Futurity.org » University of Illinois

Plants and pollinators falling out of sync

Diana Lutz-WUSTL — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:08:29 +0000

WASHINGTON U. – ST. LOUIS (US) — Using historical records about plants and pollinators, scientists have found that today’s pollination networks aren’t as robust as they were about 100 years ago.

The researchers want to know if plant-pollinator networks are holding together as the insects and plants in the network are jostled by climate change and habitat loss.

These electronics can biodegrade in your body

Daniel Stolte-Arizona — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 10:44:23 +0000

U. ARIZONA (US) — A new class of tiny electronic devices can dissolve completely in water—or bodily fluids.

“We refer to this type of technology as transient electronics,” says John A. Rogers, professor of engineering at the University of Illinois, who led the multidisciplinary research team that demonstrated the new technology.

Microscope technology sees sub-cellular in 3D

Steve McGaughey-Illinois — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:41:05 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — A new advance in microscopy offers fast, detailed, 3D views of cells’ internal structures without the use of fluorescence or contrast agents.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers at the University of Illinois who developed the technique report they were able to use it to visualize the E. coli bacteria with a combination of speed, scale, and resolution unparalleled for a label-free method.

Scientists unlock Asiatic pear genome

Debra Levey Larson-Illinois — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:44:16 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — An international team has sequenced the genome of the Asiatic pear, a species native to China.

“We ended up with an assembly that’s over 97 percent correct rather than 50 or 60 percent,” says University of Illinois plant molecular geneticist Schuyler Korban, whose lab was involved in a consortium that previously sequenced the woodland strawberry genome.

Hearing loss may change brain structure

Steve McGaughey-Illinois — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:12:43 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — Hearing loss may be causing changes in the long-term brain structure of the estimated 50 million people in the United States who suffer from it, a new study shows.

Researchers used two different imaging modalities in studies of people with hearing loss, normal hearing, and those with hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). People in the hearing loss group showed structural changes in their brains.

End of quota ups tobacco farm productivity

Debra Levey Larson-Illinois — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:27:35 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — A 10-year study of Kentucky tobacco farms suggests that the removal of a farm quota system boosted overall productivity by 44 percent.

If someone agreed to buy your home as-is a year from now, you’d likely cancel the kitchen remodel. According to a study at the University of Illinois, Kentucky tobacco farmers adopted that same logic when the tobacco companies announced the buyout—also known as the Tobacco Transition Act of 2004—that ended a 66-year-old federal farm program.

However, the immediate drop in productivity was followed by startling changes. Over the 10-year period of the study, the number of farms declined from just over 40,000 farms to just over 8,500 farms—but productivity increased by 44 percent.

Teachers benefit from lesson in kids’ emotions

Phyllis Picklesimer-Illinois — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:25:15 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — Preschool teachers who are able to deal with their own emotions are better able to support emotional outbursts of anger, frustration, happiness, and excitement from their young students.

“When teachers aren’t trained to respond to emotional outbursts in supportive ways, they often fall back on responses that reflect the way they were raised and whether they feel comfortable with their own emotions,” says Rebecca Swartz, a doctoral candidate working with Nancy McElwain, professor of human development and family studies at the University of Illinois.

Device scopes out infection behind eardrum

Rick Kubetz-Illinois — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:33:13 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — A new medical imaging device is able to peek behind the eardrum to diagnose and treat chronic ear infections.

The device could usher in other non-invasive, 3-D diagnostic tools for primary-care physicians, researchers say.

Save wetland with stock market know-how

Debra Levey Larson-Illinois — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:26:25 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — Conservation experts have borrowed a stock market strategy to develop a diversified portfolio of land to set aside for conservation.

Instead of plugging into the formula the data for the history of a stock, University of Illinois environmental economist Amy Ando and agricultural economist Mindy Mallory used the historical climate data of the Prairie Pothole Region of the northern Great Plains to develop a new application of the financial tool called the Modern Portfolio Theory.

“It’s a very well-known tool in finance,” says Mallory. “There are many tools that are widely available to solve a portfolio problem. So it was really just a new marriage of the tool with a different kind of portfolio problem.”

‘Elite’ stereotypes can stymie success in kids

Diana Yates-Illinois — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:39:58 +0000

U. ILLINOIS (US) — Generalizations about the skills or likely success of a social group—of boys or girls, for example—can sometimes undermine performance, a new study shows.

“Some children believe that their ability to perform a task is dictated by the amount of natural talent they possess for that task,” says University of Illinois psychology professor Andrei Cimpian, who led the study published in the journal Psychological Science.