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Author: gbump

Come the Metaverse, Can Privacy Exist?

Wall Street Journal

A key question for the Delft team and its counterpart at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is how to obscure data on eye movements with privacy filters without sacrificing too much utility. Researchers from both schools said eye-trackers could give companies a wealth of information for targeted advertising at a very granular level.

Lucid dreaming may help treat PTSD. VR can make that happen.

Popular Science

Lucid dreaming is more than just self awareness. People who lucid dream gain memories of what happened earlier in the dream, the ability to manipulate their environment, control their own actions, and marvel at how strange their dream worlds are. Psychologists compare it to a fully immersive virtual reality inside our own heads, which we have the ability to program and reprogram. “You plug into your extended self,” says Benjamin Baird, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Irregular menstrual cycles may prevent women from accessing abortions

The Capital Times

When states began proposing “heartbeat bills” — legislation that would prohibit abortion as early as six weeks, as soon as a fetus’s heartbeat is detected — Jenna Nobles took notice, employing her skills as a researcher. For the past few years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of sociology has examined how these policies could affect people with irregular or long menstrual cycles.

Cannabis to Help You Diet? One Edibles Company Thinks So

The New York Times

Some of them may turn to cannabis because of the prohibitive costs of certain medications, a lack of access to those medications or mistrust of the pharmaceutical industry, said Lucas Richert, a historian of drugs and medicines at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the editor of “Cannabis: Global Histories.”

The Word Of The Year And Why It Matters To Workplace Mental Health

Forbes

According to Huffington, “It’s similar to happiness, actually—another quality we tend to idealize as an end state. But as Professor Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin has shown, we can actually train ourselves to be happier through practice in very tangible and measurable ways by giving ourselves the resources to deal with the ups and downs of life. Similarly, we can train ourselves to be more resilient through practice, and that’s the essence of Resilience+.”

A tool toward equity in graduate student career development (opinion)

Inside Higher Education

Research funding organizations like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation encourage and/or require faculty researchers to use IDPs with doctoral student trainees. The practice has gained traction beyond the STEM disciplines within the past six years. A quick online search will reveal that the IDP has increasingly become a recommended mentoring tool for humanities and social sciences graduate students at both the master’s and doctoral levels.The following are a few of the possible IDPs available to graduate students: Individual Development Plan (all disciplines), University of Wisconsin

The Myth of Tribalism

The Atlantic

Sohad Murrar and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin at Madison recently applied the same idea to intergroup relations. In recent years, universities and other organizations have invested heavily in training in which instructors extol the benefits of diversity and urge participants to be mindful of their own implicit biases. But those initiatives have a mixed record. Murrar’s team found that drawing people’s attention to social norms could produce much better results.

Rusy, Dr. Ben Franklin

Wisconsin State Journal

In 1976, Ben and Anita, and their four daughters, moved to Madison, where he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin Department of Anesthesiology. He became Director of Anesthesia Research and was active in research, teaching and clinical practice.

What do children’s books teach kids about gender?

The Capital Times

Beginning in 2018, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers Ellen Converse, Matt Borkenhagen and Mark Seidenberg transcribed a collection of popular contemporary children’s books, frequenting several local libraries — from Madison Public Library to the university’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center … “One surprise is just how robust some of these gender associations are, given how little text is actually in these books,” said Gary Lupyan, a UW-Madison psychology professor and advisor to the study.

Mindfulness exercises for anxiety are the best thing you can do in 2022

Mashable

It’s easy to believe we’re adept at taming anxiety born of uncertainty thanks to the pandemic. But this may be a false assumption. Dr. Jack Nitschke, a clinical psychologist, and associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, told me that exposure to unpredictability doesn’t necessarily improve our coping skills. “I actually don’t think people get better at tolerating uncertainty just because there’s a lot of it,” he said.

Want Better K-12 Civic Education? Look to Higher Ed

Newsweek

Thankfully, we’re starting to see positive changes in higher education. In some cases, individual professors are stepping up, establishing on-campus centers for the study of American political ideas and institutions. At the Jack Miller Center, where I work, we partner with public-minded scholars who have created such centers at the University of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, American University and dozens of others. Many of them, in turn, have launched programs for K-12 teachers.

Boaz, Wisconsin, population 156, to host state’s first community-scale microgrid

Wisconsin State Journal

Pioneered by UW-Madison scientists, microgrids can use solar panels, diesel generators, batteries or some combination of resources to supply electricity when operating as islands. Microgrids are seen as a way to bring power to people in regions without access to electricity as well as a way to increase reliability and resiliency in developed countries while making better use of intermittent clean energy sources. They also offer a more manageable platform for utilities to test out things like battery storage, said Dominic Gross, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at UW-Madison.

 

Dane County COVID-19 cases hit all-time high

Wisconsin State Journal

The number of people hospitalized has taken only a small dip in recent days, with an average of 115 people hospitalized over the last week, per Public Health data. Hospital officials have warned they are reaching a breaking point with COVID-19 patients, and UW Health said it is reducing the number of nonessential procedures it schedules amid the ongoing surge.

Clean energy from ammonia: UW discovery a step towards carbon-free economy

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison scientists have discovered a new way to capture energy from an everyday product that could be a key step to a carbon-free economy. Researchers in professor John Berry’s chemistry lab found that ammonia combined with a catalyst containing the metal ruthenium spontaneously produces nitrogen, releasing electrons that can be siphoned off.

Covid News: U.S. Daily Record for Cases Is Broken

New York Times

David O’Connor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said of the Omicron estimate, “The 73 percent got a lot more attention than the confidence intervals, and I think this is one example among many where scientists are trying to project an air of confidence about what’s going to happen.”

The Artists We Lost in 2021, in Their Words

The New York Times

“When I studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, it was the humanities classes that I had put to the side that ultimately started me on this path of thinking about creativity in a much more cultural context — not designing for design’s sake, but connecting design to the rhythm of what’s happening in the world.”— Virgil Abloh, designer, born 1980 (Read the obituary.

Badger fans take in sights ahead of Las Vegas Bowl

WISC-TV 3

If there’s one thing Wisconsin sports fans do well, it’s travel. As the Badgers get ready to take on Arizona State in the Las Vegas Bowl, Badger Red popped up across the Las Vegas Strip as fans took in the sights and sounds ahead of the game.

“Very full” UW Health warns it’s running out of room, medical staff stretched thin

NBC-15

Rooms are running out and medical staff are stretched thin at UW Health facilities as the Omicron variant drives a new surge of COVID-19 cases, the health system is warning. On Tuesday, UW Health Chief Quality Officer Dr. Jeff Pothof cautioned that if this trend continues, they may not have space or staff needed to care for the number of patients they are getting.

Holloway, Arlan Joseph “Arlie”

Wisconsin State Journal

Arlie worked as an insulator for over 40 years and was a member of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers Local 19 Union. He also worked for UW-Madison his final years before retirement.

UW women’s basketball cancels 2nd game because of COVID-19

NBC-15

The University of Wisconsin’s women’s basketball team has canceled its second consecutive game because of positive COVID-19 tests within the program. On Monday, the university announced the Dec. 30 matchup against Big Ten rival Purdue at the Kohl Center will not be played and UW gave no indication that it would be re-scheduled.

Fennema, Ann Elizabeth

Wisconsin State Journal

Elizabeth was a Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She also served as a Senior Scientist at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, and in the Women’s Studies Program until her retirement in 1996, when she was appointed Professor Emerita.

Fix up Field House for volleyball team — Ken Johnson

Wisconsin State Journal

The best tribute to this program will be to remake the upper tier of the Field House in Madison safer with more capacity and comfortable seating. Anyone who has climbed around pillars and ducked under eaves in the upper deck can tell you that it’s not for the faint of heart or physically challenged, especially many older fans.

UW Health utilizing virtual ICU program amid COVID-19 wave

NBC-15

UW Health is using virtual meeting technology to expand the use of eICU programs amidst a new wave of COVID-19, UW Health said Friday. According to UW Health, rural hospitals throughout Wisconsin are facing difficulties as emergency rooms continue to reach capacity.

Burgess, James Edward

Wisconsin State Journal

A crowning achievement of Jim’s career was his work with the UW School of Journalism and Mass Communication to create the James E. Burgess Chair of Journalism Ethics. The Chair was the cornerstone of what would become the Center for Journalism Ethics, now an internationally recognized hub for reflection, education and activism in the field.

Limited COVID-19 testing scrambles holiday plans for some UW-Madison students

Wisconsin State Journal

After a fall semester that appears free from the major COVID-19 outbreaks and testing problems associated with last school year, complaints are dropping in the final days before winter break begins. Students find themselves frustrated, scrambling to secure an elusive COVID-19 test during an already stressful time and amid a rise in campus cases.