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The Great American Eclipse and all of its magic
MARTINSVILLE, Ill. — Crowds of people bustle about at the Martinsville Agricultural Fairgrounds on a Monday afternoon with their eyes on the sky. The air ripples with excitement as we eagerly await our chance to witness the moon consuming the sun — a total solar eclipse! I am one of many students representing the University […]
Researchers introduce programmable materials to help heal broken bones
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Natural materials like bone, bird feathers and wood have an intelligent approach to physical stress distribution, despite their irregular architectures. However, the relationship between stress modulation and their structures has remained elusive. A new study that integrates machine learning, optimization, 3D printing and stress experiments allowed engineers to gain insight into these […]
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 […]
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, […]
Seven Illinois professors elected AAAS Fellows
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Seven University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professors have been elected 2023 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are among the 502 scientists, engineers and innovators recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements by the world’s largest general scientific society. The new U. of I. fellows are computer science […]
Nothing is everything: How hidden emptiness can define the usefulness of filtration materials
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Voids, or empty spaces, exist within matter at all scales, from the astronomical to the microscopic. In a new study, researchers used high-powered microscopy and mathematical theory to unveil nanoscale voids in three dimensions. This advancement is poised to improve the performance of many materials used in the home and in the […]
What can researchers learn about ecosystems and the environment during the total solar eclipse?
Scientists across the U.S. and Mexico are engaging in a one-day data-gathering operation to record how the 2024 total solar eclipse affects various aspects of life on Earth. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, crop sciences and plant biology professor Carl Bernacchi and his colleagues will focus on atmospheric and ecosystem-scale responses to the eclipse. […]
Expert advises eclipse watchers to get the best vantage point – are you ready?
Leslie Looney is an astronomy professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and director of the Laboratory for Astronomical Imaging. He spoke with News Bureau physical sciences and media editor Lois Yoksoulian about the significance of solar eclipses and what to expect on April 8. There are many different types of solar eclipses: What kind […]
Electrochemistry helps clean up electronic waste recycling, precious metal mining
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new method safely extracts valuable metals locked up in discarded electronics and low-grade ore using dramatically less energy and fewer chemical materials than current methods, report University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering. Gold and platinum group metals such as palladium, platinum and iridium are in high […]
Study brings scientists a step closer to successfully growing plants in space
New, highly stretchable sensors can monitor and transmit plant growth information without human intervention, report University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers in the journal Device. The polymer sensors are resilient to humidity and temperature, can stretch over 400% while remaining attached to a plant as it grows and send a wireless signal to a remote monitoring […]
First atom-level structure of packaged viral genome reveals new properties, dynamics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A computational model of the more than 26 million atoms in a DNA-packed viral capsid expands our understanding of virus structure and DNA dynamics, insights that could provide new research avenues and drug targets, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report in the journal Nature. “To fight a virus, we want to know […]