Category: Research

Noted: “It was made by a neutrino that came through the Earth somewhere below our detector,” said IceCube’s principal investigator Francis Halzen, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: IceCube is now getting so much data that the team has given up naming individual detections, says detector lead Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: The Clean Lakes Alliance, City of Madison, Dane County, Mio Soft, UW-Madison Center for Limnology, and the Space Science and Engineering Center teamed up to put this together.

A UW-Madison biochemist has been selected by Pres. Barack Obama to chair the committee honoring those making major contributions to the sciences.

GRAND CHUTE – Five local high schools worked with University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers recently to study the impact of advanced courses on graduates’ success after high school.

UW-Madison scientists are trying to find new uses for acid whey — the liquid byproduct in cream and cottage cheeses and Greek yogurt.It’s nothing like sweet whey, the cheese making leftover that’s often converted into protein powder.Dean Sommer of the UW Center for Dairy Research says today’s acid whey is hard to convert to a useful powder.

University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemistry Prof. Judith Kimble has been tapped by President Barack Obama to chair the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science.

The latest research on preventing the spread of White Nose Syndrome among Wisconsin’s bat populations will be presented this weekend.  You can also find out how you can help preserve the populations.

Dean Sommer wants to turn 8 billion pounds of whey from a liability into an asset.

A new faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marianne Fairbanks, is bringing decades of experience with dyes, fibres and design to the development of a solar textile technology.

Two University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty members — one a textile artist and the other a chemist — have teamed to create fabric solar panels.

In the 58 years since they first responded to the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, thousands of men and women have provided descriptions of their families, incomes, education, aspirations, social lives and health (both physical and mental). Many of the 10,317 who took the first survey have stuck with it, answering five follow-ups over the last half century.

Jeremy Hemberger drives two hours to the cranberry marshes of central Wisconsin to glue radio chips to bumblebees. On a good day.

Lakeforecast.org is the creation of a collaboration of the Clean Lakes Alliance, software company MIOsoft, city and county officials and UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology and the Space Science and Engineering Center.

But now, the National Weather Service, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the National Sea Grant Program are working together like never before to improve prediction methods and better determine the strength of rip currents.

About 10,000 years ago, the teosinte plant underwent a mutation that would change the world. The tough greenish husks surrounding its golden grains disappeared, and the plant began its long evolution into what we now call corn.

When it comes to dementia research, UW-Madison is the new kid on the block. “But it is quickly reaching national status,” says Dr. Sanjay Asthana, who heads the UW’s Alzheimer’s research program. “Our young scientists are already leaders, and they are the future of the field.”

It’s well-known that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds tend to lag behind their better-off peers in academic readiness and school performance.

Anxiety disorders are among the most common type of mental disorder in the United States, affecting about 29 percent of adults at some point, according to National Institute of Mental Health statistics. These disorders often appear early on, and among children can cause trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, or avoidance of social events.

Growing up poor has long been linked to lower academic test scores. And there’s now mounting evidence that it’s partly because kids can suffer real physical consequences from low family incomes, including brains that are less equipped to learn.

A new study suggests that growing up poor affects brain development at an early age, and those brain changes can have huge effects on academic achievement.

Poverty appears to affect the brain development of children, hampering the growth of gray matter and impairing their academic performance, researchers report.

The development of fuel cell technology has been hamstrung by the need for expensive and difficult-to-manufacture catalysts like platinum, rhodium or palladium. But a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison believe they’ve found an ingenious alternative that employs a molecular, rather than solid, catalyst.

One of the largest misconceptions about anxiety is that the disorder is something people “bring upon themselves,” a concept that is as malignant as it is incorrect. Adding to the evidence against this isolating stereotype, a new study from the University of Wisconsin, Madison found that the brain function that underlies anxiety and depression may be inherited.

If you already don’t like flying, we have some bad news. A new study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, says that long flights are getting longer. This is because the jet stream, the high-altitude winds from west to east, are becoming more unpredictable, and buffeting planes midair.

What’s new at the Dictionary of American Regional English? Boneless cats, for one. Badgers and back-budgers. Beach-walks, bodegas, (cellar) bugs, and beelers.

A new study by two University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students examined the impact of violent video games, finding that they can relieve stress, but boost aggression.

A leading historical geographer has called on both his disciplines to find better ways of “navigating the digital world”. William Cronon, who is Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas research professor of history, geography and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was delivering the first in a new series of British Academy lectures in geography at London’s Royal Geographical Society on 7 July.

The brain function that underlies anxiety and depression is inherited, a new study finds — but there is still plenty of space for experience and environment to reduce the risk of a full-blown mental disorder.

Video games can improve your mood but playing a violent video game could increase aggressive outcomes, a UW-Madison study shows.