Topic: Science

On the 21st: Sears, once the largest retailer in the world, which has been headquartered here in Illinois for more than a century, filed for bankruptcy. Plus, as the state celebrates its bicentennial, we check in on the Lincoln museum's latest Top 10 list: scientists. But first, Illinois is home to two of the nation's most competitive Congressional elections. 

A climate change symposium at the University of Illinois will honor Theodore "Ted" Brown, the first director of the Beckman Institute when it was founded in 1983. Brown spoke with Illinois Public Media about the challenges of confronting climate change and how society has changed since the 1970s when he wrote his first book on the issue.

Your sense of smell may give doctors early clues as to whether you’ll deal with Alzheimer’s disease. Since there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers are focused on ways to identify early signs and create treatments before dementia sets in. 

Hurricane Florence was nearing landfall on the North Carolina coast, bringing with it life-threatening storm surge, heavy rain and sustained winds of 90 miles per hour. Although downgraded to a Category 1 storm, the hurricane has grown larger and slowed its march inland — factors likely to contribute to potentially catastrophic flooding.

Track Hurricane Florence's progress toward the east coast with the video embedded in this story. The storm is expected to make landfall sometime Friday morning.

Hurricane Florence is growing in size and strength as it barrels toward the Southeastern U.S. for an expected landfall in the Carolinas later this week as an "extremely dangerous hurricane," according to the National Hurricane Center.

Each year thousands of families boat down the Middle Fork branch of the Illinois Vermilion River below an embankment that holds back 3.3 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash sludge stored in three large ponds. Coal ash pollution is leaching into the river, and the riverbank is eroding under the ponds. We examine what's a stake in this investigative report.

University of Illinois officials announced two big projects for the Urbana campus Wednesday: a new data science center and expansion of the Research Park. Both projects will get state funding as part of the Illinois Innovation Network, the U of I’s new statewide research enterprise.

While you can spot a meteor any time of year, the late summer is when the earth runs into the same comet dust trail that creates one of the most popular meteor showers for star gazers. 

Every year, an estimated 2 million Americans become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, and at least 23,000 die from these superbug infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.