2020-03-03
- CSL Assistant Professor Lav R Varshney is featured in a new YouTube Originals series “The Age of A.I.” Varshney shares his expertise as the episode explores using artificial intelligence to build a better human. Hosted by Robert Downey Jr., the episode investigates augmenting human abilities with A.I. and our reliance on A.I. to make decisions for us.
2020-02-28 - Neuroscience Program alumna, Jill Becker is being honored at the upcoming 30th Anniversary Annual Awards Dinner for the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR). She received her PhD at the Urbana-Champaign campus while working with Victor Rameriz in the early stages of the Neuroscience Program when it was known as “Neural & Behavioral Biology”. Her research focused then on the effects of...
2020-02-27 - Naiman Khan, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health and principal investigator of the Body Composition & Nutritional Neuroscience Laboratory. His research utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to integrate knowledge in the disciplines of dietetics, body composition, and cognitive neuroscience to understand the interactions between nutrition,...
2020-02-27 - Fan Lam's enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research has earned him a National Science Foundation CAREER award and more than $500,000 to support his project, “Ultrahigh-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging for Label-Free Molecular Imaging of the Brain." As a researcher and assistant professor in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lam is...
2020-02-26 - Nancy McElwain, a professor of human development and family studies, will discuss “Children in the Wild: Developmental Theory Meets Engineering Solutions” at the second spring Director’s Seminar. Her talk begins at noon March 5, in Room 1005 Beckman. Lunch is provided.
2020-02-26 - Global health organizations recommend breast milk as the ideal source of nutrients for babies. However, breastfeeding may not be possible for all women due to specific medical situations, lifestyles, or comfort levels. For individuals that either cannot or choose not to breastfeed, infant formula serves as a convenient and healthy alternative. Nutritional technologies being incorporated into...
2020-02-25 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In a new study, researchers report they can manipulate how the brain encodes and retains emotional memories. The scientists found that focusing on the neutral details of a disturbing scene can weaken a person’s later memories – and negative impressions – of that scene. The findings, reported in the journal Neuropsychologia, could lead to the development of methods to increase...
2020-02-18 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study of 55 women found that two of the most popular forms of bariatric surgery – Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy – may dramatically change patients’ sensitivity to and absorption of alcohol. Some women’s sensitivity to alcohol increased so much after bariatric surgery that the amount they could consume before feeling the effects was reduced...
2020-02-14 - Scientific and public appreciation for microbes — and the key role their communal actions play in environmental health, food production, and human wellness — has grown in recent years. While initially considered to be static, uniform entities, microbial communities are highly complex and contain internal chemical swapfests that are in constant flux.
2020-02-12 - A black-and-white Boston terrier named Chevy, as sleek and dapper as a seal in a tuxedo, trots crisply into the soundproof testing room. His jaunty confidence will fade quickly as a team of researchers subjects him to a series of psychological experiments that will daunt, dismay, and ultimately baffle him. Poor Chevy is about to be gaslit for the sake of science. This spiffy little terrier is...
2020-02-06 - Since 1969, when the first two awards were conferred on founding members Chester Darrow and R.C. Davis, the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR) has recognized the outstanding and sustained contributions of some of its most prominent members with the society's highest honor, the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychophysiology. In the 60‐year history of SPR, only 36 individuals...
2020-02-05 - Two grants will fund interdisciplinary research at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, including a look at how neurons and muscle cells communicate with each other and also to develop a drug delivery system for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Kong's research goal is to develop advanced material systems related to human health.- 2020-01-24 - It’s not just the chanciness of sample preparation; it’s also the lack of access that frustrates Claudio Grosman, a biophysicist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who studies a membrane protein in muscle cells and neurons that binds to nicotine and other drugs. He is waiting to see whether he will get time at the Simons Center, which has added four NIH-funded Krios machines to...
2019-12-13 - Stress in humans and animals is linked to shrinkage of the hippocampus. Regular practice of yoga can help enhance nerve connections in many of the same brain regions that benefit from aerobic exercise, according to a study reviewing 11 other previous research on Hatha yoga—which includes body movements, meditation, and breathing. Researchers said the brain health of participants were compared at...
2019-11-14 - Cowbirds outsource parenting to other species, but an innate password tells their children to copy cowbird songs. Now, a new paper describes how the cowbird chicks may learn to recognize and sing their own species’ songs. "We kind of opened the paper with this existential question," said Sarah London, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago. "How do you know who you are if no one's shown...