New research from UW-Madison reveals how golden oyster mushrooms — first imported from Asia more than 20 years ago and increasingly popular among growers and foodies — are spreading rapidly and encroaching on native mushroom species in the Midwest. We talk to the lead author of the study.
Oceanography has much to tell us about the health of planet Earth – as well as far-flung exoplanets. Then, we learn why space rovers get stuck on Mars and the moon. Then, an up-to-date report on another summer of blue-green algal booms on Wisconsin waterways.
UW-Madison confirmed that Ridglan supplied the school with animals in the past. According to the school, dogs are used in research studies of cancer prevention, organ transplants, vaccines and other medical breakthroughs.
“Those studies have been supported by grants from federal agencies, nonprofit foundations and patient groups, and health care companies,” a university spokesperson said.
Both Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin are land-grant universities that profited from lands taken from Indigenous nations, as did at least 50 other universities throughout the U.S. Many are still profiting through their endowments.
The U.S. Morrill Act of 1862 gave states land taken from tribes by the federal government on the condition the land be sold or used for profit with the proceeds to help establish at least one agricultural college.
The top 50 schools for long-term career success:
50. University of Wisconsin-Madison
The loan changes may lure more professional students to UW-Madison and other public universities, where the cost of attendance is typically lower than at private institutions.
The UW Law School, for example, has aggressively fundraised to offer more need-based scholarships, contributing to a drop in the percentage of student borrowers from 78% in 2014 to 62% in 2024, said Rebecca Scheller, the law school’s associate dean for admissions and financial aid.
The Galin Scholars program is welcoming its third cohort of high school students this fall, continuing its expansion of free college prep in the greater Madison area.
The Madison-based nonprofit now supports 15 students from seven high schools. The first five students graduated from high school this summer and will begin college at Northwestern University, Lake Forest College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall.
12. University of Wisconsin System – UW (education).
“This whole idea of unconventional habitability, especially afforded by … radiation, I think is really underexplored,” says astrobiologist Zach Adam of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was not involved in the study.
“This plant is quite harmful to our forests,” said Mark Renz, a professor and Extension weed specialist at UW. “It makes wildfires more frequent and severe, alters nutrient cycling and soil microbes, and reduces wildlife habitat, all of which decreases biodiversity.”
An invasive plant has been spotted in southcentral Wisconsin, and scientists are asking the public for help to prevent it from spreading across the region.
Japanese stiltgrass was spotted in Rock County last month.
Mark Renz, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension weed specialist and professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, said the grass is bad for a number of reasons.
Japanese stiltgrass is an annual grass, like crabgrass, that can grow in the woods.
“What it does is it produces a lot of fuel, and when that annual grass dies in the winter, that fuel persists, so it can increase the timeframe when fires naturally can occur in the forests,” said Mark Renz, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension weed specialist and professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences.
John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the work, said the find is exciting because it opens a window into a critical and mysterious period of human evolution between 2.5 million and 3 million years ago. He said he’s eager to see the work published but noted that such finds raise as many questions as they answer.
