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Farm study raises doubts about new approach to swine-disease control
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Sample sizes were small, but eyebrow-raising results from a study on a western Illinois farm have researchers and veterinarians taking a broader look at how swine producers battle an endemic viral disease that adds to their costs and threatens reproduction in their herds. A new approach (acclimatization) has producers inoculating newly arrived […]
Unique soybean lines hold promise for producing allergy-free soybeans
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Researchers have isolated two Chinese soybean lines that grow without the primary protein linked to soy allergies in children and adults. The two lines already are adapted to Illinois-like conditions and will be given away to breeders seeking to produce new varieties of allergy-free soybeans without genetic engineering. Crop scientists at the […]
Rare Chinese frogs communicate by means of ultrasonic sound
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – First came word that a rare frog (Amolops tormotus) in China sings like a bird, then that the species produces very high-pitched ultrasonic sounds. Now scientists say that these concave-eared torrent frogs also hear and respond to the sounds. The findings, to appear in the March 16 issue of Nature, represent the […]
Researchers simulate complete structure of virus-on computer
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – When Boeing and Airbus developed their latest aircraft, the companies’ engineers designed and tested them on a computer long before the planes were built. Biologists are catching on. They’ve just completed the first computer simulation of an entire life form – a virus. In their quest to study life, biologists apply engineering […]
Creation of antibiotic in test tube holds promise for better antibiotics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Scientists have made nisin, a natural antibiotic used for more than 40 years to preserve food, in a test tube using nature’s toolbox. They also identified the structure of the enzyme that makes nisin and gives it its unique biological power. The work – published in the March 10 issue of Science […]
Approach to school affects how girls compare with boys in math
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – More women are pursuing higher education and doctoral degrees than ever before, but women still are rare in the math-oriented professions. Yet, researchers say, girls perform just as well as boys on achievement tests and tend to earn better grades in math than do boys during the earlier school years. A new […]
Training benefits brains in older people, counters aging factors
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Too old to learn new skills? By golly, think again. New research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that training re-ignites key areas of the brain, offsetting some age-related declines and boosting performance. The findings, involving functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), provide the first visible evidence for a relationship between […]
Thin skin, slow-growing gills protect larval stage of Antarctic fish
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Very thin but hardy, unblemished skin and slow developing gills appear to be keys to survival for newly hatched Antarctic notothenioids, a group of fish whose adults thrive in icy waters because of antifreeze proteins (AFPs) in their blood. Such adaptations are important, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say, […]
Mantids – the good, the bad and the just plain wrong – on view at film fest
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Kung Fu martial artists of the two-legged variety are coming to the 23rd annual Insect Fear Film Festival on Feb. 18, riding the coattails of this year’s highlighted insect and kicking off – so to speak – an evening devoted to “Mantis Movies.” Praying mantids, all 2,000 species of them, are instantly […]
Bird flu poses threat to international security, U. of I. scholar says
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In the past, when government leaders, policymakers and scholars have turned their attention to peace and security issues, the talk invariably has focused on war, arms control or anti-terrorism strategies. But Julian Palmore believes it’s time to expand the scope of the conversation. “One thing that is not talked about enough is […]
Fitness counteracts cognitive decline from hormone-replacement therapy
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Women pondering hormone-replacement therapy also should consider regular exercise. A new study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests that being physically fit offsets cognitive declines attributed to long-term therapy. “This study not only tells us that there is a benefit to being highly fit, it pinpoints where in the brain […]
Beckman researchers study communication part of language
Researchers can get their inspiration from a mentor, or colleague, or perhaps even a lecture that strikes a chord. Psychology researcher Kara Federmeier got hers from her younger brother when she was still in high school. “I had a brother who died of a brain tumor,” Federmeier said. “I saw in him going through the […]