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Author: knutson4

Huckabee as Trump’s pick for Israel ambassador is a win for Christian Zionism. Here’s why.

Posted on
USA Today

“These are the people that were loyal to Trump in the first administration, were loyal to him when he was out of power and are now going to be close to the center of the second administration,” said Daniel Hummel, a religious historian at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a leading expert on evangelical support for Israel.  “I don’t know how they would be any closer — but I don’t see any daylight right now.”

Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens buried their dead differently, study suggests

Posted on
Live Science

“The data are limited, but this is an impressive survey,” John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who did not take part in this research, told Live Science. Notably, he said there appear to have been consistent burial practices that distinguished Neanderthal and early H. sapiens burials. This is surprising because all of these small, scattered populations wouldn’t be expected to share cultural practices over long stretches of space and time.

Nanoink and printing technologies could enable electronics repairs, production in space

Posted on
Phys.org

The flight path to these experiments began when a research team led by Iowa State’s Shan Jiang, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, and Hantang Qin, formerly of Iowa State who’s now an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wondered if their ink and printer technologies would work in the zero gravity of space.

Colleges raking in millions in federal dollars hold their breath as Trump vows to shake up US education

Posted on
Fox News

The University of Wisconsin is also on track to collect $628 million this year. UC San Francisco received $562 million from the federal budget in 2023. The USCF School of Medicine received the most funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of any public university in that same year, totaling $789,196,651, according to the university website.

‘Government by the worst’: why people are calling Trump’s new sidekicks a ‘kakistocracy’

Posted on
The Guardian

“Hayes’ term was absolutely being described as a kakistocracy,” said Kelly Wright, assistant professor of language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (1880 was also a general election year in the UK, another country known for its contributions to the English language. That year, William Gladstone became prime minister for the second time; perhaps his opponents were among those giving the word a boost.)

Report finds Wisconsin agriculture revenue on the rise, up nearly 11 percent from 2017

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Wisconsin Public Radio

An economic analysis shows Wisconsin’s agriculture industry is pulling in more revenue in recent years but employing fewer people.

The report, titled “The Contributions of Agriculture to the Wisconsin Economy,” is published every five years. The newest survey found the industry earned $116.3 billion in revenue in 2022, the latest data available. That is a 10.9 percent increase from 2017. However, the numbers are nuanced, Steve Deller and Jeff Hadachek, co-authors of the report out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

An AI pressure test

Posted on
Politico

Health providers now have a new way to test artificial intelligence applications. The Healthcare AI Challenge creates a virtual testing ground for new AI systems, where providers can better understand how a program would work in real-world scenarios.

The program comes from a collaboration among Mass General Brigham, Emory Healthcare, the radiology department at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, the University of Washington School of Medicine’s radiology department and the American College of Radiology. More partners are expected to join in the future.

Marquette University faculty consider no-confidence vote in administration amid budget cuts

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Marquette University faculty members will vote next week on whether they have confidence in university leadership.

If passed, the Academic Senate’s vote against acting President Kimo Ah Yun and chief operating officer Joel Pogodzinski could send a message of disapproval in the current administration as a search for the next president is underway.

Holiday budgets by city (2024)

Posted on
WalletHub

“For many consumers, overspending happens when they feel time crunched or make snap decisions in response to discounts or limited offers,” said Amber M. Epp, an associate professor of marketing at the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Consumers can save money in the traditional ways by making budgets and lists this time of year, but also by comparison shopping and seeking out discounts for items already on their lists rather than impulse buying when presented with sales.”

Best credit cards for November 2024

Posted on
WalletHub

“The market’s best credit cards are often indicative of the health of the economy, because their use can give insights into consumer perceptions and acceptability of interest rates, consumer spending habits as well as consumer debt,” said Cynthia Jasper, a professor of Civil Society and Community Studies, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In France, a family reckons with World War II Allies’ legacy of rape and murder

Posted on
NPR

Mary Louise Roberts, professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was one of the first scholars to consult French as well as U.S. archives for her 2013 book, What Soldiers Do.

“Towards the end of the summer of 1944 there really was a problem with rape,” she says. “And the United States Army, at the highest levels of SHAEF, was concerned about it.” SHAEF was the acronym for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, commanded by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

What happens under water in winter?

Posted on
Popular Science

When it comes to determining the role that lakes play in global carbon cycling, those estimates are often drawn from summer data. Just using that small subset of data creates errors in estimates of atmospheric interactions and other downstream effects, said Hilary Dugan, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Department of Limnology.

How Wisconsin lost control of the strange disease killing its deer

Posted on
The Nation

I drove south out of Madison, Wisconsin, along solitary rural roads until I arrived at a secluded home set amid scattered forest and open prairie. Waiting inside for me were two men: Michael Samuel, a retired professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Bryan Richards, the emerging-disease coordinator at the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center.

Coca-Cola causes controversy with AI-made ad

Posted on
NBC News

Neeraj Arora, the chair of marketing research and education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the reason why the company faced backlash for this specific advertisement, and not for “Masterpiece” last year, could be because many consumers recognize Christmas as an integral part of the company’s brand, and AI technology acts as a disruption.

“Your holidays are a time of connection, time of community, time to connect with family, and that’s sort of a big part of what the holidays are about,” Arora said. “But then you throw AI into the mix that is not a fit, that is not a fit with holiday timing, but also, to some degree, also Coke, what the brand means to people.”

For decades, installing E.V. chargers didn’t pay off for retailers. Now it does.

Posted on
The New York Times

Now, new studies say retailers’ charging efforts may well be paying off: One peer-reviewed study by researchers at Boston University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison published this year looked at the impact of nearly 1,600 Tesla Supercharger stations in more than 800 U.S. counties and found a 4 percent increase in monthly visits for retailers within 200 meters of chargers after they were installed. The effects were most pronounced for retailers within 150 meters. The researchers also found a 5 percent increase in spending.

Is raw milk safe? Science has a clear answer

Posted on
Popular Science

Boiling is an even more aggressive form of heating than pasteurization, which was developed to kill pathogens while minimizing changes to milk’s flavor and composition, says John Lucey, a food science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and director of the university’s Center for Dairy Research. “Boiling is a very substantial heat treatment whereas pasteurization is much gentler,” he notes.

Learn more about ‘American Indians and the American Dream’ with this ‘University Place’ Q&A and episode

Posted on
PBS Wisconsin

In this episode of University Place Presents, host Norman Gilliland and his guest Kasey Keeler, assistant professor of American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discuss the topic, American Indians and the American Dream, which she explores in her book of the same title.

Milwaukee, Madison first responders using whole blood in trauma response

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Providers on air ambulances are usually able to give blood components like red blood cells and plasma. But Dr. Ryan Newberry, assistant professor of emergency medicine at UW Health, said research shows that someone who is bleeding to death needs all of the components in blood.

“(Whole blood) can help temporize or slow bleeding, especially if we can give it in that first hour after your injury,” said Newberry, who is also assistant medical director of UW Health’s Med Flight. “That allows us to have a little more time to get you from wherever that injury occurred, the side of the road, a back field, a community emergency department, and get you to a trauma center.”

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson to back Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for US health secretary

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Patrick Remington, the former dean of public health at the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it’s hard to tell in advance how Kennedy would lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Time will tell how his personal views over the past several years will translate into actions as secretary,” he said. “I think it’s important to understand sometimes people’s views change when their roles and responsibilities change.”

Marquette non-tenure-track faculty want union bargaining rights

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

For five years, Grant Gosizk has taught Marquette University undergrads to think about how literature and pop culture shape attitudes toward addiction.

Non-tenure-track, or NTT, faculty like Gosizk teach many of Marquette’s core curriculum classes. Every year, individual instructors sign new 10-month contracts with the university, earning $43,000 a year. Gosizk calls the arrangement “precarious.”

Microsoft to use diesel-fired generators as backup power for data centers

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Production of renewable diesel from plant oils has increased in recent years amid wide use in transportation fuel, according to Mary Blanchard, associate director of the Wisconsin Energy Institute at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

“It generally meets a 50 percent greenhouse gas reduction compared to petroleum-based diesel fuel,” Blanchard said, noting some companies claim even higher emissions reductions.

Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear arguments in lawsuit over Meagan Wolfe ‘holdover’ appointment

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Bryna Godar is a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She said one of the complicating factors in the Wolfe case is that none of the parties are asking the court to overrule the 2022 decision on holdover appointments.

She said it’s rare “for a court to voluntarily overrule” a prior decision without parties asking justices. Still, Godar said the battle over Wolfe’s appointment wouldn’t be happening if not for the Prehn decision two years ago.

“And so, we’re kind of taking that as a given rule in Wisconsin, and going from there,” Godar said. “And saying, OK then, what does that mean in this situation?”

Her neighbor’s trees were killed by the emerald ash borer. Now they’re falling onto her home.

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There are several preventative emerald ash borer treatments homeowners can have administered to their trees annually in the spring.

Some of the most affordable treatments are sprayed onto trees and cost approximately $30 to $50 per each. Pricier, longer-lasting options can be directly injected into tree bark, said PJ Liesch, director of the Insect Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wisconsin is facing an uptick in food recalls. Here’s why

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Consumers should observe good food safety practices in order to protect themselves against food-borne illness. Health experts recommend getting a refrigerator thermometer and making sure the temperature is 40 degrees or lower. “The colder the temperature, the longer the food will last safely,” wrote Kathleen Glass, associate director of the Food Research Institute at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hovde tells talk radio host he lost, but stops short of conceding to Baldwin

Posted on
Wisconsin Examiner

Barry Burden, who directs the UW-Madison’s Election Research Center, said Hovde’s decision to not yet concede represents a new but troublesome trend. “It’s been happening in the United States over the last few years, of candidates not conceding immediately or graciously as often as they did in the past,” Burden told the Wisconsin Examiner. Donald Trump’s refusal to concede his reelection loss in 2020 “provided a model for some candidates.”

An explicit concession “is one of the things that shows us that democracy is working,” according to University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Mike Wagner. “Democracy is for the losing side because they get a chance to try again in the next election, and admitting when you lose is a critical factor required for the maintenance of democracies.”

Mass deportation, ending DACA: How would Trump’s policies affect Wisconsin immigrants?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School, believes the second Trump administration is more prepared this time and will follow through on its policy promises. That means organizations like the legal clinic are readying themselves and their clients for what’s ahead.

“It is very terrifying, I think, for everybody involved in immigration and especially for some of the most vulnerable people in our country,” Barbato said. “It seems monumental right now, what we are preparing for.”

Study committee considers draft legislation to hunt sandhill cranes, aid corn growers

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

In Wisconsin, only 17 percent of 2,769 people surveyed last December support a hunting season on sandhill cranes. That’s according to a study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and funded by the International Crane Foundation. The organization has said crop damage by cranes should be solved by other means, saying a hunt wouldn’t have any significant benefit for farmers.

Election results show how Wisconsin’s urban-rural divide continues to deepen

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Katherine Cramer’s influential book “The Politics of Resentment” was published in March 2016 — just eight months before Donald Trump won the presidential election for the first time and ushered in a new era of American politics.

The book got national attention for the way it homed in on the urban-rural divide. Cramer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, based the book on years of having conversations with people across the state in cafes, pool halls and other community spaces.

Wisconsin could lose out under Trump term targeting climate, clean energy policies

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Efforts to combat climate change and shift to renewable energy have accelerated under policies and regulations put in place by President Joe Biden’s administration. Even so, it hasn’t been enough to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, according to Greg Nemet, energy expert and public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’re on track, but we need to really start pushing harder to get the adoption of electric vehicles, solar panels, wind power, heat pumps and all those things at a faster rate,” Nemet said. “I think what we’re looking at now is probably almost definitely slowing down.”

Morgan Edwards, assistant professor of public affairs at UW-Madison, said the slowing of emissions reductions may not be immediately evident in Wisconsin as much as they will in the long run. “We’re locking in long-term climate impacts that we’re going to see for decades to come,” Edwards said. “That’s things like more extreme weather events, warmer winters, more irregular farming seasons, which is a big deal across the country, but (also) in this state where we have a lot of agriculture.”

Report: One-third of Wisconsin hospitals operated in the red last year

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Stuart Craig, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Business who studies health care spending, said hospital’s operating margins are also “a function of their choices.” He points out that most hospitals are nonprofit entities, so they should be motivated to keep patient costs as low as possible and invest any profit back into their facilities.

“Hospitals will often defend high commercial (insurance) reimbursement rates by saying, ‘Well, we lose money on all these Medicare patients,’” Craig said. “But those are choices that they’re making to set their cost structure. Like, if you looked at hospitals that operate in markets that are mostly Medicare patients, they just set a lower cost structure and stay open.”

Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in abortion lawsuit

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Kaul’s office also argues the pre-Civil War-era law should not be in effect because it contradicts subsequent state laws that were passed to regulate abortion in the wake of Roe v. Wade.

That argument relies on the legal principle of “implied repeal,” said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “This is something that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has explained in prior cases,” Godar said. “An older law becomes unenforceable if there are newer laws that directly conflict with it.”

Racist texts sent to UW-Madison students, campus police say

Posted on
Wisconsin Examiner

University of Wisconsin-Madison campus police made a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Friday regarding racist text messages being sent to students. “UWPD is aware of reports that Black UW-Madison students have received racist text messages as part of a nationwide wave of messages that began on Thursday,” the department posted.

Election results can feel like the end of the world if your candidate loses. You’re not alone.

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Anxiety is a natural response to uncertainty,” said Richard Davidson, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds. “The most important thing for people to recognize is that whatever anxiety they’re feeling, there’s probably, at least, 150 million other people who are feeling anxiety in a very similar way.”

Social Security advocates call for stronger support to live up to FDR’s vision

Posted on
Wisconsin Examiner

Another myth is that Social Security won’t be there for younger workers. J. Michael Collins, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs and the leader of the UW Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, said he hears that often from his students at UW.

In the worst case scenario, however, the shortfall would cut benefits to 72 cents on the dollar, he said.

Immigrants provide important economic contributions in Wisconsin, report says

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

“There’s an undercount in the Latinx population, and, in particular, the undocumented population,” said Armando Ibarra, a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School for Workers. “This population of folks is hesitant to interact with folks that represent the federal government or the state government, because of their precarious immigration status.”