LAS News Archive

2017-08-01 -     Honey bees that consistently fail to respond to obvious social cues share something fundamental with autistic humans, researchers report in a new study. Genes most closely associated with autism spectrum disorders in humans are regulated differently in unresponsive honey bees than...

2017-08-01 -     Rap music has often been associated with a variety of unsavory habits, such as substance abuse, misogyny, and violence. However, a study co-authored by a communication professor at LAS suggests that this stereotype is largely...

2017-07-28 -     Geoscientists have long puzzled over the mechanism that created the Tibetan Plateau. A new study finds that the landform’s history may be controlled primarily by the strength of the tectonic plates whose collision prompted its uplift. Given that the region is one of the most...

2017-07-27 - Six teams, including three from the College of LAS, have been awarded David Dodds Henry Lectureship Funds in support of the culminating research event of the University of Illinois’ Sesquicentennial...

2017-07-26 - The National Science Foundation recently granted the University of Illinois $3 million for an interdisciplinary graduate student training program to help form new insight on the brain—and to expand participation in the field of brain science itself.Sixty graduate students from across campus will...

2017-07-25 -     In the summer of 2012, two undergraduate students tackled a problem that plant ecology experts overlooked for 30 years. The students demonstrated that different plant species vary in how they take in carbon dioxide and emit water through stomata, the pores in their leaves. The...

2017-07-24 - The Natural History Building is an iconic sight on the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus. Built in 1892, the High Victorian Gothic saw 18 University presidents, 24 chancellors, and thousands of students from more than a century of graduating classes. And, with its recent...

2017-07-20 -     The United States Department of Agriculture recently granted two University researchers $475,000 each to help figure out why the number of insect pollinators continues to drop. For the next three years, May Berenbaum, professor and head of the Department of...

2017-07-18 - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is doubling down on energy research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, funding a multimillion-dollar Bioenergy Research Center to provide scientific breakthroughs for a new generation of sustainable, cost-effective biofuels and bioproducts.The DOE...

2017-07-14 - The Center for Advanced Study has appointed seven new members to its permanent faculty – one of the highest forms of academic recognition the University of Illinois campus makes for outstanding scholarship. Six of the seven appointments come from the College...

2017-07-12 -     In an online survey about their workplace experiences, 88 percent of academics, students, postdoctoral researchers, and administrators in astronomy and planetary science reported hearing, experiencing or witnessing negative language or harassment relating to race, gender, or other...

2017-07-11 - Ying Diao, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Illinois, has been chosen to take part in the National Academy of Engineering’s 23rd annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium.The academy...

2017-07-10 - Two high schoolers from Costa Mesa, California and Waukegan, Illinois gathered on the University of Illinois campus to get married this June — but only as a fun, learning experience, of course. The mock wedding was one of the many activities that nine high school students from across the country...

2017-07-06 -     Westerners view handshaking more positively than do East Asians, researchers report in a new study. Western men also rate handshakes initiated by men and women differently, the study found. The research is reported in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.     ...

2017-07-05 - The University of Illinois is hosting a Human-Animal Studies Summer Institute that one of its organizers hopes will put Illinois at the forefront of the...

2017-06-30 - What does the word “scientist” bring to mind? If it’s a tall man with crazy hair straight out of “Back to the Future,” you’re far from alone. That’s a big reason why Katy Heath teaches biology not only to college students, but to children during the Girls Explore Biology Camp, hosted each summer on...

2017-06-30 - The last time the state of Illinois had a total solar eclipse the University of Illinois was a mere two years old. It’s been 148 years since the state has witnessed the moon completely block out the sun in the sky.But now a total solar eclipse will occur in southern Illinois at around 1:20 p.m. on...

2017-06-28 -     The heart is a dynamic muscle that grows and shrinks in response to stressors such as exercise and disease. The secret to its malleability lies in individual cells, which get bigger or smaller depending on the heart’s needs. A new study of mouse hearts reveals a previously unknown...

2017-06-26 -     The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will award the Chancellor’s Medallion to three men who have dedicated their professional lives to preserving and making available the history of the university. Honored in a June 28 ceremony will be Winton Solberg, a professor...

2017-06-23 -     A professor of microbiology at Illinois has been named an Allen Distinguished Investigator by the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, which will bring $1.5 million over the next three years to her research of microbial...

2017-06-22 - Fourteen University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students and young alumni –including 11 from the College of LAS—have been offered student Fulbright grants to pursue international educational, research and teaching experiences this coming year throughout Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America...

2017-06-21 -     Scientists know a lot about weather. However, there is still one aspect that isn’t totally understood: the initiation and development of thunderstorms. That’s why atmospheric scientists at Illinois are soon heading to a small, geographical area in western Argentina to study what...

2017-06-21 -     These days it seems that anti-Americanism is a never-ending topic in international news, but a new book edited by anthropology professors Virginia Dominguez and Jane Desmond reveals that foreign perceptions of the United States are more...

2017-06-15 -     Research from Illinois was presented to the U.S. Senate on Thursday as advocates of agricultural research highlighted the importance of congressional support. The research of Amy Marshall-Colón, professor of plant biology, was...

2017-06-14 - Biking roughly 4,000 miles across the country might seem daunting, but to members of the Illini 4000, the reason for riding couldn’t be anymore clear.“We’re not just riding our bikes for fun,” said Dan Reeter, a student in actuarial science...