News Service

Saturday, May 25

Doctors can estimate patient adherence by simply asking about medication routine

May 21, 2019

Doctors know patients do not always take their medications as prescribed. To help them stay on track, new Iowa State University research suggests doctors stop asking patients about missed pills and start asking about their routines.
Fresh off the assembly line: Power Pullers set to compete with newly built tractor

May 21, 2019

Iowa State University students will enter a quarter-scale tractor they designed and built into an international competition at the end of the month. The articulated, four-wheel-drive machine will compete in a range of categories, including performance, safety and manufacturability. The team also submits a written report and an oral presentation. The team hopes to improve on a fifth-place overall finish in last year’s competition.
These four values lessen the power of transformational leadership

May 16, 2019

Transformational leadership is considered one of the most effective ways to motivate and inspire employees. However, new research finds cultural values significantly limit its effectiveness.
Calling attention to gender bias dramatically changes course evaluations

May 15, 2019

With growing evidence of gender bias on student course evaluations, a new intervention developed by Iowa State University researchers may help reduce bias against women instructors. They added language to the evaluation form aimed at making students aware of potential biases, which yielded significantly higher scores for women instructors.
Cardinal Space Mining builds hybrid trencher-bucket system to go for the gravel

May 7, 2019

Cardinal Space Mining will test its latest mining machine during a competition at the University of Alabama this week. Team members think a new hybrid system for digging and loading buried gravel (representing subsurface Martian ice) could be the key to successful mining runs.
Precision radiation therapy is now a treatment option for pets at Iowa State University animal hospital

May 6, 2019

The Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital at Iowa State University recently opened a new radiation treatment facility for pets with tumors. The facility delivers stereotactic radiation therapy, a high-dose and precise option that can reduce greatly the number of treatments necessary to get the desired results. The treatment also causes less disruption to a pet’s life and has fewer side effects.
Senegal native, new Iowa State graduate sets his sights set on sustainable energy

May 6, 2019

Mouhamad Diallo moved to Iowa from Senegal in 2013. Six years later, he’s graduating from Iowa State University with a dual degree in mechanical engineering and materials science. After graduation, he’ll pursue a Ph.D. in materials science, studying sustainable energy to improve lives not only in Senegal, but around the world.
Student graduating from Iowa State — 20 years after starting college in Brazil

May 6, 2019

This weekend, Patricia O’Connell will finally finish at Iowa State University what she started in Brazil 20 years ago: a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Her degree sets her on a path to pursue her passion combining psychology and fitness in a career as a health educator.
You’ll find her in the stacks: ISU graduating senior will be third-generation librarian

May 6, 2019

Cassandra Anderson is following in her mother’s and grandmother’s footsteps, as she graduates from Iowa State University this weekend and begins her next adventure: becoming a third-generation librarian.

In the news

In this town, you apply for a job and you get it

NPR May 24, 2019

Ames has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. That's great for workers -- but a challenge for those looking for them. Iowa State economist Peter Orazem says one reason jobs are so plentiful is that college towns like Ames emerged from the Great Recession in stronger shape than other places. "Where the U.S. economy is growing tends to be in the sorts of things that universities are typically good at producting -- educated employees and research," he says.

What scallops' many eyes can teach us about the evolution of vision

Smithsonian magazine May 17, 2019

Did you know scallops have up to 200 tiny eyes along the edge of the mantle lining their shells? The complexities of these mollusk eyes are still being unveiled. Associate Professor Jeanne Serb studies opsins, the light-sensitive proteins found in the photoreceptor cells of the retina. "It turns out scallop eyes have three times as many opsins as we do," Serb says. Serb, who also directs Iowa State's Office of Biotechnology, believes opsins, in most cases, are being repurposed from some other function within the animal to be used in the eyes. Her research is providing new clues to the molecular underpinnings of vision.

Connecting the country's power grids

Iowa Public Radio May 14, 2019

Iowa State's James McCalley explains how significantly expanding the connections between the country's eastern and western power grids could allow wind power from the Midwest and solar power from the Southwest to move back and forth across the country. Click the bottom "Listen" bar.

Will residents come back to flooded communities?

USA TODAY May 3, 2019

Associate Professor David Peters, sociology, says strong relationships in flood-ravaged communities like Pacific Junction are the key to recovery.