Following decades of decline, even fewer birds will darken North American skies by the end of the century, according to a new analysis by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

When scientists transplanted the gut microbes of aged mice into young “germ-free” mice — raised to have no gut microbes of their own — the recipient mice experienced an increase in inflammation that parallels inflammatory processes associated with aging in humans. Young germ-free mice transplanted with microbes from other young mice had no such increase. 

The findings suggest that changes to the gut microbiome play a role in the systemwide inflammation that often occurs with aging, the researchers said. 

Among the snowbirds returning north for the summer, A24 is special. For one thing, A24 is an actual bird: a Black-crowned night heron, to be exact. And it has just returned to Chicago to join hundreds of its kind nesting near Lake Michigan. But unlike the human snowbirds that share A24’s migratory habits, this bird is helping to inform conservation efforts in the city and far beyond. 

Summer is here, and that means ACES Family Academies is back on campus.

What seems like not long ago, Doyle was a young child growing up on his family’s farm in Wapella, Illinois. The sixteenth of nineteen children, Doyle held responsibilities on their farm just as his siblings did: milking cows, collecting eggs, and working in the garden. 

In the blink of an eye, Doyle Karr, a 1986 graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, found himself standing on stage in front of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences’ graduating class of 2024 as a distinguished alumnus and this year’s keynote speaker.  

A group of students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign had the chance to immerse themselves in a new culture — and in the global agribusiness and food industry — during an 11-day study abroad program in Brazil.