It was not research but the love of nature that led Wisconsin ecologist Aldo Leopold to pen his journals more than half a century ago, meticulously documenting the times of the year that plants bloom, mammals emerge from hibernation and frogs begin to sing.
Many of these words have more than five different definitions, in addition to five different spellings, depending on the region ? or even the region within the region ? from whence they came. To find out more about the Dictionary of American Regional English, the University of Wisconsin-Madison created a great website about the project.
For the second year in a row, the UW-Madison online graduate engineering programs rank in the top 10 among U.S. colleges offering degrees in the field.
Video: Oral drops for dog allergies pass another hurdle.
Q: Why does a stream of water break into individual droplets as it falls? A: The spheres form through a force called surface tension, the same force that forms soap bubbles into spheres, said Michael Graham, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ?Surface tension exerts a force that minimizes the liquid?s surface area, and a long cylinder of fluid has more surface area than a string of droplets of fluid.?
Online trolls may not just be offensive — they may be making you dumber, a new study found. The comments section of science news may be coloring the way readers think on the most unbiased science stories, can dumb down the discussion and impact what news is more easily available, two University of Wisconsin Madison researchers said.
Breakthroughs in flexible semiconductors may lead to better and easier night vision for the military and law enforcement, thanks to the University of Wisconsin.
A year after a University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist?s bird flu research pulled him into the fray of a global controversy over the safety and wisdom of experimenting in a lab with a potentially deadly virus, the research is still at a voluntary standstill, awaiting new guidelines from the U.S. government.
A new study has worked out the effect online comments have on readers – and it?s surprisingly large.The study hails from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and concentrates on layman reports of science stories (appearing in regular newspapers and magazines). It found that content in the reports were very easily undermined by the comments below – even when it was a simply a matter of tone.
Thirty years ago, Bonnie Svarstad and Chester Bond of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered an interesting pattern in the use of sedatives at nursing homes in the south of the state.
This process is called transcranial magnet stimulation, or TMS. It is the key to a device that Giulio Tononi, one of the most-talked-about figures in anesthesiology since Nassib Chamoun, hopes will provide a truly comprehensive assessment of consciousness. If successful, Tononi?s device could reliably prevent anesthesia awareness. But his ambitions are much grander than that. Tononi is unraveling the mystery of consciousness: how it works, how to measure it, how to control it, and, possibly, how to create it.
A: Hundreds of millions of years ago, a mutation in an ancestor of snakes caused a gene to start making toxic molecules, says Noah Dowell, a postdoctoral fellow with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in UW-Madison?s department of cellular and molecular biology.
No. Sound is a sequence of pressure waves that propagate through a compressible medium, such as air or water. Sound has to move molecules in order to travel. Sound is transmitted from a source to the surrounding molecules, which vibrate or collide and pass the sound energy along until it eventually reaches our ears. The closer the molecules are to each other, the farther the sound can travel. This is why sound travels farther through water than it does through air and why it is impossible for sound to move through space.
Ohio State University researchers, in a joint project with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Wisconsin, used numerical analysis to fill gaps in weather data taken at Byrd Station, 700 miles from the South Pole.
The University of Wisconsin Medical School is looking for up to 800 smokers to participate in a new study, after the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention was recently given $10 million in federal funds for research from the National Institutes of Health. The grant is intended to help advance the understanding of the most effective ways to help people quit smoking and the benefits that quitting has on the body over time.
When Richard Davidson first began his doctoral work more than 30 years ago, the disciplines of neuroscience and psychology didn?t play well together. The idea that emotions were brain activity that could actually be measured and quantified in a laboratory setting was dismissed by most researchers. But Davidson persevered and is today the foremost expert on the science of emotions.
Global warming is essentially giving the insects a huge advantage, as the trees, with their long lifespans, have no chance to develop biological resistance, according to researchers from the the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who report a rising threat to the whitebark pine forests of the northern Rocky Mountains.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gathers what it believes are the most interesting breakthroughs and developments at state universities, including UW-Madison.
With temperatures climbing from climate change, the mountain pine beetle is now moving to higher elevations on mountain slopes and is a “rising threat” to the whitebark pine, which is found mainly in the Rocky Mountains, coast range of B.C. and the northern U.S., says a new study.The report was published Monday by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Noted: They retrieved one of the sensors and recalibrated it at the University of Wisconsin. They discovered a software error that had introduced mistakes into the record and then used computerized analyses of the atmosphere to fill the gaps.
If it wasn?t for finding the God particle, work by UW-Madison researchers and others on why the universe has virtually no anti-matter would have been the biggest scientific breakthrough of the year, according to Science Magazine.
Mentions that in 1998, the Forest Service began providing fire safety forecasts based on theories developed by meteorologist Donald Haines from the University of Wisconsin. The Haines Index is a mathematical formula calculating the potential for large wildfires to experience extreme fire behavior.
The study published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience, was conducted by scientists at Ohio State University (OSU), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with funding coming from the National Science Foundation, which is NCAR?s sponsor.
The wonder drug that relieves everything from headaches to joint pain, and lowers the risk of heart disease may come with risks for the eyes.
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), Madison, has agreed to license stem cell patents from GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Terms of the arrangement were not disclosed. GE Healthcare has had a long-term agreement, recently expanded, to license the stem cell technology developed by Geron Corp., a biopharmaceutical company in Menlo Park, Calif.
ARLINGTON ? A $3 million renovation project to dairy facilities on the UW-Madison campus is nearing completion and should be ready for students by early 2013.
On Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health in Maryland is holding a second day of talks about whether and how to continue funding some controversial scientific experiments.
An idea for a printable prosthetic hand, first dreamed up when Eric Ronning was bored during an entry-level freshman engineering course, has now been recognized with a national inventors prize for the UW-Madison junior, who?s also parlayed it into a start-up company. “I feel like you could change the world with this idea,” said Ronning, a mechanical engineering major from the Chicago suburbs, in a university release. “And that?s what keeps me going.”
Early-commitment scholarships — in which a donor offers to pay the way for a class of students to attend college, for example — have been an occasional hallmark of philanthropy. A new study examines making a similar effort with the Pell Grant: telling low-income students as early as the eighth grade that they will receive federal help to attend college, in the hopes that it would encourage them to prepare for and pursue a postsecondary education.
A. ?For the most part, Neanderthal genes are still with us,? said UW-Madison anthropologist John Hawks. ?If you look across enough people, much of the Neanderthal genome is represented in one person or another.?
A: By Sunday, Dec. 9, Milwaukee had gone 280 consecutive days without measurable snowfall (defined as 0.1 inches or more of snow). That set the all-time record long streak for no snow in Milwaukee?s weather history. By the time you read this article, the streak will have continued into its 288th day ? an amazing way to approach the end of a truly unusual, and in many ways, unsettling year of weather in our state.
Of all the science behind astronomical events, I think the explanation for meteor showers is my favorite because it is so revealing of the dramatic goings-on in all of that inky space above us. And, despite the solid nature of the nuts-and-bolts science, it is an explanation not without whimsy….Now NASA, according to UW-Madison astronomer Jim Lattis, has announced a new meteor shower that coincides with the Geminids. The source of the new shower is Comet Wirtanen.
Twenty-four UW-Madison engineering seniors and graduate students who had enrolled in a mechanical engineering course in fluid power recently received an email that read, in part: “Unfortunately, due to budget reductions, the mechanical engineering department will not be able to hire an instructor for ME 545 for spring 2013.”
A: On Dec. 3 the high temperature of 65 degrees F was the all-time highest December temperature ever recorded in Madison. Among the interesting aspects of this record high was the fact that the entire day was cloudy so local sunshine had no role in achieving this record. This prompts an interesting question ? what processes can contribute to changing the temperature at a location? The answer is that there are basically two. Everyone knows that on a sunny, windless day, the fact that the sun is out always contributes to warming the air temperature. At night, in the absence of sunshine, the air cools. These changes are a result of radiative transfer, one of the two mechanisms.
Swarthmore College biologist Scott Gilbert, known for his ability to relate complex biological concepts to everyday life, will deliver two free public talks in Madison on Wednesday and Thursday.
Work by UW?Madison psychologist Paula Niedenthal is included by New York Times columnist David Brooks in a roundup of social science research.
Q: NASA?s Curiosity rover was rumored to have found something exciting in Martian soil samples. If there really is ? or was ? life on Mars, what kind of life forms are we talking about?
A: Despite fanciful early descriptions of elaborate “canals” crisscrossing the Martian surface, exhaustive imaging of the Red Planet has revealed no signs of any advanced civilization. Instead, any extraterrestrial life is most likely to be microbial, said UW?Madison geoscientist Clark Johnson.
The five faculty members from the University of Wisconsin selected to be fellows of the American Physical Society were unveiled yesterday, highlighting diversity in scientific excellence and the importance of collaborative opportunities.
Five University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers were named fellows in the American Physical Society Wednesday in recognition of significant research contributions using physics in science and technology.
Researchers are giving mixed reviews to a draft U.S. government plan to subject some grant requests for studies involving the H5N1 avian influenza virus (like those performed by Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the UW?Madison) to special reviews?and perhaps even require the work to be kept secret.
One recent report from UW-Madison?s Applied Population Lab projects the number of deer hunters in the state could fall to 400,000 by 2030. That?s nearly a 40 percent decline from two decades ago when more than 650,000 Wisconsinites would head out in pursuit of a trophy buck ? or at least a good time at deer camp with the buddies. But the implications are significant and go well beyond the estimated $1.4 billion economic boost and 25,000 jobs hunting provides to the state.
Imagine holding a state-of-the-art research laboratory in the palm of your hand. The device can go anywhere you go, and nearly anyone can operate it. What would you do with it?A team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison already have a plan. They hope to use the device to create a faster and cheaper diagnostic test for necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC. NEC is a medical condition that causes the death of intestinal tissue and is primarily seen in premature newborns.
Quoted: Katie Brenner, a post-doctoral researcher in Douglas Weibel?s lab at UW-Madison
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent letters to several U.S. politicians Monday urging them to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health, an organization that funds animal research at many universities across the country, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the letters, PETA condemns UW-Madison among other universities ? including Columbia University and the University of California-San Francisco ? for conducting ?costly? research studies which ?do nothing to advance human health? when the money could be spent on ?safe? research.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter of the Climate Action 350 and Madison residents joined in a protest Monday presenting the UW Foundation with more than 1,200 petition signatures requesting the foundation end its investment in fossil fuels to help decrease the threat of climate change. Climate Action 350-UW is a student group that works to reduce climate change resulting from the unsafe amount of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere, according to UW-Madison junior Emmy Burns.
Energy needs a Nate Silver. Perhaps Gregory Nemet of the University of Wisconsin is that guy.
A: Rescue or salvage archaeology, according to UW-Madison anthropology Professor Sissel Schroeder, is undertaken under two major circumstances: ?The first is when an archaeological site has already been inadvertently damaged through construction, mining, quarrying, or other forms of ground disturbance,? she explained. ?The second is when some kind of construction or other form of disturbance is planned, including proposed dams that will cover sites with water.?
An innovative device that will allow doctors to externally monitor brain pressure in children with hydrocephalus ? thereby avoiding invasive and dangerous surgery ? is inching its way toward commercial use. The tiny implant was invented at UW Hospital by a neurosurgeon who loves to tinker with electronics and cobbled the prototype together on a coffee table in his basement with parts from Radio Shack.
A: Since we live in a country with a famous Tornado Alley right in its center, it is easy to forget that severe weather can occur, though with substantially less frequency, in other parts of the world.A recent example of this is the flooding in Venice, Italy in early November and the strong tornado that roared through Teranto, Italy on Nov. 28.
Even our footsteps can generate power, by driving a salty liquid through microscopic pores in a shoe sole to deliver up to two watts per leg, using a “reverse electrowetting” device developed by Professor Tom Krupenkin at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “This is more than sufficient to power such common devices as smartphones and tablets,” he says. “We expect the first product prototype to be available in one to two years.”
The University of Wisconsin dropped one spot to No. 4 this year in the top-five rankings for all research universities in the United States.
Wisconsin?s first recreational hunt for wolves is nearing an end and as the hunt itself winds down, attention will turn to analysis and to what is, hopefully, a scientific assessment of the season and its impact on the state?s wolf population. Much of that work will focus, appropriately, on population densities in the wake of the hunt and implications for future quotas….Not long after the hunt started, UW-Madison researcher Adrian Treves released a study that confirmed what most suspected ? public attitudes toward the wolf deteriorated in the months and years prior to approval of the hunting season.
Five University of Wisconsin-Madison professors were named as fellows in the American Association for the Advancement of Science Thursday. UW-Madison faculty that will be recognized include Professor of Plant Pathology Paul G. Ahlquist, Professor of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics Kyung Mann Kim, Professor of Psychiatry Ned H. Kalin, Professor of Chemical and Biological engineering Thomas F. Kuech and Professor of Life Sciences Communication Dietram A. Scheufele.
An expert on environmental attitudes warned Tuesday that a shift in public attitudes toward wolves could endanger the species? presence in Wisconsin.
It looks as if UW-Stevens Point could give its students a taste of that ancient to them piece of constitutional history known as the 18th Amendment, which ushered in Prohibition. Among the options before a task force created last year on campus alcohol and drug use is banning booze in all dorms, even for dorm residents of legal drinking age. The UW System is not aware of any such efforts at its other campuses, system spokesman David Giroux said.
Quoted: Richard Brown, director of the UW-Madison Wisconsin Initiative to Promote Healthy Lifestyles.
America needs more workers with expertise in science and math. America needs more entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to start businesses and create jobs here. And that?s why America needs Congress to pass the bipartisan Startup Act 2.0 bill ? with or without a larger package of immigration reforms. The proposal would provide more visas to foreign students who graduate from American universities with advanced degrees in science, math, technology and engineering.
University of Michigan has topped its public peers in research and development spending for the third year in a row, according to the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Wisconsin universities could lose almost 50 million dollars of federally funded research grants unless congress passes legislation to stop sequestration.
Memorial High School senior Sohil Shah is at an academic level above most of his peers. Sohil, 17, who takes classes and conducts research at UW-Madison, also is more advanced than many college students. Findings from his nanoscience research project were published in the prestigious Journal of Materials Chemistry ? a feat that could be expected of third-year doctorate students, said Robert Hamers, chemistry professor at UW-Madison and Sohil?s mentor.
Billed as the biggest telescope in the world, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory on the South Pole, is a project with roots in Wisconsin and now University of Wisconsin-Madison aims to tell the project?s story around the state.
Deborah Blum [See her home page ], never shy about reinventing herself, entered college to become a scientist before switching majors and colleges to pursue a journalism degree, later quit her journalism job to study science writing, came back to newspaper reporting as a science writer, then left journalism again to devote herself full-time to book writing and teaching journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
