TOKYO (AFP) â?? Japanese scientists said Friday they had derived stem cells from wisdom teeth, opening another way to study deadly diseases without the ethical controversy of using embryos.
Researchers at the government-backed National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology said they created stem cells of the type found in human embryos using the removed wisdom teeth of a 10-year-old girl.
A growing number of universities are starting to take a more proactive approach to monitoring off-campus behavior and neighbors say the efforts are working.
MADISON â?? University of Wisconsin System regents called for action Friday in response to what they called a troubling audit that showed a growing demand for mental health counseling.
The audit found UW students often wait a week or more for counseling now and wait times are likely to increase as demand grows faster than resources. Also, not all UW campuses track troubled students referred to off-campus health care providers to make sure they get treatment, the report by UW System auditors found.
They say no good deed ever goes unpunished. And so I say to former UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, though I know he will grit his teeth to hear it, â??Thank you.â?
Late Thursday night I received a phone message from Matt Nelson, an old comrade from student activism in the 90s: â??You wonâ??t believe what Wiley wrote in the upcoming issue of Madison Magazine!â?
Quoted: Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, thinks spouses can matter.
Quoted: Byron E. Shafer, a University of Wisconsin political scientist who has written widely on the role of conventions.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Obama may not carry Fox Valley, but Democrats may be trying to gain a larger share of the vote than nominees Al Gore and John Kerry won in 2000 and 2004 respectively. If Wisconsin voters are closely divided, Franklin said each candidate would need every vote they can get.
Quoted: Helen Blackwell, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of chemistry, thinks she’s found a way to stop these bacterial social gatherings before they start.
Quoted: For now, the Democratsâ?? governing philosophy is â??to be announced,â? says Byron Shafer, political-science chair at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Obama is â??relatively careful to make sure you understand that heâ??s not a quote unquote New Democrat, but he also makes clear heâ??s not an old Democrat.â?
Remember back in the old days when we used to fret about how girls weren’t doing as well in school as guys were, especially in math and science?
Gender gap? What gender gap? That’s the message in a new study by five professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California, Berkeley. Comparing math test scores of 7 million students in 10 states from 2005 to last year, it found that girls and boys do equally well.
MADISON, Wis. — Outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley is receiving praise for starting a public debate about the future of higher education in Wisconsin.
The UW Board of Regents has approved a resolution praising Wiley’s seven-year tenure as the leader of the state’s flagship university.
The board said that Wiley helped rebuild the campus infrastructure, led a $1.5 billion fundraising campaign and kept the university affordable and accessible to students.
Quoted: Dr. Robert Haveman said the government could be overestimating the number of people in poverty.
If the government included non-cash benefits, such as food and rent assistance, and made some allowance for non-cash assets, such as property and cars, some people below the poverty line now would find themselves above it, the UW-Madison professor of economics and public affairs said.
But just as important as setting the poverty line is deciding whether poverty is relative or absolute, Haveman said.
Quoted: Cathie Easter, who works in the financial office at UW-Madison, said that school no longer accepts credit or debit cards because of the fees.
â??Itâ??s an expensive fee to pass on to students,â? she said.
Instead, the UW systemâ??s flagship school refers students who want the convenience of paying online to an electronic check payment option, Easter said.
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison is again one of the nation’s top universities according to this year’s U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings.
UW-Madison came in 35th overall, but finished 7th among public universities, according to the magazine.
Quoted: “You have to have them,” said UW swimming coach Eric Hansen. “You have to have them to be competitive now. Grass roots, I don’t know, but to be on the international stage, which is what we’re all about, to be on the national stage, if people are in them, you’ve got to wear them.”
As the students come flooding back into Madison those looking to party are finding a new obstacle.
Meant to curb underage drinking, new scanners at local businesses are getting their first real test.
It’s a Friday night in Madison and the streets are packed, students are back in town and liquor stores are buzzing.
Those looking to celebrate their return with alcohol are getting a surprise.
MADISON, Wis. — Some of the nation’s most educated academic professionals believe the legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18.
The movement, called The Amethyst Initiative, was undertaken by college leaders who believe that lowering the drinking age could cut the abuse of alcohol.
“The important thing from the university perspective is the decision-making,” said UW Associate Dean of Students Kevin Helmkamp. “We want our students to make good decisions.”
MADISON, Wis. — A Dane County judge has set a trial date for a Minnesota man accused of fatally stabbing a Madison man earlier this year.
Jury selection will begin Jan. 12 for Adam Peterson, 20, of North Grant.
The former University of Wisconsin-Madison student has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Madison, Wis. – Using three cells lines derived from a new reprogramming technique, the WiCell Research Institute is starting its own stem cell bank.
WiCell, a support organization for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is launching the bank to distribute cell lines beyond the 21 lines eligible for federal funding and distribution through the National Stem Cell Bank.
Most people struggling to pay off their student loans keep quiet about it. They do not want to acknowledge that, perhaps in a fit of naïve, youthful optimism, they borrowed more than they could handle.
Then there is Alan Collinge, who for years has described his struggle with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt to anyone who will listen. He has appeared on â??60 Minutesâ? criticizing Sallie Mae, the nationâ??s largest student lender, and has been quoted in the pages of this and other newspapers attacking loan companies.
Madison, Wis. – University Research Park may be planning a second campus, but there still of plenty of demand for high-tech business space on its existing site.
The research park, which is home to 115 companies, is planning another new building for start-up companies, this time for new companies that â??graduateâ? from its business incubator, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The WiCell Research Institute, affiliated with UW-Madison, announced Thursday that it has created the WiCell Bank to distribute stem cells such as those created from skin cells last year by campus researcher James Thomson.
Q. Given the typical percentage capacity (assuming many flights are not completely full) on a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles, how much would the average coach ticket need to be raised to cover the increased cost of fuel?
A. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a Boeing 757-200 uses 900 gallons per hour, said Charles Krueger, associate professor of executive education at UW-Madison.
The UW Board of Regents is expected to approve a two-year budget today for the University of Wisconsin System that includes a request for $37.5 million in tax money and $13.4 million in student fees to support an agenda to recruit and retain more students.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley is receiving praise for starting a public debate about the future of higher education in Wisconsin.
Explaining the mysterious and sometimes perplexing differences between males and females would seem to be beyond even the province of as exacting a discipline as science.
In an incendiary parting shot, outgoing UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley reopened a feud with conservatives in and out of the Capitol by accusing the state’s largest business lobby of undermining support for the school in the Legislature.
Madison – Retiring University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said the state’s largest business lobby has become an obstacle to economic development. Writing in Madison Magazine, Wiley slammed Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and state lawmakers for creating a political environment that he said puts partisanship ahead of pressing needs. The university disputed his characterizations.
Harvard University is the country’s oldest, wealthiest and most selective university. Now it’s back on top of the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, claiming sole possession of the No. 1 spot for the first time in 12 years.
Princeton slips to No. 2, ending eight straight years of at least sharing the top ranking. The latest edition hits newsstands Monday, but was to be published Friday on the magazine’s website.
Yale follows at No. 3, and MIT and Stanford tie for fourth. The University of California, Berkeley is the highest-ranked public university, at No. 21 overall.
Quoted: Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit, an assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and an expert on hamstring injuries.
Aspiring attorneys Nicholas Watt and Meredith Gray spent a good portion of their summer literally dotting iâ??s and crossing tâ??s.
As enrollees in the current session of the University of Wisconsin Law Schoolâ??s Consumer Law Litigation Clinic, Watt and Gray recently helped draft one of the more substantial settlements in the 17-year history of the program.
Could tracking dust storms over Africa help predict hurricanes in the U.S.? Amato Evan thinks so. The University of Wisconsin researcher and his team have connected the dry, windswept plains of the Sahara to the intensity of the Atlantic hurricane season.
The hurricanes that hit North America and the Caribbean are spawned in the warm surface waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Dust from North Africaâ??generated by storms blowing from east to west across the Saharaâ??flows across the West African coast and out over the North Atlantic, “robbing the ocean of the sunlight that helps it to maintain its temperature or to warm in the summer,” Evan explains. Higher dust density over the Atlantic means cooler sea surface temperaturesâ??and weaker storms.
Children can become rock stars without stepping on a stage.
They can hit a hole in one without holding a golf club.
They can fly missions in a helicopter without leaving the ground.
A growing number of video games let children simulate actions and tasks without any knowledge of their real-life counterparts. But how well or poorly do the games convey real-life skills to children?
It depends on who you ask.
Video games do not necessarily provide children with all the things they need to be an educated person or even master certain tasks, said David Williamson Shaffer, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, they can provide specific skills, motivation and an opportunity to solve problems as people do in the real world.
Quoted: R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and ethics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, pointed out that Obama’s position has been law since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. It “specifically says that neither biologists nor doctors nor theologians can agree upon the moral status of the fetus.”
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.
MADISON, Wis. — Outgoing University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said the state’s largest business lobby has been taken over by “political extremists” and has become an obstacle to economic development.
Wiley is using a 3,000-word essay in the September issue of Madison Magazine to slam Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and state lawmakers for creating a “toxic” political environment that puts partisanship ahead of the state’s pressing needs.
It’s almost time to head back to school — and back to the doctor’s office. Doctors recommend adolescents and college freshmen get vaccinated against meningitis. But one family has learned how suddenly this deadly disease can strike.
“He loved to read,” Ruthann Baxter-Cutting says of her son.
22-year-old Erik Baxter was an aspiring writer himself.
By shattering world records and winning eight out of eight possible gold medals, Michael Phelps has put swimming in the spotlight. but as NBC 15’s Michelle Riell reports, it’s also put more of an emphasis on the need for high tech swim wear at the collegiate level.
It’s an image many saw as it happened over the weekend, Michael Phelps making Olympic history. He did it wearing the new Speedo LZR Racer suite, which was designed by leading researchers and NASA to create 10% less drag in the water. Eric Hansen says, “Our sport changed, it’s a different sport now.” Hansen is the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Coach and the UW- Madison. He’s been watching the evolution of the sport and says if the NCAA will allow the new suits, the UW will be forced to wear them in order to stay competitive. Hansen says, “When these suits are ratified for NCAA use, it’s just going to go through the roof. Our record board will change from top to bottom. pretty rapidly.”
Don’t look now, but biotech might not be Madison’s only technological identity, and its emerging information technology image is being shaped in the heart of town.
As the city attempts to lure the so-called â??creative class,â? downtown Madison slowly is becoming a coveted destination for information technology companies.
The Kobussen Buses in Sun Prairie all say “school bus” on the front and back of the vehicles, but on game day in Madison, they won’t be taking kids to school.
It will be taking fans to Badger home football games.
Kobussen is the new ‘Bucky Bus.’ A task Madison Metro provided for a number of years.
Nearly 100 presidents of some of the top universities and colleges are banding together to tackle binge drinking on campuses across the country.
The UW was approached, but declined to take part.
That’s because their top leader, newly appointed Biddy Martin, doesn’t even start until September.
Still, UW Associate Dean Kevin Helmkamp says he is skeptical of the idea.
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8868814&nav=menu1362_2
Nearly 100 presidents of some of the top universities and colleges are banding together to tackle binge drinking on campuses across the country.
The UW was approached, but declined to take part.
That’s because their top leader, newly appointed Biddy Martin, doesn’t even start until September.
Still, UW Associate Dean Kevin Helmkamp says he is skeptical of the idea.
MADISON (WKOW) — A man found dead near Camp Randall stadium was jailed last month for violating probation rules against drinking any alcohol.
Authorities identified the man found at a Breese Terrace building as Jonathan Krenzelok, 29, of Madison.
What are your chances of contracting West Nile Virus? Pretty low, but that’s no reason to let your guard down. Wisconsin has had one human case of the mosquito-borne illness so far this year. UW-Madison entomology professor Susan Paskewitz notes there’s one particular species — Culex — which carries the disease.
John D. Wiley, the departing chancellor of the University of Wisconsinâ??s flagship campus at Madison, is not leaving quietly: In an essay in the September issue of Madison Magazine, he denounces a â??toxic political environmentâ? in the stateâ??s capitol, blaming it for wasteful policies and a failure to deal with an ailing economy.
He also criticizes Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the stateâ??s largest business lobby, as having been hijacked by partisan interests, becoming â??the single biggest driver of our toxic political environment and, thus, the single biggest obstacle to the recovery of Wisconsinâ??s economy.â?
Colleges are experimenting with Facebook and other social networks to notify students about emergencies like crimes and floodsâ??and get vital information in return. Most emergency-alert systems send out warnings. But social networks give students a chance to add on-the-scene reports or trade information if trouble hits. In addition to cell-phone and e-mail alerts, the social networks also give colleges yet another way to reach students in a crisis.
College presidents have long gotten flak for refusing to take controversial stands on national issues. Some say the bold presidents of the past, like the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh and William C. Friday, have been replaced by timid fund raisers.
Outgoing UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley has been studying the health of the state of Wisconsin and he doesn’t like what he sees. Almost five years ago Wiley wrote a piece for this magazine he called “a wake-up call to the citizens of Wisconsin regarding our economy and our educational system.” He stated higher education was at a crossroads and he challenged Wisconsin citizens, businesses and elected officials to join in a public dialogue about the future.
Wisconsin has lost its way. We’ve lost touch with our traditions and values. Our politics has become a poisonous swill, and the most influential voice for the business community has been taken hostage by partisan ideologues.
As I leave the chancellorship of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I wish I could paint a brighter picture. It’s difficult when two of the institutions with so much ability to drive positive change and growth–the business community and our university–are stuck in a swamp.
California-born Shannon Payette Seip moved to Madison to attend the journalism graduate program at UW-Madison and formerly worked as a producer, reporter and news anchor for WKOW-TV (Ch. 27).
Many people around Madison are bemoaning the non-conference schedule that brings the University of Akron and Marshall University to Camp Randall on successive Saturdays, beginning Aug. 30.
These people think the Badgers should schedule tougher non-conference opponents.
Did the groundbreaking performance of American swimmers in the Summer Olympics â?? specifically Michael Phelps â?? affect the men’s and women’s programs at UW-Madison?
Yes, and dramatically so.
In a small apartment on Madison’s South Side, nine children arrive for summer camp and immediately begin pulling out small, lime-green computers from oversized backpacks.
The campers are part of a new UW-Madison research project to test the effectiveness of the laptop computers as a learning tool, which were specially designed for children in developing nations.
At Princeton, pride in being ranked No. 1 comes in a rolling wave of orange. There are blazers with orange stripes, orange stars and orange tigers as alumni march through campus at the annual Princeton reunion parade, or P-rade.
“Being the No. 1 school and having attended it and/or graduated from it, you naturally retain that for the rest of your life,” says Dixon Hills, a retired physician, Class of ’54, wearing orange-and-black striped socks. “They bring us back once a year to dress in orange and black and pretend we’re undergraduates again, and then we give lots more money at the annual giving.”
Just as they’ve made an itchy, scratchy comeback in hotel rooms, bedbugs increasingly are appearing in dorm rooms, say college officials and pest-control experts, who are busy devising ways to eradicate the bloodsuckers.
A college education is often hailed as the ticket to the good life. But in Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality (Crown Forum), Charles Murray says too many people go to college. In 1994, he co-wrote The Bell Curve, arguing that intelligence is a better predictor of success than socioeconomic status or parents’ education.
Quoted: Professor Cynthia Jasper, who studies consumer behavior and retail in the School of Human Ecology at UW-Madison.
Ila M. Campbell, age 83, of rural Avoca, died on Monday, Aug. 18, 2008. Ila worked at UW-Madison for more than 10 years, retiring in 1986.
Animal rights activists who want to build a museum highlighting what they say is cruelty at UW-Madison’s primate labs asked the state Supreme Court on Monday to review a lower court decision allowing a property owner to revoke his sale offer.
