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Great timing, supercomputer upgrade lead to successful forecast of volcanic eruption
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In the fall of 2017, geology professor Patricia Gregg and her team had just set up a new volcanic forecasting modeling program on the Blue Waters and iForge supercomputers. Simultaneously, another team was monitoring activity at the Sierra Negra volcano in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. One of the scientists on the Ecuador […]
Lake Michigan water-level rise affects inland waterways, study finds
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — 2020 marked Lake Michigan’s highest water level in 120 years, experts said, and climate variance makes future water levels challenging to predict. Coastal impacts are well-documented, but the effect of lake level rise on the area’s inland waterways is poorly understood. A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study examined how Lake Michigan’s rising […]
Illinois astronomers help capture first image of Milky Way’s black hole
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers led by physics and astronomy professor Charles Gammie is part of a large international collaboration that unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This result provides evidence that the object is indeed a black hole […]
Ice-capped volcanoes slower to erupt, study finds
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Westdahl Peak volcano in Alaska last erupted in 1992, and continued expansion hints at another eruption soon. Experts previously forecasted the next blast to occur by 2010, but the volcano – located under about 1 kilometer of glacial ice – has yet to erupt again. Using the Westdahl Peak volcano as […]
Portable, point-of-care COVID-19 test discerns alpha variant from earlier strains
Editor’s note: This is an update to the news release originally posted April 19, 2022, at 11:30 a.m., to include a correction in study authorship. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A point-of-care COVID-19 test developed by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can now detect and differentiate the alpha variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from earlier strains […]
Three Illinois professors awarded Guggenheim Fellowships
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Three University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professors have been awarded 2022 Guggenheim Fellowships. This year’s fellows are dance professor Cynthia Oliver and chemistry professors So Hirata and Prashant Jain. They are among 180 artists, writers, scholars and scientists who were chosen through a rigorous peer-review process from almost 2,500 applicants, according to the […]
Why is the use of hypersonic missiles in the Russia-Ukraine conflict significant?
The U.S. recently confirmed that the Russian Ministry of Defence fired a hypersonic ballistic missile to destroy an underground arms depot in western Ukraine. This event marks Russia’s first use of the Kinzhal ballistic missile in this war and the first known use of a hypersonic missile in combat. Mechanical science and engineering professor Kelly […]
New approach to flexible robotics and metamaterials design mimics nature, encourages sustainability
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study challenges the conventional approach to designing soft robotics and a class of materials called metamaterials by utilizing the power of computer algorithms. Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Technical University of Denmark can now build multimaterial structures without dependence on human intuition or trial-and-error to produce highly […]
Team uses MRI to image epigenetics in the brain
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A multidisciplinary team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has devised a new approach to 3D imaging that captures DNA methylation, a key epigenetic change associated with learning in the brain. The scientists say their proof-of-concept study in pigs will easily translate to humans, as the new method relies on standard MRI […]
Water filtration membranes morph like cells
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Morphogenesis is nature’s way of building diverse structures and functions out of a fixed set of components. While nature is rich with examples of morphogenesis – cell differentiation, embryonic development and cytoskeleton formation, for example – research into the phenomenon in synthetic materials is scant. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers are taking […]
Illinois musicians, chemists use sound to better understand science
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Musicians are helping scientists analyze data, teach protein folding and make new discoveries through sound. A team of researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is using sonification – the use of sound to convey information – to depict biochemical processes and better understand how they happen. Music professor and composer Stephen […]
Computer science professor named 2022 Sloan Research Fellow
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Computer science professor Bo Li is among 118 recipients of the 2022 Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. According to the foundation, the awards “honor extraordinary U.S. and Canadian researchers whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.” Awardees receive a […]