Research Stories

Lie Tang’s research in field robotics offers a glimpse into the future of organic agriculture.

Twenty-two years ago Gene Takle’s first study on climate change in Iowa was published in the Iowa Academy of Sciences. Using a NASA climate model, he explored a future climate scenario where carbon dioxide was doubled.

Enter the Lauridsen Group’s research laboratory in Ankeny, Iowa, and you’ll find researchers developing new ways to make the raw ingredients of Iowa agriculture into ingredients for food and health products.

Iowa State faculty have been developing win-win management strategies for natural resource managers and agricultural landowners since offering the first forestry course in 1874.

Agronomy researchers are using the latest in genomic technology to usher in a new era of plant breeding in a department known for making revolutionary breakthroughs for more than 90 years.

The truth is out there, like fish waiting to be seined from a rising sea of scientific data. A key person casting the net is a statistician.

The bull is one of 400 purebred Angus cattle at the Iowa State McNay Memorial Research and Demonstration

A standard feed efficiency study on pigs at Iowa State University recently led to a startling discovery with implications for human health research.

Growing world population and rising standards of living are increasing global demand for the products of agriculture.

Drawing concentric circles around swine barns never made sense to Steve Hoff.

Greg Tylka’s eyes light up when he talks about microscopic roundworms. He can’t help it. Tylka finds soybean cyst nematode (SCN) biologically intriguing.

High yields don’t happen by accident. They demand a science-based approach to soil fertility and sustainable agronomic practices—key areas of research for Antonio Mallarino and John Sawyer.

Producers wanting to reduce soil and nutrients from leaving their fields can look to techniques developed by Iowa State researchers. These practices span the scale from in-field to watershed.

Soybean cyst nematodes have been found in fields in every Iowa county. The plant-parasitic microscopic roundworms cause an estimated loss of $1 billion dollars annually to U.S. soybean producers.

W. Allen Miller is using his understanding of viruses to aid both plant and human health.

Zebrafish are tiny vertebrates, but if you ask Jeffrey Essner, their significance to genetics research and cancer research is huge.

Iowa State scientists have teamed with a company planning to build a biomass ethanol plant to research how to keep the material in the best condition before it is processed.

In an effort to improve animal health and food safety, Chris Tuggle and colleagues are finding new ways to identify animals harboring Salmonella.

Susan Lamont was among the first to hear the announcement that the chicken would be the first farm animal species to have its genome sequenced.

She thought: “Yes!”

Swine production is changing. It’s happening primarily through the implementation of technological advancements, especially those involving genetics and genomics, the study of heredity and DNA.