Each year, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign makes tremendous contributions to society and humanity through discoveries, inventions, and advancements. Each year the campus sees its faculty and alumni recognized with the world's highest awards and most prestigious prizes. This year is no exception. Here, arranged chonologically, are a dozen examples of news stories in which the campus has taken particular pride.

First ever computer simulation of a complete life form

Illinois biologists completed the first computer simulation of an entire life form - a virus. The accomplishment, collaborative work between Illinois computational biologists and University of California at Irvine crystallographers, was detailed in the March issue of the journal Structure.

Woese joins Newton, Darwin in Royal Society

Illinois Microbiologist Carl Woese was elected as a foreign member of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest continuously active scientific academy in the world. The Royal Society cited Woese for his discovery of a third major division of life, the archaea (pronounced ARE-kee-uh) that ranks equally with bacteria and eukaryotes (protozoa, fungi, plants and animals).

Illinois alum steps into Bill Gates' job at Microsoft

With the news of Bill Gate's retirement from the day-to-day management of Microsoft Corp., the company announced that Illinois alumnus and Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie would immediately assume the title of chief software architect and begin working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities, to ensure a smooth transition.

Food-crop yields predicted to fall in future greenhouse-gas conditions

Open-air field trials involving five major food crops grown under carbon-dioxide levels projected for the future produced dramatically less bounty than those raised in earlier greenhouse and other enclosed test conditions. Professor Stephen Long and his team warn that global food supplies could be at risk without changes in production strategies.

Synthetic molecule causes cancer cells to self-destruct

University of Illinois scientists found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide. The novel technique potentially offers an effective method of providing personalized anti-cancer therapy.

New imaging technique helps combat breast cancer

A near-infrared imaging technique being developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign could have a significant impact in the way doctors detect, diagnose and treat breast cancer.

Astronomers find evidence our sun has siblings

The death of a massive nearby star billions of years ago offers evidence the sun was born in a star cluster. Rather than being an only child, the sun could have hundreds or thousands of celestial siblings, now dispersed across the heavens.

Illinois team finds oasis of art in Egyptian desert

When Douglas Brewer ventured deep into the Egyptian desert this year, he expected to find possibly 100 examples of 'rock art' — evidence of ancient civilization. What the archaeology professor actually found were well over 1,000 examples — a treasure trove of rock art.

YouTube popularity skyrockets, alumni creators sell to Google

The Google announcement of its $1.65 billion purchase of popular video-sharing site YouTube made front-page news. This cluster of Internet superstars - YouTube co-founders Jawed Karim (B.S. '04), Steve Chen, and the man who first brought them together at PayPal, Max Levchin (B.S. '97) - all come from the Department of Computer Science at Illinois!

Lantibiotics: Next new drug type to fight infections

An Illinois team's discovery and preparation of a naturally occurring antibiotic could open the door to new therapeutic drugs for treating antibiotic-resistant infections.

Exercise shown to reverse brain deterioration brought on by aging

The wait for an anti-aging treatment is over, according to cognitive neuroscientists and kinesiologists at Illinois. While not as effortless as popping a pill, the treatment – moderate exercise – may be a simple and effective way to reverse age-related brain deterioration.

Richard Powers wins the National Book Award

Richard Powers, the author of eight previous novels and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient, won the National Book Award for his novel, "The Echo Maker." Powers, the Swanlund Professor of English and Writer-In-Residence at Illinois, had been a finalist for the award in 1993, for "Operation Wandering Soul."

World's fastest transistor breaks Illinois' own record

Illinois scientists have again broken their own speed record for the world's fastest transistor. With a frequency of 845 gigahertz, their latest device is approximately 300 gigahertz faster than transistors built by other research groups, and approaches the goal of a terahertz device.