News Bureau

More than 1 in 5 U.S. adults provide unpaid care to another individual. Caregivers to loved ones with aging, disability or health concerns face challenges within the healthcare system and in their personal lives, but policy and culture changes can help, said Mina Raj, a professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

A tiny, four-fingered “hand” folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from entering cells to infect them, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report. Dubbed the NanoGripper, the nanorobotic hand also could be programmed to interact with other viruses or to recognize cell surface markers for targeted drug delivery, such as for cancer treatment. 

Brilliant white male characters in TV shows and movies are more realistic than those played by Black actors or white women, even when they depict real people, some viewers said in a new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign communication professor Matea Mustafaj.

Were the results of the presidential election a “change” election or a fundamental realignment of the electoral map? Although President-elect Donald Trump made inroads with some demographics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign political science professor Brian Gaines says he’s “not confident that those swings reflect enduring changes of party loyalty rather than short-term candidate effects.”

Illinois scientists find that most of the microplastics and the "forever chemicals" known as PFAS cycle through landfills and wastewater treatment plants and end up back in the environment.

The University of Illinois Extension just released a 10-year strategic plan that commits to serving the state by focusing on food and agriculture as well as the economic, community, environmental and health sectors through partnerships, discovery, technology and workforce excellence. In an interview with News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates, Illinois Extension director Shelly Nickols-Richardson explains how one of the largest Cooperative Extension Systems in the nation tackles so many issues at once.

A group of students is gathered around a table in the basement of the Campus Instructional Facility at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, looking at boxes filled with beetles, walking sticks, spiders, dragonflies and other insects.

The students are searching for inspiration for what creatures might look like on a swampy alien planet. They are designing the characters and environment for a Concept Art for Video Games class offered through Illinois Informatics and taught by Michael Curtin, the innovation coordinator for campus information technology and a former video game industry artist.

Outbreaks of foodborne pathogens, such as the E. coli linked to fast-food hamburgers in several states, expose vulnerabilities in the food supply chain but also present opportunities to learn new prevention strategies, said Matt Stasiewicz, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study is the first to describe an electrochemical strategy to capture, concentrate and destroy mixtures of diverse chemicals known as PFAS — including the increasingly prevalent ultra-short-chain PFAS — from water in a single process. This new development is poised to address the growing industrial problem of contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, particularly in semiconductor manufacturing.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign history professor Marc Hertzman examined the longest-lasting society formed by people who escaped slavery and their descendants in Brazil and how its memory shapes concepts of Black resistance and national identity today in his new book, “After Palmares: Diaspora, Inheritance, and the Afterlives of Zumbi.”

The new book "Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico," by U. of I. sociology professor and College of Law affiliate Jose Atiles explores Puerto Rico's struggles with colonialism, corruption and various crises.

Go Behind the Scenes with U. of I. Pollinatarium educator Lesley Deem and beekeeper Nathan Beach as they move honey bees from their glass-fronted summer observation hive to a warmer winter hive.

Materials scientists can now use insight from a very common mineral and well-established earthquake and avalanche statistics to quantify how hostile environmental interactions may impact the degradation and failure of materials used for advanced solar panels, geological carbon sequestration and infrastructure such as buildings, roads and bridges.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of gender and women’s studies Mimi Thi Nguyen explores the relationship between beauty and crisis, and how examining beauty can point to the social and political conditions necessary for a good life. Her new book is “The Promise of Beauty.”

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Melita Garza is a journalism historian who studies news as an agent of democracy. News Bureau editor Lois Yoksoulian discussed the history and future of presidential endorsements with Garza in light of recent nonendorsement decisions within some news organizations. 

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign political science students navigate ways to defuse and open dialogue in a polarized political environment as part of the Richard G. and Carole J. Cline Symposium “Bridging Political Differences in a Polarized World” held Oct. 24 at the Illini Union Ballroom.

Millions of Americans suffer from chronic pain and its emotional burdens. Feeling heard and emotionally supported by doctors during consultations dispels patients’ uncertainty, instilling hope and self-efficacy, U. of I. professor Charee Thompson found in a new study.

No matter which candidate wins the presidential election, there’s a strong case to keep existing sanctions on Russia in place, says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign adjunct law professor Taisa Markus.

I stand at the edge of an archaeological excavation, watching in disbelief as students dig up the remnants of a structure I helped build 22 years ago as an undergraduate student in an experimental archaeology course. This structure was modeled on one recovered from a true archaeological site I helped excavate in 1999 — a log-and-thatch dwelling dating back 900 years from a Mississippian mound site near present-day St. Louis. This site is associated with the nearby UNESCO World Heritage site known as Cahokia.

Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education might not be cataclysmic, but other changes on the Project 2025 agenda could have profound implications for public schools and their students, said Paul Bruno, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership at the U. of I.

Thin, stretchy skin — like that of a pig or human — significantly lessens the underlying damage that occurs when it’s punctured. Pig skin even outperforms synthetic materials that are designed to mimic skin, a new study finds. Its special qualities, in particular its ability to dissipate the energy of a puncturing object, greatly reduce the damage to deeper tissues, researchers report.

New research led by Bo Zhang, a professor of labor and employment relations and of psychology at Illinois, points to a better way of helping researchers and employers identify the differences in how people respond to personality tests.

A new mouse model mimicking the liver symptoms of myotonic dystrophy type 1 — the most prevalent form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy — provides insight into why patients develop fatty liver disease and display hypersensitivity to medications, making treatment difficult. The new model opens avenues for screening new medications for liver toxicity prior to patient trials, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers said.

A team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a framework for youth participatory action research projects that integrates young participants into all facets of these projects, enriching their learning experience and the potential impact of their work.

It’s a blazingly sunny September Saturday afternoon at Riggs Beer Company, a family-friendly brewery located on the edge of Urbana. It’s not surprising to see crowds of families basking in the dog days of summer with their food truck lunches and locally brewed pints of beer. Unexpected, however, are the patrons donning medieval and fantasy garb, accompanied by young children, some in princess dresses and others carrying around foam swords. 

These aspiring adventurers are here on a quest, recruited to take part in a training regimen to combat the incursion of invasive species from the Feywild, a magical plane that exists adjacent to our own that is full of weird and wonderful wildlife. 

New vaccinations against influenza and the virus that causes COVID-19 are available and arriving at physician offices and pharmacies. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign microbiology professor Chris Brooke, a virologist who studies respiratory viruses, discusses what’s in the new vaccines, the best time to get them and why we need them at all. 

By combining visible light and electrochemistry, researchers have enhanced the conversion of carbon dioxide into valuable products and stumbled upon a surprising discovery. The team found that visible light significantly improved an important chemical attribute called selectivity, opening new avenues not only for CO2 conversion but also for many other chemical reactions used in catalysis research and chemical manufacturing. 

Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an economic engine and an important civic building for the community as well as a site for football games, say Illinois architecture professors Kevin J. Hinders and Benjamin A. Bross.

In 1898, two male lions terrorized an encampment of bridge builders on the Tsavo River in Kenya. The infamous Tsavo “man-eaters” killed at least 28 people in the camp before the civil engineer on the project shot them dead. The lions’ remains were sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in 1925.

In a new study, Field Museum researchers collaborated with scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on an in-depth analysis of hairs carefully extracted from the lions’ broken teeth. The study used microscopy and genomics to identify some of the species the lions consumed.

As I scroll through another sheet of data, I know each entry represents the story of a high school athlete whose season — and, potentially, life — was altered due to a possible concussion. I am looking for trends and risk factors, with the goal of helping physicians and coaches better evaluate whether an athlete has sustained a concussion and when it is safe to resume activity.

The Illinois dance department’s October Dance concert “Rewind/Remix” will look back at historical modern dance figures and put a contemporary spin on dance history.

After making landfall, Hurricane Helene moved north and dumped an enormous amount of rainfall onto the mountainous regions of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, leading to catastrophic flooding hundreds of miles away from the storm's initial landfall location. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Jim Best, an earth science and environmental change expert, discussed the event and future ones like it with Illinois News Bureau editor Lois Yoksoulian.

New artworks acquired by Krannert Art Museum will transform the museum’s collection and be used for research and teaching.

Artificial intelligence tools can help physicians deliver care and medical researchers make discoveries, but cannot replace the human connection in medicine, says Dr. Mark Cohen, dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He discusses the risks and rewards of using AI tools in health care and medical discovery. 

Journalism professor emeritus Matthew C. Ehrlich examines the dramatic story of a controversial medicine once touted as a miracle cure for cancer in his new book, “The Krebiozen Hoax: How a Mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Organized Medicine.”

Gerald McWorter, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor emeritus of African American studies and information sciences, donated his faculty and personal papers to the University Archives.

The theatre department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will offer views of healing and reconciliation in this season’s plays.

In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tackled a thorny problem: How do nutritional stress, viral infections and exposure to pesticides together influence honey bee survival? By looking at all three stressors together, the scientists found that good nutrition enhances honey bee resilience against the other threats.

Thanks to a serendipitous discovery and a lot of painstaking work, scientists can now build biohybrid molecules that combine the homing powers of DNA with the broad functional repertoire of proteins — without having to synthesize them one by one, researchers report in a new study. Using a naturally occurring process, laboratories can harness the existing molecule-building capacities of bacteria to generate vast libraries of potentially therapeutic DNA-protein hybrid molecules.

A new paper co-written by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign business administration professor Rosanna K. Smith provides a more nuanced understanding of how consumers respond to interracial couples in advertisements.

Existing global energy projections underestimate the impact of climate change on urban heating and cooling systems by roughly 50% by 2099 if greenhouse gas emissions remain high, researchers report. This disparity could profoundly affect critical sustainable energy planning for the future.

Taking inspiration from enzymes, chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a catalyst to simplify the synthesis of ethers, key functional components of many drugs, foods, personal care items and other consumer goods. The catalyst puts the two chemical ingredients in just the right proximity and position to come together, bypassing the need for the steps and quantities required under standard synthesis protocols. 

Iowa’s 2021 law banning instruction on divisive topics negatively affected educators’ relationships with colleagues and thwarted progress on equity and inclusivity, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign education professor Gabriel Rodriguez and his team found in a recent study.

According to two psychologists, the field of psychological science has a problem with the concept of self-control. It has named self-control both a “trait” — a key facet of personality involving attributes like conscientiousness, grit and the ability to tolerate delayed gratification — and a “state,” a fleeting condition that can best be described as willpower. These two concepts are at odds with one another and are often confused, the authors report.

The word “atlas,” may conjure images of giant books chock full of maps and a dizzying array of facts and figures. However, the new book “The World Atlas of Rivers, Estuaries, and Deltas” tells the story of these waterways long before human intervention and how they continue to evolve in the presence of — and often at odds with — human civilization. The new atlas is a highly visual guide to the most up-to-date research on the world's river systems, with an emphasis on the mutual relationship between people and these vital landscapes. 

“Battleground: Electoral College Strategies, Execution, and Impact in the Modern Era” draws on seven decades of data from public and private sources to explore the Electoral College strategies of every major presidential campaign from 1952-2020, said Scott Althaus, the Merriam Professor of Political Science at Illinois and co-author of the book.

Krannert Art Museum is presenting the first retrospective of contemporary artist Millie Wilson, whose work examines stereotypes and media representations regarding sexuality and gender identity.

A better understanding of the inner workings of neutron stars will lead to a greater knowledge of the dynamics that underpin the workings of the universe and also could help drive future technology, said the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign physics professor Nicolas Yunes. A new study led by Yunes details how new insights into how dissipative tidal forces within double — or binary — neutron star systems will inform our understanding of the universe. 

Couples who participated in the Illinois Strong Couples relationship improvement program, delivered through Illinois Extension, found that it enhanced their connections with their partners and benefited their individual mental health, a new study led by Allen W. Barton reports.

Engaging in a creative-idea generation task subsequently led to more indulgent eating, drinking and exercise behaviors such as assembling burgers with more calories, crafting cocktails with higher alcohol content and planning workouts that burned fewer calories, says new research co-written by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign business administration professor Jack Goncalo.