Life sciences
Categories
Not sure where to start? Choose a topic below.
Study identifies best bioenergy crops for sustainable aviation fuels by U.S. region, policy goals
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers analyzed the financial and environmental costs and benefits of four biofuels crops used to produce sustainable aviation fuels in the U.S. They found that each feedstock — corn stover, energy sorghum, miscanthus or switchgrass — performed best in a specific region of the rainfed United States. Their study will help growers […]
Light targets cells for death and triggers immune response with laser precision
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new method of precisely targeting troublesome cells for death using light could unlock new understanding of and treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report. Inflammatory cell death, knows as necroptosis, is an important regulatory tool in the body’s arsenal against disease. However, in some diseases, the […]
From ‘CyberSlug’ to ‘CyberOctopus’: New AI explores, remembers, seeks novelty, overcomes obstacles
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — By giving artificial intelligence simple associative learning rules based on the brain circuits that allow a sea slug to forage — and augmenting it with better episodic memory, like that of an octopus — scientists have built an AI that can navigate new environments, seek rewards, map landmarks and overcome obstacles. Reported […]
A heart of stone: Study defines the process of and defenses against cardiac valve calcification
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The human body has sophisticated defenses against the deposition of calcium minerals that stiffen heart tissues, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators at UCLA Health and the University of Texas at Austin found in a new study that provides the first detailed, step-by-step documentation of how calcification progresses. “Heart […]
Study links neighborhood violence, lung cancer progression
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have identified a potential driver of aggressive lung cancer tumors in patients who live in areas with high levels of violent crime. Their study found that stress responses differ between those living in neighborhoods with higher and lower levels of violent crime, and between cancerous and healthy tissues in the same […]
Gut microbes from aged mice induce inflammation in young mice, study finds
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When scientists transplanted the gut microbes of aged mice into young “germ-free” mice — raised to have no gut microbes of their own — the recipient mice experienced an increase in inflammation that parallels inflammatory processes associated with aging in humans. Young germ-free mice transplanted with microbes from other young mice had […]
New antibiotic kills pathogenic bacteria, spares healthy gut microbes
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have developed a new antibiotic that reduced or eliminated drug-resistant bacterial infections in mouse models of acute pneumonia and sepsis while sparing healthy microbes in the mouse gut. The drug, called lolamicin, also warded off secondary infections with Clostridioides difficile, a common and dangerous hospital-associated bacterial infection, and was effective against […]
By listening, scientists learn how a protein folds
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — By converting their data into sounds, scientists discovered how hydrogen bonds contribute to the lightning-fast gyrations that transform a string of amino acids into a functional, folded protein. Their report, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers an unprecedented view of the sequence of hydrogen-bonding events that occur when […]
Nerves prompt muscle to release factors that boost brain health
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Exercise prompts muscles to release molecular cargo that boosts brain cell function and connection, but the process is not well understood. New research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that the nerves that tell muscles to move also prompt them to release more of the brain-boosting factors. “The molecules released from […]
How does bird flu infect so many species?
Recent reports of the first documented case of the H5N1 virus passing from birds to cows — and then from a cow to a person — have generated a lot of press in an age of worry about diseases “spilling over” from wildlife to agricultural animals and humans. Dr. James Lowe, a professor of veterinary […]
Five Illinois faculty elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Five University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honorary societies in the United States. Nancy M. Amato, Rashid Bashir, Alison Bell, Charles Gammie and Paul Selvin are among the 250 inductees for 2024. Founded in 1780, the academy recognizes scientists, artists, scholars and leaders […]
Electron videography captures moving dance between proteins and lipids
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In a first demonstration of “electron videography,” researchers have captured a microscopic moving picture of the delicate dance between proteins and lipids found in cell membranes. The technique can be used to study the dynamics of other biomolecules, breaking free of constraints that have limited microscopy to still images of fixed molecules, […]