A UW-Madison professor explains new research and immigration patterns in the Darién Gap. Then, a hematologist discusses a rare blood disease known as amyloidosis. Then, WPR’s Lori Skelton previews the spring concert season.
April 11, 2024
Research
Toward A Universal Covid Vaccine
This dynamic underscores the need for a universal vaccine, a potential game-changer that could neutralize all forms of SARS-CoV-2 and even other related coronaviruses. A recent study by Peter Halfmann and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin offers promising indications that this universal vaccine is on the horizon.
Campus life
UW Fashion Week to highlight various aspects of fashion industry
Moda Magazine partners with students, local businesses to bring annual event, themed ‘FUSE: Igniting Innovation’.
Judge JoAnn Jones to keynote 38th Coming Together of Peoples Conference this weekend
Judge Jones’ keynote is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. on Friday morning with a full day of sessions to follow at the 38th Coming Together of Peoples Conference. University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni may join the Cooweeja Native & Indigenous Affinity Group and the Indigenous Law Student Association at 5:30 p.m. for an opportunity to socialize with fellow UW alumni, with appetizers and drinks provided.
Chinese Badgers commemoration connects families, examines historic student impacts
A symposium hosted by the Center for East Asian Studies commemorating early UW-Madison students from China brought together families and scholars.
Coming Together of Peoples Conference fosters community through Indian law
The Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA) will host the 38th annual Coming Together of Peoples Conference on April 12 and 13, where the group aims to inform students and community members about Indian law.
Leader of anti-conservation group speaks at timber conference sponsored by UW-Madison center
One of the event’s sponsors was UW-Madison’s Kemp Natural Resources Station. Kelly Tyrell, a spokesperson for UW-Madison said in a statement that the speaker at the GLTPA conference is chosen by a committee and that the university hosts speakers on a viewpoint neutral basis.
Ahead of UW-Madison talk, Ezra Klein says we’re in dangerous phase of polarization
Ezra Klein, New York Times columnist, podcast host, and bestselling author of “Why We’re Polarized”, will be in Wisconsin later this month for a presentation on why American politics is so polarized and what it has done to electoral institutions, policymaking, and the media. Before his stint at the Times, he was the founder, editor-in-chief, and then editor-at-large of Vox, the explanatory news platform, which has won many awards and now reaches more than 50 million people each month.
State news
Compensation for Wisconsin teachers dropped 19% since 2010, report finds
New programs are working to fill the gaps. A new University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Education Teacher Residency Program covers the cost of an in-state resident’s master’s degree in special education and provides a stipend for students who agree to work at Milwaukee Public Schools. And the new Wisconsin Special Educators Induction Program provides coaching and training for new special education teachers.
Crime and safety
UW-Madison campus apartment evacuated due to carbon monoxide leak
Spokesperson Cynthia Schuster said firefighters responded to an apartment near the 500 block of Eagle Heights Drive to investigate a carbon monoxide alarm sounding around 9:37 a.m. Firefighters entered the building and found elevated levels on the first and second floor and began ventilating the building with a fan. Residents were evacuated.
Carbon monoxide leak causes evacuation of UW-Madison campus apartment building, authorities say
Fire crews were dispatched to the Eagle Heights Apartments complex at 9:37 a.m. Tuesday to investigate a carbon monoxide alarm that was sounding, Madison Fire Department spokesperson Cynthia Schuster said in a statement.
Community
Madison kicking off $300M Triangle redevelopment with a $50M first phase
The city’s Community Development Authority, which owns 336 housing units at five sites and a small Asian grocery store on 10.5 acres bounded by West Washington Avenue and South Park Street, on Monday submitted plans for the initial phase of the larger redevelopment that will triple the total, up to 1,216 units.
Madison Muslims gather to celebrate the end of Ramadan
“I think having a place to go when we’re away at college is really making it feel like a second home for us,” UW-Madison student Dorsa Radvarzangeneh said. “It’s been difficult throughout Ramadan, going through it alone.”
Many college students have been grateful to find community during Ramadan, a time for reflection and fasting, Radvarzangeneh said.
Health
UW-Madison, Togetherall partner to expand student mental health resources
Togetherall, a virtual community providing clinically moderated mental health support, is now available free to all UW-Madison students.
Opinion
Opinion | Political bigotry threatens judge confirmation
Column co-authored by Asifa Quraishi-Landes, a professor of law at the UW Law School and co-founder of the National Association of Muslim Lawyers
Guest column: UW-Madison is moving toward paid parental leave. Is six weeks really enough?
A much needed policy for the university, but so much more can still be done.
UW Experts in the News
Soaring home prices, interest rates mean Wisconsinites aren’t moving
High interest rates and soaring home prices are holding back Wisconsin’s housing supply and discouraging potential buyers, a University of Wisconsin-Madison real estate expert told an audience of bankers and business people at the Economic Forecast Luncheon on Wednesday at the Sheraton Madison Hotel. The annual event is hosted by news outlet WisPolitics-WisBusiness and the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
“We just don’t have product for sale,” said Mark Eppli, director of the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Business School, in a keynote address.
Peter Higgs, a Giant of Particle Physics, Dies at 94
Many physicists took to X, formerly Twitter, to pay tribute to Higgs and share their favourite memories of him. “RIP to Peter Higgs. The search for the Higgs boson was my primary focus for the first part of my career. He was a very humble man that contributed something immensely deep to our understanding of the universe,” posted Kyle Cranmer, physicist at the University of Wisconsin Madison and previously a senior member of the Higgs search team at the CMS.
Why experts are studying how to improve tablets for parrot use
It was not surprising that the birds could learn to follow a circle on a screen because of their higher capacity for intelligence, said Kurt Sladky, a clinical professor of zoological medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine. Sladky was not involved in the new study.
For the first time in 220 years, 17- and 13-year cicadas will emerge together. Millions could come to Wisconsin
There are many types of cicadas in North America. Some emerge every year, often in July and August. These cicadas have life cycles of about 2-3 years, PJ Liesch, extension entomologist and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Insect Diagnostics Lab, told the Journal Sentinel.