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Airport baggage screeners may need continuing education, study indicates
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Baggage screeners have just seconds amid loud airport noises and the pressure of rushed airline travelers to scan X-rays of carry-on items for weapons. How good they are at finding one may depend on the specificity of their training, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The findings, published in […]
Measurement clarifies role between protein structure and cell adhesion
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Scientists studying the adhesive properties of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) – a protein that helps bind the nervous system together – have found that two opposing models of cell adhesion are both correct. “Our extremely sensitive technique allows us to directly measure how these proteins bind to one another, and […]
Illinois professor to receive $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Nick Holonyak Jr., a John Bardeen Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as the 2004 recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize – the world’s largest single cash prize for invention. Holonyak will receive the prize – awarded annually to an […]
Institute for Genomic Biology announces five themes for research
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Although the doors of the Institute for Genomic Biology won’t open for two years, 31 faculty and 35 affiliates from 25 campus units have been chosen to be in five newly named research themes in the state-of-the-art facility under construction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The five themes – chosen […]
Like ozone hole, polar clouds take bite out of meteoric iron
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Polar clouds are known to play a major role in the destruction of Earth’s protective ozone layer, creating the springtime “ozone hole” above Antarctica. Now, scientists have found that polar clouds also play a significant role in removing meteoric iron from Earth’s mesosphere. The discovery could help researchers refine their models of […]
Gene that plays key role in replicating viruses also halts inflammation
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying vaccinia virus, a close relative of smallpox, have determined that a gene necessary for virus replication also has a key role in turning off inflammation, a crucial anti-viral immune response of host cells. The discovery, reported this month in the Journal of Virology, […]
Measurement technique can image how heat moves through material
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Infrared cameras create images by detecting the heat given off by an object, including the body of a soldier hidden in the dark of night. Now, researchers have developed a technique for imaging how fast heat can move through an object. Thermal conductivity – the rate at which heat flows through a […]
Fatty acid pathway, glucose produce triacetic acid lactone
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have designed a potential roadmap to use a biosynthetic pathway taken from a common microorganism to produce compounds that could serve as precursors to explosives or components in everyday devices such as liquid crystal displays or anti-cancer agents. In a presentation April 1 at […]
New technique uses household humidifier to create nanocomposite materials
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – In what may sound like a project from a high school science fair, scientists are using a household humidifier to create porous spheres a hundred times smaller than a red blood cell. The technique is a new and inexpensive way to do chemistry using sound waves, the researchers say. In the home, […]
CARMA groundbreaking set for March 27
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Astronomers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be major participants in the construction and operation of a new millimeter-wave telescope array to be located in the high desert of California. Groundbreaking for the facility – called the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy – is set for 2 p.m. […]
New polyelectrolyte inks create fine-scale structures through direct writing
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Like spiders spinning webs, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are creating complex, three-dimensional structures with micron-size features using a robotic deposition process called direct-write assembly. As reported in the March 25 issue of the journal Nature, Jennifer Lewis and her research team have developed novel inks that readily flow […]
Biotechnology ‘investment visionary’ to speak at Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A longtime leader and promoter of biotechnology will speak about the potential for state and regional development of the industry at 2 p.m. Wednesday (March 17) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. G. Steven Burrill, chief executive officer of Burrill & Co., will speak in Room 102B of the Chemical and […]