The empty gallon milk jug landed with a thwack as it slapped against the placid surface of a stretch of Dry Run Creek near the Cedar Falls Visitor Center.
The jug, used to capture a sample of water for quality testing, was attached to a string held by University of Northern Iowa junior Logan Gray. He was perched about 15 feet above the creek on a trail bridge, struggling to propel the buoyant plastic container through the stubborn surface tension of the Cedar River tributary.
Sometimes a little destruction is necessary for creation.
That’s certainly true at the University of Northern Iowa’s Textile and Apparel Product Development and Materials Analysis Laboratory - a unique, $3 million state-of-the-art facility brimming with advanced machinery capable of putting every type of stress imaginable on fabric. National retailers use these sorts of tests to create strong, light fabrics.
University of Northern Iowa junior Ashley Campbell had just made the biggest scientific discovery of her life, but it took a moment for the truth to sink in.
Campbell is part of a group of UNI undergraduates researching the genetic makeup of the chewing louse, a grain-sized parasite similar to lice in humans that makes its home on furry animals. The research, which aims to expand our knowledge of evolutionary biology for use in medical applications, is exacting and sometimes tedious.
At first glance, it looks like something sprung from the mind of Jackson Pollock.
But the vibrant colors strewn across the image represent not the paint strokes of an artist, but the tiny, mineralogical components of a rock. And they were produced by a new set of scientific instruments at the University of Northern Iowa that will give students a deeper, more detailed look into geology than was previously possible.
A deadly outbreak without a cure. Local governments urging residents to stay inside and avoid other people. Medical professionals on the frontlines trying to halt the rapid spread of an infectious disease.
It’s not COVID-19, but the 1924 outbreak of the Black Plague in Los Angeles.
The objects people keep on their desks can tell you a lot about them. That’s why we’re visiting offices occupied by some of the talented and creative people at UNI - to hear the stories behind the decor. This time, we’ve asked UNI chemistry instructor Brittany Flokstra - an expert on both weapons-grade chemicals and the works of Joss Whedon - to show and tell.
As a group of revolutionaries huddled together in Philadelphia to craft what would become the Declaration of Independence, Abigail Adams made a simple request.
“Remember the ladies,” the future First Lady implored in a letter to her husband John. “And be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.”
A beast resides deep in the bowels of McCollum Science Hall.
This fearsome creature - with teeth that shred and claws that clatter - lurks in a corner of a laboratory behind a formidable gate marked with a sign that warns “enter at your own risk.”
And this menacing monster’s name is...Steve, an American alligator, who, contrary to his appearance - almost five feet long with black and yellow banding across his boney scales - is harmless.
After running away from an abusive home environment in high school and ending up in a youth homeless shelter, this student found solace in music at UNI.
For the past several years, teams of University of Northern Iowa computer science majors have been competing in cyber defense contests, often taking on schools several times their size to either fight off or take part in cyber attacks in a purely digital battle.
