Story Archive

Research Brief

U of M researchers develop resource to identify corn tar spot

Corn tar spot is a new disease causing significant yield loss in the United States. The lack of information about the pathogen and epidemiology of the disease — which was first reported in the U.S. in 2015 and has since spread to multiple states, including Minnesota in 2019 — has made it difficult to diagnose and treat properly.

Research Brief

COVID-19 mortality spiked among white and rural populations in U.S. during Delta and Omicron waves

Racial disparities in U.S. COVID-19 deaths narrowed substantially from the first to the second year of the pandemic.

Research Brief

U of M faculty find that language barriers negatively affect clinical outcomes

Analysis examined COVID-19 vaccination rates and clinical outcomes and their relationship to language barriers and disparities.

Research Brief

Quitting smoking leads to a lower risk of household food insecurity

When a tobacco user quits smoking, their household is less likely to experience food insecurity in the following year.

Research Brief

Soybean crops can take advantage of climate change to increase productivity

As the climate continues to warm, atmospheric drying — the reduction of the amount of water the air can hold — is becoming a major concern for crop producers around the world.

Research Brief

The Trumpet biocomputing platform heralds a new path for medicine

University of Minnesota researchers have developed a new method of biocomputing with the potential to revolutionize medicine.

Research Brief

Food insecurity limits intuitive eating in the short and long term

A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) explores how food insecurity affects the way adolescents and emerging adults practice intuitive eating.

Research Brief

Diverse teams are more vulnerable to adversity

New research suggests that setbacks make diverse teams more likely to break up.

Research Brief

The surprising link between deer, invasive earthworms and tree harvesting

There’s a surprising and highly influential link between invasive earthworms, white-tailed deer and tree harvesting in northern forests, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.

Research Brief

New studies push back evidence for open habitats in Africa by more than 10 million years

Two new studies recently published in Science outline a paleoecological reconstruction of early ape fossil sites in eastern Africa dated to the Early Miocene — between 23 and 16 million years ago — showing early apes lived in a wide variety of habitats, including open habitats like scrublands and wooded grasslands that existed 10 million years earlier than previously known.

Research Brief

Fungi contribute to loss of structural strength in trees attacked by emerald ash borer

Since emerald ash borer (EAB) was first detected in North America in 2002, the invasive beetle has killed hundreds of millions of mature ash trees.

Research Brief

Men’s interest in startups increases if their spouse’s career takes priority

New research suggests gender norms and career prioritization influence the decision to risk a career change to a startup.

Research Brief

Discriminatory housing policies created an unequal park system in Minneapolis

A new study sheds light on the origins of racial disparities in the Minneapolis park system and their long-lasting consequences for environmental justice in the city.

Research Brief

U of M students sequence genome of newly discovered soybean pest

University of Minnesota students conducted crucial genome sequencing for a newly discovered pest called soybean gall midge, which is threatening the soybean crop, one of the most widely cultivated and consumed throughout the world.

Research Brief

New study examines mental-health outcomes for Black students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities

While the outcomes of institutional racism in our education system have been well documented — Black and American Indian students are half as likely to graduate from college within four years compared to white and Asian students — few people know about the impact that structural racism within educational institutions has on mental health outcomes for students.

Research Brief

Jewel beetles evolve to see new colors by duplicating their genes

New research probes the vibrant vision and complex evolutionary history of jewel beetles.

Research Brief

U of M research indicates clues to early detection and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease

College of Veterinary Medicine researchers Manci Li and Assistant Professor Peter Larsen looked at existing data from both Alzheimer’s brains and healthy brains to identify the key neuropeptides — the chemical messengers that are released by neurons — involved in Alzheimer’s. They also examined the relationship between neuropeptide activity and aging.

Research Brief

How rideshare surge pricing impacts complaints

Surge pricing for rides influences customer evaluation of driver performance, according to a new study from Carlson School of Management researchers.

Research Brief

Federal workers left their jobs at higher rates in the first year of the pandemic

In the opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal workers across several agencies voluntarily left their jobs at higher rates than they had pre-pandemic, according to new research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH).

Research Brief

Nearly half of pregnant people experiencing intimate partner violence are not screened before or after pregnancy

Most policy, research and clinical efforts to reduce maternal mortality focus on clinical risk factors and the quality of hospital-based care for pregnant people, but a new study examines maternal safety outside the clinical setting — in homes and communities.