northeastern Brazil, and it continues to be a potent political symbol of Black pride today. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign history professor Marc Hertzman wrote about the settlement and how memories of it survive […]

New book examines the impact of colonialism on Puerto Rico
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Powerful hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic, spiraling public debt and political corruption triggered humanitarian, economic and environmental crises in Puerto Rico. However, a new book suggests that the Puerto Rican and U.S. governments made these multilayered crises catastrophic through the socioeconomic, legal and racialized structures and conditions they created. “Crisis by Design: Emergency […]

New study: Earthquake prediction techniques lend quick insight into strength, reliability of materials
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Materials scientists can now use insight from a very common mineral and well-established earthquake and avalanche statistics to quantify how hostile environmental interactions may impact the degradation and failure of materials used for advanced solar panels, geological carbon sequestration and infrastructure such as buildings, roads and bridges.

Illinois professor’s book explores the relationship between beauty and crisis
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Creating and nurturing beauty in dark times helps us endure another day. Beauty can help us appraise how we live and how we can build better lives. Its presence or absence is a critique of the social and political structures that are necessary to allow it to flourish, said Mimi Thi Nguyen, […]

Have newspaper political endorsements outlived their purpose?
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Melita Garza is a journalism historian who studies news as an agent of democracy. News Bureau editor Lois Yoksoulian discussed the history and future of presidential endorsements with Garza in light of recent nonendorsement decisions within some news organizations. Why do some newspapers endorse presidential candidates? In the early days […]

Appealing to our ‘better angels’ with the Braver Angels
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I’m sitting in the well-appointed Illini Union Ballroom on a sunny, late-October afternoon. My current mood: anxious. Sure, our 20th-ranked Illinois football team is taking on No. 1 Oregon this weekend, but that’s not on my mind right now. (Turns out my pregame butterflies were well founded.) Pre-election jitters are foremost, with […]

Communication with doctor during first visit affects pain patients’ outcomes
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Chronic pain — defined as daily or significant pain that lasts more than three months — can be complicated to diagnose and treat. Because chronic pain conditions are clouded with uncertainties, patients often struggle with anxiety and depression, and they and their doctors often find these conditions challenging to discuss and manage, […]

How should the next US president handle sanctions on Russia?
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign adjunct law professor Taisa Markus is an expert in securities law and cross-border capital markets. Markus, also a visiting professor at Kyiv Mohyla Faculty of Law, spoke with News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about U.S. sanctions on Russia. Depending on the results of the presidential election, how do you foresee […]

Thin skin significantly blunts injury from puncture, study finds
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Being thin-skinned offers unexpected advantages against puncture wounds, a new study finds.

How are funding reforms such as vouchers — and potentially Project 2025 — affecting public education?
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Paul Bruno, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, spoke with News Bureau education editor Sharita Forrest about recent developments in funding policies for primary and secondary education, including Ohio’s decision to use tax appropriations for building projects at private religious schools and potential reforms […]

New research creates better tool to assess personality traits of job seekers
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — New research co-written by two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experts who study personnel psychology points to a better way of helping researchers and employers identify the differences in how people respond to personality tests. The tool — a hybrid of two existing measurement models called the “Mixture Dominance-Unfolding Model,” or “MixDUM” — could help human resources […]