News Releases

The ISU Prairie STRIPS project has found the strategic use of native prairie plants among agricultural fields yields a wide range of environmental benefits, including erosion and runoff reduction and increased wildlife habitat. The findings, published this week, draw on 10 years of data and cover dozens of environmental metrics.

Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine offers students and current veterinarians opportunities to get hands-on experience with bovine embryo transfer, a growing practice that helps cattle producers pass on desirable genetics to more calves. But it requires a trained eye.

Brent Shanks, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and director of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals, will testify before a U.S. Senate committee Thursday (Sept. 28, 8:30 a.m. CST). The Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry is holding a hearing on rural development, energy programs and the 2018 Farm Bill. Both Iowa senators serve on this committee. Shanks' comments relate directly to Title IX in the Farm Bill regarding development of advanced biofuels production from biomass. A livestream video of the hearing will be available online. 

A new Iowa State University study is one of the first to demonstrate the consequences of allowing children to have a TV or video game system in their bedroom. Researchers found children spent less time reading, sleeping or participating in other activities when they could go in their room and watch TV or play video games. As a result, they did not do as well in school and were at greater risk for obesity and video game addiction.

October marks the 80th anniversary of the 1937 Haitian massacre, which killed an estimated 20,000 Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. Megan Jeanette Myers says the anniversary is a time for reflection and recognition. The ISU assistant professor is a co-founder of Border of Lights, an organization that provides support to border communities and commemorates the lives lost in the massacre.

ISU agricultural experts explain the grain markets, agronomic conditions and weather trends that will shape this year’s harvest. All four experts are available to news media for interviews.

Comedian, mental health advocate and author Sara Benincasa will share her experience with mental illness, panic attacks and college life during a talk at Iowa State. Benincasa will present "Help! You Need Somebody!" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. Her talk is free and open to the public. It is part of the Mental Health Expo, a resource fair with local mental health and substance abuse professionals that will be held in the adjoining South Ballroom beginning at 6 p.m.

Relationships with our mothers and siblings continue to have an effect on our well-being, particularly at midlife. A new study led by Iowa State University researcher Megan Gilligan found that tension with our mothers and siblings, similar to our spouses, is associated with symptoms of depression.

Twenty years ago, then-President Bill Clinton issued a formal apology for the U.S. Public Health Service's 40-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study. During the study, 600 poor African-American men — many with latent syphilis — were unknowingly treated with a placebo so researchers could monitor the disease's progression for decades, long after a treatment was widely available. Harriet Washington will discuss the Tuskegee study and others in "Medical Apartheid: The History of Experimentation on Black Americans" at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept 18, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. 

Only five people were interviewed for the video exhibition on race relations at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. Tim Wise was one of them. A renowned antiracist writer and educator, Wise will present "Understanding and Defeating Racism and Discrimination in America" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, in Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University. His talk is free and open to the public.