Tagged: biological sciences

NIU biologist awarded $340,000 NASA grant

Wesley Swingley’s work will advance search for life on exoplanets

  • January 16, 2019
DeKALB, Ill. — Wesley Swingley has spent his career studying organisms that are too small to be seen with the naked eye, yet exist all around us. But the assorted…

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Reed Scherer

NIU’s growing Antarctic footprint

Scientists on quest to assess risk of future ice sheet collapse

  • January 11, 2019
DeKalb, Ill. — On Jan. 18, Reed Scherer once again will venture into the depths of Antarctica, boarding the same ship he traveled elsewhere on decades ago as an eager…

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Spearheading protection of Malagasy rainforest

Creation of preserve is a dream come true for professors Mitch Irwin and Karen Samonds

  • April 9, 2018
An international nonprofit organization founded by two Northern Illinois University professors and a foreign colleague is now spearheading the creation of a 65,000-acre, high-altitude rainforest preserve in Madagascar. Anthropology professor…

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Fixing damaged ecosystems: How much does restoration help?

Study: Nature can bounce back but full recovery is elusive

  • February 28, 2018
DeKalb, Ill. – Across the globe, billions of dollars are spent annually on repairing ecosystems damaged by people. Forests denuded by logging. Rivers polluted by industry. Grasslands converted to agriculture….

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Reclaiming the prairie

Study finds Nachusa Grasslands restoration is working in the soil, too

  • July 18, 2017
Summer is abloom at Nachusa Grasslands, where the warmth of July is igniting an explosion of color. Purple coneflowers point to the sky. Big bluestem grass sways in the breeze….

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Study examines life history of Midwestern rattlesnake

Scientists show how climate, geography impact endangered Eastern Massasauga

  • February 14, 2017
Most Midwesterners have never encountered a rattlesnake—but the snakes do indeed exist in these parts, though their numbers are dwindling. While you won’t find them slithering along Chicago’s Michigan Avenue,…

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Marching to her own beat

NIU Student Lincoln Laureate juggles demanding music, biochemistry majors

  • November 10, 2016
If Rebecca Rasmussen, NIU’s newly named Student Lincoln Laureate, marches to her own beat, she certainly keeps a breathless pace. Consider Rasmussen’s rapid accumulation of awards, leadership experiences and remarkable…

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Bird’s-eye view

NIU researchers using drone to study effect of bison return to Nachusa

  • October 12, 2016
The Nachusa Grasslands near Dixon, Ill., just a 45-minute drive from the NIU campus, had a new visitor flying overhead this past summer, but it wasn’t one of the nature preserve’s many…

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