RESEARCH Science 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

TOPICS: Agriculture | Anthropology |Astronomy | Biology | Chemistry | Civil Engineering | Computers | Engineering | Entomology | Environment | Food Science | Geology | Health | Materials Science| Medicine | Physics | Psychology

AGRICULTURE
Kudzu in Illinois: “Many people are not aware that kudzu has been found in Illinois,” said George Czapar, an extension educator at the Springfield Extension Center of the University of Illinois. In collaboration with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Czapar is monitoring kudzu in Illinois and is part of an effort to slow the spread of the creeping vine. (10/20/05)

Renewable fuel source: Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), a hybrid grass that can grow 13 feet high, may be a valuable renewable fuel source for the future, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say. (9/27/05)

Agronomy Day: The latest research on managing soybean rust, controlling weeds and insects and developing renewable fuels will be presented during the 49th annual Agronomy Day from 7 a.m. to noon, Thursday, Aug. 18, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (8/10/05)

WARM Program: Three more pests – fruit tree leafroller, lilac borer and western bean cutworm – have been added this spring to the Illinois State Water Survey’s Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring program, a Web-based tool that provides helpful information for the state’s farmers. (4/12/05)

Grapes and Cancer: Components in grapes, including some newly identified ones, work together to dramatically inhibit an enzyme crucial to the proliferation of cancer cells, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (3/28/05)

2004 Crops: If farmers talk big about 2004 crops as they get ready to head out into the fields this spring, let them talk. Believe them. Last year’s crop season saw record yields in every major crop amid the closest-to-perfect weather conditions of the last century, scientists say. (3/11/05)

Swine meeting: Biomedical scientists from around the world will discuss the potential of swine as models for understanding and treating a variety of human diseases when they gather for the Swine in Biomedical Research Conference on Jan. 27-29 at the Fairmont Hotel, 200 N. Columbus Road, in Chicago. (1/18/05)

ANTHROPOLOGY

ASTRONOMY
Super-star clusters: A trio of massive, young star clusters found embedded in a star cloud may shed light on the formation of super-star clusters and globular clusters. (1/11/05)

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE
Climate Change: Absent any climate policy, scientists have found a 70 percent chance of shutting down the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean over the next 200 years, with a 45 percent probability of this occurring in this century. The likelihood decreases with mitigation, but even the most rigorous immediate climate policy would still leave a 25 percent chance of a thermohaline collapse. (12/6/05)

Carbon Sequestration: An Earth System model developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign indicates that the best location to store carbon dioxide in the deep ocean will change with climate change. (9/7/05)

Space shuttle clouds: A burst of mesospheric cloud activity over Antarctica in January 2003 was caused by the exhaust plume of the space shuttle Columbia during its final flight, reports a team of scientists who studied satellite and ground-based data from three different experiments. The data also call into question the role these clouds may play in monitoring global climate change. (7/6/05)

Global warming: Using a more advanced version of the Integrated Assessment Model, Atul Jain, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and graduate student Xiaojuan Yang report that the biosphere might now be acting as a source, not as a sink. Rather than storing carbon dioxide, the biosphere may have recently begun driving atmospheric levels higher. 4/21/05)

Pollution: Scientists studying satellite data have discovered an immense wintertime pool of pollution over the northern Indian state of Bihar. Blanketing around 100 million people, primarily in the Ganges Valley, the pollution levels are about five times larger than those typically found over Los Angeles. (1/27/05)

BIOLOGY
Amino-acid charge: Measurements of the ion-current through the open state of a membrane-protein’s ion channel have allowed scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to obtain a detailed picture of the effect of the protein microenvironment on the affinity of ionizable amino-acid residues for protons. (12/16/05)

Planarian Genes: Could vital information about many human diseases be deciphered from genes inside freshwater flatworms? A definitive yes is not the answer yet, but research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has provided an important advance for pursuing both that idea and the biology of stem cells. (12/13/05)

'Run-down' feeling: Aging may intensify and prolong feeling run down when common infections like the flu occur, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (10/11/05)

Estrogen's Impact: Why do estrogen-dependent breast-cancer cells grow and spread rapidly? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say it may be because estrogen virtually eliminates levels of a vitally important regulatory protein. (9/8/05)

Channel width: For a glycerol molecule, a measly angstrom’s difference in diameter is a road-closed sign: You can’t squeeze through unless you are a sleek, water-molecule-sized sports car, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (8/10/05)

Comparative chromosome study: Breakages in chromosomes in mammalian evolution have occurred at preferred rather than random sites as long thought, and many of the sites are involved in human cancers, an international team of 25 scientists has discovered. (7/21/05)

Estrogen Research: New research is shedding light on why estrogenic hormones produce unintended results in women, giving hope to the idea that new drugs might reach their targets and work more effectively. Ultimately it could mean that postmenopausal women would know that hormone-replacement therapy would have only its intended result. (2/11/05)

CHEMISTRY
Absorption Spectroscopy: A powerful new tool for probing molecular structure on surfaces has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Single molecule absorption spectroscopy can enhance molecular analysis, surface manipulation and studies of molecular energy and reactivity at the atomic level. (12/21/05)

Correcting defects: Mimicking nature, a procedure developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign can find and correct defects in self-assembled nanomaterials. The new proofreading and error-removal process is based on catalytic DNA and represents a paradigm shift in nanoscale science and engineering. (1018/05)

Estrogen's Impact: Why do estrogen-dependent breast-cancer cells grow and spread rapidly? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say it may be because estrogen virtually eliminates levels of a vitally important regulatory protein. (9/8/05)

Brain Chemistry: Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed tools for studying the chemistry of the brain, neuron by neuron. The analytical techniques can probe the spatial and temporal distribution of biologically important molecules, such as vitamin E, and explore the chemical messengers behind thought, memory and emotion. (8/31/05)

Hydrocarbon fuels: The catalytic reforming of liquid fuels offers an attractive solution to supplying hydrogen to fuel cells while avoiding the safety and storage issues related to gaseous hydrogen. Existing catalytic support structures, however, tend to break down at the high temperatures needed to prevent fouling of the catalytic surface by soot. Now Illinois researchers have developed porous support materials that can withstand the rigors of high-temperature reforming of hydrocarbon fuels. (7/27/05)

Microreactor: One of the longstanding challenges in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food additives is the continuous regeneration of molecules called cofactors that permit the synthesis through inexpensive and environmentally friendly biocatalytic processes.

Now, a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France, has developed a microreactor that efficiently regenerates cofactors through enzyme-catalyzed reactions. (7/19/05)

Improved catalysts: Using a technique called ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created an improved catalyst for removing smelly sulfur-containing compounds from gasoline and other fossil fuels. The improved catalyst is a form of molybdenum disulfide, most commonly recognized as the black lubricant used to grease automobiles and machinery. (7/11/05)

DNA Constraints: A new method for manipulating macromolecules has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The technique uses double-stranded DNA to direct the behavior of other molecules. (6/28/05)

'Bridge': By designing a molecular bridge, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have forged a successful pathway through a complex ocean of barriers: They’ve changed the function of a protein using a co-evolution approach. (5/5/05)

Gene switch: Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have set a new standard in the design and engineering of nuclear hormone receptor-based genetic on-off switches, without causing new problems or aggravating existing ones. (4/7/05)

Membraneless fuel cell. A fuel cell designed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign can operate without a solid membrane separating fuel and oxidant, and functions with alkaline chemistry in addition to the more common acidic chemistry. (3/22/05)

Collapsing bubbles: Using a technique employed by astronomers to determine stellar surface temperatures, chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have measured the temperature inside a single, acoustically driven collapsing bubble. (3/2/05)

Synthetic molecule: The first synthesis of QS-21A, a medicinally important molecule that helps the body battle disease, has been achieved by chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (3/1/05)

Nanospheres and nanocrystals: Using high-intensity ultrasound, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created hollow nanospheres and the first hollow nanocrystals. The nanospheres could be used in microelectronics, drug delivery and as catalysts for making environmentally friendly fuels. (2/22/05)

CIVIL ENGINEERING
Deeper Roots: By soaking up moisture with their roots and later releasing it from their leaves, plants play an active role in regulating the climate. In fact, in vegetated ecosystems, plants are the primary channels that connect the soil to the atmosphere, with plant roots controlling the below-ground dynamics. (12/5/05)

Shredded tires: Placing shredded tires on top of – rather than in – landfills can save money and benefit the environment, researchers from the University of Illinois say. (9/28/05)

Disaster-relief research: In a new and novel study, scientists are looking to nature – specifically, to ants, bees and viruses – for ways to improve human collaboration during disaster relief efforts. (3/1/05)

COMPUTERS
Computer Music: For nearly a half century, composers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – often in collaboration with scientists and engineers – have been making music and music history within the soundproof walls of the School of Music's Experimental Music Studios. (6/20/05)

Battle of the Brains: Three computer science students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will travel to Shanghai, China, April 3-7 to participate in the Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest. (2/16/05)

ENGINEERING
Transistor Laser: Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated the room-temperature operation of a heterojunction bipolar transistor laser, moving it an important step closer to commercialization. The scientists describe their work in the Sept. 26 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters. (9/26/05)

NSF Research Center: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be the home of a national center that will address the challenge of how to protect the nation’s power grid, the National Science Foundation announced today. The NSF has awarded $7.5 million over five years to the project, which will be led by the U. of I. and also involve researchers at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and Washington State University. The Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security have pledged to join NSF in funding and managing the effort. (8/15/05)

Electricity transmission: An agreement by Midwest governors to coordinate policies for electric transmission lines is a positive move to improve the reliability of the electric supply system, a University of Illinois energy expert says. (7/28/05)

Flexible Nanotubes: By depositing nanoparticles onto a charged surface, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have crafted nanotubes from silicon that are flexible and nearly as soft as rubber. (6/14/05)

Tactile Sensor: A robot’s sensitivity to touch could be vastly improved by an array of polymer-based tactile sensors that has been combined with a robust signal-processing algorithm to classify surface textures. The work, performed by a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is an essential step in the development of robots that can identify and manipulate objects in unstructured environments. (4/19/05)

Energy SuperGrid: The concept of a high-capacity superconducting energy pipeline, or SuperGrid, moved closer to reality when experts from industry, government and academia attended a recent workshop at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (4/18/05)

Fastest Transistor: A new type of transistor structure, invented by scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has broken the 600 gigahertz speed barrier. The goal of a terahertz transistor for high-speed computing and communications applications could now be within reach. (4/11/05)

Engineering Open House: Wild and wacky Rube Goldberg machines, robots launching mini basketballs, and more than 130 entertaining and educational exhibits are among the attractions awaiting visitors to the 85th annual Engineering Open House at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (2/10/05)

ENTOMOLOGY
Ant Invaders: Many insects enter the United States accidentally, as hitchhikers on various plants imported in commerce, but how many really stay? Conventional thinking says the answer is in the numbers of both insects and times they enter, but new findings to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggest that opportunity alone is no guarantee of a successful invasion. (11/15/05)

Texas Cave Crickets: Reporting in the journal American Midland Naturalist, a team of researchers led by Steven J. Taylor, an entomologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, reported that the crickets, Ceuthophilus secretus, journey at night in high numbers up to 80 meters (262 feet) from the entrances of central Texas caves. A few crickets traveled up to 105 meters (344 feet) to feed. (9/7/05)

West Nile virus: Weather forecasts could become barometers for predicting the potential threat of West Nile virus to humans and wildlife, according to scientists at two state agencies based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (3/29/05)

'Bad' bugs: We have much to learn from bad bugs, according to Gilbert Waldbauer, whose book “Insights From Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us” was published today (Prometheus Books). (3/1/05)

Insect Fear Film Festival: Looking for a crime-solving career? Catch the buzz about forensic entomology while being entertained Saturday, Feb. 19, at the 22nd annual Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (2/7/05)

ENVIRONMENT
Climate Change: By storing carbon in their fields through no-till farming practice, farmers can help countries meet targeted reductions in atmospheric carbon dioxide and reduce the harmful effects of global warming. (10/12/05)

Water use: Water use in Illinois is expected to grow faster than the population in the next 20 years, with Chicago-area counties leading increased demand in 89 of the state’s 102 counties, according to two new studies released by the Illinois State Water Survey. (3/17/05)

FOOD SCIENCE
Grapes and Cancer: Components in grapes, including some newly identified ones, work together to dramatically inhibit an enzyme crucial to the proliferation of cancer cells, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (3/28/05)

GEOLOGY
Titan's Rivers: Recent evidence from the Huygens Probe of the Cassini Mission suggests that Titan, the largest moon orbiting Saturn, is a world where rivers of liquid methane sculpt channels in continents of ice. Surface images even show gravel-sized pieces of water ice that resemble rounded stones lying in a dry riverbed on Earth. (12/5/05)

Earth's Core: Scientists have ended a 9-year-old debate by proving that Earth’s core rotates faster than its surface, by about 0.3 to 0.5 degree per year. (8/24/05)

Pito Deep: Late last January, while most people were battling winter’s cold and snow, University of Illinois structural geologist Stephen Hurst left for a monthlong cruise in the South Pacific. It was no vacation, though. Hurst joined a team of scientists, engineers and technicians who set sail from Easter Island to explore the Pito Deep, a rift in Earth’s crust nearly 6,000 meters deep. (4/21/05)

HEALTH
'Run-down' feeling: Aging may intensify and prolong feeling run down when common infections like the flu occur, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (10/11/05)

West Nile virus: Weather forecasts could become barometers for predicting the potential threat of West Nile virus to humans and wildlife, according to scientists at two state agencies based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (3/29/05)

U. of I.-Carle research: Women’s health and human-tissue regeneration are the focus of an agreement announced today between the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. (2/4/05)

MATERIALS SCIENCE
Stretchable Silicon: Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a fully stretchable form of single-crystal silicon with micron-sized, wave-like geometries that can be used to build high-performance electronic devices on rubber substrates. (12/15/05)

DNA delivery: Scientists studying the structure and interaction of negatively charged lipids and DNA molecules have created a “cookbook” for a class of nontoxic DNA delivery systems that will assist doctors and clinicians in the safe and effective delivery of genetic medicine. (8/10/05)

Lipid Mobility: Spatially resolved measurements performed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign now show that adsorption of macromolecules of different size can modify the mobility of underlying lipids. (6/20/05)

Improved Dielectric: A new dielectric material, developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, could facilitate the use of copper circuitry at the chip level. The thermally stable aromatic polymer has a low dielectric constant of 1.85, good mechanical properties and excellent adhesion. (3/28/05)

Evaporation patterns: Resembling neatly stacked rows of driftwood abandoned by receding tides, particles left by a confined, evaporating droplet can create beautiful and complex patterns. The natural, pattern-forming process could find use in fields such as nanotechnology and optoelectronics. (2/28/05)

Nanotube Molds: Scientists using molds derived from carbon nanotubes have approached the ultimate resolution – defined by molecular scale dimensions – in a widely used polymer nanoimprinting technique. By accurately replicating features with nanometer dimensions, the technique could play future roles in fabricating structures in fields as diverse as microelectronics, nanofluidics and biotechnology. (1/21/05)

MATHEMATICS

MEDICINE
Exercise: Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who study the effects of exercise on aging point to new findings that may inspire people to get up, get out and get moving on a regular basis. The research team, led by kinesiology professor Edward McAuley, found that previously sedentary seniors who incorporated exercise into their lifestyles not only improved physical function, but experienced psychological benefits as well. (10/10/05)

Vanadium: Dietary supplements containing vanadium are used by body builders to help beef up muscles and by some diabetic people to control blood sugar. New research now suggests the naturally occurring but easily toxic element may help prepare the body to recover speedily from infections from gram-negative organisms such as E. coli. (10/6/05)

Structure of IRAK-4: The first close-up look at a pro-inflammatory signaling molecule involved in immune response in mammals suggests that researchers “should rethink what they are doing” in creating drugs based on a fruit-fly model, scientists say. (10/3/05)

Estrogen's Impact: Why do estrogen-dependent breast-cancer cells grow and spread rapidly? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say it may be because estrogen virtually eliminates levels of a vitally important regulatory protein. (9/8/05)

Ambassador Program: Dr. Hugo C. Avalos, a small-town physician who has been retired for nearly four years, is helping the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign tackle a series of challenges facing the medical profession. (7/11/05)

Estrogen Research: New research is shedding light on why estrogenic hormones produce unintended results in women, giving hope to the idea that new drugs might reach their targets and work more effectively. Ultimately it could mean that postmenopausal women would know that hormone-replacement therapy would have only its intended result. (2/11/05)

U. of I.-Carle research: Women’s health and human-tissue regeneration are the focus of an agreement announced today between the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. (2/4/05)

NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES
Diet Study: Size matters when it comes to meal portions in weight-loss diets, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. And consuming convenient, nutritious frozen dinners may be a way to control portion size. (6/8/05)

Carbohydrate Profiles: An analysis of previously uncharted chemical contents, mostly carbohydrates, in U.S.-consumed mushrooms shows that these fruity edible bodies of fungi could be tailored into dietary plans to help fill various nutritional needs.(2/14/05)

PHYSICS
Plant Protein: A wilting, water-starved houseplant and flood-covered crops have something in common. That knowledge, gleaned from spinach and researchers on two continents, potentially could open the gate to advances in both plant and human health. (12/21/05)

Mott Insulators: An experimental mystery – the origin of the insulating state in a class of materials known as doped Mott insulators – has been solved by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The solution helps explain the bizarre behavior of doped Mott insulators, such as high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors. (11/28/05)

Protein Shuttle: Researchers studying how proteins called helicases travel along strands of DNA have found that when the proteins hit an obstacle they snap back to where they began, repeating the process over and over, possibly playing a preventative role in keeping the genome intact. (10/27/05)

Hydrogen Fuel: Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have opened a window by way of computer simulation that lets them see how and where hydrogen and oxygen travel to reach and exit an enzyme’s catalyst site – the H cluster – where the hydrogen is converted into energy. (10/5/05)

Proton Structure: An international team of nuclear physicists has determined that particles called strange quarks do, indeed, contribute to the ordinary properties of the proton. (6/17/05)

Superconducting nanowires: By using DNA molecules as scaffolds, scientists have created superconducting nanodevices that demonstrate a new type of quantum interference and could be used to measure magnetic fields and map regions of superconductivity. (6/16/05)

Molecular Motors: Researchers using an extremely fast and accurate imaging technique have shed light on the tiny movements of molecular motors that shuttle material within living cells. The motors cooperate in a delicate choreography of steps, rather than engaging in the brute-force tug of war many scientists had imagined. (4/7/05)

Superconductors: Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Los Alamos National Laboratory recently used a sensitive technique called point-contact spectroscopy to explore Andreev reflection between a normal metal and a heavy-fermion superconductor. Conventional theories cannot account for their data, the scientists report. (3/24/05)

Pauli Principle: Scientists seeking to explain high-temperature superconductivity have been violating the Pauli exclusion principle, a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Rutgers University report. Any theory that does not embrace the Pauli principle has a lot of explaining to do, they say. (3/24/05)

Tiny Superconductors: As described in the Jan. 14 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created high-quality superconducting wires with molecular dimensions, and measured their behavior in magnetic fields of various strengths. The observational results have confirmed that theories developed for bulk superconductors also apply to molecular-scale superconductors. (2/4/05)

PSYCHOLOGY
Eating disorders: Women who were victims of childhood sexual abuse have long been assumed to be at a higher risk for eating disorders. The results of research, however, have been mixed, with some studies showing a link and others none.

A recently published study of college-age women shows there is a connection between the two, though not a direct one. Childhood sexual abuse is not a significant risk factor on its own, but it is when combined with psychological distress (depression or anxiety) and a condition of emotional disconnection known as alexithymia, say study authors Anita Hund and Dorothy Espelage, both with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (12/19/05)

Brainworks: When it comes to focusing on a task amid distractions, some folks more than 60 years old are as mentally sharp as 22-year-olds. Others struggle. Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have shed some light on why that is. (10/26/05)

Cultural Influence: When faced with a challenging situation, a bicultural person may decide how to respond based on the cultural mindset that is active at the time, researchers have concluded. (7/18/05)

Baby Thoughts: According to conventional wisdom, babies don’t begin to develop sophisticated psychological reasoning about people until they are about 4 years old. A study of 15-month-olds at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proves otherwise. (4/14/05)

Regrets: Have regrets? Don’t push them away. Harness them and move on as a smarter person, says Neal Roese, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (1/24/05)

VETERINARY MEDICINE
Toxoplasma Infection: Keep pet cats inside, stop feeding strays, cook meat sufficiently and reconsider the way the veterinary profession and public health agencies think – and teach – about the zoonotic pathogen Toxoplasma gondii.

Such are the recommendations of Milton M. McAllister, a professor of pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He delivered that message at 8:30 a.m., Oct. 19 (2:30 p.m. CDT Tuesday, Oct. 18) in Christchurch, New Zealand, at the 20th International Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology. (10/18/05)

Canine heart disease: Using newly available biological technology, researchers have developed the first molecular portrait of multiple gene activity in diseased heart tissue taken from dogs near death from a devastating disease. The discovery sheds new light on the heart’s response to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease of large-breed dogs. (7/1/05)

Primates: Twenty-eight years after intense selective logging stopped in the region now known as Uganda’s Kibale National Park, the red-tailed guenon (Cercophithecus ascanius) is a primate still in decline. The logging practice, scientists report in a new study, changed the ecological balance for these monkeys, leading to behavioral changes and opening the door for multiple parasitic infections. (6/14/05)

Disease conference: Asian bird flu and rabies will be among the topics April 21-22 (Thursday-Friday) during the eighth annual Conference on New and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases hosted by the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. (4/13/05)