JewBelong, a national nonprofit aiming to fight antisemitism, is launching a new billboard campaign near the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The campaign coincides with the August 28 football season opener against Miami of Ohio and targets antisemitism on campus.
August 19, 2025
Campus life
UW-Madison’s food pantry ‘Open Seat’ prepares for increased demand this fall semester
University of Wisconsin-Madison students are heading back to campus and getting ready for the upcoming fall semester. Meanwhile, the campus food pantry, Open Seat, is preparing for an increased demand this school year.
Crime and safety
Read the lawsuit 5 former Wisconsin players filed against former coach Marisa Moseley
Alexis Duckett, Krystyna Ellew, Mary Ferrito, Tara Stauffacher and Tessa Towers filed a 51-page lawsuit Friday in federal court, also accusing Moseley of retaliation and discrimination.
The former players’ lawsuit named Moseley, the Wisconsin Board of Regents and former senior associate athletic director Justin Doherty, the sport administrator for basketball, as defendants.
Health
China tech CEO reveals plans for humanoid ‘pregnancy robot’
“Pregnancy is an extremely complex process, with each step being extremely delicate and critical,” said Yi Fuxian, an obstetrician at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who conducts demographic research,
He told Newsweek the robot is “likely just a gimmick” and warned of “many health and ethical risks” even if it could ultimately bring a child to term.
Business/Technology
Felony AI-generated child porn case in Eau Claire County is a test of new Wisconsin law
Dietram Scheufele is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in misinformation, social media and AI. He told WPR the rise of artificial intelligence models has opened numerous legal and ethical questions that courts are left to grapple with.
On the technical side, Sheufele said, the question is how AI models are able to create lifelike images of child pornography. Another question is whether people or businesses that create the algorithm to assist the AI models that ultimately create the images would be liable.
“The same logic that applies to child pornography will apply to a whole bunch of other things — not in the sense of obscenity, but in the sense of responsibility and copyright, and all the other things that come that come along with that,” Scheufele said.
Tom Still: The clash over energy demands and how to satisfy them
There is a strong foundation for growth. The UW-Madison College of Engineering has one of the nation’s few remaining teaching and research reactors. It ranks No. 2 among all U.S. public universities in undergraduate and graduate education in “engineering physics,” a term that captures most nuclear energy programs.
UW Experts in the News
Red Cross of Wisconsin calls for volunteers amid increase in natural disasters
Shane Hubbard is a research scientist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Space Science & Engineering Center. He says Wisconsin is a leader in helping communities mitigate against flooding disasters.
“We have some communities here that have really experienced what it means to mitigate and help us not have as many damages as a state when we have flood events,” he said.
This wildfire season shows the limits of forest management in the face of climate change
Jack pine and black spruce trees fall into this category, according to David Mladenoff, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both species reproduce by using cones that are sealed up with resin, and open to spread seeds only under the intense heat of a fire.
“The nature of the (jack pine and black spruce) trees — their foliage, their bark, they have a lot of resin — they burn easily. They kind of encourage fire because they need fire,” said Mladenoff.