Feature Stories

a glass of beer in the 1869 Tap Room at Purdue

Helping Breweries Tap into Their Potential

Friday, April 27th, 2018

Something’s brewing in Indiana Brewers Association statistics recorded 63 breweries in the state in 2013. Three years later, that number had more than doubled. Brewing has become a multimillion-dollar industry in Indiana, and while it may never reach the scale of industries like production agriculture or advanced manufacturing, Farkas saw an opportunity to support this…

Our Surprising Strength: Cancer Research

Friday, April 27th, 2018

Shape-shifting RNA For many years, most scientists have been focused on the role DNA plays in cancer cell formation. But there is growing emphasis on RNA, a chemical messenger that takes instructions from DNA to encode proteins. The shape of DNA can determine how and when genes are turned on or off in the cell….

collage featuring chorizo, a recycled chair, and a plant grown in a bottle

Using the Unused

Friday, April 27th, 2018

Trash or treasure? Liceaga isn’t the only faculty member in the College of Agriculture converting the useless to something usable. Researchers are tackling local, regional and global problems in new ways. Tamara Benjamin, assistant program leader and diversified agriculture specialist, had been brainstorming ways to get fresh fruits and vegetables into local food banks. The small…

A woman sells seeds in the Kimironko Market in Kigali, Rwanda. Purdue’s Postharvest initiative shares technologies and training that help dry, store, and process these grains important in local diets. Photo courtesy of J.C. Rubyogo.A woman sells seeds in the Kimironko Market in Kigali, Rwanda. Purdue’s Postharvest initiative shares technologies and training that help dry, store, and process these grains important in local diets.

Saving for the Future

Monday, November 20th, 2017

Historically, increasing crop production was the focus of agricultural research to feed the global population. The increased attention to postharvest loss reduction and processing grains into nutritious, value-added food products is relatively new, says Suzanne Nielsen, professor of food science and coordinator of Purdue’s Postharvest Initiative. That increased focus is important, because as the Food…

Three höömei (throat singers) from the Mongolian group Khusugtun ready their instruments, which mimic the sounds of wind, birds, and insects. The group, photographed in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park and featured in the film “Global Soundscapes! A Mission to Record the Earth,” is often referred to as the Beatles of Mongolia and performed on the television show “Asia’s Got Talent.”

Reverberations in the Landscape

Monday, November 20th, 2017

New frontiers in science As a pioneer and leader in the field of soundscape ecology, Pijanowski expands the frontiers of environmental research. His work has been covered by global media outlets such as CNN, NPR, and PBS, and was the basis of a feature film, “Global Soundscapes: Mission to Record the Earth,” shown at IMAX…

The PhenoRover’s height and width can be adjusted, as can the height of its boom and the number and types of sensors attached to it.

The Big Data Harvest

Friday, November 17th, 2017

“What we’re really developing is an IoT testbed for agriculture,” says Karen Plaut, interim dean of the College of Agriculture. “We want to bring advanced sensors together with weather data, drone data, and data collected by any other type of equipment farmers use in the field, so that they can make smart decisions in real…

Launching Technology from Discovery to Delivery

Thursday, May 4th, 2017

For farmers, crop loss can be significant, as grain laid in the sun to dry and then threshed by stomping animals can blow away or become contaminated by those animals, dust, or insects. Later, when taking the grain to market, rutted, sometimes muddy roads make vehicle transportation difficult. Farmers tend to walk, carrying only what they can haul by hand.

Fungi Hunters Uncover Hidden Worlds

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017

Guyana, in the northeastern corner of South America, hosts some of the world’s last remaining virgin tropical rainforests. There, in the upper Potaro Basin of western Guyana near Mount Ayanganna, Professor Cathie Aime and her colleagues hunt for undiscovered fungi.

a storm looms in the background of young corn crops in a field

Taming the Bear Market

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2017

One of the nation’s leading agricultural economists, Hurt knows exactly what to look for in the dense block of data—specifically, which numbers will move the market up or down. For hundreds of farm families, a swing of a few cents in the price of a bushel of corn or soybeans can mean the difference between putting money away for a child’s education and keeping food on the table. The line between success and subsistence can be painfully thin.