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May 31, 2022

Research

Most teens have a healthy relationship with digital technology, so long as their parents do too

Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Dr. Megan Moreno, a professor of pediatrics at UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health and study lead, said their findings show just how important parents are when it comes to teens and technology.

“Parents serve as such role models, and I think that when kids are young, the role-modeling includes a lot of instruction and talking; and I think when teens are older, parents teach more through their own behavior than through their own words,” she said.

New tool shows Wisconsin farmers financial benefits of letting cows graze

Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: John Hendrickson, farm viability specialist for UW-Madison’s Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, helped develop the tool for the Grassland 2.0 project. Started in 2020 using a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the collaboration between researchers from UW-Madison and other universities, farmers and agriculture industry leaders is working to encourage farmers to adopt the use of grasslands.

“We want farms to be financially viable and sustainable for the long term,” he said. “But of course the Grasslands 2.0 project also has this larger look at the entire landscape and climate change and soil erosion and what can we do to have a more sustainable agricultural system on the landscape.”

Higher Education/System

Extension

Social impact worker cooperatives gain adherents in Madison with accelerator kickoff, growth

Wisconsin State Journal

The recent interest in worker co-ops is driven by several factors, said Courtney Berner, executive director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, adding there are just over 700 businesses in the state that have incorporated as cooperatives. “I’ve seen that interest increase since the (2008) recession … a push back against Wall Street,” she said. “There’s the trend of baby boomers that are retiring. How do we retain those businesses?”

Health

Gift of life: Liver transplant from Waunakee boy helps Cashton teen embark on adulthood

Wisconsin State Journal

For her 18th birthday this month, Kaylee McGinnis got a ring and a necklace adorned with a sunflower, bejeweled with emeralds and sapphires and inscribed with her first name and another: Collin. He isn’t a boyfriend with whom she hopes to spend the rest of her life. He’s a boy who for more than 17 years has given her life. Kaylee, of Cashton, got a liver transplant at 7 months old at UW Hospital from Collin Barberino, a 3-year-old from Waunakee who died in December 2004 when a dresser fell on him in his bedroom.

Athletics

School leaders make major decisions for the Big Ten. Here’s who helps newcomers get prepared

Wisconsin State Journal

The consequential issues that will land on incoming UW-Madison chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s desk when she takes over in August involve more than academics … Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and members of his senior leadership team help facilitate the introduction of new university leaders to the group, the conference said in a statement in response to questions.

UW Experts in the News

Where have all the walleye gone? Before long, anglers may have to make do with bluegills

Wisconsin State Journal

Wisconsin spends millions of dollars each year on efforts to maintain populations of popular species like walleye, trout and whitefish. But those efforts to resist change are often ineffective, said Zach Feiner, a research scientist with UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology and lead author of the report. “In many lakes it doesn’t seem to be working very well,” Feiner said. “What we’re doing now is maybe stocking lakes that are becoming too warm to really be able to sustain walleye populations into the future.”

Years after being pardoned, some recipients see ‘restart,’ others still face career barriers

Wisconsin State Journal

“Pardons remove all of the formal legal consequences of criminal conviction,” UW-Madison associate law professor Cecelia Klingele said. “It’s sort of like it’s the magic wand that erases all of the consequences (of) that conviction — except the informal ones. No pardon can make people not be biased against you, unfortunately.”

UW-Madison Related