Noted: To justify its ban, Popular Science turned to science, citing a recent study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggesting that people?s perceptions of the riskiness of a scientific advance can become more entrenched and polarized after reading comments written in an uncivil tone.
Category: Research
Investigation into UW-Madison animal research finds no significant violations
The Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare released a summary report of its six-month long investigation into a University of Wisconsin-Madison experiment Monday that found no violations in the university?s use of cats in sound localization research.
Tick hitches ride to U.S. from Uganda in UW researcher’s nostril
A tick that hitched a ride in a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher?s nostril when he returned from Uganda last year may be a disease-carrying species that someday could pose a threat in the U.S.
Tick flies free from Uganda to Madison in researcher’s nose, offers glimpse into chimp diseases
The first two times Tony Goldberg found a tick in his nose, he was in rural Uganda and responded like the rest of us. ?I was grossed out enough that I wanted them away from me,? he said. The third time, the symptoms were the same ? slight irritation and pain as if he?d blown the schnoz a few too many times ? but the scene shifted to his laboratory at UW-Madison.
Closing the gender citation gap: Introducing RADS
This is the third post in our gender gap symposium (see here and here for the first two.) We are delighted to welcome Daniel Maliniak, a PhD candidate in Political Science at University of California, San Diego, and Ryan Powers, a graduate student in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Daniel and Ryan are co-authors of the citations paper.
Crowdfunding of academic research catching on. At UW-Madson? Not so much
Crowdfunding for academic research is catching on, according to a blog post at Scientific American. Individuals, as well as a growing number of universities, are turning to the masses for funding as government funding dwindles, writes recent UW-Madison graduate Alexandra Branscombe. The option is particularly helpful for new researchers without track records to attract potential funders.
Federal shutdown could hamper Wis. fuels research
The people anxiously awaiting news about a government shutdown include Timothy Donohue, principal investigator at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison.
Tick hitches ride to U.S. from Uganda in UW researcher’s nostril
A tick that hitched a ride in the nose of a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher when he returned from Uganda last year may be a disease-carrying species that someday could pose a threat in the U.S.
New book, ‘Sex, Drugs ‘n Facebook,’ based on UW-Madison research
A new book debuting Tuesday aims to help parents navigate the dangers and benefits of the Internet and social media, based on research at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
Are Certain Smells Making You Anxious?
Well, this stinks: Some scents could screw up your mood, says a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Federal shutdown could hamper Wis. fuels research
The people anxiously awaiting news about a government shutdown include Timothy Donohue, principal investigator at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison.
Executive Q&A: Retiring URP director Mark Bugher hopes to mentor business startups
After 31 years of public service ? most recently as director of University Research Park for the past 14 years ? Mark Bugher will retire Nov. 1.
Saving Wild Places in the ?Anthropocene?
We?re living in the epoch some scientists call the ?Anthropocene??an age in which human influence touches nearly everything on the planet. Forty years after the signing of the Endangered Species Act, and nearly 50 years after the Wilderness Act, do we need to rethink how we protect nature? Environmental historian William Cronon and environmental geographer Paul Robbins discuss protecting wild places in the age of climate change.
Feeling stressed makes the world smell worse
Stress can make the world around us smell unpleasant, the results of a new study are suggesting. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison used powerful brain imaging technologies to examine how stress and anxiety “re-wire” the brain.
UW-Madison study leads Popular Science to drop comments from stories
Earlier this week Popular Science made news by stating this it will no longer allow comments on its articles. This decision was based in large part on a study earlier this year by UW-Madison Prof. Dominique Brossard and her team of researchers.
Less Stress, Better Smells? New Study Suggests Blowing Off Steam Makes World More Aromatic
“People experiencing an increase in anxiety show a decrease in the perceived pleasantness of odors,” study co-author Dr. Wen Li, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in a written statement. “It becomes more negative as anxiety increases … We encounter anxiety and as a result we experience the world more negatively.”
Stress makes things literally stink
Wen Li, professor of psychology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, has found that human brains processing stressful situations — induced in subjects viewing disturbing images such as car crashes — transformed ?neutral? odors into unpleasant ones.
Popular Science kills comments – while YouTube tries to fix them
Popular Science is closing comments on its articles. Citing “trolls and spambots”, the 141-year-old American magazine has decided that an open forum at the bottom of articles “can be bad for science”.
UW’s new irrigation scheduling tool helps growers ensure that every drop counts
Predicting when and how much to water fields is especially difficult when weather conditions trend to the extreme. UW-Madison research is yielding technologies that help farmers fine-tune irrigation to save water and the energy needed to pump it. An online tool called WISP 2012, developed by UW-Madison soil and water conservation specialists, makes it easier to make better decisions about when and how much to water.
How Stress Makes The World Stink: Anxiety, Stress Stimuli Rewire Sense Of Smell To Perceive Neutral Smells As Malodorous, Study Finds
High levels of stress makes can make the world stink ? literally. In an effort to map the human sense of smell, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that anxiety and stress may temporarily rewire the brain by linking olfaction to emotion. As a result, neutral scents begin to take on malodorous characteristics.
Why We’re Shutting Off Our Comments
Comments can be bad for science. That?s why, here at PopularScience.com, we?re shutting them off.
UW Archives bring history to life with scrapbooks and social media
This is a story about four women. It spans more than 100 years, but the setting?s a little trickier to pin down. It could be said it takes place on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, but it might be more accurate to say it leapt from the worn pages of century-old scrapbooks to a boundless network of social media connections.
Inside Wisconsin: Center, companies position state to solve world’s water problems
Of course, water tech isn?t confined to the Milwaukee area. Water research programs exist at UW-Madison, with its Sea Grant Institute and Center for Limnology, and UW campuses in Stevens Point, Superior and Whitewater.
On Campus: UW-Madison goes fishing, MATC goes birding, UW System goes searching
UW-Madison researchers provides an in-depth guide to the wide world of Wisconsin fish from minnows ? there are 11 types listed ? to muskies.
Wisconsin Science Festival set to start next week
The third annual Wisconsin Science Festival is set to start next week.
For the Record: Waisman Center
Neil Heinen talks to the directors of the Waisman Center, the UW research center celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The Wisdom of Waisman
It has always been a challenge to describe the Waisman Center on the University of Wisconsin?Madison campus.
Free bacon makes UW-Madison research project sizzle
If you cook the bacon, they will come. That?s what a team of food science researchers at UW-Madison learned Tuesday, when their bacon tasting drew more samplers in a matter of hours than similar events usually draw in days.
Scientists help farmers create greener dairies
PRAIRIE DU SAC, Wis. – Cows stand patiently in a tent-like chamber at a research farm in western Wisconsin, waiting for their breath to be tested. Outside, corrals have been set up with equipment to measure gas wafting from the ground. A nearby corn field contains tools that allow researchers to assess the effects of manure spread as fertilizer.
Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?
Noted: Depending on our personalities, and how we?re raised, the ability to reframe may or may not come easily. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, notes that while one child may stay rattled by an event for days or weeks, another child may rebound within hours. (Neurotic people tend to recover more slowly.)
Scientists help farmers create greener dairies
Scientists based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have started a slew of studies to determine how dairy farms can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Wolf hunting still divides Wisconsin
Despite last year?s successful hunt and plans for another this year limited to 251 wolves, a UW-Madison survey found public opinion remains entrenched.
How to Decode the Universe Using an Antarctic IceCube
Call it a telescope, call it a detector, or call it an observatory — it?s all the same to the University of Wisconsin scientists at the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory, which is now the world?s largest neutrino research array. Constructed between 2005 and 2010, the IceCube array consists of 86 identical holes, drilled 1.5 miles deep, scattered throughout the ice and filled with extremely sensitive particle physics monitoring equipment.
UW-Madison professor Shanan Peters studies the data of evolution
University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Shanan Peters says the only way we can have any hope of determining what the future holds is by questioning past changes that have taken place on Earth.
UW study finds sleep-loss, overeating linked
A new study conducted by UW researchers demonstrates the effects of sleep deprivation on hedonic, or reward-seeking, eating behaviors. The study is the first to show how overactive brain chemistry can lead to hedonic eating when people are sleep deprived.
Diocese bans school trips to research center
Madison Catholic school children will not have any more field trips to the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. The center conducts embryonic stem cell research.
Former Dow Chemical executive joins UW-Madison staff
In a move that deepens its research and innovation team, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has named a former top executive with Dow Chemical Co. to staff positions with its department of chemical and biological engineering and the Wisconsin Energy Institute.
On job growth, Wisconsin still lagging behind in recovering from recession
Despite strong improvements in manufacturing hiring, Wisconsin still lags the nation as a whole in recovering from the 2007 recession, says a new report from a UW-Madison economic think tank.
Sleep Affects Formation Of Myelin, Vital To Brain Growth And Repair: Study
A new study sheds light on the role sleep plays in the the ability of the brain?s cells to grow and repair themselves.
Super Storm Offers Peek into Saturn’s Atmosphere
The U.S. space agency NASA says a super storm on Saturn offered a rare glimpse into the planet?s thick inner atmosphere, revealing ?the first detection at Saturn of water ice.?
Massive storm on Saturn reveals planets hidden layers
Once every 30 years or so, a massive storm rages on Saturn, mixing up the atmosphere and revealing some of the ringed planets hidden secrets.
UW-Madison professor studies peaceful primates’ capacity to adapt
A UW-Madison professor?s work tracking how muriquis ? a species of monkeys found in the coastal forests of Brazil ? are adapting to population growth is featured in the current issue of Smithsonian magazine.
Sleep ‘boosts brain cell numbers’
Scientists believe they have discovered a new reason why we need to sleep – it replenishes a type of brain cell.
Mindfulness Could Prevent Teacher Burnout, Study Suggests
It?s hard to dispute that teachers are some of the hardest workers out there. They wake up at the crack of dawn and work long after their students have left for the day. And now, a small new study has identified a possible tool that could help prevent burnout among educators: Mindfulness.
Humans Would Be Better Off If They Monkeyed Around Like the Muriquis
It?s 9 o?clock on a June morning in a muggy tropical forest not far from Brazil?s Atlantic coast and brown howler monkeys have been roaring for an hour. But the muriquis?the largest primates in the Americas after human beings, and the animals that the anthropologist Karen Strier and I have huffed uphill to see?are still curled high in the crooks of trees, waiting for the morning sun to warm them.
Biobulb: Electricity-Free Light Bulb Powered by E. Coli Bacteria
The light bulb could get a brand new power source: genetically engineered E. Coli bacteria.The Biobulb project is the brainchild of AnaElise Beckman, Alexandra Cohn and Michael Zaiken, three juniors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The futuristic concept aims to create light from tiny microbes.
UW-Madison gets $1.9M grant to work with VA doctors on whole health concept
The Veterans Administration has given a $1.9 million grant to the UW-Madison integrative medicine program to work with doctors to improve the whole health of America?s veterans.
Still: When UW-Madison and business engage, all can win
Hector DeLuca, Rock Mackie and Richard Davidson have the kind of academic credentials admired by their academic colleagues at UW-Madison and far beyond.
State’s first hunt didn’t reduce tensions over wolves
Last year?s first managed wolf hunt in Wisconsin history did not increase tolerance toward the animals among people who live in wolf country, a new survey by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers shows.
Leaked Report Spotlights Big Climate Change Assessment
A leaked early version of a major forthcoming report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations-affiliated panel of scientists that is often cited as the world?s top authority on global warming, is grabbing headlines this week. [Includes comment from Jim Kossin, one of the report’s authors and research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.]
The 10 Most Awesome College Labs Of 2013
Buried deep in the ice below the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, IceCube is the world?s largest and most remote neutrino observatory.
Pocan announces $2 Million cybersecurity grant for UW-Madison
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has received a nearly $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop new cybersecurity solutions to ensure the protection of the nation?s vast digital infrastructure. UW-Madison will collaborate with research teams at four other universities through this five-year award, which is entitled ?Rethinking Security in the Era of Cloud Computing.?
UW study: Kids exposed to lead more likely to be suspended from school
A new study by University of Wisconsin researchers shows that children who are exposed to lead are three times more likely to be suspended from school in fourth grade than those who are not exposed.
Pocan announces $2 million cybersecurity grant for UW-Madison
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, congratulated the University of Wisconsin-Madison yesterday on receiving a nearly $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation NSF to develop new cybersecurity solutions to ensure the protection of the nation?s vast digital infrastructure.
Bacteria-Powered Light Bulb Is Electricity-Free
Bacteria is experiencing a boon as of late. Just recently, microorganisms have been used to make a better sunscreen. Another bright idea comes from scientists who are using bacteria as the key ingredient in a biological light bulb that requires no electricity. Quoted: Biochemistry major Michael Zaiken.
Lead poisoning’s impact: Kids suspended more at school
Scientists have long known that children with high levels of toxic lead in their bloodstream are more likely than others to behave impulsively, have shorter attention spans and lower IQs and do poorly in school.
Tammy Baldwin Meets With UW Medical Researchers
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin met with medical researchers today at the University of Wisconsin?s Milwaukee and Madison campuses.
On Campus: Apostle Islands kayakers get real-time view of caves from shore
Kayakers venturing out on a thrilling but potentially dangerous paddle to the Apostle Islands sea caves on Lake Superior can now check conditions from shore on a kiosk developed by UW-Madison researchers with the Sea Grant Institute.
Hearing A Word Can Help You See The Invisible
Vision simply isn?t as objective a view of reality as we think it is, according to researchers at Yale University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Just saying a word can alter that reality.
Researchers See Video Games as Testing, Learning Tools
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are convinced the tests of the future will look like Crystals of Kaydor, a role-playing video game about aliens.