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Author: knutson4

What bird flu means for milk

Posted on
Mother Jones

There are a handful of variables and factors that shape the financial losses of a dairy hit with an outbreak. Luckily, agriculture economist Charles Nicholson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and some colleagues created a calculator to estimate this financial impact of a bird flu outbreak. Based on Nicholson’s estimates for California, a typical farm of 1500 cattle will lose $120,000 annually. For context, this is about $10,000 more than the median household income of a dairy farmer.

Hibernation scientists studying squirrels could get humans to deep space

Posted on
Popular Science

Cosmic radiation poses a perennial challenge for astronaut safety, says Hannah Carey, an emeritus professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied hibernators as a model for stress and trauma protection. Carey has been part of meetings and conferences with ESA and NASA scientists discussing hibernation science. In these dialogues, she recalls that radiation protection has been of particular interest.

Not covered: Insurers add PFAS exclusions to commercial liability policies

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Steph Tai, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, said many insurers wanted to avoid paying for cleanup costs. Despite broad language, some insurance companies were ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars. Tai said that’s prompted more express exclusions, such as those for PFAS.

“I think it’s partly because a lot of insurance companies have realized how much they’ve been spending on defending companies in this litigation,” Tai said. “They just want out.”

What to know about referendums in Wisconsin, and why citizens can’t petition for them

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Some voters don’t even know that there’s a constitutional amendment on the ballot until they get to the polls,” said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative.

“The first time that you’re encountering those typically is when you’re going to vote, which gives you less time to talk to other people about it and to look up more information about it,” she said.

Sandhill crane committee supports hunting, and solar farms can accommodate crops

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Can large solar farms and cultivated crops coexist? Our guests says “yes.” Agrivoltaics is the convergence of agriculture and solar farms, which is the area of study of UW-Madison hydrologist and professor Steven Loheide and professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences Ankur Desai.

Abortions in Wisconsin halved immediately after Roe was overturned, new CDC report says

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“The really shocking number [in this report] is the dramatic decline in abortions provided in Wisconsin in 2022, and we know that that’s largely a result of the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned federal protections for abortion,” said Dr. Jane Seymour, a research scientist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE).

Republicans stall UW-Madison engineering building again, citing transparency concerns

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The new University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering building is again in peril.

Republican lawmakers rejected the UW System’s request to increase the project’s $347 million budget by $73 million during a State Building Commission meeting Wednesday. The ask to bump up the budget was based on increased costs and design changes, including an additional floor for business partnership opportunities.

Mystery around Natalie Rupnow’s mother as questions remained unanswered

Posted on
Newsweek

The University of Wisconsin police department told Newsweek on Wednesday via email: “Madison Police Communications staff are very overwhelmed right now, and it is our understanding that they are not releasing any information about victims, names, ages, parents, etc. at this time.

“When they are ready to release more information they will through media sources, is what we have been informed of.”

TikTok influencers are driving raw milk sales – Here’s why it’s still a bad idea

Posted on
Men's Health

What these idealists forget is that while people used to live on more natural products, they were also pretty unhealthy. According to John A. Lucey, PhD, a professor of food science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and director of the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, it’s estimated that in 1938, pre-pasteurisation, milk-borne outbreaks constituted 25% of all disease outbreaks (related to food and water) in the United States. Now, they make up fewer than 1%.

Wisconsin copies DOGE with new committee focusing on wasteful spending

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Washington Examiner

Nedweski outlined a plan to address possible inefficiencies within Milwaukee Public Schools, the University of Wisconsin, the Department of Safety and Professional Services, and law enforcement. She is known for her efforts to shut down a Kenosha Unified School District board meeting in 2021 as a member of Moms for Liberty. Nedweski and others appeared at the meeting, holding signs that read, among other things, “We do not co-parent with the government.”

Madison mayor pleads to reporters: ‘None of y’all’s business who was harmed’ in shooting

Posted on
USA Today

Before being elected mayor, Rhodes-Conway was a senior associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center on Wisconsin Strategy — a progressive think tank — and was the managing director of the university’s Mayors Innovation Project. She was also treasurer of her neighborhood association and sat on numerous city committees addressing transportation and the environment.

AT&T to discontinue traditional landline service in Wisconsin by the end of 2029

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Wisconsin Public Radio

“I’ve watched the markets grow from just plain phone service to hybrid computers that are in our phones, so-called smartphones through which life is now lived,” said Barry Orton, a retired telecommunications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Old fashioned copper wire-based phones, which we all used to have in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s are now a thing of the past,” he added

Looking back at 2024 in higher ed

Posted on
Inside Higher Ed

Meanwhile, colleges faced intensifying financial pressures, cutting programs and staff to stay afloat. Throughout much of the year, a fired University of Wisconsin chancellor fought to keep his job in what became a closely watched test of academic freedom. The presidential election and the implications for higher education as well as a growing conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs loomed over the year.

The vagus nerve’s mysterious role in mental health untangled

Posted on
Scientific American

Scientists, including Charles Raison of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Andrew Miller of Emory University, have meanwhile identified mechanisms by which inflammation can cause depression. Inflammatory cytokines circulating in the blood can weaken or even breach the protective barrier between blood vessels and the brain. Once inside the brain, they trigger its immune cells, called microglia, to produce further inflammatory agents.

Partisan approach to farm bill delaying updates for Wisconsin farmers

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Paul Mitchell, professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it’s fairly rare to see Congress have to pass a second extension to the farm bill. But he said the lack of cooperation between the parties has made it more difficult to reach the consensus needed to pass the large piece of legislation.

“Just like we walk up to the edge on these continuing resolutions to keep the (federal) budget going, the same thing is happening with the farm bill,” Mitchell said.

Anti-slavery movement charts its path forward

Posted on
Politico

For his part, after helping to pass Colorado’s Amendment A, Allen decided to enroll in law school. He’s now in his final year at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

“Part of my reason for coming here was to answer some of the legal questions we had about our campaign,” he said. “In hindsight, I see how misinformed people are … One of the things we made very clear in the 2018 campaign is that our biggest opposition is a lack of clarity.”

San Diegans can drink their tap water. Many pay more at the vending machine anyway.

Posted on
Voice of San Diego

“These are folks who can ill afford to spend that kind of money on what is really not a necessary thing,” said Manny Teodoro, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studied the water vending machine industry in a 2022 book, “The Profits of Distrust.” “Money spent on (vended) water is money that’s not spent on healthier food, on perhaps needed medicine and healthcare.”

This year’s FAFSA is open, and early reviews are positive

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Delays and errors in the federal financial aid process created anxiety and headaches last year for high school seniors, their parents and colleges. But experts say this year’s rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has improved in several ways.

The U.S. Department of Education released the official application on Nov. 21, after seven weeks of beta testing.

As the Christmas Bird Count turns 125, a beloved birding tradition looks to the future

Posted on
Audubon Magazine

With more people than ever taking part, the annual Audubon event is a growing force for science and nature conservation.

This trove of information has helped usher in entire new areas of research, like climate change ecology, says Benjamin Zuckerberg, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His work in the field utilizes large community science datasets to explore how birds, including common winter denizens such as Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Purple Finches, and Carolina Wrens, are shifting their movements in response to changes in temperatures. The data enable scientists to find answers to questions at an “unprecedented” level, Zuckerberg says.

Road to a top college: Majors to consider for future success

Posted on
New York Post

We are living in a social media world. Such platforms are our go-to, real-time sources for both breaking news and product/service marketing, and much in-between.

It follows, then, that schools for wannabe social media magnates and journalism majors are a magnet. Top candidates include American University, Arizona State University, Boston University, New York University, Syracuse University and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Would the UW System’s $855 million budget request bring Wisconsin closer to the national average?

Posted on
PolitiFact

UW System President Jay Rothman defended his agency’s $855 million budget request by saying it “gets (Wisconsin) up to average” and steps up from its low ranking. Rothman is correct that Wisconsin ranks 43rd in the country when it comes to funding public, four-year universities.

Rothman’s math also adds up. Subtracting Wisconsin’s revenue per student from the national average, then multiplying it by the total number of students in the system, does total $457 million.

We rate Rothman’s claim True.

Raw milk has documented health risks, but if Kennedy leads HHS, its backers expect a boost

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

McAfee’s products have been linked to several outbreaks of E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter, according to the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research. Even with on-farm testing, raw milk isn’t safe for public consumption, said Alex O’Brien, safety and quality coordinator at the Center, which is on the UW-Madison campus.

“The more people who consume it,” he said, “the higher the probability someone’s going to become ill.”

Hold up—does cheese have protein? And what kinds pack the most?

Posted on
SELF

“Cheesemaking is a process of concentrating the solids originally present in milk,” Ben Ullerup Mathers, a research cheesemaker at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Dairy Research, tells SELF. “Since protein is one of the main constituents of milk solids, the further you concentrate those solids, the more protein is in the final cheese. Since hard cheeses are the lowest-moisture cheeses, they will also be the higher-protein cheeses.”

The breath of colonialism continues to taint the air in Uganda

Posted on
Eos

In the parts of the city inhabited by Africans during the period of segregation, levels of fine particulates known as PM2.5 are high enough to reduce life expectancy more than tobacco use or HIV infection, said the study’s lead author, air quality scientist Dorothy Lsoto of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“When you look at the air quality in these different places, it’s striking,” Lsoto said.