2023-07-26
- When a human consumes a pharmaceutical drug, enzymes in the liver break down the substance into metabolites that are water soluble, so the body can more easily excrete them. In some cases, the resulting metabolites may have potent effects that can be good or bad.
Medicinal chemists must test drug candidates for these potential effects, and the only way is with large quantities of the metabolites...
2023-07-25 - Some students who arrive at the University of Illinois have a hard time finding a place where they feel at home. When Darrell Hunter II, director of first year experience in the College of LAS, arrived in 2022, he decided to change that by launching the We Got Each Other program.The program, which provides an opportunity for underrepresented...
2023-07-25 - When you’re as old as Altgeld Hall, you deserve a nice cleansing scrub. The stony skin of the building dates to as far back as 1896, after all, and a lot of history, and other gunk, has built up on the stone. Even a U of I student’s thesis from more than 50 years ago notes the coloration change. Muriel Schienman (MA, '69; PhD, '81; art history), in her 1969 master’s thesis, “Altgeld Hall, The...
2023-07-20 - When Matthew Deady (BS, ‘75, mathematics and physics; MS, ‘77, mathematics) remembers his time at the University of Illinois, Altgeld Hall stands out as a friendly, inviting place. “Anything I was interested in, someone would tell me, this is who you talk to about what course to take or book to read. There was always a professor who would take the time to talk to you,” he recalls. Altgeld’s...
2023-07-13 - According to two psychologists who study memory and perception, fraudsters tend to exploit the common habits of thought and decision-making that make us susceptible – and often oblivious – to their fabrications. Their book, “Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It,” gives readers an overview of dozens of types of scams, hoaxes and strategies used by cheaters to deceive, and...
2023-07-12 - What happens when urban art becomes literally a global invasion? That’s the question addressed by Julie Gaillard, professor of French, who has been tracking the work and significance of a secretive, anonymous artist who has created pixelated characters from a 1970s video game and placed them around the world—and even beyond this world. “What...
2023-07-12 - There are things we’ve trained to do, and then there are the things we change for. John Levi Barnard, professor of English and comparative and world literature, and an affiliate faculty member with the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment and...
2023-07-06 - Clinical testing is underway for a potentially groundbreaking new treatment for cystic fibrosis. Pioneered by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Iowa in partnership with the spin-out biotechnology company cystetic Medicines, this promising inhalable molecular prosthetic is intended to improve lung function in people with CF who cannot...
2023-06-30 - Researchers have detected complex organic molecules in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth – the most distant galaxy in which these molecules are now known to exist. Thanks to the capabilities of the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and careful analyses from the research team, a new study lends critical insight into the complex chemical interactions that occur in...
2023-06-30 - Like many ecological scientists, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plant biology professor James O’Dwyer has spent much of his career searching for ways to measure and predict how specific plant communities will fare over time. Which species in a diverse population will persist and coexist? Which will decline? What factors might contribute to...
2023-06-30 - The seemingly stable regions of the Earth’s continental plates – the so-called stable cratons – have suffered repetitive deformation below their crust since their formation in the remote past, according to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This hypothesis defies decades of conventional plate tectonics theory and begs to answer why most cratons have...
2023-06-29 - Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are working with Native American tribes across the country to digitize oral histories and ethnographic materials collected from tribal members and to make them accessible online. Illinois is one of seven universities that are part of the...
2023-06-29 - When individuals share videos about surprise reunions with their intimate partners on the internet, the reaction from viewers may not be the roses and unicorns the posters expected. Viewers’ responses to shared videos have the potential to shape offline relationships, a case study of one such video found. In a paper published in the journal New Media and Society, Emily A. Mendelson, a graduate...
2023-06-29 - Fifteen years of archaeological work in the Tam Pa Ling cave in northeastern Laos has yielded a reliable chronology of early human occupation of the site, scientists report in the journal Nature Communications. The team’s excavations through the layers of sediments and bones that gradually washed into the cave and were left untouched for tens of thousands of years reveals that humans lived in the...
2023-06-28 - “I truly feel like what I am doing is making a difference,” said Olivia Ross, a psychology major, in the midst of a bicycle ride across the country. “Even though I may not be able to cure cancer myself, knowing we are funding scientists who might be able to is so special.” Ross is part of a long bicycle ride that began on May 27 in New York’s...
2023-06-28 - Wildfires emit large amounts of smoke containing harmful pollutants that can drift for hundreds or thousands of miles away from their source, as shown by this summer’s Canadian wildfires, which created air quality problems as far afield as New York City. A new paper co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers analyzes how drifting wildfire smoke impacts the U.S....
2023-06-13 - The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has awarded funding to six teams of faculty and staff to advance innovative ideas that aim to improve student experiences, from incorporating one-on-one mentorship with teaching to offering Illinois undergrads and incarcerated individuals the opportunity to learn together. The college issued a call for LAS Student Success Innovation proposals earlier...
2023-06-09 - Five University of Illinois professors at the Urbana-Champaign campus, including two from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, have been named University Scholars in recognition of their excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. The scholars program recognizes faculty excellence and...
2023-06-08 - Before it was home to Spain and Portugal, much of the Iberian Peninsula was ruled by a succession of Islamic dynasties for almost 800 years during the Middle Ages. Known as al-Andalus, its influence is still reflected in art and politics today – not only in Spain and North Africa, but also in places far from the historical site of al-Andalus. Eric Calderwood, a...
2023-06-08 - Outstanding individual and group outreach efforts were recently recognized with the 2023 Campus Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement. The awards honor faculty and staff members, students, and community members who engage the public to address critical societal...
2023-06-08 - Asian colobines, also known as leaf-eating monkeys, have been on the planet for about 10 million years. Their ancestors crossed land bridges, dispersed across continents, survived the expansion and contraction of ice sheets and learned to live in tropical, temperate and colder climes. A new study reported in the journal Science finds parallels between Asian colobines’ social, environmental...
2023-06-08 - Martin D. Burke, a professor of chemistry and of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, has been named the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation. Known for his contributions to pioneering lego-like automated small molecule synthesis, launching the field of molecular prosthetics, and developing...
2023-06-02 - The College of LAS has awarded more than 25 professors with named scholar positions for their contributions to education and research at the University of Illinois. The named positions include the Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors (LEAP) Scholars, the Lynn M. Martin Professorial Scholars, the Norman P. Jones Professorial Scholars, the Helen Corley Petit Scholars, the I.C. Gunsalus...
2023-05-31 - Meet Natasha Samreny (MA, ’10, Middle Eastern Studies & Arabic). She is the director of marketing and communications for Trinity Repertory Company, a theater within the League of Resident Theatres. As a storyteller, Samreny taps into her global view to connect with audiences from different backgrounds. Describe a typical workday. Also...
2023-05-31 - Kelvin Droegemeier, a research meteorologist who previously held several national science and policy leadership roles, is joining the faculty of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Aug. 16. He also will hold a special advisory position in the Office of the Chancellor and will support strategic efforts for the University of Illinois System. “...