Latest Stories ⋅ Page 198

MU faculty earn funding through the Missouri Life Sciences Research Trust Fund

Seven Missouri researchers recently received funding through the Missouri Life Sciences Research Trust Fund. Six of the researchers are from the University of Missouri—of these, three are from the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. The grants total $5,525,785.

Taking a bite out of cattle feed costs

MU Southwest Center researchers identify genetics that make a more efficient cow

Escalating feed and fertilizer prices have eroded profitability in the beef industry nationwide. With over 54,000 beef operations and the second largest beef herd in the U.S., Missouri stands to lose a lot. Researchers at University of Missouri’s Southwest Center near Mt. Vernon, Mo., have found how many pounds a cow gains per pound of feed consumed varies between animals.

A promising new way to grow rice

A research program succeeds in spite of a passing hurricane

Despite being battered by the remnants of Hurricane Ike, an experiment to grow rice under center-pivot sprinkler irrigation yielded as much or more of the grain as conventional methods. This new technique may allow farmers to produce the crop in areas where it cannot be grown now, helping produce more food for a hungry world.

Friendly bacteria help with healthy soy diet

First soy bar to add probiotics eases common intestinal problems

Soy is considered a healthy addition to a diet, but sometimes it is not easy on the stomach. Now, a University of Missouri researcher believes she has the answer: freeze-dried probiotic microcapsules.

Hard-won knowledge

An alumnus heads the effort to teach Marines battlefield lessons

With suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices and combatants wearing civilian clothes, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unlike previous conflicts that Americans have had to fight. To better prepare current and future Marines against these threats, it is imperative that the U.S. military systematically collect, evaluate and distribute the hard lessons learned on the battlefield.

Up, up and away for science

Atmospheric science students use weather balloons to better understand non-summer thunderstorms

In a research and educational project to understand how non-summer thunderstorms are triggered by a process called elevated convection, Patrick Market, associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, will lie in wait for these cold and warm fronts to roll across Columbia, Mo.

Pigs, with a similar respiratory makeup to humans, are the new research models in fighting cystic fibrosis

A New Model

Cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the U.S., has been a difficult disease to study as there are no effective animal models that mimic the human condition. That changed recently because University of Missouri and University of Iowa researchers can now produce pigs born with CF that have the exact symptoms of a newborn human with the disease.

MU chef kicks things up a notch aboard ship

Life aboard a U.S. Navy ship can be grueling with deployments of up to eight months at sea. A great meal can help make life better for the sailors.Greg Chase, a 2007 graduate from the MU Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) program and former sous chef for the Walt Disney World Resort Polynesian Resort in Orlando, stepped in to support.

Ready for the next computer challenge?

Students investigate use of hand-held devices in education

Responding to a challenge by Apple Computer and AT&T, students from several University of Missouri colleges will form interdisciplinary teams to identify and design mobile device applications for education and journalism.