LAS News Archive

2009-04-01 - A team of 24 researchers from the U.S., Europe, Taiwan, and Japan, and led by University of Illinois scientists, has engineered a new anti-cancer agent that is about 200 times more active in killing tumor cells than similar drugs used in recent clinical trials.The new agent belongs to a class of...

2009-04-01 - By Vernon Burton Dr. Burton is a professor emeritus of history, sociology, and African American studies at U of I and is the author of Age of Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed early in 1865 that the...

2009-04-01 - The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their excellence in teaching and advising in 2009. Their contributions are vital to maintaining LAS as a great college.Recognition of the LAS Teaching Academy Reflective Teaching Seminar Professor Alison...

2009-04-01 - Is the communication in your relationship a little frosty? It may be that the little things you’re not doing in daily routines are playing a part, says LAS researcher Leanne Knobloch. Things like forgetting to walk the dog or fuel the car or take out the trash. Disruptions you cause in your...

2009-04-01 - It’s possible that air traffic controllers are being put out to pasture sooner than necessary, according to new findings from LAS psychology professor Arthur Kramer. Because of the intensity of their jobs, air traffic controllers in the United...

2009-04-01 - During college Michael Newbill developed a fondness for the dynamic cultures of South Asia that never quit. The question was how to make a career of it. The answer was the State Department.Newbill, 36, is a diplomat at the U.S. consulate in Mumbai, India, where he serves as chief of political and...

2009-04-01 - A person’s unconscious attitudes toward science and God may be fundamentally opposed, researchers report, depending on how religion and science are used to answer “ultimate” questions such as how the universe began or the origin of life. What’s more, those views can be manipulated, the researchers...

2009-04-01 - A junior majoring in chemistry was one of only two University of Illinois students to win a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year. The award will help Anthony Mazzotti, of Taylorville, Ill., finish undergraduate...

2009-03-01 - When it comes to the hippocampus, a brain structure vital to certain types of memory, size matters. Numerous studies have shown that bigger is usually better. Now researchers have found that elderly adults who are more physically fit tend to have bigger hippocampi and better spatial memory than...

2009-03-01 - By Vernon Burton Dr. Burton is a professor emeritus of history, sociology, and African American studies at U of I and is the author of Age of Lincoln.When Stephen A. Douglas learned that Lincoln would be...

2009-03-01 - Converting certain grasses to biofuels could do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than current methods using corn, according to a researcher in LAS. Perennial grasses such as switchgrass and Miscanthus are better than corn at preserving and increasing carbon stores in soil, which can...

2009-03-01 - Wary of fading memories, a history professor studied World War II-era diaries and letters to learn what Germany was thinking during one of humankind’s darkest eras. He found deep insecurity that he believes enabled the Holocaust even as most Germans...

2009-03-01 - A few years ago, Maj. Gen. Edward Giller (Ret.) would have been surprised to see even a color photograph of one of his old World War II fighter planes, much less a magazine photo of one in flight more than 60 years after the war. A couple months ago, however, Warbird Digest published a...

2009-03-01 - When it comes time for the spotlight, Penelope Soskin prefers a low profile, joking that fortunately she’s a better advocate for students than herself. After years of thoughtful influence on the college’s honors programs, however, Soskin’s contributions have been brought to light by none other than...

2009-03-01 - As Brazil emerges as one of the world’s largest, most vibrant economies, University of Illinois is staging its own emergence—as home to one of the most comprehensive programs dedicated to understanding this new powerhouse.With a $14 million gift from Jorge Paulo Lemann and family, of Jona,...

2009-03-01 - When Don Quixote mistook a windmill for a giant in the famous Spanish tale, he was facing the kind of quaint structure you see in postcards. But today’s windmills are true giants, with turbines reaching heights of 100 meters (328 feet), not counting their 100-meter-diameter rotor blades. When...

2009-03-01 - Immigrants whittle into a broad earnings gap with American-born workers only about half as fast as long-accepted estimates suggest, according to new research by a University of Illinois economist. Darren Lubotsky says immigrants’ typically low...

2009-02-01 - Never trust a honey bee that is hopped up on cocaine.Researchers have found that cocaine stimulates the reward system in the brains of foraging honey bees. As a result, bees on cocaine often exaggerate the quality of nectar and pollen they discover, says Gene Robinson, an LAS...

2009-02-01 - Each year the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognizes a handful of staff members and academic professionals for their outstanding contributions to the college and service to others. These individuals, who were nominated by members of the campus community, demonstrate excellence and enhance...

2009-02-01 - Phi Beta Kappa, the country’s oldest and most respected undergraduate honors organization in the liberal arts, recently invited new members to join its chapter at the University of Illinois. The names of these outstanding students—18 juniors, 70 seniors, and six recent graduates—are listed below....

2009-02-01 - When a professional pitcher hurls a 90-mile-per-hour fastball, the batter has roughly 450 milliseconds to swing, 300 of which are taken up looking at the ball, figuring out where it is heading, and deciding whether to swing. That gives a player about 150 milliseconds to actually swing the bat,...

2009-02-01 - Those consumed—or burned—by love may find it no surprise that LAS psychologists say romance is even harder to understand than previously assumed. If you want to know where your relationship is headed, you might need more than a heart-to-heart conversation, according to a recent study. While...

2009-02-01 - The film footage is riveting. By night, tracer bullets light up the darkness; and by day, bullets are flying, as thousands of rounds are exchanged between federal marshals and a couple of hundred lightly armed American Indian activists. The world watched this drama unfold in 1973 during a tense, 71...

2009-02-01 - Many people these days wouldn’t trade their problems with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s for all the gold in its vaults, but the nation’s bank still offers an invaluable learning opportunity, as a team of LAS students discovered in the College Fed Challenge. It’s the first time a team from the...

2009-02-01 - A remote western Illinois field could someday yield tourists instead of crops, adding to the state’s legacy of racial equality that already includes Abraham Lincoln and the nation’s first black president. Once an integrated town that flourished decades before the Civil War broke the grip of...