Category: Research

You may not even think twice about turning on the radio in your home to start or end your day, but your cat may have noticed it for completely different reasons.

While it may seem worrying that the latest U.S. Census Bureau numbers show declining populations in almost half of all Wisconsin counties last year, one demographer says it’s important to look at the bigger picture.

UW-Madison agronomy professor Bill Tracy and his graduate students created a new variety of sweet corn — a non-hybrid with ears that don’t all look the same, as most farmers and gardeners these days have come to expect.

In the same issue of Science, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reported positive results from clinical trials of a new “whole virus” Ebola vaccine.

What cat owner hasn’t wondered what their pet was thinking?

Noted: Spencer Black, a Democrat who chaired the House Natural Resources Committee for 26 years and is currently an adjunct professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says there has been in Congress ‘a general attack on the integrity of science, and an unwillingness to listen’. ‘It is not new, but because there are people now who are in power who wish to stifle independent scientific inquiry, it’s a lot worse than it once was,’ Black continues.

Noted: A number of natural factors can affect a jet stream’s speed and course, such as mountain ranges and changes in sea-surface temperature patterns. But Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, believes global warming is the main culprit causing recent changes. In 2012, Francis – with Steven Vavrus, a climate modeller from the University of Wisconsin – proposed Arctic warming contributes to the polar jet stream swinging further north and south.

A recent report from the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center reveals the persistence of a diversity gap in literature for children and adolescents.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin D-Wis. on Wednesday joined four other U.S. senators to introduce bipartisan legislation that would designate 25 national universities as “Manufacturing Universities.”

A bipartisan bill that would designate 25 manufacturing universities across the country and give each one $20 million over four years to step up advanced manufacturing in engineering programs was introduced Wednesday in Congress by lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin D-Wis..

A mental health researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison won’t take newborn monkeys away from their mothers as part of an upcoming study.

While cats may not like human music, a University of Wisconsin study shows they don’t want to paws music created specifically for them.

A UW-Madison psychology researcher has teamed with a composer to create music that moves the feline soul — in a way that human tunes perhaps never could.

As the snow begins to melt, many wildlife species may be having an easier time getting around. Today in our monthly natural history series Field Notes, Tom Steele from UW Madison’s Kemp Natural Resources Station takes a look at the unlikely survival skills of the wild turkey, and the story of a successful conservation project that threw researchers for a loop.

A new study published by the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered the more carbon dioxide in the air, the hungrier insects become.

Greek yogurt is frequently praised for its health benefits, but its acid whey byproduct is a growing concern for the environment.

Noted: The vast majority of Ridglan Farms’ beagles are sold as puppies to research institutions, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The mission of the company, according to its website, is to “to provide purpose-bred beagles for research that increases scientific knowledge and exceeds the expectation of the scientific community.”

Scientists in the US have come closer to solving that perennial problem for pet lovers – what kind of music would my cat like to listen to?

Nine UW-Madison professors have been awarded $50,000 grants for research from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

First they helped save some chimpanzees and cats. Now they’re coming for the mice and the rats.