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  • Illinois physics professor and Nobel Laureate Anthony Leggett talks about the 1938 discovery of superfluidity and its significance to low-temperature physics.

    Superfluidity: what is it and why does it matter?

    Dec 20, 2018 8:45 am14630 views

    2018 marks the 80th anniversary of the landmark physics discovery of superfluidity. News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian asked University of Illinois physics professor and 2003 Nobel Prize winner Anthony Leggett about the significance of the historic finding.

  • Urbana campus consolidates to single logo

    Aug 14, 2017 1:30 pm14553 views

    Academic and administrative units at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will go back to the familiar orange block “I” logo, retiring the column “I” they have used since 1997.

  • Fred Kummerow, a professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Illinois, reports that LDL cholesterol results from a simple dietary deficiency.

    'Bad cholesterol' indicates an amino acid deficiency, researcher says

    Feb 25, 2014 9:00 am14369 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad cholesterol" that doctors consider a sign of potential heart disease, is merely a marker of a diet lacking all of the essential amino acids, says University of Illinois comparative biosciences professor Fred Kummerow, 99, a longtime opponent of the medical establishment's war on cholesterol.

  • Sheldon H. Jacobson

    Models predict optimal airplane seating for reduced viral transmission

    Dec 21, 2021 9:45 am14147 views

    As airline ticket sales have soared during the holiday season and the omicron variant causes surges of COVID-19 cases, a new University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study may help passengers and airlines reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission by optimally seating passengers to minimize potential virus spread. Researchers used the most current data on aerosol spread on airplanes to calculate optimal seating assignments for common Boeing aircraft at different capacities. 

  • Bright orange water sprays into a blue sky during the Homecoming kickoff celebration.

    Illinois enrollment remains above 50,000

    Sep 9, 2020 10:00 am13874 views

    Greater demand for online graduate programs pushed the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign’s 2020 enrollment to a record 52,331. In addition to delivering fall semester instruction as a mixture of face-to-face, hybrid and online courses, the university developed unique safety measures including a saliva-based COVID-19 test.

  • University of Illinois plant biology professor Ray Ming and his colleagues will find the sex determining regions on the papaya's three sex chromosomes, then use that information to produce a true-breeding hermaphrodite plant.

    Researchers to perform sex change operation on papaya

    Nov 2, 2009 9:00 am13795 views

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - The complicated sex life of the papaya is about to get even more interesting, thanks to a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The NSF grant will fund basic research on the papaya sex chromosomes and will lead to the development of a papaya that produces only hermaphrodite offspring, an advance that will enhance papaya health while radically cutting papaya growers' production costs and their use of fertilizers and water.

  • Georgia Tech professor Glaucio Paulino and University of Illinois graduate researcher Evgueni Filipov developed an origami zippered tube folding pattern that allows them to build structures with much greater stiffness than a single sheet of paper. They collaborated with University of Tokyo professor Tomohiro Tachi (not pictured).

    Paper tubes make stiff origami structures

    Sep 7, 2015 2:00 pm13705 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – From shipping and construction to outer space, origami could put a folded twist on structural engineering.

  • In a one-year exception reflecting the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will not require students applying for fall 2021 freshman admission to submit SAT or ACT test results.

    Tests optional for fall 2021 freshman applicants

    Jun 23, 2020 8:00 am13603 views

    Students applying for fall 2021 freshman admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will not be required to submit SAT or ACT test results due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting students’ opportunities to take the exams.

  • Jacket illustration of "Faith in the Fight: Religion and the American Soldier in the Great War," is William Balfour Ker's "Knights of Columbus," 1917, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, WWI Posters.

    Role of religious faith in World War I examined in new book

    Apr 21, 2010 9:00 am13414 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Although World War I has faded from cultural memory, overshadowed by more dramatic and unambiguous conflicts that both preceded and followed it, the Great War continues to shape Americans' interpretations of their nation, its war-craft and its soldiers today.

  • Spring semester classes at Illinois will begin a week later in 2021. The semester will not include a spring break, but classes will not be held on three midweek days.

    Illinois announces changes to spring academic calendar

    Oct 20, 2020 10:00 am12991 views

    The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is adjusting its 2021 spring calendar to help maintain instruction during the pandemic. Classes will start a week later than scheduled and while there will be no spring break, three days without classes will be added. Students planning to attend classes in person will be required to return early for COVID-19 on-campus testing.

  • Eight Illinois faculty members were named Highly Cited Researchers in 2019.

    Eight Illinois researchers rank among world’s most influential

    Nov 22, 2019 9:00 am12936 views

    Eight faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2019 Highly Cited Researchers list, a global listing of scientists who produced the past decade’s most influential papers.

  • According to a new study of bicycle enthusiasts, potatoes make a savory alternative to sweetened commercial gels used by athletes for a quick carbohydrate boost during exercise.

    Potato as effective as carbohydrate gels for boosting athletic performance, study finds

    Oct 18, 2019 11:45 am12918 views

    Consuming potato puree during prolonged exercise works just as well as a commercial carbohydrate gel in sustaining blood glucose levels and boosting performance in trained athletes, scientists report.

  • Photo of Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law and labor relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    Can employers legally require employees to vaccinate against COVID-19?

    Dec 7, 2020 8:30 am12887 views

    In most cases, an employer could require an employee to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. While that might seem like a violation of an employee’s personal freedom, “No one has a legally enforceable right to a specific job,” says Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law and labor relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

  • A new study suggests taking brief mental breaks improves performance on a prolonged task.

    Brief diversions vastly improve focus, researchers find

    Feb 8, 2011 9:00 am12642 views

    CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A new study in the journal Cognition overturns a decades-old theory about the nature of attention and demonstrates that even brief diversions from a task can dramatically improve one's ability to focus on that task for prolonged periods.

  • Laurie Kramer, a professor of applied family studies at Illinois, says that what we learn from our siblings when we grow up has - for better or for worse - a considerable influence on our social and emotional development as adults.

    Siblings play formative, influential role as 'agents of socialization'

    Jan 15, 2010 9:00 am12578 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - What we learn from our siblings when we grow up has - for better or for worse - a considerable influence on our social and emotional development as adults, according to an expert in sibling, parent-child and peer relationships at the University of Illinois.

  • Graduates enter Memorial Stadium in May 2022 commencement

    August and December graduates, Dean's List honorees named

    Feb 21, 2023 8:00 am12471 views

    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announced Dean’s List honorees and graduates for the fall semester 2022, as well as those who graduated in August 2022. 

  • Aerial view of Main Quad

    Urbana campus to open for fall instruction with COVID-19 safety precautions

    Jun 18, 2020 3:15 pm12411 views

    The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will open the fall semester with as much in-person instruction and residential occupancy as COVID-19 precautions allow.

  • The insect now known as Kaikaia gaga represents a new genus and species of treehopper.

    Grad student names new treehopper species after Lady Gaga

    Mar 10, 2020 8:15 am11911 views

    According to Brendan Morris, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, treehoppers are the wackiest, most astonishing bugs most people have never heard of. They are morphological wonders, sporting bizarre protuberances that look like horns, gnarled branches, antlers, fruiting fungi, brightly colored flags or dead plant leaves.

    To draw attention to this group, Morris named a newly discovered treehopper species after Lady Gaga, a musical performer who has her own flamboyant, shape-shifting style.

  • Researchers Christopher Lehmann, left, and David Gay completed a 25-year study of acidic pollutants in rainwater collected across the U.S. and found that both frequency and concentration of acid rainfall has decreased.

    Long-term study shows acid pollution in rain decreases with emissions

    Nov 16, 2011 9:00 am11797 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Emissions regulations do have an environmental impact, according to a long-term study of acidic rainfall by researchers at the University of Illinois.

  • $25M gift from tech entrepreneur and UI alumnus Thomas Siebel will fund construction of Siebel Center for Design

    Oct 4, 2016 10:00 am11706 views

    The 60,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility will cultivate interdisciplinary design thinking and will foster innovation in undergraduate and graduate curricula in multiple colleges.

  • Brain activity reflects differences in types of anxiety

    May 29, 2007 9:00 am11076 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - All anxiety is not created equal, and a research team at the University of Illinois now has the data to prove it. The team has found the most compelling evidence yet of differing patterns of brain activity associated with each of two types of anxiety: anxious apprehension (verbal rumination, worry) and anxious arousal (intense fear, panic, or both).

  • The graphic illustrates a high power battery technology from the University of Illinois. Ions flow between three-dimensional micro-electrodes in a lithium ion battery.

    Small in size, big on power: New microbatteries a boost for electronics

    Apr 16, 2013 9:00 am11072 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery - and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye.

  • Chemistry professor Prashant Jain is one of eleven Illinois faculty members on the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list, 2018.

    Eleven Illinois researchers rank among world’s most influential

    Nov 29, 2018 10:15 am10822 views

    Eleven faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2018 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list.

  • Portrait of researcher Kelly Stephani

    Why is the use of hypersonic missiles in the Russia-Ukraine conflict significant?

    Mar 22, 2022 8:15 am10818 views

    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 Stephani spoke with News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian about the significance of this technology.

  • Photo of Lauren R. Aronson, an associate clinical professor of law and the director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the U. of I. College of Law.

    Can Biden pass comprehensive immigration reform?

    Feb 15, 2021 8:00 am10579 views

    One of the Biden administration’s first acts was to send Congress the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, a long-promised immigration reform bill. But any legislative action on comprehensive immigration reform will face significant headwinds in the Senate, says Lauren R. Aronson, an associate clinical professor of law and the director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Law.

  • A new study of Earth’s inner core used seismic data from repeating earthquakes, called doublets, to find that refracted waves, blue, rather than reflected waves, purple, change over time – providing the best evidence yet that Earth’s inner core is rotating

    Growing mountains or shifting ground: What is going on in Earth’s inner core?

    May 12, 2020 11:45 am10420 views

    Exhaustive seismic data from repeating earthquakes and new data-processing methods have yielded the best evidence yet that the Earth’s inner core is rotating – revealing a better understanding of the hotly debated processes that control the planet’s magnetic field.

  • Bashir named College of Engineering dean

    Oct 10, 2018 9:30 am10362 views

    Rashid Bashir, the executive associate dean and chief diversity officer of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, will become the next dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign effective Nov. 1.

  • Urban teens whose parents advocate nonviolent approaches to resolving conflicts may reduce their children’s likelihood of abusing their romantic partners – even if these parents also say that aggression is warranted in certain situations, social work professor Rachel Garthe found in a recent study of more than 1,000 middle school students.

    Youth dating violence shaped by parents’ conflict-handling views, study finds

    Nov 16, 2018 10:15 am10343 views

    Parents who talk to their children about nonviolent conflict resolution reduce children’s likelihood of abusing their dating partners – even if parents give contradictory messages advocating violence in some situations.

  • Sundiata Cha-Jua

    The movie 'Selma': Historically correct, if not historically accurate

    Jan 14, 2015 9:00 am10333 views

    Just say the name "Selma," and anyone who knows the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s will know what you mean. It was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in that Alabama city almost 50 years ago (March 7, 1965) that peaceful marchers were beaten back with billy clubs wielded by state and local lawmen. Captured on network television news, it would become known as "Bloody Sunday." The movie "Selma," which opened nationwide last Friday (Jan. 9), tells the story of that day and events before and after, which would prompt passage of the Voting Rights Act that summer. Sundiata Cha-Jua, a professor of history and of African-American studies at Illinois, teaches courses on both the civil rights movement and African-Americans in film. He talked about the film and the history with News Bureau social sciences editor Craig Chamberlain.

  • Actor and U. of I. alumnus Nick Offerman 2017 commencement speaker

    Apr 25, 2017 3:30 pm10307 views

    Illinois alumnus and actor, humorist, author and woodworker Nick Offerman, best known for his role as Ron Swanson on the NBC hit comedy series "Parks and Recreation," will be the U. of I.’s commencement speaker Saturday, May 13.

  • People who believe they have an abundant supply of self-control are more likely to feel invigorated by mentally taxing activities than people who believe their willpower is a finite resource, according to a new study by University of Illinois educational psychology professor Christopher Napolitano.

    Key to willpower lies in believing you have it in abundance

    Jan 18, 2018 2:00 pm10288 views

    Americans believe they have less stamina for strenuous mental activity than their European counterparts -- an indication that people in the U.S. perceive their willpower or self-control as being in limited supply, suggests a new study led by a researcher at the University of Illinois.

  • Main Quad on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus

    Coronavirus message sent today to faculty members, staff, students

    Mar 2, 2020 1:15 pm10167 views

    The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign today updated its faculty members, staff and students on the university's policies related to the coronavirus situation, including the immediate return of all people in Italy and the Daegu region of South Korea; restrictions of travel to those and other countries; and the offer to all study abroad participants to end their program early.

  • The government could save money and make air travel safer by offering free enrollment in TSA PreCheck to frequent travelers, according to a new study by Illinois computer science professor Sheldon H. Jacobson.

    TSA could save money by waiving PreCheck fees for frequent travelers, study finds

    Dec 5, 2016 8:45 am10087 views

    There could be an easy way to reduce lines at the airport, increase security, and save the Transportation Security Administration money, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers: waive the $85 fee for frequent fliers to enroll in the TSA PreCheck program, which allows pre-screened, verified travelers to go through expedited security at airports.

  • U. of I. alumnus, philanthropist Larry Gies to deliver commencement address

    Mar 4, 2019 10:00 am9696 views

    Illinois alumnus and philanthropist Larry Gies will serve as the May 11 campuswide commencement speaker. Gies is the founder and CEO of Madison Industries, an international manufacturing company that is one of the largest privately held companies in the world.

     

  • COVID-19 testing tent

    Media alert: News conference to discuss university's plan to correct upward trend of positive COVID-19 cases

    Sep 2, 2020 1:00 pm9549 views

    The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign’s new measures for undergraduate students in response to a recent upward trend in positive COVID-19 cases will be discussed at a Zoom news conference at 3:30 p.m. today. 

  • Neuroscience graduate student Sara Schmidt and speech and hearing science professor Fatima Husain conducted a study that found that tinnitus patients have differences in the region of the brain called the precuneus, which cause the brain to stay more at attention and be less at rest.

    Ringing in ears keeps brain more at attention, less at rest, study finds

    Aug 24, 2017 11:15 am9457 views

    Tinnitus, a chronic ringing or buzzing in the ears, has eluded medical treatment and scientific understanding. A new study by University of Illinois researchers found that chronic tinnitus is associated with changes in certain networks in the brain, and furthermore, those changes cause the brain to stay more at attention and less at rest.

  • Jacob Allen, left, Jeffrey Woods and their colleagues found that exercise alters the microbial composition of the gut in potentially beneficial ways.

    Exercise changes gut microbial composition independent of diet, team reports

    Dec 4, 2017 11:15 am9379 views

    Two studies – one in mice and the other in human subjects – offer the first definitive evidence that exercise alone can change the composition of microbes in the gut. The studies were designed to isolate exercise-induced changes from other factors – such as diet or antibiotic use – that might alter the intestinal microbiota.

  • Photo of Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law and labor relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

    Are President Biden's vaccine mandates lawful?

    Sep 20, 2021 9:00 am9373 views

    The expansive new set of vaccination requirements issued by the Biden administration affecting the federal workforce will likely be upheld by the courts, but the mandate emanating from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is on shakier legal ground, says Michael LeRoy, an expert in labor law and labor relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

  • Event Horizon Telescope Project theoretical working group leader Charles Gammie, center, and graduate students Ben Prather, left, and Charles Wong helped interpret the massive amounts of data used to produce the first image of a black hole.

    How is Illinois contributing to the Event Horizon Telescope Project?

    Apr 10, 2019 8:15 am9338 views

    The Event Horizon Telescope Project announced that it has captured the first image of a black hole. The feature is located at the center of Messier 87 – a giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian spoke with University of Illinois physics and astronomy professor Charles Gammie, who heads up the theory working group for the large, multi-institutional collaboration.

  • Wendy Haight

    How does parents' methamphetamine use affect their children?

    Aug 7, 2006 9:00 am9297 views

    A Minute With™... Wendy Haight, a professor of social work

  • Aerial view of the U. of I. campus.

    U of I to lead two of seven new national artificial intelligence institutes

    Aug 26, 2020 8:00 am9186 views

    The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture are announcing an investment of more than $140 million to establish seven artificial intelligence institutes in the U.S. Two of the seven will be led by teams at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

    The USDA-NIFA will fund the AI Institute for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management and Sustainability at the U. of I. Illinois computer science professor Vikram Adve will lead the AIFARMS Institute.

    The NSF will fund the AI Institute for Molecular Discovery, Synthetic Strategy and Manufacturing, also known as the Molecule Maker Lab Institute. Huimin Zhao, a U. of I. professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry, will lead this institute.

  • Three U. of I. professors are recipients of Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowships this year.

    Three Illinois professors named Sloan Research Fellows

    Feb 15, 2018 9:00 am9177 views

    Three Illinois scientists are among 126 recipients of the 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. According to the foundation, the awards “honor early career scholars whose achievements mark them as among the very best scientific minds working today.” Winners receive a two-year $65,000 fellowship to further their research.

  • A new study co-written by Gloriana Gonzlez, an expert in math education at Illinois, suggests the students who used dynamic geometry software were more successful in discovering new mathematical ideas than when they used static, paper-based diagrams.

    Adding technology to geometry class improves opportunities to learn

    Dec 15, 2009 9:00 am9057 views

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new study co-written by a University of Illinois expert in math education suggests that incorporating technology in high school-level geometry classes not only makes the teaching of concepts such as congruency easier, it also empowers students to discover other geometric relationships they wouldn't ordinarily uncover when more traditional methods of instruction were used.

  • U. of I. veterinary clinical medicine professors Ashley Mitek and Jim Lowe discuss the traits of viruses that can be transmitted between animals and humans.

    Veterinary infectious disease expert weighs in on coronavirus threat

    Mar 9, 2020 8:15 am8975 views

    Influenza, SARS and COVID-19 are all zoonotic diseases, readily transmitted from animals to humans. The viruses that cause these diseases also share traits that allow them to quickly mutate, infect widely and spread around the world.

    In a new podcast, a veterinarian and expert in zoonotic diseases offers insights into the special characteristics of the new coronavirus that make it more like influenza and less like SARS or the virus that causes the especially lethal Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome.

  • Schematic illustration of vapor harvesting structure

    Researchers propose new structures to harvest untapped source of fresh water

    Dec 6, 2022 4:00 am8932 views

    An almost limitless supply of fresh water exists in the form of water vapor above Earth’s oceans, yet remains untapped, researchers said. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the first to suggest an investment in new infrastructure capable of harvesting oceanic water vapor as a solution to limited supplies of fresh water in various locations around the world.

  • University of Illinois physics professor Mats Selen was awarded a national Professor of the Year award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

    Illinois physics professor named national Professor of the Year

    Nov 19, 2015 8:30 am8904 views

    Mats Selen, professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

  • What are the guiding principles of 'environmental sustainability'?

    Apr 14, 2008 9:00 am8847 views

    A Minute With™... William C. Sullivan, a professor of landscape architecture

  • Sociology professor Tom VanHeuvelen focuses on the rise in inequality as a key part of his research.

    Study shows diminished but ‘robust’ link between union decline, rise of inequality

    Aug 21, 2018 9:45 am8705 views

    A new study shows a diminished but “robust” link between the decline of unions and the rise in wage inequality.

  • Garrick selected campus's first vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion

    Jun 11, 2019 10:00 am8648 views

    The U. of I. selected Sean Garrick to the new senior-level position of vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion, pending approval by the Board of Trustees.

  • Illinois professor Narayana Aluru led a team that found that tiny pores in thin sheets of the material molybdenum disulfide could be very good at removing salt from seawater to yield drinkable water.

    Nanopores could take the salt out of seawater

    Nov 10, 2015 1:45 pm8601 views

    University of Illinois engineers have found an energy-efficient material for removing salt from seawater that could provide a rebuttal to poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s lament, “Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.”