A campus COVID-19 success story

Once the novel coronavirus emptied college campuses across the world, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) leapt into action to figure out how to bring students back safely in the fall. A new article in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, details how UIUC’s efforts to…

Ants are skilled farmers: They have solved a problem that we humans have yet to

Fungus-farming ants are an insect lineage that relies on farmed fungus for their survival. In return for tending to their fungal crops–protecting them against pests and pathogens, providing them with stable growth conditions in underground nests, and provisioning them with nutritional ‘fertilizers’–the ants gain a stable food supply. These fungus farming systems are an expression…

The dangers of collecting drinking water

Collecting drinking water in low and middle income countries can cause serious injury, particularly for women, according to new research from the University of East Anglia. A new international study published in BMJ Global Health reveals dangers including falls, traffic accidents, animal attacks, and fights, which can result in broken bones, spinal injuries, lacerations, and…