Skip to main content

Author: knutson4

Midwest winters are changing. So is the ancient sport of falconry

Posted on
Associated Press

Jonathan Pauli, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has observed by systematically capturing, collaring and monitoring carnivores and their prey across the state and comparing their historical numbers to current-day ones. He said his team has observed a “relatively fast range contraction” of snowshoe hares, moving northward as climate change increasingly turns them into “white lightbulbs” highly visible to their predators in the winter.

23 Dem AGs think they’ve cracked the code to fighting Trump

Posted on
Politico

On February 10, 22 of the states sued over cuts to the National Institutes of Health. It was filed in Massachusetts, but is filled with details on which programs at the University of Wisconsin are being the most impacted.

“Making sure that information is being included and considered as part of these cases is what I see as sort of a key role for us and for other states,“ said Wisconsin’s Attorney General Josh Kaul.

Wisconsin’s Forgotten Olympian: The first Black Olympic medalist and the secret he kept

Posted on
TMJ4

Poage was born in Missouri in 1880 but moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, as a child. He was a standout student and athlete in high school. Then he went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for college. He was the first African American on the team and the first to win a Big Ten championship. He graduated in 1904. Shortly after, he competed in the St. Louis Olympics, where he won two medals. He was also sponsored by the Milwaukee Athletic Club.

Careful messaging, uncertainty reign on Wisconsin college campuses in Trump’s second term

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

College leaders are scrambling to assess the ramifications Trump’s orders would have on their institutions and come up with a long-term strategy to defend higher education, which has long been a political punching bag for Republicans. They are trying to respond in a way that appeases students and professors, who tend to be progressive, without antagonizing the conservatives now in charge of the federal government.

“The chancellor is trying to thread a very, very narrow needle,” said Michael Bernard-Donals, a UW-Madison professor of English and Jewish studies.

Tony Evers on budget compromise, Trump and DOGE. Takeaways from the governor’s meeting with county leaders

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Evers highlighted his “Year of the Kid” designation and said a focus needs to be on schools during the budget season. An ongoing battle over literacy funding from the last budget is yet to be squared away and he called for setting aside funds for youth mental health. Though funding for public schools, the University of Wisconsin and the state’s technical schools is large, it’s a necessary investment, especially because of the uncertainty at the federal level, he said.

This Wisconsin county keeps roads clear, saves money by using cheese byproduct. Here’s why

Posted on
Wisconsin State Farmer

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) lab have found liquid brine in water highway maintenance cleared the state’s highways faster, provided better friction on roadways and reduced overall salt usage.

“The data tells a very positive story for winter highway safety in Wisconsin,” says Andrea Bill, associate director of the TOPS Lab, which is housed in the UW-Madison College of Engineering. “Liquid brine is an effective tool, and along with training, education and technology, our storm fighters are making effective reductions in the amount of chloride on our roads and improving the performance of winter roads.”

China told to drop marriage age to boost birth rate

Posted on
Newsweek

“Even lowering the legal age of marriage to 18 will do nothing to boost the fertility rate now that people have become accustomed to marrying young and having children later,” said Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who conducts demography research. “China’s age of first marriage in 2020 was 29.4 years for men and 28.0 years for women, and it will continue to be delayed, following along the same path as Taiwan and South Korea.”

NIH funding cuts ‘a travesty to biomedical research,’ says UW research director

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

An announcement from the National Institutes of Health earlier this month said the agency would slash support for indirect research costs paid to universities, medical centers and other grant recipients.

The change could leave research institutions like the University of Wisconsin-Madison scrambling for millions of dollars from other sources to support labs, students and staff.

Trump administration delays Wisconsin research funds by withholding, canceling review meetings

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

“This is clearly a loophole which is now used to stall the reviews,” said Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, vice chancellor for research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The impact of the postponement won’t be felt immediately, she said. But if the meetings can’t continue, it will have an impact in coming months.

“At the minimum, a delay. At the most extreme case, maybe funding won’t happen,” Grejner-Brzezinska said. “At the moment, we hope that it is just a delay. And are watching what’s going to happen next.”

Musk-backed SCOWIS attack ad features wrong Susan Crawford

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

It’s a sign of an increasingly negative campaign environment, said Michael Wagner, an expert on political communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“One thing that we’ve seen in our politics over the last several election cycles is an increasing willingness to take the shot, even if the candidate isn’t sure that the shot is accurate,” Wagner said. “The rush to get on air with negative ads, the appetite some audiences seem to have for them, all kind of contribute to the environment where mistakes like this can happen.”

Measles vaccination rates have fallen across Wisconsin, data shows

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

There are several reasons for Wisconsin’s low and declining measles vaccination rates, said Jim Conway, a pediatric infectious disease professor at the University of Wisconsin’s medical school. A “recency phenomenon” is one of them, he said.

“These ‘old-fashioned diseases,’ as one parent said to me a couple weeks ago, just aren’t as concerning,” he said. “Because they’re considered diseases that affected all our parents, but they don’t see them as a current threat.”

Rule breaker investing: Pet Perks, Vol. 2

Posted on
The Motley Fool

Let’s move to pet perk number 2. This one’s a little bit quicker hitting. I was reminded that I got it from Jordan Ellenberg, the mathematician and the academic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who joined me for Authors in August in 2023. His book “How Not To Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking” is where pet perk, number 2, comes from. I’m going to quote him in a sec, but here it is, essentially. As you get richer as a person, as you get richer as an investor, you’re able to take more risk and that is indeed a pet perk.

Improvements to hearing aid tech, access has led to better and cheaper options

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Untreated hearing loss can take a toll on the mental health of those hard of hearing, according to Rachel Lee, a University of Wisconsin-Madison clinical associate professor and audiologist.

“Hearing loss is associated with a lot of things, such as social isolation, which can lead to depression and anxiety. It can also affect cognitive ability,” Lee said recently on WPR’s “The Larry Meiller Show.”

A Michigan college student filed a lawsuit over a bad grade. It’s not the first time.

Posted on
Detroit Free Press

Donald Downs is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin. He co-founded the Academic Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit that defends the rights of professors to speak, teach and publish without interference. He said courts aren’t the right place to settle grade disputes.

“These are matters of academic freedom and it’s usually best leave it up to the professors, because they’re the ones who know the subject,” Downs said. “If you take it out of their hands, then who’s going to do it? Our position is a strong presumption in favor of the faculty members’ academic right to have discretion over grades.”

How to channel anxiety as an emotional intelligence strategy

Posted on
Forbes

In 2013, Researchers at University of Wisconsin put this idea to the test. They placed people in MRI machines and threatened to shock them at random. There were three groups of participants:

The researchers measured fear activity in each person’s brain. And they found something incredible in the third group. Participants’ brains were much less active. They could literally outsource their fear to their loved ones. That means your brain can offload negativity. Leaning on others in tough times is like taking ice cream scoops of negativity out of your brain. The EQ Strategy: Ask your friends and family for support. Don’t let fear of vulnerability hold you back.

In pursuit of the best protein bar

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

“We weren’t trying to design the best protein bar ever.” said Audrey Girard, who is an assistant professor in food science at the university. “We were trying to figure out how these protein bars harden so that someone else could take this, and then design the best protein bar ever.”

Finnish saunas are having a moment in Wisconsin

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Arnold Alanen is a professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he researched the history of sauna structures. Alanen told “Wisconsin Today” that as a Finnish American, sauna has been a way of life for him from the beginning. He said he was first brought into a sauna as a very young baby, and then he caught on to the ritual when he was about 8 years old, living on his grandparents’ farm in Minnesota.

“The weekly sauna tradition was something that we did on our farm, just without interruption. We would do it every Saturday evening,” he said. “It became such an integral part of my life, as well as of our family.”

‘Heartbreaking to slow down’: UW-Madison researchers warn funding cuts would delay new treatments for cancer, more

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the nation’s top research institutions, are wary of potential cuts to funding under the Trump administration that they warn could slow their work and delay new treatments for cancer and other diseases.

U.S. dairy farmer says Trump’s mass deportation plan would put him out of business

Posted on
CBS News

John Rosenow, a fifth-generation farmer in Waumandee, Wisconsin, owns more than 900 acres and over 600 dairy cows. He said about 90% of the work on the farm is done by immigrants.

Those immigrants include Kevin, who was born in central Mexico and crossed the U.S. southern border illegally when he was 18. Now 21, Kevin, who did not provide his last name during an interview with CBS News, is among the 11 million undocumented migrants living in the U.S. More than 10,000 of them work on Wisconsin dairy farms, according to a report by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

On Collaborentoring: Xueli Wang offers advice for embracing mentoring as a form of collaboration.

Posted on
Inside Higher Ed

Written by Xueli Wang, the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Endowed Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With a focus on community colleges and postsecondary STEM education, her research examines educational practices, structures and policies that promote students’ holistic well-being and equitable access, experiences and outcomes.

An election for a single state Supreme Court seat becomes the ‘blockbuster’ political fight of 2025

Posted on
CNN

“It’s going to be a blockbuster,” said Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In a state where a Democrat controls the governor’s mansion and Republicans hold the legislative majority, the state Supreme Court “is the center of the action,” he said. “It’s become a place where a lot of hot-button issues people care about get decided.”

We asked Wisconsin Puerto Ricans to share their favorite songs from Bad Bunny’s album, here’s what they said

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, an assistant professor of history at University of Wisconsin-Madison, knows the album better than the average listener.

That’s because he’s the mastermind behind the visualizers highlighting Puerto Rican history that accompany each track on the album. Bad Bunny’s team reached out to Meléndez-Badilloafter his book “Puerto Rico: A National History” published last year.

America is about to enter an apartment crunch

Posted on
Business Insider

Apartment prices surged most this month in college towns like Syracuse, New York; New Haven, Connecticut; Lexington, Kentucky; Madison, Wisconsin; and Lincoln, Nebraska. Those towns, all of which were in the top 10 of year-over-year rent growth in August, are home to Syracuse University, Yale University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, respectively.

It’s not time to protest, it’s time to strike

Posted on
Slate

Peter Rickman is the president of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization now, but in 2011 he was a grad student and a member of the Teaching Assistants’ Association at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He remembers it was a Thursday when the governor “dropped the bomb”—which is what Walker himself called his bill dismantling unions. Rickman was in a meeting with other organizers at the time: “We all sort of looked around at one another and were like … this is our fight.” After all, teaching assistants were state employees, too.

The 16 best bourbons—according to bartenders

Posted on
Forbes

My favorite bourbon, J. Henry & Sons Patton Road Reserve, comes from a family-run distillery just outside my hometown in Madison, WI. Third-generation farmers, Joe and Liz started distilling bourbon in 2008 and use an heirloom red corn, developed at the University of Wisconsin in 1939.

Study: Americans vastly underestimate public support for diversity and inclusion

Posted on
PsyPost

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison became interested in this topic because they wanted to understand a puzzling contradiction. On one hand, many people express support for diversity and inclusion. On the other hand, discrimination and exclusion remain persistent problems in society. The researchers wondered if part of the problem might stem from inaccurate perceptions of what others believe.

The study, “Diversity and inclusion have greater support than most Americans think,” was authored by Naomi Isenberg and Markus Brauer.

What did some ag-related organizations spend on lobbying in 2023-2024?

Posted on
Wisconsin State Farmer

The rest of the top ten lobbying spenders in 2024 are rounded out by the Wisconsin Property Taxpayers Association, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ATC Management Inc. – a transmission lines company, the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, according to the report. All of these organizations spent at least $350,000 lobbying state officials in 2024.

Would Susan Crawford have to recuse from any abortion case? Why experts say she wouldn’t.

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Howard Schweber, a professor emeritus of political science and legal studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted many judges previously worked as criminal prosecutors or defenders.

“It would be absurd to suggest that those judges must recuse themselves from any case involving a crime,” Schweber said.

Study: Guardian Caps do not reduce concussion risk for Wisconsin high school football players

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Wearing a padded cover over a football helmet does not reduce the risk of concussions for high school athletes, according to a new study using data from Wisconsin.

The study was conducted by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Orthopedics andRehabilitation during the 2023 football season. Its peer-reviewed findings were published on Jan. 28 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Shortsighted DOGE USAID cuts hurt Wisconsin farmers, weaken national security

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a key partner for USAID’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab, helping train agricultural researchers around the world and research new seeds. In the past decade, Feed the Future has reduced hunger and poverty by 20 to 25 percent in targeted areas, with over 6 million producers newly using better agricultural practices in 2023 alone.

Of course, these innovations not only support communities abroad, but can also be put to use right in UW-Madison’s backyard to make farmers more resilient to increasing hazards such as heatwaves and extreme precipitation.

From the Gulf of America to Fort Bragg, what’s behind Trump’s name changes?

Posted on
BBC

“The act of naming is a way that presidents can reshape their vision of the nation,” said Allison Prasch, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies political rhetoric.

Trump’s choices in his second term send a clear message about his priorities too, she said. “It is elevating a very nationalist, imperialist vision of the United States,” Prasch said.