News

  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • 2019-11-14 - A new study, co-authored by Northeastern University professor Charles Hillman and Naiman Khan at the University of Illinois, found that drinking water and staying hydrated increased children’s ability to multitask and improved their reaction times. “Kids who were more hydrated performed better on...
  • 2019-10-07 - Rogers and Mudar said the primary research aims are to understand challenges adults with cognitive disability deal with every day, and to identify existing and emerging technology that can help. Three segments of the population are part of the study group: Adults 60 and older with mild cognitive...
  • 2019-09-10 - A team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that honey bees can remember positive and negative experiences—such as taking care of their young or fending off an enemy. These memories are then stored in specific areas of their brains, according to how good or bad...
  • 2019-08-23 - The Juvenile Detention Center Outreach program, conceived by neuroscience student Ian Traniello, has been running for five years. To date, roughly a dozen neuroscience students have participated, most of whom had never taught behind bars. Now, the JDC outreach team has been on several local panels...
  • 2019-08-15 - According to bee expert and University of Illinois professor Gene E. Robinson, urban environments like Chicago are actually great for bees. There are often less pesticides and a wider variety of flowering plants and trees to feed on. Still, raising bees in the Midwest comes with its own challenges...
  • 2019-08-09 - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will fund two projects for research on human performance optimization within United States war fighters at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
  • 2019-07-25 - Neuroscientist shines new light on a natural phenomenon:  The anemonefish is a gender-bending marvel. It starts out as a male, but can switch to female when circumstances allow, for example, when the only female present dies or disappears. In a new study, researchers found that the male-...
  • 2019-07-25 - On Thursday, July 18th, the University of Illinois held "Illini Fest."  This first ever event, initiated by the Chief Marketing Officer, Eric Minor, was designed to showcase the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Chicago.  It was a way to "wake up" the city of Chicago and...
  • 2019-07-24 - Beckman Institute - 07/24/19  Fatima Husain’s group has published one paper and has another forthcoming that measure the behavioral, functional, and structural changes associated with using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as an intervention for tinnitus. Living with tinnitus means...