K-State in the news — March 2025
Some of the top stories mentioning Kansas State University are posted below. Download an Excel file (xls) with all of this month's news stories.
Monday, March 24, 2025
National/International
The Entire Universe Could Exist Inside a Black Hole — Here's Why
3/23/2025 Yahoo! News
In a survey of the deep sky, most of the galaxies are seen rotating in the same direction. This is a problem. Under current models of the way the Universe behaves, galaxies should be a hodge-podge rotating whichever dang way they please, resulting in a roughly even distribution of rotations. The fact that this is not what we observe suggests that there's something hinky going on: a huge gap in our understanding of the way the Universe works. "It is still not clear what causes this to happen, but there are two primary possible explanations," says astronomer Lior Shamir of Kansas State University. "One explanation is that the Universe was born rotating. That explanation agrees with theories such as black hole cosmology, which postulates that the entire Universe is the interior of a black hole. But if the Universe was indeed born rotating it means that the existing theories about the cosmos are incomplete."
State/Regional
Bird Safety: K-State wildlife expert shares tips for reducing window collisions
3/21/2025 Pottawatomie County Times
Homeowners who plan to make shiny windows part of spring cleaning chores may want to re-think how that’s done. That is, at least, if they also enjoy the variety of backyard birds that populate many urban, suburban and even rural areas. Kansas State University wildlife specialist Drew Ricketts said an estimated 1 billion birds die each year as a result of impact with windows. "There are two types of bird strikes," Ricketts said. "One is where the bird doesn't know the window is there and just runs into it. The other is when birds see their reflection in the window and sort of beat their beak on it because they're trying to get at a competitor."
Local
Intensify Sorghum Systems With Double-Cropped Soybeans
3/23/2025 KSAL.com
Nitrogen and herbicide applications rank among the highest input costs in crop production. To help offset some of those expenses and realize environmental benefits, producers can introduce double-cropped soybeans or cover crops to no-till systems. Kansas State University cropping systems agronomist Kraig Roozeboom and his team initiated a long-term study in 2007 to determine the effects of this practice and cover crops on a fairly common cropping system on sorghum. "Initially, we were looking at weed suppression," Roozeboom said. "We also wanted to know how to manage the cover crops to have the best biological, yield, and economic responses, which has been the focus of agricultural economist Elizabeth Yeager's work." Yeager, Roozeboom and colleagues summarized their results from several years of that study in a publication titled, "Cover Crops, Double-Crop Soybeans, and Nitrogen Rates Affect Productivity and Profitability of a No-Till Rotation," which can be found in an upcoming issue of the Agronomy Journal.
Friday, March 21, 2025
National
K-State study suggests that universe is a super massive black hole
3/20/25 KFI AM Los Angeles
Lior Shamir, professor of computer at K-State, studied images from the James Webb Space telescope's Adavanced Deep Extragalactic Survey. His research suggests the the universe is a super massive black hole.
State/Regional
2024 was one of the warmest years on record, but one crop still performed well
3/20/25 KCUR-FM
Farming experts say conservative crop choices like sorghum will be essential for farmers going forward. K-State agronomist Logan Simon says popular crops like corn can be more productive, but sorghum is less risky. "It has a profound ability to enter a sort of pause in its growth and development," he said. "It slows down."
K-State, Kansas Forest Service building facility to support state's rural fire and agricultural education initiatives
3/20/25 Hutch Post
Kansas State University and the Kansas Forest Service have announced plans to build a $5 million shared facility to boost current efforts to provide critical training and equipment for firefighters and state-of-the-art instructional space for academic and regional workforce development programs.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
National/International
Prices for U.S. agricultural exports rose in February
3/19/25 Marketplace/NPR
Part of what’s going on has to do with demand, said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University. “If you think we’re moving towards a world where there’s going to be less trade, then yes, it makes sense to kinda proactively buy some of those, get your hands on those items,” he said.
WSSA and CWSS Honor Award-Winning Scientists
2/19/25 ADVFN
The Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) and the Canadian Weed Science Society (CWSS) honored Anita Dille, Kansas State University, WSSA’s highest honor: Fellow Award.
State/Regional
K-State offers interactive math workshops for middle school students at Sonia Kovalevsky Day
3/19/25 Hutch Post
Middle school students are invited to Kansas State University's Manhattan campus for a special day of workshops with math faculty members and graduate and undergraduate students in celebration of Sonia Kovalevsky Day.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
National/International
Unexpected heroes join the fight against insect scourge that threatens 18 states: 'We are able to find them as quickly as possible'
3/18/25 MSN
They've been trained to smell out something we want them to find," said Kansas State University wildlife expert Drew Ricketts, according to the K-State Research and Extension.
State/Regional
Topeka's Omni Circle Group launches startup program to enrich business ecosystem
3/18/25 Topeka Capital-Journal
Omni’s Topeka Startup Community was one of 11 projects across the state selected for the K-State 105 Entrepreneurial Blueprint Initiative, which supports entrepreneurship and small business development across Kansas through a partnership with K-State and Network Kansas.
K-State, Kansas Forest Service announce plans for new building
3/18/25 KAKE
Kansas State University and the Kansas Forest Service announced plans to build a $5 million shared facility to boost efforts to provide critical training and equipment for firefighters.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
National/International
James Webb Space Telescope Reveals That Most Galaxies Rotate Clockwise
3/17/25 MSN.com
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched into orbit around the sun in December 2021. Since then, it has been studying the history of our universe. Now, images of deep space from JWST’s Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey have revealed something puzzling: most galaxies rotate in the same direction. “The analysis of the galaxies was done by quantitative analysis of their shapes, but the difference is so obvious that any person looking at the image can see it," Lior Shamir, a computer scientist from Kansas State University and sole author of the study, says in a statement. "There is no need for special skills or knowledge to see that the numbers are different. With the power of the James Webb Space Telescope, anyone can see it.”
State/Regional
Intensify sorghum systems with double-cropped soybeans
3/17/25 Rural Radio Network
Nitrogen and herbicide applications rank among the highest input costs in crop production. To help offset some of those expenses and realize environmental benefits, producers can introduce double-cropped soybeans or cover crops to no-till systems. Kansas State University cropping systems agronomist Kraig Roozeboom and his team initiated a long-term study in 2007 to determine the effects of this practice and cover crops on a fairly common cropping system on sorghum. Their rotation started with sorghum, followed by soybeans, wheat, and cover crops before returning back to sorghum.
K-State Salina student's 3D printing class proves a hit
03/17/25 Salina Post
What began as a way to share his expertise with the community has blossomed into an opportunity to gain experience and hone teaching abilities for one Kansas State University Salina student. Sawyer Stoskopf, a senior in mechanical engineering technology from Great Bend, instructs a 3D printing course for community members through K-State Salina's professional education unit. The course, announced late last year, promises to teach learners how to assemble and troubleshoot 3D printers and the basic uses and applications of 3D printing.
Local
Supporting Rural Fire, Ag Education
3/18/25 KSAL-AM
Kansas State University and the Kansas Forest Service have announced plans to build a $5 million shared facility to boost current efforts to provide critical training and equipment for firefighters and state-of-the-art instructional space for academic and regional workforce development programs. The construction process will begin soon on the Kansas Rural Fire and Workforce Development Center, which will be shared by the state’s forest service and K-State’s department of communications and agricultural education.
Monday, March 17, 2025
National/International
Scientist Says He Found Evidence Our Entire Universe Is Trapped Inside a Black Hole
3/15/2025 Yahoo! News
A researcher has made a puzzling discovery while analyzing observations taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. While analyzing images for the telescope's Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), Kansas State University associate professor of computer science Lior Shamir found that out of the 263 galaxies examined, two thirds of them rotated clockwise, while only a third rotated counterclockwise, as detailed in a paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. This challenges the assumption that any given universe would have half of them spinning one way, with the rest spinning counter to that, according to a press release about the discovery.
State/Regional
K-State Animal Sciences Provides Learning Opportunity for High School Students
3/14/2025 Feedlot Magazine
Students from across the country with an interest in the livestock industry and related careers can apply now for the Kansas State University Animal Sciences Leadership Academy (KASLA). The academy is an intensive four-day educational experience designed to enhance the leadership skills and animal science knowledge of students in ninth through 12th grades.
Food Connects Us: K-State nutrition expert touts value of eating with others
3/16/2025 Hutch Post
Nutrition, says Priscilla Brenes, is not just the food we eat. Brenes, a K-State Research and Extension specialist in the Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health, adds that eating healthfully also includes who you're eating it with. "When we eat with somebody else, that's a connection," Brenes said. "We might prepare food for somebody else. There's a connection there, too." March is National Nutrition Month, sponsored annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This year's theme is 'Food Connects Us.'
Local
Game-Changer: An adjunct K-State professor is bringing laser physics to the farms
3/15/2025 The Mercury
Cutting-edge technology meets the Kansas cow farm in a collaboration between physicists and agriculture scientists. Brian Washburn, a laser physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is working to bring real world applications to laser physics. "Lasers were developed for one kind of application, very-special Nobel Prize in physics winning lasers," Washburn said. "We said that these can be used for helping agricultural practices here in Kansas. That's the technology I work on. I’m on the laser side of things." Washburn, an adjunct physics professor at K-State and NIST project leader, said optical frequency combs were first developed for atomic clocks in the 1990s.
Friday, March 14, 2025
National/International
How microplastics could be affecting our food supply
3/13/25 The Washington Post
“It certainly is very alarming — they’re saying microplastics are having this very dramatic effect on crops and productivity,” said Mary Beth Kirkham, an agronomy professor at Kansas State University who was not involved in the paper.
State/Regional
This Kansas university was named #1 for having the friendliest students in the U.S.
3/13/25 The Wichita Eagle
“We see that Wildcat, and know we’re part of the same family,” one student said in a survey. “This is a big school with a small-town feel, and everyone is exceedingly friendly and proud of the university.”
Local
Students host 48th annual K-State bull sale
3/14/25 The K-State Collegian
“To my knowledge, we are now the only university that still hosts a production sale that is run and managed by our students, and so it’s unique in the opportunity that it gives these young people to be part of a production sale, some of which come from a family background that had given them some experience in that, others that maybe have no experience in seed, stock, production [and] sales,” Mullinix said.
Thursday, March 13, 2025
National/International
Billions of federal aid for farmers is due this month. Some are counting on it
3/12/25 Harvest Public Radio/NPR
Jennifer Ifft is a professor and extension specialist at Kansas State University. She emphasized the tough decisions farmers have to make as businesspeople and said it’s difficult to base long term plans on one-off relief payments like these.
“It's a new program,” Ifft said. “And so if you knew exactly how it was going to work and when it was going to come, then you could use it during your discussions to lenders… You could account for it in your production decisions, your investment decisions. With ad hoc payments, there is an unknown factor by the very nature.”
Puzzling observation by JWST: Galaxies in the deep universe rotate in the same direction
3/12/25 Phys.org
In just over three years since its launch, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has generated significant and unprecedented insights into the far reaches of space, and a new study by a Kansas State University researcher provides one of the simplest and most puzzling observations of the deep universe yet.
State/Regional
Teachers of the Year recognized at Salina Public Schools board meeting
3/12/25 KSAL
Mandy Ediger earned her bachelor’s and a teaching certificate from Bethel College. She achieved two master’s, one in curriculum and instruction (from Kansas State University) and the other in special education (from Emporia State University).
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
State/Regional
Rural grocery initiative
3/11/25 KMUW
Kansas State University is leading an initiative to ensure nutrition access in rural Kansas can sustain itself.
Sedan teacher Kelsy Sproul named Kansas ag teacher of the year
3/11/25 Farm Talk
Kelsy Sproul, a Kindergarten teacher at Sedan Elementary School, was recently named the 2026 Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (KFAC) Teacher of the Year. KFAC is an affiliate of Kansas State University.
Local
Former KSU professor leading collaboration between the University and NIST
3/11/25 WIBW
At the lecture, Washburn discussed a joint industry project between KSU Physics, Agronomy, and Animal Science and the NIST.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
State/Regional
KU community invited to University Research Awards event April 9
3/11/25 KU News Service
Two Kansas State University faculty have been recognized with Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards. Hans Coetzee has been awarded the Irvin E. Youngberg Award in the Applied Sciences. Walter Dodds has been awarded the Olin K. Petefish Award in Basic Sciences. The University of Kansas will host its annual University Research Awards event at 7 p.m. April 9 at the Jayhawk Welcome Center to celebrate this year’s research awards winners.
Local
Control Guide For Livestock Predators
3/10/25 KSAL-AM
Based on 2020 market values, predators cause approximately $4 million in losses annually to Kansas cattle producers. Likewise, they financially burden the state’s small ruminant operations to the tune of about $750,000 per year. To mitigate the economic impact and other effects of predation, Kansas State University wildlife specialist Drew Ricketts said producers have various non-lethal control methods available to keep livestock safe.
Monday, March 10, 2025
National/International
The 18-year-old World War I corporal behind Fort Benning's renaming
3/07/2025 MilitaryTimes
Still, the circumstances of the change — and a similar one for North Carolina's once-and-future Fort Bragg — have skeptics wondering whether their new namesakes are receiving much of an honor. But Fred Benning deserves recognition, said Andrew Orr, a professor and director of the Institute for Military History at Kansas State University. Benning was part of American assaults on the toughest German defenses by soldiers who fought to take trenches and to hold them, often hand-to-hand and under clouds of poison gas, he said. "If you're the town that Benning was the mayor of, claim it," Orr said in an interview Thursday. "What you can do is try and fight back against the stealing of his name by emphasizing this guy earned it."
Researcher cracks the code of livestock pain relief
3/07/2025 AgUpdate
…like any language, the expression and understanding of pain is a learned form of communication — one that's especially difficult to pick up across species. For farm animals, though, Hans Coetzee has cracked the code. Coetzee, university distinguished professor of animal welfare in Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has dedicated much of his career to assessing and relieving pain in livestock species. His work has been instrumental in clearing the way for the first regulatory approval of livestock analgesics, or pain relief medicine, that has eased the pain of millions of animals.
Cow-Derived Avian Flu Can Infect Pigs but Doesn't Spread Among Them, Preprint Suggests
3/07/2025 Farms.com
"Pigs are an important reservoir in influenza ecology because they serve as a mixing vessel in which novel reassortant viruses with pandemic potential can be generated," the Kansas State University-led research team wrote. They noted influenza viruses' ability to cross species barriers: "Since HPAI H5 clade 2.3.4.4b became dominant in wild bird populations, spillovers to mammalian hosts have been frequently reported worldwide, indicating that viruses possessing the 2.3.4.4b HA [hemagglutinin] may have improved ability to replicate in mammals compared to other HPAI lineages."
State/Regional
Invasive species experts train dogs to detect plant pests
3/07/2025 High Plains Journal
In a quest to slow the spread of a sap-sucking plant pest that is slowly making its way across the United States, pest management officials have turned to man's best friend. Kansas State University wildlife expert Drew Ricketts said conservationists are training dogs to smell out the Spotted lanternfly, described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service as "a hitchhiking pest that is native to Asia."
Small town grocery stores face unique challenges. Some Midwest states are trying to help
3/10/2025 Kansas Public Radio
In Kansas, 54 rural grocery stores in Kansas permanently closed between 2008 and 2018. The Rural Grocery Initiative, based at Kansas State University Research and Extension, developed after a series of listening sessions with rural communities in 2007. "During those listening sessions, the thing that kept coming up and again and again was this concern about the local grocery store. People really worried about the viability of their store, wanting to make sure that it could be maintained over the long term," said Erica Blair, Rural Grocery Initiative's program manager.
Local
K-State students earn fall 2024 semester honors
3/07/2025 Salina Post
More than 1,300 students completed degree requirements from Kansas State University in the fall 2024, while more than 4,600 Kansas State University students earned semester honors for their academic performance. The university awarded approximately 900 bachelor's degrees, 250 master's degrees and 80 doctorates. Several students earned multiple degrees.
Friday, March 7, 2025
State/Regional
K-State agricultural economists explain farm bill and crop insurance options
3/6/25 High Plains Journal
Kansas State University agricultural economists are encouraging farmers to make time now to fully think through their options in advance of upcoming deadlines for federal farm and crop insurance programs that can offer financial assistance.
Local
How K-State is combatting bird flu and preventing foreign animal diseases
3/6/25 KSNT
The Director of the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, Jamie Retallick, joins the 27 News Morning crew with a look into the work the state’s only public diagnostic veterinary lab does. A big focus with the lab is fighting against diseases, including aiding in the fight against bird flu and prevention for foot and mouth disease.
Brady Kappelmann and Zoey Pudenz elected as K-State's new student body president and vice president
3/7/25 Wildcat 91.9
Kansas State University students have elected their new student government leaders for the 2025-2026 academic year. The results, announced Thursday, March 6 on Wildcat 91.9, showed that 8% of the student body voted in this year's election. Brady Kappelmann and Zoey Pudenz secured the student body president and vice president positions with 88.28% of the vote, garnering 1,439 votes out of 1,630 cast.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
National/International
‘Bear with me,’ Trump says as both farmers and consumers brace for tariff effects
3/5/25 AP News
“Exactly how strong our economy is over time has a lot to do with U.S. consumers’ comfort with continuing to go out to restaurants and continuing to buy washers and dryers and just that general activity. And a lot of what we’re talking about here is probably going to slow some of that,” said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University.
State/Regional
Every drop counts: Lessons from the most efficient TAPS farm
3/4/25 Farm Progress
Kansas State University's 2024 Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) competition revealed that more inputs don’t always mean better results. The most efficient farm balanced water and nitrogen use to produce competitive yields without excess, challenging conventional high-input practices and offering insights for maximizing efficiency and profit.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
National/International
'But Americans voted for change'
3/5/25 Farmers Advance/USA Today
We do know that researchers at Kansas State University have found that every USAID dollar invested in the U.S. – for jobs, infrastructure, commodity purchases, packaging, shipping – shows "a return of $8.52.”
State/Regional
New tariffs on Canada, Mexico likely to impact Kansans
3/4/25 KWCH
Kansas State University Economics Professor Dr. Peri da Silva said with 25% tariffs, a $44,000 car could jump in price by $8,000 to $10,000. “We are going to see some firms absorbing costs but firing people, letting people go,” da Silva said. “Others are going to push for price increases. There is no way with tariffs of this magnitude, 25%. We are about to see a very steep price for consumers in the United States, double digits.”
Topeka startup hub launches diverse entrepreneur community
3/4/25 Startland News
Topeka Startup Community’s other resource partners include K-State 105, Network Kansas, AltCap, GO Topeka, the Kansas Department of Commerce, Kansas Health Foundation, and Washburn Small Business Development Center.
Local
Walk Kansas will celebrate 25 years
3/4/25 JC Post
You can register a team of six or go solo this year. Register online at WalkKansas.org or by contacting your local K-State Research and Extension office.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
National/International
Updated standards published for feeding wheat to pigs
3/3/25 The Pig Site
Kansas State University researchers and representatives of Kansas Wheat have published updated findings on the value of feeding wheat to pigs. What they’ve found is good news for swine producers and wheat growers. “Our data collected from 2014 to 2020 suggests that wheat’s mean energy content is 99% and 98% of corn for digestible energy and metabolizable energy, respectively” said Joel DeRouchey, a swine specialist for Kansas State Research and Extension.
State/Regional
Kansas Grain Sorghum Yields Spike Despite Record-High Heat in 2024
3/4/25 High Plains Journal
Compared to most other farm crops grown in Kansas, grain sorghum has a reputation for being tolerant to heat, and in 2024, that was a good thing. The National Centers for Environmental Information reports that 2024 was the second warmest year on record in Kansas over the past 130 years, with an average daily temperature of 57.5 degrees Fahrenheit – 3.4 degrees above normal. And yet, says Kansas State University assistant agronomist Jane Lingenfelser, the state’s grain sorghum yielded an average 65 bushels per acre – 13 bushels higher than the previous year.
Local
K-State selected to house Animal and Veterinary Innovation Center
3/4/25 Junction City Post
Kansas State University has been selected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine as one of four Animal and Veterinary Innovation Centers to receive funding for advancing regulatory science. K-State’s center will focus on developing reliable models to evaluate the efficacy of analgesics in food animals, specifically aimed at providing pain relief for pigs, goats, and cattle undergoing painful conditions or surgeries.
Monday, March 3, 2025
National/International
Farmers Test Innovative Water-Saving Strategies in Kansas Competition
2/28/2025 Morning Ag Clips
According to Daran Rudnick, director of sustainable irrigation at Kansas State University, the TAPS program in Kansas is unlike traditional yield-focused competitions in that it offers a unique experimental environment at K-State Research and Extension's Western Kansas Research-Extension Centers. "This exchange of ideas ensures that the competition's outcomes are rooted in real challenges, and helps drive meaningful progress in efficiency, profitability and sustainability," Rudnick said.
K-State Researchers Developing Index to Measure Cattle Pain, Stress Using Consumption Rate
2/28/2025 Farms.com
How much can you tell about a cow's health by the way and rate at which it eats? A team of researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University is developing a way to tie that rate to cattle health. Hans Coetzee, currently the interim vice president of research at Kansas State University, is a well-established researcher in the fields of pain relief and animal welfare. He and Eduarda Bortoluzzi, assistant professor of animal welfare, are leading a project titled, "Validation of a novel Bovine Rate of Consumption Index (BROCI) to assess pain and thermal stress in cattle." … The K-State team's project uses a rancher-developed, precision feed intake measuring system to validate a Bovine Rate of Consumption Index, or BROCI, as an objective measure of animal welfare.
State/Regional
Sunflowers encountered fewer pests in Kansas
2/28/2025 High Plains Journal
Sunflowers have seen fewer pest problems the last five years, according to Jeff Whitworth, Kansas State University department of entomology. The sunflower head moth has been the No. 1 insect pest in sunflowers for the past 20 years, he reported in results published by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. For the past five to six years, the head moth has not been as problematic, but infestations have been common, he said.
Local
K-State launches AI chatbot that checks in on students
2/27/2025 KSNT
Kansas State University is rolling out a new AI-powered chatbot that will text students periodically throughout the year. According to a news release from the university, students got their first text from "Willie" in January. The AI chatbot being introduced in partnership with EdSights, an AI chatbot company, will text students about a dozen times throughout the semester to check in on health, social and academic wellbeing and the student's finances.