science wire

Negative public images hamper child welfare investigators
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Even parents who have had no with child welfare agencies believe negative stereotypes about social workers and the likely outcomes of abuse or neglect investigations, misconceptions that complicate agencies' efforts to engage parents in interventions. However, a new study suggests that training workers in communication and relationship-building skills, and ensuring that their caseloads are reasonable so they can spend adequate time with clients, could be as vital for Child Protective Services agencies as training workers about their statutory responsibilities.

Capitalism and democracy not compatible on the Internet, author says
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Two decades into the digital age, the Internet is now “enmeshed in the fabric of nearly every aspect of life,” says University of Illinois communication Robert McChesney.

Reversible assembly leads to tiny encrypted messages
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Hidden in a tiny tile of interwoven DNA is a message. The message is simple, but decoding it unlocks the secret of dynamic nanoscale assembly. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have devised a dynamic and reversible way to assemble nanoscale structures and used it to encrypt a Morse code message.

Older adults benefit from home-based DVD exercise program
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Fitness DVDs are a multimillion-dollar business, and those targeting adults over the age of 55 are a major part of the market.

Nick Holonyak Jr. elected a charter fellow of the National Academy of Inventors

Psychology professor Ed Diener receives lifetime achievement award

’Mouse trap’ allows vets to make faster diagnoses, without anethesia
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.

Stem cells in a human parasite
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - From the point of view of its ultimate (human) host, the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma mansoni has a gruesome way of life. It hatches in feces-tainted water, grows into a larva in the body of a snail and then burrows through human skin to take up residence in the veins. Once there, it grows into an adult, mates and, if it's female, starts laying eggs.

Males’ superior spatial ability likely is not an evolutionary adaptation
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Males and females differ in a lot of traits (besides the obvious ones) and some evolutionary psychologists have proposed hypotheses to explain why. Some argue, for example, that males' slight, but significant, superiority in spatial navigation over females - a phenomenon demonstrated repeatedly in many species, including humans - is probably “adaptive,” meaning that over the course of evolutionary history the trait gave males an advantage that led them to have more offspring than their peers.

’X-Files’ creator Chris Carter to attend 30th annual Insect Fear Film Festival

Climate change’s costly wild weather consequences
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Throughout 2012, the United States was battered by severe weather events such as hurricanes and droughts that affected both pocketbooks and livelihoods.

Researchers strain to improve electrical material and it’s worth it
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Like turning coal to diamond, adding pressure to an electrical material enhances its properties.

New website educates about wildlife, conversation, natural resources

Food science expert: Genetically modified crops are overregulated
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - It has been almost 20 years since the first genetically modified foods showed up in produce aisles throughout the United States and the rest of the world, but controversy continues to surround the products and their regulation. Bruce Chassy , a professor emeritus of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, believes that after thousands of research studies and worldwide planting, “genetically modified foods pose no special risks to consumers or the environment” and are overregulated.

Lipid researcher, 98, reports on the causes of heart disease
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A 98-year-old researcher argues that, contrary to decades of clinical assumptions and advice to patients, dietary cholesterol is good for your heart - unless that cholesterol is unnaturally oxidized (by frying foods in reused oil, eating lots of polyunsaturated fats, or smoking). The researcher, Fred Kummerow, an emeritus professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Illinois, has spent more than six decades studying the dietary factors that contribute to heart disease.

Engineer receives Humboldt Research Award

Stem-cell approach shows promise for Duchenne muscular dystrophy
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Researchers have shown that transplanting stem cells derived from normal mouse blood vessels into the hearts of mice that model the pathology associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) prevents the decrease in heart function associated with DMD. Their findings appear in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

Carl R. Woese, who discovered a new domain of life, dies at 84
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - University of Illinois microbiology and Institute for Genomic Biology Carl R. Woese, who adopted a molecular approach to classifying organisms and upended taxonomy with the discovery of a “third domain” of life, died Sunday (Dec.

Strength training improves vascular function in young black men
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Six weeks of weight training can significantly improve blood markers of cardiovascular health in young African-American men, researchers report in the Journal of Human Hypertension. The researchers measured blood markers associated with inflammation, immune response or the remodeling of arteries that normally occur after tissue damage, infection or other types of stress.

Curbing car travel could be as effective as cutting calories
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Those considering how to maintain a healthy weight during holiday festivities, or looking ahead to New Year's resolutions, may want to think twice before reaching for traditional staples like cookies or candy - or the car keys.

Nanofibers clean sulfur from fuel
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Sulfur compounds in petroleum fuels have met their nano-structured match. University of Illinois researchers developed mats of metal oxide nanofibers that scrub sulfur from petroleum-based fuels much more effectively than traditional materials.  Such efficiency could lower costs and improve performance for fuel-based catalysis, advanced energy applications and toxic gas removal.

Engineers roll up their sleeves and then do same with inductors
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - On the road to smaller, high-performance electronics, University of Illinois researchers have smoothed one speed bump by shrinking a key, yet notoriously large element of integrated circuits. Three-dimensional rolled-up inductors have a footprint more than 100 times smaller without sacrificing performance.

A better bet? Wagering on teams coming off a bye week
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Think your simple wagering strategy for professional football - such as always picking the home team or the underdog - is going to pay off in the long run? Don't bet on it, say sports economists Scott Tainsky and Yoon Tae Sung.

The dark side of kerosene lamps: High black carbon emissions
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The small kerosene lamps that light millions of homes in developing countries have a dark side: black carbon - fine particles of soot released into the atmosphere.

Agricultural, health education goes global via cellphone animations
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - They're watching them in Benin , Brazil, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India and Niger. They're learning how to stop the spread of dengue , malaria , tuberculosis , cholera and food-related illness.

Leisure activities cultivate hope, resilience in disaster survivors
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - As survivors of Hurricane Sandy are learning, the emotional toll of natural disasters is as profound as their physical devastation.

Five named to Swanlund Chairs, campus’s premier endowed recognition
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Five professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been named Swanlund Chairs, the highest endowed titles on the Urbana campus.

Magazine cites U. of I. historian’s book as among best in 2012 list
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Atlantic Magazine named “Evening's Empire,” by University of Illinois history Craig Koslofsky, as one of the 15 best books reviewed by the magazine or published in 2012.

Six professors at Illinois named 2012 AAAS fellows

Proteins that work at the end of DNA could provide cancer insight
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - New insights into a protein complex that regulates the very tips of chromosomes could improve methods of screening anti-cancer drugs. Led by bioengineering Sua Myong , the research group's findings are published in the journal Structure. Myong's group focused on understanding the proteins that protect and regulate telomeres, segments of repeating DNA units that cap the ends of chromosomes.

The selling of wartime needs sold the U.S. on advertising, author says

Name that ant! New online tool helps identify alien ant invaders
CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Researchers have created an interactive website, called Antkey , which includes more than 1,150 images and 70 video clips to help users determine an ant's identity from more than 100 invasive and commonly introduced global species. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, $1 billion in cross-border commerce between the United States and Mexico takes place each day.

U. of I. alumnus named Marshall Scholar