Crop sciences professor Gustavo Caetano-Anollés and graduate student Fizza Mughal used a bioinformatics approach to reconstruct the evolutionary history of metabolic networks.

Read more from the University of Illinois News Bureau. 

A revolution in Midwestern agriculture has to happen to minimize the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxic zone, according to the University of Illinois Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).

It is a little-known fact that corn — a Midwestern staple crop — has a bearing on the Gulf of Mexico’s health. The link is nitrogen, a common agricultural fertilizer component. According to a team of Illinois researchers, each annual harvest removes just 60-70% of nitrogen from fields.

URBANA, Ill. – The Child Development Laboratory (CDL) at the University of Illinois has been part of the campus and Champaign-Urbana community for more than 77 years, preparing over 4,000 young children for successful futures.

A gift from Nannette “Nann” Armstrong, an alumna of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at U of I, is helping to support the CDL in its commitment to provide high-quality early care and education for children, as well as to serve the campus through its teaching, research, and outreach and engagement.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Consuming potato puree during prolonged exercise works just as well as a commercial carbohydrate gel in sustaining blood glucose levels and boosting performance in trained athletes, scientists report. Read More.

URBANA, Ill. – World leaders convened for the UN Climate Summit in September amid dire projections of climate instability. The problem is multifaceted, of course, but a recent IPCC report identifies deforestation as the main driver of land-based greenhouse gas emissions, which comprise almost a quarter of all human contributions to climate change. What if more people around the world could be paid to keep forests healthy and intact?

URBANA, Ill. – Researchers and Extension Specialists from University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences are asking Illinois growers to share basic planting, harvest, and yield data with the college to learn from the extraordinary growing conditions experienced this year.

URBANA, Ill. – Many low-income countries have turned to mass food fortification programs to address nutrient deficiencies in their populations. But many of these programs lack the resources needed to determine if the appropriate amount of nutrients is consistently present in those food products.

A team of University of Illinois researchers has developed an affordable, reliable paper-based sensor that works with a cellphone app – also developed at U of I – to detect levels of iron in fortified food products.

URBANA, Ill. – Given the alarming pace of climate change, it is increasingly important to understand what factors motivate people to take action – or not – on environmental issues. A recent study in Sustainability Science shows that deeply held values, which align closely with political leanings, can predict whether someone takes action to protect the environment. And it suggests people on opposite ends of the political spectrum can be spurred to take action, as long as messaging taps into those values.

URBANA, Ill. – As the new University of Illinois Feed Technology Center rises south of campus, Bühler Group has announced a crucial gift of equipment that will enable the center to produce innovative and nutritious feed for livestock, poultry, and pets.

URBANA, Ill. – When coffee beans are processed and roasted the husk and silverskin of the bean are removed and unused, and often are left behind in fields by coffee producers.

Food science and human nutrition researchers at the University of Illinois are interested in the potential of inflammation-fighting compounds found in the silverskin and husk of coffee beans, not only for their benefits in alleviating chronic disease, but also in adding value to would-be “waste” products from the coffee processing industry.