In the bright, friendly classrooms at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Child Development Laboratory (CDL), you’

Midwestern soils are among the most productive in the world, thanks in part to extensive tile drainage systems that remove excess water from crop fields. But water isn’t the only thing flowing through tile drains. Nitrogen moves along with soil water into drainage ditches, streams, and ultimately into the Mississippi River Basin, where the nutrient contributes to massive algal blooms and hypoxic conditions that impact aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Today, MicroMGx celebrates the opening of its new research facility at the University of Illinois Research Park

State and federal legislators and administrators have joined University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign leaders on multiple occasions since the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Tech

Illinois residents who took part in a new couples’ relationship strengthening program reported many improvements in their connections with their spouses or partners and in their individual well-being too, research suggests. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded <

Drought stress has long been a limiting factor for crop production around the world, a challenge exacerbated by climate change.

For more than a century­, scientists have targeted a key plant trait known as water use efficiency (WUE) to help crops grow with less water and avoid suffering from drought stress. Greater WUE can help plants avoid drought stress – but for most crops it’s also associated with lower productivity when water is plentiful.

In the agricultural and food industry, determining the chemical composition of raw materials is important for production efficiency, application, and price. Traditional laboratory testing is time-consuming, complicated, and expensive.

When giant ragweed takes hold in a crop field, the towering weed reduces yield and sends plumes of its famously allergy-inducing pollen into the air. There are few tools available to thwart the menace, especially for farmers growing non-GMO soybeans. Now, some Wisconsin farmers are left with even fewer options. 

Researchers analyzed meteorological data from nine Upper Midwest states from 1979-2021, tracking trends in extreme heat and cold over every 4-kilometer square of that territory. They found striking regional differences in the extremes. Many parts of the Upper Midwest experienced significant upticks in the number of extreme heat days over the 40 years — an increasing trend — while others saw a rise in extreme cold events. Some communities experienced more of both extremes. Others appeared to be more resistant to changes in extreme heat or cold.