Noted: John Hawks is an expert in paleoanthropology, genetics, and evolution. He is also professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Why Humans Can’t Lift as Much as Ants (And How We Could)
Wired
June 17, 2021
Research
New research shows prosecutors often fight winning innocence claims, offer deals to keep convictions
KARE 11
Quoted: Keith Findley co-founded the Wisconsin Innocence Project, and was the co-director for years. Now he teaches on criminal law, evidence and wrongful convictions at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
“One of the things that innocence advocates have noticed over the years is that not always, but sometimes, prosecutors, when confronted with very powerful evidence of innocence, go to great lengths to try to preserve the convictions,” Findley said. “Including making plea offers that are essentially so good that it’s hard to turn them down, even for an innocent individual.”
Most of Wisconsin has no native earthworms. What’s with that?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Fittingly, the thrashing invaders were first confirmed in the state by both Williams and Brad Herrick, ecologist and jumping worm specialist at UW-Madison Arboretum. The worms were discovered during a 2013 talk they were leading about invasive species at the Arboretum in Madison.
In 2013 when the jumping worms were first documented, they were probably already established in Wisconsin and the Midwest, Herrick said.
“They have been in North America for around 100 years,” he said, creeping here from the northeastern part of the country. “The Midwest states have been the recent invasion.”
Herrick, also known as Dr. Worm by Williams, is beginning his PhD study on the biology, ecology and control of jumping worms. He is helping lead a statewide jumping worm survey beginning in July.
Where Traffic Deaths Surged In Wisconsin During the Pandemic
PBS Wisconsin
Noted: Milwaukee’s new traffic unit is using DOT data to focus its enforcement efforts on intersections and stretches of road identified as particularly dangerous. The DOT partners with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory to collect collision report data that flows in from law enforcement agencies across the state every day and organize it into an interactive statewide map of crashes.
UW researchers work to improve rural colorectal cancer screenings
NBC-15
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Carbone Cancer Center is looking at new ways to prevent colon cancer for those living outside city limits. Colorectal cancer is the second-most deadly form of cancer, but when caught early, it’s easy to prevent.
Revive Collaborates With University of Health Sciences Antigua To Pioneer Clinical Research of Psychedelics
MarketWatch
Research on UHSA’s campus will exclusively use Revive’s intellectual property, developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with the aim to be the foundation for novel psychedelic therapies for research and commercial use in Antigua and Barbuda;
UW-Madison expands COVID-19 sequencing, joining global project to improve pandemic response
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison professors at the forefront of sequencing COVID-19 strains in the community are expanding their research tracking the virus’ spread while fostering closer ties with more public health agencies with the hope of improving future pandemic response.
Higher Education/System
Assembly approves bills to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Assembly Republicans approved bills Wednesday that would ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s athletics — proposals that have pushed Wisconsin into a national firestorm.
Health
Surgeon General joins UW to discuss vaccine access
WISC-TV 3
Conversations continue over how to get the vaccine to vulnerable communities.
Athletics
‘Trusting what I can do’: UW sprinters prepare for Olympic trials
WKOW-TV 27
Four members of the Wisconsin track and field team qualified for the 2021 Olympic trials. Alissa Niggemann, Bianca Stubler, Destiny Huven, and Josie Schaefer will all represent the University of Wisconsin in Eugene, Oregon as they compete for a spot on the Olympic team.
Badgers football gives Jim Leonhard pay raise, cuts Joe Rudolph’s pay
Wisconsin State Journal
Among a number of changes to both coaches’ contracts, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard will make just under $1 million each of the next two years — a raise of 25% — while run-game coordinator and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph’s pay dipped 6% to $675,000.
UW Experts in the News
The amount of heat the Earth traps has doubled since 2005, NASA says
The Washington Post
“The fact that they used two different observational approaches and came up with the same trends is pretty remarkable,” said Elizabeth Maroon, a climatologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison unaffiliated with the study. “It lends a lot of confidence to the findings.”
How the U.S. Made Progress on Climate Change Without Ever Passing a Bill
The Atlantic
“Policy makers have been dithering about climate change since 1988, and in the background you have this steady progression of technologies,” Greg Nemet, a public-affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me. Foreign industrial policy has driven that progression, he said, although American tax rebates—and California’s economic planning—have also played a part. Those policies have allowed the entire world to decarbonize and led companies to support ever more aggressive carbon cuts. That, in essence, is the green vortex.
A Leader’s Guide To Managing Employee Uncertainty
Forbes
Uncertainty avoidance is the measure of a culture’s (or an individual’s) discomfort with uncertainty and ambiguity. Researchers Dan Grupe and Jack Nitschke at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that people who are more comfortable with uncertainty will let events unfold, make observations with less emotional reaction, and deal with what happens.