The UW-Madison Geography Department is using a mobility map to monitor behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monitoring mobility before and after Safer at Home
NBC-15
Author: gbump
Flu cases drop off as season ends, no clear timeline for COVID-19
NBC-15
“Especially the school closure part, which might explain why influenza disappeared as well,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, UW Health’s medical director for infection prevention.
UW-Madison closes off lakefront as hundreds gather
Madison365
The University of Wisconsin has erected temporary fencing to close off the Memorial Union Terrace and adjacent lakefront areas, including the piers, as hundreds of people have gathered in recent days in defiance of a county-wide order prohibiting large groups.
UW to temporarily shut down terrace, part of alumni park due to COVID-19
Badger Herald
New order to halt spread, ensure social distancing on campus.
Expanding AmeriCorps could turn new grads into contact tracers
The Washington Post
Pearson-Green enrolled in City Year two years ago, while in his junior year at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Has NASA Found A Parallel Universe ‘Where Time Flows Backwards?’ The Truth Behind The Headlines
Forbes
He (Ibrahim Safa) is also quoted as saying that while it has been an exciting time for physicists trying to explain these events, “it looks like we’ll have to wait for the next generation of experiments, which will increase exposure and sensitivity, to get a clear understanding of this anomaly.”
A new artificial eye mimics and may outperform human eyes
Science News
The researchers’ current method of creating individual ultrasmall pixels is impractical, says Hongrui Jiang, an electrical engineer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison whose commentary on the study appears in the same issue of Nature. “For a few hundred nanowires, okay, fine, but how about millions?” Engineers will need a much more efficient way to manufacture vast arrays of tiny wires on the back of the artificial eyeball to give it superhuman sight, he says.
After Wisconsin Republicans forced election, study links in-person voting to spike in COVID-19 cases
Salon
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Ball State University found a “significant association between in-person voting and the spread of COVID-19 two to three weeks” after the election. Those findings were published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
NSF Plots a Course for the Next Decade of Earth Sciences Research
Eos
“This is a community consensus report,” said Andrea Dutton, a professor of geology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “We are representing the community, and this is their voice in the report.”
Wisconsin reopening decision boosts bars; many people still quarantine
USA Today
Nasia Safdar, an infectious disease expert with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said factors such as improved weather and the end of at-home schooling in some districts probably contributed to a general trend of increased movement.
Hurricanes are getting stronger, and climate change may be a factor
CNET
Hurricanes are getting windier. That’s the sobering conclusion of a study led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist James Kossin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The paper appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal on Monday.
New Bionic Eye Could Surpass the Real One: It’s Got Night Vision Capability!
The Science Times
However, Hongrui Jiang, an Electrical Engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that the method the researchers are using in creating individual ultrasmall pixels is impractical.
Scientists Reveal a Proof-of-Concept Bionic Human Eye
Futurism
“I think in about 10 years, we should see some very tangible practical applications of these bionic eyes,” Hongrui Jiang, an electrical engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the research, told Scientific American.
What We Lose When We Hide Our Smiles Behind a Mask
Time
According to Paula Niedenthal, a psychologist who heads up the Niedenthal Emotions Lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has studied facial expression extensively, there are three types of smiles: those that express pleasure at a reward or surprise, like when you get to see your friends in person after a prolonged separation (soon, please); those that convey a desire to be friendly, or at least non-threatening, which she calls smiles of affiliation; and those that show dominance, like the one Dirty Harry gives when he asks a certain punk if he feels lucky.
Coronavirus threatens autistic people living in group homes
Spectrum
“Autistic people have very specific routines they like to follow,” says Lauren Bishop, assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When those things are taken away as a result of a national crisis, it can make the crisis that’s already stressful even more stressful.”
Visualizing Science: How Color Determines What We See
Eos
“When people approach a visualization, they have expectations of how visual features will map onto concepts,” said Karen Schloss, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Schloss and her team are working to tackle these implementation issues and understand trade-offs between deeply ingrained, communal familiarity and the next generation of color tools.
The world might just capture enough CO2 to avert disaster, study says
Metro News
Study leader Dr Christopher Zahasky, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison but conducted the work at Imperial, said: ‘Nearly all IPCC pathways to limit warming to 2C require tens of gigatons of CO2 stored per year by mid-century.
NCAA sets course for return of voluntary workouts in football, basketball
Wisconsin State Journal
The NCAA has started clearing the path for athletes to return to campus for voluntary workouts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UW to slowly restart research activities, offer mix of courses for fall
The Capital Times
Chancellor Rebecca Blank announced plans Monday to begin a careful, phased reopening of the University of Wisconsin-Madison over the summer.
Questions linger about when Dane County will allow full reopening; UW bans large gatherings
Wisconsin State Journal
Meanwhile, UW-Madison on Wednesday issued an order that will limit access to a number of popular gathering spots on campus just as the warmer weather starts to draw people outside after two months of safer-at-home restrictions.
Alexis Mauermann, Kristen Campbell among Badgers women’s hockey team award recipients
Wisconsin State Journal
Seniors Alexis Mauermann and Kristen Campbell received two of the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team’s major awards for the 2019-20 season.
UW-Madison adopts new order to enforce physical distancing in campus gathering spots
WISC-TV 3
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has adopted a new order ahead of the campus’ reopening that enforces physical distancing and other public health measures.
Changes on UW-Madison’s campus to deal with Covid-19
WKOW-TV 27
UW-Madison has issued a new order that will limit access to popular places on campus. It’s part of an effort to keep people safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.
There may be a chance for Badger Football this Fall after all
NBC-15
UW spokesperson John Lucas tells NBC15 News that while Dane County Public Health’s ban on public gatherings does not apply directly to “units of a state agency,” the university will continue to work with Madison and the county to develop a plan for school sports to eventually restart.
Man attempts strong-armed robbery in Library Mall, grabs woman
Badger Herald
Man described as white, in 30s, with heavy build.
Global warming is making hurricanes worse, study finds
The Washington Post
The study, by a group of researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, builds on previous research that found a trend, though not a statistically robust one, toward stronger tropical cyclones.
Tropical Storms Are Getting More Intense Due to the Climate Crisis
Ecowatch
The devastation caused by hurricanes in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, North Carolina and Houston over the last few years is a direct effect of the climate crisis, which is making tropical storms stronger and wetter, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as CNN reported.
Does ‘Typhoid Mary’ have lessons for us in the era of coronavirus?
CTV News
Judith Walzer Leavitt, an American historian and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in medical history and women’s studies, says Mallon’s story illustrates a unique and unprecedented period in medical history. “It’s a wrenching personal story. She was the first healthy carrier of typhoid fever to be discovered, so people had never seen it before and didn’t know what to do,” she told CTVNews.ca during a phone interview on Sunday from Madison, Wis. “It was completely unheard of. People in the medical community thought, ‘How could this be?’ There were a lot of skeptics,’ Leavitt added.
Police: Wisconsin Man Harassed Asian Americans For Wearing Masks At Grocery Store
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a virtual town hall in March after racist graffiti was found written in chalk on campus.
Coronavirus vaccine trials have their first results — but their promise is still unclear
Nature
Still, the early data offer clues as to how coronavirus vaccines might generate a strong immune response. Scientists say that animal data will be crucial for understanding how coronavirus vaccines work, so that the most promising candidates can be quickly identified and later improved. “We might have vaccines in the clinic that are useful in people within 12 or 18 months,” says Dave O’Connor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “But we’re going to need to improve on them to develop second- and third-generation vaccines.”
Hurricanes really are getting stronger, just like climate models predicted
Live Science
“The main hurdle we have for finding trends is that the data are collected using the best technology at the time,” James Kossin, a NOAA scientist and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, said in a statement. “Every year the data are a bit different than last year, each new satellite has new tools and captures data in different ways, so in the end we have a patchwork quilt of all the satellite data that have been woven together.”
Hurricanes are getting stronger and climate change may be to blame
SlashGear
Hurricanes are getting stronger, according to a new study, and climate change may be the cause. The findings come from scientists with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information. Around four decades of hurricane satellite images went into the research, according to the University, building upon previous research that found similar storm intensification.
Climate Change Is Making Hurricanes Stronger, Researchers Find
The Weather Channel
Climate change is making tropical cyclones more intense with stronger maximum sustained winds, according to a new study led by scientists at NOAA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), who analyzed nearly 40 years of enhanced infrared satellite imagery.
Hurricanes are getting stronger, and it’s all our fault
BGR
If it seems to you that the massive storms rolling in from the ocean every year are causing more and more damage than the years before, you’re not alone. Scientists are noticing the trend, too, and a new study published by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Madison and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lays out the evidence in stark detail.
UW Health seeing 40% more home-related burns
WISC-TV 3
In what could be another effect of more of us staying at home, UW Health’s Burn Center is seeing more home-related injuries.
Four decades of data shows hurricane winds are growing stronger
New Atlas
The study was carried out by a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and led by James Kossin.
Climate Change Is Making Cyclones Stronger, Researchers Find
The Weather Channel
Climate change is making tropical cyclones more intense with stronger maximum sustained winds, according to a new study led by scientists at NOAA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), who analysed nearly 40 years of enhanced infrared satellite imagery.
Global warming is making hurricanes stronger
EarthSky
Scientists study all the ways hurricanes are likely to change in this century as Earth gets warmer. They also want to know – and this is a hard question to answer – if hurricanes are already being affected by the Earth warming that’s happened thus far. This week, scientists at the University of Wisconsin weighed in with a new analysis of nearly 40 years of satellite imagery of hurricanes. Their results say that – over the past four decades – hurricanes have become more intense and destructive.
Pandemic affecting people’s dreams
NBC-15
Quoted: “We dream for a variety of reasons,” explained Dr. Shilagh Mirgain, a UW Health Psychologist. “We dream to process information, to integrate experiences, to work through distressing emotions, and there’s learning and growth that occurs. We’re being asked to live in unprecedented ways and as a result because there is heightened anxiety and stress that can show up in our dreams.”
Burn injuries spike as people spend more time at home: UW Health
NBC-15
“So during our time when we’re asked to be safer at home, maybe people haven’t been going out to eat, parents and children are at home, they’re not at school, so maybe it’s a result of that,” UW Health Burn Center Director Dr. Lee Faucher said.
Asian Americans speak against coronavirus discrimination, Madison mayor condemns
NBC-15
Asian Americans around Wisconsin shared testimonies of being targeted in coronavirus-related discrimination in Tuesday’s virtual town hall.
In a World ‘So Upside Down,’ the Virus Is Taking a Toll on Young People’s Mental Health
The New York Times
“Not every kid can be online and have a confidential conversation about how things are going at home with parents in earshot,” said Seth Pollak, director of the Child Emotion Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Langdon Street development awaits OK as project heads back to Urban Design Commission
Wisconsin State Journal
A number of students and members of the Greek community at UW-Madison spoke with mixed feelings on the development. Some spoke against the project, believing it would not benefit the community but rather add stress to the neighborhood.
Customers supporting local restaurants safely during COVID-19 pandemic
Wisconsin State Journal
Malia Jones, a UW-Madison assistant scientist and social epidemiologist, said that because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending people wear a mask when social distancing isn’t possible, food workers should wear some kind of face covering.
Face masks becoming a political symbol of the COVID-19 era
Wisconsin State Journal
Research on the effectiveness of wearing face masks is limited, but the idea is that wearing a mask helps reduce the transmission of the virus from the wearer to people in proximity through talking, coughing or sneezing. Dr. James Conway, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said cloth masks can achieve that quite well.
Wieckert, David A., Professor Emeritus
Wisconsin State Journal
David obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1963. The next 33 years were spent as a professor in the Dairy Science Department at the University of Wisconsin, where he taught 10,228 students.
UW-Madison begins summer term online projecting high enrollment, revenue
The Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s summer term began Tuesday, with over 1,300 online courses across sessions lasting into August.
Gates Foundation’s Tactics to Remake Public Education During Pandemic Are Undemocratic
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Educators, students, families, and communities are the ones with the most to lose, and they must determine how to develop our shared future after the pandemic. At the very least, they deserve to be at the table to choose who leads these efforts rather than hearing about it in a daily briefing after the deal has been closed.
Kathryn Moeller is an assistant professor of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin and the author of “The Gender Effect: Capitalism, Feminism, and the Corporate Politics of Development.” Rebecca Tarlau is an assistant professor of education and labor and employment relations at the Pennsylvania State University and the author of “Occupying Schools, Occupying Land: How the Landless Workers Movement Transformed Brazilian Education.”
Global warming is making hurricanes worse, study finds
The Washington Post
The study, by a group of researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, builds on previous research that found a trend, though not a statistically robust one, toward stronger tropical cyclones
Zero coronavirus counties: limited testing, low population
USA Today
But researchers like Malia Jones, an assistant scientist in health geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, say the impact of COVID-19 can’t always be traced to an urban-rural divide.Jones studies how infectious diseases spread. In Wisconsin, four rural counties have remained case-free, yet plenty of other rural counties have not.
We may be seeing more of this
Cosmos Magazine
In almost every part of the world where tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons) form, their maximum sustained winds are getting stronger, according to a study of nearly 40 years of satellite images by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM).
Scientists say hurricanes are indeed getting stronger
CNET
Hurricanes are getting windier. That’s the sobering conclusion of a study led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist James Kossin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The paper appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal on Monday.
Hurricanes are getting stronger, just as climate scientists predicted
Treehugger
“The trend is there and it is real,” says James P. Kossin, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and lead author of the study. “There’s this remarkable building of this body of evidence that we’re making these storms more deleterious.
”The research was a collaboration between the NOAA National Center for Environmental Information and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. The team looked at global hurricane data from 1979 to 2017, and used analytical techniques to create a uniform data set with which to identify trends.
Quotation of the Day: Republicans to Pursue a Crackdown on Voting
The New York Times
“It’s utter nonsense. This has been shown over and over. The continued insistence that there are material levels of intentional voter fraud is itself a form of fraud.”
KENNETH R. MAYER, an elections expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Republicans recruit 50,000 volunteers to police “voter fraud” in November
Salon.com
Voting experts said this was “utter nonsense.””This has been shown over and over,” Kenneth Mayer, an elections expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the Times. “The continued insistence that there are material levels of intentional voter fraud is itself a form of fraud.”
First COVID-19 vaccine tested on humans raises hopes for cure through its early trial results
Jagran.com
Also, the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has partnered with the US-based FluGen and University of Wisconsin Madison, for producing 300 million doses of CoroFlu, a COVID-19 vaccine which could be in human clinical trials by the fall of 2020.
Milky Way’s ‘satellite galaxies’ may shed light on dark matter
Futurity
Additional researchers from the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory contributed to the work. Funding came from the US Department of Energy and Stanford University.
Biden keys in on Keystone
POLITICO
NOAA STUDY RAISES CLIMATE QUESTIONS: The intensity of hurricanes and typhoons have increased over the past four decades, according to a new study from the NOAA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, indicating a link between the power of the tropical storms and human-driven climate change. The peer-reviewed study, Pro’s Zack Colman reports, is the first to show tropical cyclones have grown stronger as planetary temperatures have increased.
UW-River Falls chancellor picked to lead Missouri school
Associated Press
University of Wisconsin-River Falls Chancellor Dean Van Galen has been chosen as the new president of Missouri Southern State University, the two schools announced Monday.
Vicky Opitz’s Olympic chase delayed, but former Badgers rower stays dedicated to the sport
Wisconsin State Journal
Vicky Opitz never says no when (rowing coach Bebe) Bryans calls for a favor. And the Middleton native and former Badgers rowing All-American has a compelling story to put behind a message of resilience.