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July 24, 2020

Research

Does Singing Give Birds a Natural High? New research shows links between singing, reward, and endogenous opioids.

Posted on
Psychology Today

Songbirds seem to enjoy singing. And while a great deal of research has investigated the development and production of birdsong, little is known about the motivation to sing.

New work out of Lauren Riters’ lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison teases out the relationship between singing, reward, and endogenous opioids in songbirds. The results suggest that studying songbirds can teach us about the shared neurobiological mechanisms underlying social reward in all vertebrates, humans included.

‘We can try to develop vaccine, but I don’t know that we can get rid of it’: Like HIV and the flue, COVID-19 could become endemic

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Other staples of everyday life, especially the resumption of school, may differ widely in cities and towns across the country. Without data to measure the effect of different educational methods on the spread of the virus, the U.S. will soon embark on what amounts to “uncontrolled experiments,” said Tony Goldberg, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW virologist and influenza expert Yoshihiro Kawaoka said that although he is confident COVID-19 will become endemic, he believes the lifestyle changes people have made should not become permanent.

“Once everyone gets vaccinated we should be able to go back to normal life,” he said, predicting that day might come “in three years, maybe four years.”

Higher Education/System

Dropping the N-Word in College Classrooms: Institutions should consider developing guidelines to address the main objections to doing so, argues Ruth A. Starkman.

Posted on
Inside Higher Ed

Noted: Legally, people can use slurs in a university setting. In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of free speech specifically with regard to anti-Black slurs or actions. In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, the Court unanimously struck down the city of St. Paul’s Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance and reversed the conviction of a teenager for burning a cross on the lawn of an African American family, arguing that the First Amendment protects cross burning as freedom of speech. Such legal protection was widely discussed in 2016 when a football fan at the University of Wisconsin at Madison wore a costume of President Barack Obama with a noose around his neck. University police officers asked the fan to remove the noose, and the University of Wisconsin issued the following statement: “The costume, while repugnant and counter to the values of the university and athletic department, was an exercise of the individual’s right to free speech.”

Travel advisories add another hurdle to reopening campuses

Posted on
Education Dive

Quoted: “Even though states are putting the 14-day quarantines up, there are big questions about how it’d be enforced on a campus and for students who live off campus,” said Nicholas Hillman, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The impact seems really uncertain unless it’s strictly a residential campus.”

State news

Most of Wisconsin’s district attorneys aren’t facing a contested re-election

Posted on
Wisconsin Examiner

Quoted: “It takes a brave actor to stand up and run against the boss,” Lanny Glinberg, director of the University of Wisconsin Prosecution Project, says. 

Glinberg also points to the decline of local news as an impediment to contested races. If the community isn’t aware of the daily goings on in the courthouse, how will they know if there have been any problems?

“Another factor — how well informed is the public of the role of district attorney?” he says. “The most powerful actor in the criminal justice system in terms of discretion. The public needs quality investigative journalism to know that. That’s in shorter and shorter supply.”

Community

Proposal would rename Madison elementary school after late Black community leader

Posted on
WKOW-TV 27

“Two summers ago, we became aware of some research that had been done that had been commissioned by Chancellor Blank at UW-Madison looking into the KKK’s presence at the university,” said Adam Zingsheim, principal of Philip H. Falk Elementary. Zingsheim says that research found Philip Falk — a former Madison superintendent — had also been a member of a KKK student group.

Health

Here’s How to Protect Students’ Mental Health

Posted on
Education Week

Noted: One approach focuses on improving teachers’ own mental health. Matthew Hirschberg and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that randomly assigning a group of aspiring teachers to a preservice course on mindfulness reduced those teachers’ implicit bias and fostered their provision of emotional, instructional, and organizational support to students. The 22-hour course emphasized kindness, compassion, and managing one’s emotions. Another mindfulness program, CARE for Teachers, saw similar results.

Is a face shield alone enough protection from COVID-19? Does my blood type matter to COVID-19? Experts answer pandemic questions.

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Many businesses are open. Mask orders have been implemented as cases are trending up. We are tracking the numbers, but many of you have questions about how we can protect ourselves and others. What can we do to slow the transmission of COVID-19?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has assembled a panel of experts from the University of Wisconsin’s Madison and Milwaukee campuses. They will periodically answer questions from readers.

Athletics

UW Experts in the News

Trump repeals rule meant to integrate neighborhoods, further stoking racial divisions in campaign

Posted on
Los Angeles Times

Quoted: Trump’s rhetoric and actions, however, continue a century-long history of the federal government working with private real estate interests to develop and maintain segregated communities, especially in the suburbs, said Paige Glotzer, a historian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of the book “How the Suburbs Were Segregated.”

In rural Wisconsin, minorities are underrepresented in policing. It’s part of a bigger issue.

Posted on
WSAW

Quoted: That lines up with experts that say a diverse police force is only part of the answer when the discussion centers on racism, representation, and bias in communities. Police forces are often a reflection of the communities where they serve, UW-Madison Professor Emerita of Sociology Pamela Oliver noted in an email exchange with 7 Investigates. “It isn’t clear that changing the composition of the police force when the community hasn’t changed would make much of a difference.”

A 2003 study found that higher diversity in law enforcement did not necessarily mean a lower number of deaths caused by police, and Prof. Oliver said that the overall body of research “is mixed at best” in relation to the idea that diversity alone in law enforcement will result in less implicit bias.

Change in leadership for Dane County Criminal Justice Council

Posted on
DeForest Times-Tribune

The CJC also received a report from Professor John Eason on an analysis he completed to determine the impact of jail population reduction on the incidence of COVID-19 in the jail as well as the projection of COVID-19 infection if the reduction had not occurred.

Professor Eason is currently an associate professor of sociology at UW-Madison. Eason previously served as assistant professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, as well as assistant to associate professor of ociology at Texas A&M University. His primary research interests link race, health, punishment, and inequality to community processes.

His early research has shown that the jail infection rate would have been substantially higher had decreases in the jail population not occurred. Professor Eason will continue his research through May 2021.

“Working with the CJC to look at data and policy can bring the power of academia to the practical application of justice in Dane County” said Eason. “I am excited to work with CJC members bridging the gap between government and the UW.”

Obituaries

Former ABC 7 meteorologist Jerry Taft dies

Posted on
Daily Herald

Noted: Taft’s interest in weather began in the U.S. Air Force, which he joined as a 19-year-old radar technician. He eventually became a combat pilot, spent a year in Vietnam, taught aviation and flight planning, and earned a degree in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin in 1969.