Research

URBANA, Ill. – Invasive silver carp have been moving north toward the Great Lakes since their accidental release in the 1970s. The large filter-feeding fish, which are known to jump from the water and wallop anglers, threaten aquatic food webs as well as the $7 billion Great Lakes fishery. But, for the past decade, the invading front hasn’t moved past Kankakee. A new study, led by scientists at the University of Illinois, suggests that Chicago’s water pollution may be a contributing to this lack of upstream movement.

URBANA, Ill. – In the United States, a majority of children exceed the recommended amount of empty calories in their diets, and fail to meet the recommendation for fruit and vegetables—especially dark green vegetables. Practitioners look to intervention programs that could help children develop better dietary habits.

URBANA, Ill. – As modern societies become increasingly urban, sedentary, and screen-oriented, people are spending less time in nature. We’re also more likely than ever to suffer from mental illnesses. A new article in Science Advances links the two phenomena, suggesting that adding natural elements to urban landscapes could improve mental health.

URBANA, Ill. – When tornadoes touch down, we brace for news of property damage, injuries, and loss of life, but the high-speed wind storms wreak environmental havoc, too. They can cut through massive swaths of forest, destroying trees and wildlife habitat, and opening up opportunities for invasive species to gain ground.

URBANA, Ill. – Waterhemp and Palmer amaranth, two aggressive weeds that threaten the food supply in North America, are increasingly hard to kill with commercially available herbicides. A novel approach known as genetic control could one day reduce the need for these chemicals. Now, scientists are one step closer.

URBANA, Ill. – A corn gene identified from a 118-year-old experiment at the University of Illinois could boost yields of today’s elite hybrids with no added inputs. The gene, identified in a recent Plant Biotechnology Journal study, controls a critical piece of senescence, or seasonal die-back, in corn. When the gene is turned off, field-grown elite hybrids yielded 4.6 bushels more per acre on average than standard plants.

URBANA, Ill. – When a dead bat was found in a package of salad greens in 2017, the Florida story spurred product recalls and national media attention. The incident, assumed to be rare, was one of dozens of cases of consumers finding animals – live, dead, or severed – in fresh produce over the past 15 years. A University of Illinois study catalogues and analyzes these incidents as part of a larger effort towards greater food safety and quality improvements in the fresh produce industry.

Champaign, Ill. –– For thousands of years, plants have produced food for humans, but with genetic tweaks, they can also manufacture proteins like Ebola vaccines, antibodies to combat a range of conditions, and now, cellulase that is used in food processing and to break down crop waste to create biofuel.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Human waste might be an unpleasant public health burden, but scientists at the University of Illinois see sanitation as a valuable facet of global ecosystems and an overlooked source of nutrients, organic material and water. Their research is reported in the journal Nature Sustainability.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau. 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A new computer model incorporates how microscopic pores on leaves may open in response to light—an advance that could help scientists create virtual plants to predict how higher temperatures and rising levels of carbon dioxide will affect food crops, according to a study published in a special issue of the journal Photosynthesis Research today.

Read more at the RIPE website.