“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.”
Author: knutson4
Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens buried their dead differently, study suggests
“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
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.
Has Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford opposed Wisconsin’s voter ID law?
A University of Wisconsin-Madison study estimated the law prevented 4,000-11,000 Milwaukee and Dane county residents from voting in the 2016 presidential election.
Babcock Dairy of UW-Madison expands recall on Orange Custard Chocolate Chip ice cream
Babcock Dairy, an ice cream and cheese plant housed within UW–Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Madison, is voluntarily expanding its recall on Orange Custard Chocolate Chip ice cream that may be labeled as Chocolate Peanut Butter.
Christmas tree-killing insect in Michigan is bound for Wisconsin
An invasive insect that kills fir trees is threatening Michigan’s Christmas tree industry. And the woolly adelgids “are likely on their way to Wisconsin,” according to the Wisconsin DNR. Entomologist Phil Pellitteri joins us to talk about the tiny invasive insects.
UW-Oshkosh starts its first-ever women’s wrestling program as sport grows across Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh started its first-ever women’s wrestling program this fall, becoming the fourth school in the state to add the sport along with UW-Stevens Point, Lakeland University, and Carthage College.
Marquette University names Kimo Ah Yun new president
Marquette University Provost Kimo Ah Yun was unanimously elected the 25th president of the university by the school’s board of trustees.
Do abortion policy changes affect young women’s mental health?
“The survey data shows just how strongly people feel about abortion policies,” said corresponding author J. Michael Collins, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Planet 10 times the size of Earth is one of the youngest ever found
“We try to extrapolate from these other worlds how quickly planet formation might have taken hold in the early solar system,” says Melinda Soares-Furtado at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Colleges raking in millions in federal dollars hold their breath as Trump vows to shake up US education
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’
“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.)
All life on Earth today descended from a single cell. Meet LUCA.
“We tend to think that early life is somehow simpler, less sophisticated … but I don’t think there’s any reason to think that,” said Betül Kaçar, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison who wasn’t involved in the research. “A complex ecosystem, to me, sounds more realistic.”
Report finds Wisconsin agriculture revenue on the rise, up nearly 11 percent from 2017
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.”
What Musk and Rogan got very wrong about climate change and meat
In fact, there are many ways to measure emissions from meat production. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has outlined several methods, including the use of respiration chambers, which capture the gasses animals release during breathing, and the SF6 technique, a more advanced method where a tracer gas is used to measure methane emissions directly from livestock.
An AI pressure test
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.
China set to lose over 50 million people in population crisis
Demographer Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has previously cast doubt on dragon years, pointing out they have generally had a negligible effect on births in China in recent decades.
Marquette University faculty consider no-confidence vote in administration amid budget cuts
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.
Texas economist wins trademark fight with UW-Madison
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has lost a federal trademark fight against a Texas economist who filed for ownership of the words “buckynomics” and “buckymarkets.”
Holiday budgets by city (2024)
“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
“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
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?
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
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
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.”
Germany: Bavarian pterosaur fossil gives evolutionary clues
Co-author Adam Fitch of the University of Wisconsin at Madison said the “Skiphosoura represents an important new way to study the evolutionary relationships between pterosaurs and how this lineage evolved and changed.”
For decades, installing E.V. chargers didn’t pay off for retailers. Now it does.
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
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.
Repeatedly doing the same activity can lead to muscle imbalance — and pain
Muscle imbalance occurs when physical activity isn’t varied. Our PT experts Lori Thein Brody and Jill Thein-Nissenbaum are here to talk about the symptoms and treatments for muscle imbalance.
Learn more about ‘American Indians and the American Dream’ with this ‘University Place’ Q&A and episode
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
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
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
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
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
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?”
Kathryn McGarr on Trumpism and lessons from American history
UW-Madison journalism professor Kathryn McGarr considers questions about historical parallels between the second Trump administration and the mid-20th century’s America First movement and McCarthyism.
Christopher Saldaña on funding for Wisconsin schools in 2025
UW-Madison education professor Christopher Saldaña considers the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s 2025 budget request and record-setting new funding approved in school referendums in 2024.
Her neighbor’s trees were killed by the emerald ash borer. Now they’re falling onto her home.
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
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.
Outdoor writers talk deer hunting, ecologist explains phenology
Phenology is the study of the seasonal events in nature. And thanks to the famed naturalist Aldo Leopold, Wisconsin has a calendar that keeps track of bird migrations, mammal predation and the blooming of flowers. Ecologist Stan Temple joins us.
Opinion: Wisconsin legislators lay out priorities. Here’s what to know from leaders of both parties.
Written by Susan Webb Yackee, a professor of public affairs and director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.
Wisconsin legislators lay out priorities. Here’s what to know from leaders of both parties.
Habush Sinkyin said one takeaway from talking to voters on the campaign trail was that the state Legislature needs to do more to fund public schools and the University of Wisconsin System, local governments, health care and tax relief.
Hovde tells talk radio host he lost, but stops short of conceding to Baldwin
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.”
Wisconsin scientists study driving and THC impairment
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are gearing up to administer set levels of delta-8 and delta-9 THC to people in a pilot study, and place them in a driving simulator.
Mass deportation, ending DACA: How would Trump’s policies affect Wisconsin immigrants?
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
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.
Framing the climate crisis around health: Wisconsin professor wants a narrative shift
After years of studying the deleterious effects of climate change on human health, a Wisconsin professor has come to view his work as less about devastation and more about hope.
“The health benefits of a low-carbon economy are so enormous.” Dr. Jonathan Patz recently told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
Trump made big gains on Wisconsin’s college campuses in 2024 election
President-elect Donald Trump flipped Wisconsin by narrowly increasing his margins across the state compared to 2020. But around some Wisconsin college campuses, his numbers grew by leaps and bounds.
Wisconsin Badgers analyst Jack Del Rio, former NFL coach, resigns after OWI arrest
Former National Football League head coach Jack Del Rio, who had been part of the Wisconsin Badgers football staff as a senior analyst, will resign following his arrest in Madison early Friday for allegedly operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
UW football coaching legend Barry Alvarez lands radio gig with Good Karma broadcasting
Former University of Wisconsin football coach and athletics director Barry Alvarez will become a regular voice on radio for ESPN Madison, a move announced by station owner Good Karma Brands.
Social Security at 90: The financial status of the US’s largest federal program
UW-Madison Professor Emerita Karen Holden visited ‘The Larry Meiller Show’ to discuss the current and future solvency of the Social Security program.
Election results show how Wisconsin’s urban-rural divide continues to deepen
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
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
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
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
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.
Racist texts target Black UW-Madison students after presidential election
Racist text messages were sent to some Black students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, part of a nationwide wave of threatening texts in the wake of Election Day that has caught the FBI’s attention.
Election results can feel like the end of the world if your candidate loses. You’re not alone.
“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
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
“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.”