Heron encircled by a snake. While eating a worm. By Maria Sibylla Merian, born OTD in 1647.

Warming permafrost causes "thaw slumps" that, like mini landslides, erase vegetation from the landscape. A new study tracks recovery time across the globe. Some sites take a decade, some take a century or more to recover their greenness. #climate #ecology news.illinois.edu/team-tracks-...

🎉Entomologist Gene Robinson, the newly appointed executive director and CEO of the Illinois Discovery Partners Institute, will be inducted into the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Robinson was formerly the Director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois. Congratulations!

In Moorea, an agressive algae is stabilizing dead coral, preventing recovery of a reef after a major bleaching event. Other organisms are finding a home inside the dead coral, which they are gradually hollowing out. #environment #coral #climate @news.illinois.edu news.illinois.edu/still-standi...

Hail 5, to possibly 6 inches reported near Kankakee, Illinois, midway between Chicago and Champaign-Urbana. If verified, would set the state record. (on March 10 no less)

NEW: for @nytimes.com, I wrote about a new study showing that queen bumblebees can breathe underwater, surviving submerged for a week the “remarkable” study stems from a lab snafu, when a co-author thought she accidentally drowned several bees—but later found that they were alive 🧪 gift link 🎁

It took years of work, a supercomputer, vast experimental data and the creation of a "minimal bacterial cell," but researchers have for the first time simulated the full life cycle of a living single-celled organism. @beckmanillinois.bsky.social news.illinois.edu/team-simulat...

If you take the time to read the whole Gates memo (which I did), the bulk of the content was mostly solid and encouraging. Really! It was the FRAME that was off--very off, from the first line. And when your framing is off, then how you make decisions and set priorities is off. THAT'S the problem.

Two professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said they grew suspicious after receiving identical apologies from dozens of students they had accused of academic dishonesty.

An interview with @news.illinois.edu about the possibilities of change in implicit bias and the opportunities and pitfalls of implicit bias education: news.illinois.edu/is-unintenti...

First found in Illinois in 2024, the invasive Elm Zigzag Sawfly chews its way through tree leaves. Large infestations stress trees, putting them at risk. Read more https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/pesticide-news/2025-05-29-illinois-invasive-elm-zigzag-sawfly #Invasives #Insect

"Future-proofing" crops is possible. Much of the work has already begun. But it will require resources and time. news.illinois.edu/report-futur...

“Those who die in America’s wars die for a future they will never get to see. Their future is our now. Memorial Day invites us to reflect on the power of remembering." Go Behind the Scenes with Scott Althaus as he buries a long-lost family member from WWII. news.illinois.edu/because-amer...

Learning from Cockatiels Go behind the scenes with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign veterinary student Melanie Narvaez as she learns how to handle and care for these lively, affectionate birds. news.illinois.edu/learning-fro...

Review: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder. Researchers explore the social dimensions of alcohol abuse news.illinois.edu/review-socia...

A new AI tool can teach itself to distinguish among thousands of varieties of flowering Miscanthus, a plant used in biofuels production. #ILLINOIS crop sciences and plant biology professor Andrew Leakey led the work. news.illinois.edu?p=34209&prev...

Study finds global downturn in bias against stigmatized groups news.illinois.edu/study-finds-...

Wearable technology continuously monitors heart-rate recovery to predict risk. news.illinois.edu/wearable-tec...

Feel free to steal this graphic. Graphic artist and collaborator: Julie McMahon.

📷️Nikon Z7 #photography

Current treatment options for metastatic breast cancer are limited, but targeting cholesterol metabolism is a promising option for new therapeutics. go.mcb.illinois.edu/cholesterol

First measles death is reported in the West Texas outbreak that’s infected more than 120 people apnews.com/article/meas...

Team makes 3D visualizations of cells acessible to all via Minecraft @beckmanillinois.bsky.social news.illinois.edu?p=33305&prev...

We forget so easily. #GenerationalAmnesia theconversation.com/infectious-d...

Restitution and Repatriation of Ancestral, Human Remains from Colonial Contexts in Tanzania, by Maximilian Felix Chami, Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage, doi.org/10.1080/2161... #HistoricalArchaeology #AfricanDiasporas #AfricanHeritage #Repatriation #Tanzania #colonialism

After favorable results in human tissue and animal models, researchers hope to begin clinical trials by fall 2025 to test the safety of drugs that provide COVID's cancer-fighting properties without the illness. www.jci.org/articles/vie...

With nearly one in five American adults providing unpaid care to another adult, #ILLINOIS Asst. Professor of Health and Kinesiology Mina Raj spoke with the Illinois News Bureau about how our healthcare system can support caregivers. Read or watch the Q&A: news.illinois.edu/view/6367/56...

Laura is one of eight researchers featured on our website about research that impacts the local community! Check it out: researchimpact.illinois.edu/aging/

A new IEA report finds that Africa could easily cover all of its electricity needs using geothermal energy alone. The continent has 115TW of technical potential in geothermal.

A psychoeducational intervention to empower teenage girls. 💪 Beckman researcher Karen Rudolph investigated whether a single-session intervention could improve teenage girls' emotional responses to stressors. 📰 bit.ly/49trVka 📗 doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14175 #AcademicSky

Beckman researchers are about to start a new phase of Mission #ILLINOIS. 🚀 🔭 Led by mechanical science and engineering professor Sameh Tawfick, the mission will send a composite tube manufacturing machine to the International Space Station to build space construction materials. #AcademicSky #Space

Truly life-changing work is being done by Nelson and this team of researchers here in C-U to fight against cancer in new ways.

Mental health and substance use expert Rachel Hoopsick weighs in on the latest numbers. news.illinois.edu/view/6367/20...

From energy generation to carbon assimilation. Study tracks evolutionary history of chloroplasts. news.illinois.edu/view/6367/11...

Science paper: Global producer responsibility for plastic pollution Names names of companies responsible for the greatest amount of plastic pollution in the environment. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social @scifri.bsky.social @ravenscimaven.bsky.social

An increasing number of Republican-led states say they won’t comply with the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule, mainly arguing that its protections for transgender students conflict with their state laws. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

How does bird flu infect so many species? Dr. James Lowe, a professor of veterinary clinical medicine at #ILLINOIS, describes the factors that influence infection with the H5N1 virus in humans and a variety of other animals. news.illinois.edu/view/6367/15... Photos by @FredZwicky

This is so true! I never saw violence like I saw when working on a nesting study of herons, egrets and ibises. Owls would wring the necks of gulls and stuff their bodies into the crotches of trees, crows would steal the young of other species. I once saw a gull snatch a gosling off the beach.

I will die on this dune: All beaches should be free and public access.

Move over Mickey...Let's give a round of applause to Tigger, who also moved into the public domain this year, thanks to his debut in 1928's "The House at Pooh Corner" 📚🐯 Read, remix, and share for free! archive.org/details/the-...

news.illinois.edu/view/6367/15... parks, backyards support bird diversity for different reasons in different seasons: news.illinois.edu/view/6367/1579

Watch a video about the respiratory problems of flat-faced #dogs like bulldogs and what can be done about it. Dr. Heidi Phillips is an advocate for surgery but also for better breeding practices to prevent the problems. youtube.com/watch?v=dgL9... See also: news.illinois.edu/view/6367/11...

Books designed to be read only by human eyes are different from books designed to be read by machines, which is why Google will tell you that the phrase “shake my booty” can be found in an 1863 English translation of Don Quixote.

In a recent study published in the journal “Current Biology,” biologists adjusted the movement behaviors of rattlesnakes by altering a single potassium ion channel. www.quantamagazine.org/tiny-tweaks-...

Join us on Wednesday, 3/20 at 1p ET for the next #SEJWebinar: Stopping Climate Action Mis-Information — How Is the Media Complicit and What Can Journalists Do? Registration and more info: www.sej.org/calendar/sej...

The spikes are an imaging artifact BUT the crazy dust rings around this massive star are real! These celestial rings measure time, just like tree rings: Each ring represents 7.9 years, the orbital period of the star's companion.

Once upon a time I made a few of these completely unbiased infographics comparing invertebrates to the vertebrates that shares their name.

Polymer-based stretchable electrodes are resilient to humidity and temperature, can stretch over 400% while attached to a plant and send a wireless signal to a remote monitoring location. news.illinois.edu/view/6367/30...