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My work is a conduit that moves discoveries from scientists' lab benches, fields, and computers into Twitter feeds and conversations. I help scientists share their stories, and I help journalists find scientists with stories to share.
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Derek Wildman: Computing genomes for reproductive health
More than 2 billion babies will be born over the next 35 years. As many as one in eight of these babies may be born prematurely, with...
Claire Benjamin
Sep 1, 20152 min read
Klaus Schulten: Seeing with the quantum biology of vision
Klaus Schulten drafts blueprints of life—not with a pen, but with a computer program that his group developed over the last two decades....
Claire Benjamin
Apr 17, 20153 min read
Monkey droppings complement field observations, researchers report
In South American rainforests, researchers can tell one saddle-back tamarin from another, but what’s more difficult, is to see what the...
Claire Benjamin
Apr 15, 20153 min read
First report of a new crop virus in North America
The switchgrass exhibited mosaic symptoms—splotchy, discolored leaves—characteristic of a viral infection, yet tested negative for known...
Claire Benjamin
Apr 9, 20153 min read
Microbes scared to death by virus presence
The microbes could surrender to the harmless virus, but instead freeze in place, dormant, waiting for their potential predator to go...
Claire Benjamin
Apr 4, 20153 min read
Scientists find DNA is packaged like a yoyo
To pack two meters of DNA into a microscopic cell, the string of genetic information must be wound extremely carefully into chromosomes....
Claire Benjamin
Mar 16, 20153 min read
Vijay Singh: Fueling the future
Singh has been working with biofuels from the start, long before many others flocked to the technology that could deliver a...
Claire Benjamin
Mar 1, 20152 min read
Jonathan Sweedler: Exploring the brain’s frontier
Jonathan Sweedler uses grapefruit-sized sea slugs—that can weigh more than four pounds—to study how chemicals, like serotonin and...
Claire Benjamin
Feb 1, 20153 min read
Princess Imoukhuede: A jack-of-all-trades
Princess Imoukhuede, an assistant professor of bioengineering, is not just an interdisciplinary collaborator; she is an interdisciplinary...
Claire Benjamin
Dec 1, 20142 min read
Koala study reveals clues about origins of the human genome
Eight percent of your genome derives from retroviruses that inserted themselves into human sex cells millions of years ago. Right now the...
Claire Benjamin
Nov 7, 20143 min read
James Doroghazi: Designing for the next generation
At a time when scientists and farmers are thinking about feeding several billion more people, Western corn rootworm, known as the...
Claire Benjamin
Nov 1, 20142 min read
James O’Dwyer: From physics to ecological theory
James O’Dwyer, an assistant professor of plant biology at the University of Illinois and member of the Institute for Genomic Biology,...
Claire Benjamin
Oct 1, 20143 min read
New research may help doctors personalize cancer treatments
Most types of tumors, including cancer, require a supply of blood to grow larger than a few millimeters. Scientists have made great...
Claire Benjamin
Sep 26, 20143 min read
Karen Sears: Looking at life's changes
When most five-year-olds dreamed of careers as superheroes and princesses, Karen Sears (GNDP) decided she wanted to be a...
Claire Benjamin
Sep 1, 20142 min read
Climate relicts may help researchers understand climate change
While hiking through the Ozarks’ characteristic oak and hickory forests as a teenager, ecologist Scott Woolbright discovered something...
Claire Benjamin
Aug 26, 20142 min read
Classic Lewis Carroll character inspires new ecological model
Inspired by the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, collaborators from the University of Illinois and National...
Claire Benjamin
Jul 30, 20143 min read
Transforming the hunt for new antibiotics and cancer therapies
Pictured left to right: Courtney Cox, James Doroghazi, Joel Melby, principal investigator Doug Mitchell, Jonathan Tietz, and Karol...
Claire Benjamin
Jul 14, 20144 min read
Molecular archaeology puts artifacts in perspective
Buried inside the Earth, lay secrets. Archeologists piece together histories often lost to time as they unearth human remains and their...
Claire Benjamin
Jul 11, 20144 min read
Illinois study may improve rice productivity
Transnational rice study on photosynthesis could improve international food security Kyoto University visiting professor and study lead...
Claire Benjamin
Jun 21, 20143 min read
Collaborative learning: The OLLI Citizen Scientist Program
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program helps senior citizens explore new callings Cell and Developmental Biology Professor Stephanie...
Claire Benjamin & August Schiess
May 16, 20148 min read
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