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May 28, 2025

Research

UW-Madison center sees promise in using psychedelics for addiction, PTSD, depression

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The UW–Madison Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances supports research and education into psychedelic drugs and related compounds. The idea is to learn how these psychedelic substances may help mood or behavior in ways other forms of therapy can sometimes fall short.

For the last 10 years, the center at UW-Madison has been part of a psychedelic renaissance in the science community, one that comes after decades of negative media attention stymied research and public perceptions.

We’re getting close to recreating the first step in evolution of life

Posted on
New Scientist

“RNA nucleotide triplets serve very specific informatic functions in translation in all cells,” says Zachary Adam at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, meaning they are used to convey information. “This paper is interesting because it might point to a purely chemical role – a non-informatic function – for RNA nucleotide triplets that they could have served prior to the emergence of a living cell.”

Campus life

This judge’s journey from film school to the federal bench

Posted on
Madison Magazine

Peterson wound up in graduate school at UW–Madison after deciding to pursue film studies.

“It’s what really interested me,” he says, and Peterson found a mentor and dissertation advisor in David Bordwell, the legendary UW film professor whom American film critic Roger Ebert called “our best writer on the cinema.”

It was an anxious moment when Peterson told his revered friend and mentor Bordwell that he was leaving film for the UW Law School.

State news

Wisconsin Supreme Court suspends Dane County judge over ‘intemperate’ behavior

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Although the process for handling judicial misconduct varies by state, it is “somewhat rare” for judges to be suspended in Wisconsin and across the nation, said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

“[Nationwide] the overall judicial disciplinary process is sometimes critiqued from both sides as being overly lenient on judges or as being too harsh on judges,” Godar said. “It’s really difficult to strike this balance between accountability for judicial officers while wanting to preserve the independence of state courts and state judges.”

UW Experts in the News

Dog park etiquette, Being a veterinarian

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

With more American households now having pets than children, demand for veterinarians is on the rise. Citing an increase for veterinarian job listings of 124 percent over the last three years, the employment website Indeed this year named being a vet their top job of 2025. We talk with veterinarian and clinical instructor Dr. Calico Schmidt of the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine about the joys and challenges of making a living caring for animals.

UW-Madison Related

Can bacteria serve as ‘microscopic miners’ of the metals we need?

Posted on
Mother Jones

“We’re creating a new industrial paradigm at the intersection of biology and mining,” said Dennett, who earned a Ph.D in geosciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and went on to work at NASA’s astrobiology program and run data architecture for Amazon Web Services before founding Endolith. “Our goal is simple: reshape supply chains for the most important technology transitions of our lifetime.”