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Author: gbump

Digital divide: Health, education, prosperity depend on high-speed internet

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Wisconsin State Journal

But the problem may be worse than we thought, according to a new UW Extension study, with implications for health, education and prosperity — problems that are further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has pushed nearly every aspect of daily life — from business to school and even health care — online. “People are choosing to live in places they can have access,” said Tessa Conroy, an assistant professor of applied economics and the lead author of the study. “More and more it’s connected to so many facets of life.”

COVID-19 vaccine requirements not likely as Madison area businesses balance public health, liability

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Wisconsin State Journal

Though the law allows employers to mandate vaccines, UW-Madison professor emerita of law and bioethics Alta Charo said requiring employees to get the shot could lead to pushback from employees who might get vaccinated on their own but bristle at the mandate. “In the history of public health, we have frequently seen that voluntary compliance winds up more successful at the end than mandates,” Charo said.

Mark Copelovitch, Jon C.W. Pevehouse and Jessica L.P. Weeks: Substance and framing of Thompson Center’s ‘free speech’ report are questionable

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The Capital Times

Column by Mark Copelovitch, a professor of political science and public affairs. Jon C.W. Pevehouse, a Vilas Distinguished Achievement professor of political science and public affairs, and Jessica L.P. Weeks, a professor of political science and the H. Douglas Weaver chair of diplomacy and international relations. All three are professors at UW-Madison.

Redistricting poised as a top political issue of 2021

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NBC-15

The 2010 map, as UW-Madison political science professor Kenneth Mayer explained, was widely criticized after being created by the Assembly’s top Republicans and their lawyers. According to the rulings of federal courts, the party claimed attorney-client privilege and did not release the details of its map.

More Contagious Coronavirus Variant Found In Wisconsin

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Wisconsin Public Radio

“A more transmissible variant is something to take seriously and may alter the way we think about schools reopening or other thing we are doing in the community,” said Dr. Thomas Friedrich, a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Mellon Foundation grants $72 million to humanities projects focused on issues of racial justice

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Inside Higher Education

Another $5 million grant, awarded to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, focuses on antiracism literacy in the sciences and medicine. “Over the summer in response to Black Lives Matters protests, my history of science colleagues and I were talking about how we could ramp up the teaching we do on histories of race in the sciences and medicine,” said Elizabeth Hennessy, the project leader and an associate professor of history and environmental sciences at Madison. “A typical education in the sciences doesn’t include a history of your own discipline. It rare that is an emphasis in scientific training, but I think it’s a really important emphasis.”

University of Wisconsin System to receive more BinaxNOW rapid COVID-19 tests

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WKOW-TV 27

“The University of Wisconsin System strives to be a national leader in combating COVID-19 and our robust testing strategy is one of our most effective means to do it,” said Tommy Thompson, president, University of Wisconsin System. “We will continue to be aggressive in acquiring and implementing tests at our universities and our partnership with Abbott is key to making this happen.”

Tracking the effects of glacial melting at the top of the world

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Microsoft On the Issues

Microsoft’s AI for Good Research Lab is working with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the University of Wisconsin, and the Quebec AI Institute (Mila). Mila was founded in 1993 by professor Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian computer scientist renowned for his work on artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks. Professor Bengio was the principal investigator on the project.

Captive gorillas test positive for coronavirus

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Science

“The fact that gorillas are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 should come as no surprise,” says disease ecologist Tony Goldberg of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “Fortunately, gorillas at zoos have excellent medical care, and most will likely pull through due to the efforts of dedicated veterinarians. That’s not the case for gorillas in the wild, though.”

White Riot

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New York Times

In their paper “Trends in Educational Assortative Marriage From 1940 to 2003,” Christine R. Schwartz and Robert D. Mare, professors of sociology at the University of Wisconsin and the University of California-Los Angeles, wrote that the “most striking” data in their research, “is the decline in odds that those with very low levels of education marry up.”

Fish reserves work in freshwater too, grassroots movement in Thailand proves

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National Geographic

In 2012, Koning, then a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, began investigating the Ngao valley reserves to see how widespread and successful they truly were. Over the next eight years, he spent a total of 18 months living with communities across the region, where he documented around 50 different reserves. He selected 23 to study in depth, interviewing villagers and snorkeling the waters inside and outside the reserves to count and measure fish, along with study co-author Martin Perales.

Forget Memory, Try Imagination: A Social Innovator Takes On Dementia

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Forbes

In general, there’s an age bias in philanthropy. Everyone wants to fund youth innovation. It is seen as the most important investment in the future, with long returns. I would add that if we’re not disrupting ageism, we’re harming young people by shortening their lives. You can do intergenerational work, bringing young and old to create together, and everyone benefits.

Anne Basting is founder of TimeSlips; an Ashoka Fellow; a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and a MacArthur Fellow. Her latest book is Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care.

College openings led to increase in community cases, research says

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Inside Higher Education

At the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a spokesperson noted that COVID-19 cases rose in every county in the state following Sept. 1, when students came to campus. “As cases of COVID-19 continue at high levels across Wisconsin, UW-Madison remains committed to doing its part to keep transmission low,” the spokesperson said via email. “Despite a rise in cases early in the fall semester — caught and contained quickly thanks to robust testing and rapid efforts to isolate positive students and quarantine those at risk of exposure — campus experienced a low level of cases after the third week of September.” The university also provided 20,000 free tests to the general public.

In wake of Jacob Blake decision, a primer on ‘use of force’ policies in Wisconsin

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The Capital Times

“People often wonder whether an officer’s actions complied with local policy. But as to an officer’s civil or criminal liability, this question does not matter. When a department asserts an officer acted reasonably, the department looks to constitutional law. And constitutional law is very forgiving of officer decision-making,” said Ion Meyn, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, who has extensively studied the issue.

Schraufnagel, Dorothy Ann (Lukes)

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Wisconsin State Journal

She found work in the cafeteria making salads at Truax Field. Later she would continue that line of work for the UW at Chadbourne Hall. One time people were complaining that her Jell-O was so salty; she found out someone accidentally put salt in the sugar container.

‘The choice is ours’: Panel discusses COVID-19 and schools

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The Capital Times

“The choice is ours,” said Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “It’s ours as a population, as a country, as a community … Navsaria was joined on the Wisconsin Health News panel by UW-Madison epidemiologist Malia Jones, La Crosse School district superintendent Aaron Engel and Eau Claire City-County Health Department director Lieske Giese.

New Study Ranks Best and Worst States to Raise a Family

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Fatherly

“Parents and children can do well in any state. But doing your best will indeed be easier in some states than in others, and child development is better on average in some states than in others,” says Dave Riley, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology who took part in the report.

Mice may ‘catch’ each other’s pain — and pain relief

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Science News

“Not surprisingly, the circuits that they’re looking at are remarkably similar to some of these processes in humans,” says Jules Panksepp, a social neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who was not part of the study. Both mice and humans share a connectedness with their compatriots in emotional situations, he says, and research points to a shared evolutionary basis for empathy.

Mann, Frances

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Wisconsin State Journal

Fran spent more than 25 years working at UW-Madison in the Genetics department working for the famous Professor Oliver Smithies.

The Trump Purge Makes Living In America More Like Living In China 

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The Federalist

A recent survey found that an overwhelming majority of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison think the government should be able to punish “hate speech.” Of course, “hate speech” is simply the left’s ambiguous term for anything veering from the leftist orthodoxy on issues such as abortion, sex, race, and immigration.

Who should get COVID-19 vaccine next? A state committee debates

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Wisconsin State Journal

Dr. Jonathan Temte, co-chair of the subcommittee and former chair of the CDC advisory committee, said that if disabled people who live in group homes are prioritized, inmates should be too because both live in congregate settings. “I think we should be unwilling to decouple those,” said Temte, associate dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.