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April 20, 2020

Top Stories

UW System Administration announces 1-day-per-month furloughs through June 2021

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Chancellors of UW campuses, where the bulk of the System’s 39,000 employees work, are making their own decisions on whether to furlough employees. UW-Milwaukee became the first to say it will “most likely” impose a campus-wide furlough for its roughly 3,700 employees. UW-Madison, which is bracing for the largest loss among the campuses with an estimated $100 million shortfall, expects to announce details by the end of the month.

Research

“We Exist Within a Colossal Sphere” –The Void that Harbors the Milky Way (Weekend Feature)

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The Daily Galaxy

n a 2013 observational study of the large-scale structure of the universe, University of Wisconsin-Madison astronomers Amy Barger and Ryan Keenan showed that our galaxy, in the context of the large-scale structure of the universe, resides in an enormous void—a region of space containing far fewer galaxies, stars and planets than expected. The structure of the cosmos is Swiss cheese-like in the sense that it is composed of “normal matter” in the form of voids and filaments.

Higher Education/System

Campus life

Crime and safety

High-School-daughter’s teen lover to stand trial in brutal murder of Doctor-Prof Mom

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Crime Online

As ABC News report, a Wisconsin judge has determined there is enough evidence to proceed with charges against Khari Sanford and Ali’Jah Larrue, both 18, for the shooting deaths of Dr. Beth Potter and her husband Robert Carre, who were found with gunshot wounds to the head in an arboretum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 31. Carre was pronounced dead at the scene, and Potter survived for about an hour at a hospital before she too died.

Community

Health

Morning Sickness During Pregnancy: What to Do and How to Cope

Posted on
The New York Times

The good news: experts say there are practical steps you can take to help find relief, from home treatments to prescription medications. While it may be difficult to get rid of all symptoms, “this is a treatable condition and we can break the cycle and get people feeling better,” said Dr. Sumona Saha, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

You’re not alone: Campus suicide prevention initiatives

Posted on
Daily Cardinal

University Health Services has had a suicide prevention program called “At Risk,” since 2013 to engage the campus community in evidence-based suicide prevention strategies that use the current scientific research, clinical expertise and understanding of individuals’ needs.

Athletics

Opinion

Business/Technology

Unemployment checks: Elizabeth Brandeis and Paul Raushenbush invented Great Depression insurance for jobless

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The Washington Post

E.B., as she was known to family and friends, wanted a career at the intersection of economics, labor and the law. She hoped to attend an elite East Coast law school, but those programs, including Harvard, where her father studied, didn’t accept women. With her father’s approval, she chose the University of Wisconsin, where the “Wisconsin Idea” — fusing academic research to solving social problems — was flourishing.

Tom Still: Wisconsin biotech companies could play key roles in long-term economic recovery from COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Shortening vaccine development, which normally has a multi-year cycle. Wisconsin has expertise in this area through its research universities and private companies such as Madison’s FluGen. Co-founders Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Gabriele Neumann are known around the world for their past anti-viral work, which is why FluGen was approached by an India-based firm, Bharat Biotech, which has developed 16 vaccines in the past, to take part in a larger vaccine development project that also involves the UW-Madison.

UW Experts in the News

Are Face Masks the New Condoms?

Posted on
The New York Times

Quoted: David O’Connor, who studies viral disease at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: “If a substantial amount of transmission occurs before people feel sick, how do you stop that? By the time people feel sick and seek care, all the testing and isolation in the world would be too little, too late.”

How Our Ancient Brains Are Coping in the Age of Digital Distraction

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Discover Magazine

Quoted: In recent years, scientists have identified about two dozen genetic changes that might have helped make our brains not only bigger but incomparably capable. “It’s not just one quantum leap,” says University of Wisconsin-Madison paleoanthropologist John Hawks. “A lot of adaptations are at play, from metabolic regulation to neuron formation to timing of development.”

Are Face Masks The New Condoms?

Posted on
Forbes India

Quoted: David O’Connor, who studies viral disease at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, “If a substantial amount of transmission occurs before people feel sick, how do you stop that? By the time people feel sick and seek care, all the testing and isolation in the world would be too little, too late.”

There’s no roadmap for teaching online, so Washington’s teachers are creating their own

Posted on
The Seattle Times

Quoted: Existing research on best practices in online learning will only get educators so far. “When you are being asked to implement online learning in the way our research suggests you should, but you are being asked to do that in a 12-day period, that’s nearly impossible,” said Annalee Good, co-director of the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Obituaries

Donovan, Dr. Timothy Jay

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

After medical school he started an Ear, Nose, and Throat residency at UW-Madison, and was named chief resident at UW Hospital.

Roberts, John Charles

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

He received appointments at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the UW-Extension where he served as Extension Program Leader for Natural and Environmental Resources.

Wallace, Donna Mae

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Donna graduated from Madison Central High School in 1963, and spent her 42 year career as a secretary at the UW-Madison.