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Author: jplucas

Mid-semester moving

The Minnesota Daily

Noted: The University of Wisconsin-Madison has a similar system to move students out early. David Swiderski, spokesman for the university?s housing department, said the school always moves students out of expanded housing by November. The university has an agreement to lease spaces from Madison?s agriculture department until classes start that month, he said.

Rob Taub: Madison: Midwest Oasis

Huffington Post

For as long as I can remember, my two friends who attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have been telling me that there is nothing comparable to spending a Badger football weekend at their alma mater. The weekend of October 27th also happened to be the Madison Homecoming as well as an event celebrating Halloween known as Freakfest, so I was offered multiple opportunities to be 18 again.

The Fathers, Families & Healthy Communities project teaches young fathers how to be men

Chicago Tribune

Noted: But after a few years of hard work, Lawrence, who has a master?s degree in community economic development, said he began to feel pulled more toward the trenches. So he started Fathers, Families and Healthy Communities on his own in 2010 and brought in as a senior adviser Kirk Harris, a University of Wisconsin professor and expert on how to help men become more responsible fathers.

‘Too controversial’ schools lecture invitation dropped

The Age, Australia

One of the world?s leading education scholars has had his invitation to speak to Victorian principals revoked amid fears that his views on performance pay ??may be too controversial??. Professor Michael Apple, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was due to address principals and senior staff from state schools on November 9.

Voter Turnout for Boomers and Millennials

New York Times

Noted: Connie Flanagan, a developmental psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says voting is habit forming. ?Once you?ve made your first vote, it becomes part of your routine,? she said. ?Everyone you know votes. It feels like a moral and civic obligation.?

First ‘climate president’ will face challenges

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Climate change has registered barely a peep in the presidential contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. But no matter who wins on Nov. 6, the next occupant of the Oval Office is likely to become the first “climate president.” [A column by Paul Robbins, director of the Nelson Institute.]

Senate panel says Medtronic workers ghostwrote papers

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Over the course of 15 years, Medtronic paid $210 million to a group of 13 doctors and two corporations linked to doctors, including more than $34 million to University of Wisconsin orthopedic surgeon Thomas Zdeblick, who co-authored a series of papers about the product.

Learning to Live With Urban Coyotes

New York Times

Quoted: ?Although there?s been a general trend toward greater tolerance for wildlife and large carnivores in particular in U.S. society, that?s not a one-way street,? said Adrian Treves, founder and director of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ?That tolerance can reverse.?

Posted in Uncategorized

Viral research faces clampdown

Nature

Federal health agencies in the United States have acted to tighten security surrounding research on two deadly pathogens. The move is intended to enhance public safety, but some fear that it may hamper research in the United States and abroad.

Livestrong celebrates successes but faces crossroads

NBCNews.com

In 2011, the foundation?s top beneficiaries included the University of Pennsylvania, which received $539,607 for its ?care plan study and survivorship center,” and the University of Wisconsin, which got $450,000 from Livestrong via a ?corporate agreement? and for its ?international pain policy fellowship,? the 990 document 

Fighting cancer, one free throw at a time

WTMJ-TV Milwaukee

The college basketball season is right around the corner! On Thursday, Oct. 25, UW-Madison students will have the opportunity to team up with the Wisconsin men?s basketball team and Coaches vs. Cancer to take a shot at fighting the world?s deadliest disease.

Lake Effect: Before Major Systems Collapse, ‘Tipping Points’ Offer Clues

WUWM

Noted: One of the leaders in the field is the University of Wisconsin?s Steve Carpenter. He and several fellow scientists from around the world authored a paper just out in the journal Science, called ?Anticipating Critical Transitions.? Carpenter, who heads the Center for Limnology ? or the study of inland waters, joins us by phone from Madison.

Why has the Wisconsin Senate race tightened?

Christian Science Monitor

Noted: Thompson?s electability was once assured based on his name recognition and vast likability in the state as a moderate conservative dating back to his years as governor. That shifted during the Republican primary, when he took hard right positions that many perceived as catering to national trends in his party, says Dennis Dresang, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Those positions helped Baldwin portray him early in the race as unreliable and dogmatic.

Battle scars reveal dinos were head bangers

Discovery News

Noted: Joseph Peterson, a professor in the University of Wisconsin geology department, and his colleagues took CT scans of the skulls and compared the distribution of lesions to those on the skulls of birds, crocodilians, and mammals – particularly mammals with horns.

What Are the Warning Signs of Tipping Points?

Scientific American

Noted: University of Wisconsin?Madison ecologist Stephen Carpenter has for years studied how critical transitions can be used to keep invasive species from overtaking healthy habitats. Using the food chain at Peter Lake on the Wisconsin?Michigan border as a test bed, Carpenter and his colleagues over several years introduced dozens of largemouth bass into the algae-infested water.

Archaeologists plan new dig at Troy

CBS News

Armed with shovels, trowels and new biotechnology tools, archaeologists plan to march into Troy next year for excavations at the famed ancient city.”Our goal is to add a new layer of information to what we already know about Troy,” said William Aylward, a classics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who will lead the expedition. “The archaeological record is rich. If we take a closer look with new scientific tools for study of ancient biological and cultural environments, there is much to be found for telling the story of this world heritage site.”

Decline of the Middle Class: Behind the Numbers

U.S. News and World Report

Quoted: “Their economic future isn?t very bright,” says Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin?Madison. “Wages and income are flat. Transportation, childcare costs, and healthcare costs are going up, and your income isn?t.”

What Gurdon and Yamanaka’s Nobel Prize means to the stem cell community

BioNews

It took 50 years for the Nobel committee to acknowledge one of the key developments in biology. A nucleus from a tadpole?s somatic cell transferred into a frog?s egg resulted in development of a normal tadpole (1); this was the first clone ever made in a laboratory, way back in 1962, and Professor Sir John Gurdon was the visionary scientist behind it.

Gearing up for 2nd presidential debate

Wisconsin Radio Network

Noted: One thing?s for sure, tonight?s town-hall style format between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney will look much different than their first meeting. Also, University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Scientist Barry Burden says the first debate changed the dynamic of the campaign, with Romney coming out ahead.

Inside the minds of tomorrow?s voters

Boston Globe

Teens younger than 18, however, will be out of luck. In a forthcoming book, ?Teenage Citizens: The Political Theories of the Young,? University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Connie Flanagan argues that Americans under 18 unfairly get the ?Summertime Blues? treatment from political scientists and other researchers: ?I?d like to help you, son, but you?re too young to vote.?

Travel trinkets have enduring appeal

San Francisco Chronicle

Quoted: There may be more rationality behind my “impulse finds” than meets the eye. According to Professor Beverly Gordon of the University of Wisconsin?s design studies program, souvenirs “make concrete that which is ephemeral. There?s a drive, a compulsion, for humans to bring home something physical from these experiences.”