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April 29, 2025

Top Stories

Research

What Kennedy gets wrong about autism’s causes

The Washington Post

Outside of specific genetic diseases, scientists have identified more than 250 genes that are associated with a higher likelihood of ASD. As Maureen Durkin, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explained to me, some of these genes are also associated with beneficial traits. “It’s not as simple as ‘these are causes of autism, and you’d want to edit them out of the genome,’” she said.

Higher Education/System

Workday and the excesses of higher-ed “efficiency” consultants

Tone Madison

Rather than laying off staff or admitting fewer graduate students, one place the school (and the UW System more broadly) could look to save hundreds of millions of dollars is to cut its exorbitant spending on out-of-state business consultants and costly technology purchases. Additionally, in this time of attacks on faculty research, now UW System’s adoption of Workday further threatens researchers’ ability to do their work.

State news

New group sees ‘fusion voting’ as a path to ease Wisconsin’s political polarization

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Barry Burden, a political science professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the university’s Elections Research Center, said while there is no silver bullet to inject harmony into the state’s politics, “allowing fusion to be used once again in the state has the potential to at least begin moving politics in a healthier direction without any negative side-effects.”

Business/Technology

Here are the best states for remote work, if you can still find it

USA Today

The gradual retreat from telework “presents a valuable opportunity for companies that continue to offer remote work to differentiate themselves from the competition,” said Anyi Ma, an assistant professor of management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “These companies now have the chance to attract and hire the most talented employees who prefer remote work.”