The survival of all forms of Life on Earth through geological time has depended on controlling mineral growth within the environments they inhabit. This process, called biomineralization, has been an essential unavoidable, and ubiquitously distributed force of nature that has caused essential strategic benefits (like forming bones for muscle attachment), as well as profound practical problems and impediments (such as the growth of kidney stones).
Continue reading “Biomineralization: Life Harnessing Mineral Growth Over Four Billion Years”
About 12,000 years ago, early humans began directly shaping nature through selective breeding of plants and animals. This moment in time is called the Agricultural Revolution. What humans eat today, in Chicago and around the globe, is a direct result of the advances made thousands of years before any of us were ever born. But the truth is that the Agricultural Revolution never stopped. In some ways, it’s just begun… Continue reading “Engineering Plants: The 12,000 Year Plan”
Last year’s Fall Social was one of our best yet. And while it’s a shame we can’t get together in person this year, there’s no reason we shouldn’t try and meet up via the ingenious series of tubes known as the “internet” (thanks Al Gore!).
So, with Fall right around the corner, we are inviting YOU (and anyone else hunkering down in your apartment/house/doomsday bunker) to join us for the 4th Annual Fall Social!
Continue reading “Annual Fall Social”
This summer, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a comprehensive program, called SHIELD, to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. One key to the program is a new, highly-specific test for SARS-CoV-2. Now, with a game-changing new testing procedure available, the University of Illinois System has created a team called SHIELD Illinois to deploy the program across the state. Join University of Illinois leaders to learn how SHIELD works, how it makes testing more effective, and ultimately how the program will be rolled out beyond the University’s campus.
The COVID virus pandemic has caused huge decreases in transportation and industrial activities which has resulted in decreases in air pollution levels and greenhouse emissions. Just in April 2020, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were reduced by 17% globally.
Continue reading “Is COVID-19 a “Green” Virus?”
