A: These boulders are a legacy of the ice age, when the climate in southwestern Wisconsin resembled that of present-day northern Alaska, said James Knox, Evjue-Bascom professor emeritus of geography at UW-Madison.
UW-Madison sent four official delegations to China over the last two years, accelerated research connections with the country and aggressively recruited Chinese students to study here. Now, UW-Madison leaders are laying the groundwork for a physical foothold in China in what would be the school?s first foreign office.
….Not everyone believes UW-Madison should be establishing close ties with China. Tom Loftus, who until recently served on the UW Board of Regents, has called for the university to be more cautious.
?China isn?t Iowa ? there is censorship, human rights abuse, jailing of artists, defense lawyers and dissidents of all types,? Loftus wrote in an email to the State Journal. ?And, the Communist Party government has no compunction about punishing those countries and institutions that offend.?
China may be 7,000 miles away, but it?s one of UW-Madison?s closest research partners. There are hundreds of collaborations as university faculty regularly beat a path back and forth to China, working on such areas as blindness, the milk yield of dairy cows and the impact of climate change on deserts. As UW-Madison considers opening an office in Shanghai ? its first foreign outpost ? the potential for developing even more research partnerships is at the forefront of administrators? minds.
“Although we are there every six months, it’s not a continuing presence,” said Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies and vice provost of globalization. “If we had somebody on the ground, they could take advantage of those relationships.”
H. Gobind Khorana, who rose from poverty in rural India to become one of the world?s foremost biochemists and who shared the Nobel Prize for helping unravel how genetic information in a cell is used to make proteins vital for human life, died Nov. 9 at a rehabilitation facility in Concord, Mass. He was believed to be 89.
H. Gobind Khorana, who rose from a childhood of poverty in India to become a biochemist and share in a Nobel Prize for his role in deciphering the genetic code, died on Wednesday in Concord, Mass. He was 89.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, one of Newsweek?s “Most Important People in 2010,” will speak at Union South Nov. 15. Jackson will discuss challenges facing environmental laws as well as the EPA?s efforts to respond to President Barack Obama?s request that federal agencies work with American businesses to help create jobs.
Look at any university ranking table, and the overwhelming majority of top universities are American. The Shanghai Rankings list 35 American universities among the top 50 universities with the world. The UK is next, with three among the top 50.
A decade after he helped persuade a president to allow funding of some embryonic stem cell research, Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor and presumptive U.S. Senate candidate, paid a visit to the Vatican on Wednesday to deliver a very different message.
In Rome, Thompson, who is Roman Catholic, portrayed himself as a strong proponent of adult stem cells – cells that aren?t culled from embryos – while appearing to brush aside the embryonic stem cell research he once defended.
Having mom accompany you on club night or to a dance isn?t a notion most young men think of fondly. But new research by a University of Wisconsin-Madison anthropologist Karen B. Strier suggests that the arrangement works well for the male northern muriqui monkey. In fact, taking mom with you in search of mates appears to keep activity on the up and up. No inbreeding allowed.
Why do we need sleep? Some researchers think it gives our bodies a chance to repair themselves. Others think it gives our brains time to organize our thoughts. Neuroscientist Chiara Cirelli at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and others believe that a good night?s sleep helps us learn more the next day.
There?s nothing quite like having mum around when you?re trying to get it on with a lady. That is if you are a male northern muriqui monkey, according to a study by anthropologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Wednesday urged President Obama to take the lead in promoting adult stem cell research and give the divisive debate over embryonic stem cells a rest.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Wednesday urged President Obama to take the lead in promoting adult stem cell research and give the divisive debate over embryonic stem cells a rest. [Mentioned: UW?Madison’s leadership in stem cell research.]
Milwaukee is developing a reputation as a leader in freshwater research and technology. The Chronicle of Higher Education is the latest publication to take note. An article posted over the weekend states Lake Michigan is not “just a pretty backdrop and source of recreation here but a strong economic driver, with more than 130 water-technology-related businesses in the region bringing in $10.5-billion annually in revenue.” That number is huge. UW-Madison, for example, is one of the leading research institutions on the planet, and it brings in only a fraction of that — approximately $1 billion per year — in research dollars.
The earth?s population hit the 7 billion mark last week. Perhaps just as eye opening is the fact that the planet is adding more than 200,000 people to that total every 24 hours. That?s nearly another Madison each day.
“We need to start thinking proactively about energy use and other sustainability issues, or we?ll be forced to face the consequences of having to be reactive,” says Craig Benson, who this summer was named UW-Madison?s first director for sustainability research and education. “Resources are no longer plentiful, so it behooves us to think much more strategically about our energy resources.”
Having your mother constantly watching your back may not be a sexy trait in human males, but in some primate species, mom rules the roost and her presence may help her sons hook up with eligible females, a new study suggests.
A Brazilian monkey species that lives in egalitarian groups shares paternity among more of its males than most other primates do, a new study has found.
Compared to driving, bicycling is clearly better for the environment and your health. But how much better is it?
Residents in 11 Midwestern cities would generate $7 billion in improved air quality, reduced health care costs and increased physical fitness by biking rather than driving for roughly half their trips of five miles or less, according to the work of researchers at the University of Wisconsin ? Madison.
(MADISON)- Some law students at the University of Wisconsin?s Law school have begun taking a closer look at how new brain scan research might change the way criminal sentences are handed down. The UW-Madison Law school?s new double major in law and neuroscience is challenging future lawyers to use new discoveries on how the brain works to make punishment more effectively fit the crime. They?re looking at new research from the Macarthur Foundation Research Network on law and neuroscience.
In the nation?s Northeast, millions of brown bats are dying off.
It?s estimated that the bat population there has declined by 80 percent since 2007, but a breakthrough discovery at a Madison lab could help researchers understand why and battle back against the disease causing the deaths.
Bats, already maligned enough in movie and myth, are facing a tough time in real life these days. The state?s cave bat populations are being closely monitored for signs of white-nose syndrome, the fungal disease that has already wiped out untold numbers of bats in the east. And now, researchers at the UW-Madison have learned more about how bats are dying on wind farms. David Drake, a UW-Madison wildlife ecology professor, and former masters student Steven Grodsky, teamed with the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine to study the carcasses of bats found near wind turbines.
It isn?t hard to find skilled scientists and engineers in Madison or to bring them here from other parts of the country. It isn?t even much of a problem to land $1 million or so to start a company here. But what is very difficult is bringing in enough money to take a company beyond the startup stage, and that?s where the state needs to step in. That was the message from executives of several of the Madison area?s most successful tech companies at a panel discussion Wednesday at the Early Stage Symposium at Monona Terrace.
For years researchers have been puzzled by the number of bats killed by wind turbines. Birds, yes. But bats, in theory, should be able to avoid the towers because of their innate sonar systems that orient them in space. Nonetheless, they die in the thousands, in far greater numbers than birds. Some research found that they died because the enormous changes in pressure as the blades sweep through the air ruptured their delicate ear drums, causing a hemorrhage known as barotrauma. Now, a new study based on bat autopsies from the University of Wisconsin found that the problem is far more complicated.
What would you say to a cheap, easy way to stay slim, one that would help avoid serious illness and early death? How about if it made your neighbors healthier, too? It could be as simple as biking to the store.
The weed-killer Roundup gets used for everything from killing dandelions to painting the stumps of invasive species such as buckthorn. As pervasive as its use, however, may be the growing presence of the herbicide in our environment, according to recent studies, including some by UW-Madison professor Warren Porter, who specializes in environmental toxicity and zoology.
Madison-based Stratatech Corp. is getting a $4.6 million grant to help fund the start of clinical trials of ExpressGraft, a skin substitute designed to heal diabetes-related foot ulcers. Founded in 2000 based on discoveries at UW-Madison, Stratatech makes tissue products described on the company’s website as “nearly identical” to human skin. The company has 32 employees and will likely add more staff in 2012, Allen-Hoffmann said, but she could not yet estimate how many.
When bats in northeastern America began dying off in alarming numbers a few years ago, wildlife ecologists were perplexed. They named the disease white-nose syndrome, but until now authorities had no idea what caused the fatal ailment.
A. We tend to remember those Halloweens with bad weather. Slogging through rain or snow in costumes with trick-or-treat bags is tough. But according to Dr. Ed Hopkins of the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, in the last 30 years (1981-2010), Madison has had only 10 Halloween days when measurable precipitation (0.01 inches or greater) fell, which translates to a probability of 33 percent that rain falls on that date.
A. Cutting fruit damages cells and removes the protective peel, exposing the flesh to the environment and altering its chemistry. Some fruit does actually continue ripening. However, it also starts to rot much faster, said Rebecca Harbut, an assistant professor of horticulture and fruit expert at the UW-Madison.
Mangoes are Haiti?s largest export, but the country imports mango juice.
“It doesn?t make sense,” said Gergens Polynice, a UW-Madison research assistant from Haiti. “How can we process the foods in Haiti and take advantage of the local market?” Polynice and other campus researchers will explore that question in one of eight projects to win grants through the university?s new Global Health Institute, launched Thursday at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
To mark the Halloween holiday the American Chemical society has released a couple of videos featuring Richard Hartel, a professor of food engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
LifeGen Technologies, a Madison company studying the genes associated with aging, will be purchased by Nu Skin Enterprises, of Provo, Utah, for $11.7 million. The letter of intent announced Thursday includes LifeGen?s genetic research, patents and tissue bank and says the transaction is expected to be completed before the end of 2011. UW-Madison School of Medicine professors Richard Weindruch and Tomas Prolla founded LifeGen in 2000.
When bats in northeastern America began dying off in alarming numbers a few years ago, wildlife ecologists were perplexed. They named the disease white-nose syndrome, but until now authorities had no idea what caused the fatal ailment.
Researchers in Wisconsin have discovered the culprit is a fungus that?s common in Europe but wasn?t seen in the United States until five years ago. Now that the cause has been determined, officials can turn their attention to stopping the spread of the disease.
Scientists working in Madison have helped prove that a fungus is causing white-nose syndrome, a disease that is threatening to wipe out the bat population in North America. The first direct evidence that the fungus Geomyces destructans is the source of the highly contagious and lethal disease is included in research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Confirming suspicions, federal and academic biologists concluded Wednesday that a deadly white fungus is killing bats across North America.
A new study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that public assistance programs were highly effective at keeping poverty in check in Wisconsin during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
As part of the launch of the new Global Health Institute, eight research projects will receive $40,000 grants to continue their work to advance global health through a variety of methods, including agriculture and women?s health.
Roche Madison, formerly part of Mirus Bio Corp., has been purchased by Arrowhead Research Corp. of Pasadena, Calif. Roche Madison, 545 Science Drive in University Research Park, has more than 40 scientists who will stay with the company, according to Monday?s announcement. Mirus Bio was founded in 1995 based on UW-Madison research and developed a platform using RNA interference technology that turns off certain genes, for use in drug discovery. That division was split off and sold to Roche in 2008 for $125 million.
For the stem cell at least, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have found a controlled method to signal cell decision-making, or differentiation. Their discovery opens new doorways in tissue engineering, a field that may one day create lab-grown replacements for failing organs and tissue.
Quoted: Timothy Kamp, the director of University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center.
A: A waterspout, explains UW-Madison atmospheric scientist Steve Ackerman, is a rotating funnel that extends from the bottom of a cumulus cloud to a body of water. Curiously, most of the water in the funnel isn?t sucked up from the lake or ocean, but forms primarily from water vapor in the air condensing into droplets. Waterspouts occur where large bodies of water experience frequent thunderstorms. They happen frequently in places like the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay. Although less common in the Great Lakes, they do occur from time to time.
A: The wind is air in motion. Moving anything requires a force. Violent destructive winds, as well as gentle summer breezes, result from a complex interplay of different forces. One of these forces results from a pressure gradient, or how fast pressure changes over distance. Strong winds almost always result from large pressure gradients.
Science writer, blogger and public speaker John Rennie has been named the Science Writer in Residence for fall 2011 at the University of Wisconsin.
The ankle braces many football players wear to prevent injuries seem to work, a study of high school players suggests. “We were surprised with the findings,” said Timothy A. McGuine, an athletic trainer and senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the work. “I didn?t think the braces could be that effective.”
The mysterious origins of the stellar version of vampires ? stars that apparently drain life away from other stars to look young ? may just have been solved, scientists revealed.
The mysterious origins of the stellar version of vampires ? stars that apparently drain life away from other stars to look young ? may just have been solved, scientists revealed.
The energy policy fallout from the disaster last March at Japan?s Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant has caused everything from the shutdown of nuclear programs in Germany to re-evaluations of plant designs and disaster plans here in the United States, according to UW-Madison expert Michael Corradini.
Corradini, a professor of nuclear engineering, spoke at the annual Engineers’ Day seminar in the College of Engineering. He also serves as co-chairman of an American Nuclear Society committee that studied the Fukushima disaster. In the U.S., Corradini said, nuclear plants are being required to review disaster plans. But nuclear energy will remain a part of the nation’s energy mix, he added, with older plants such as those in Wisconsin being upgraded to generate more power and a half-dozen new plants being built in the next couple of years.
Jonathan Patz, a UW-Madison researcher on global environmental health, has been to countless conferences, as have most academics. But the meeting Patz will attend this week is like no other. This week, he and a handful of other scientists will sit with the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, at the Tibetan leader?s residence-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, to talk about an issue dear to Patz ? ethics and the environment. Patz is traveling to India with Richard Davidson, the Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, a member of the Mind and Life Institute’s Board of Directors and a friend of Gyatso. Davidson, whose research on meditation and the brain has fascinated Gyatso, has been involved in many of the conferences, which started in 1987 as a way to bring together scientists, philosophers and other thinkers to talk about ethics and current issues of science and research. Most recently a conference explored the subject of “altruism and compassion in economic systems.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have been selected to lead a national, multi-institution effort to improve the quality and safety of processed potatoes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will lead a national effort to improve the quality and safety of processed potatoes. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture at the U.S. Department of Agriculture says a $3.7 million grant will support efforts to reduce a carcinogen in french fries and potato chips know as acrylamide (ah-KRIL?-ih-MEYED).
Help is on the way for outdoors enthusiasts who have trouble deciphering bird calls. UW-Madison ornithologist Mark Berres has developed a smart phone application that can record a bird?s call, send it wirelessly to a server in his office and, within seconds, receive an ID on the species chirping away.
Poverty and unemployment is increasing in Wisconsin, while income levels are dropping, according to recently released New American Community Survey data. ?The most recent estimates show a continued increase in poverty in Wisconsin since 2008,? says Katherine Curtis, demographic specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension and assistant professor of community and environmental sociology at the UW-Madison. ?Poverty in the state is the second highest since poverty data have been collected.? The highest was 15.7 percent in 1959, and the lowest state poverty rate was 8.7 percent in 1979 and again in 1999.
A major Wisconsin dairy group continues to promote dairy products for weight loss, four years after two national groups, under pressure from the Federal Trade Commission, agreed to stop.
Jeff Sindelar wears a shirt with the word SPAM printed on it. To him, SPAM is more than junk email. Sindelar, an assistant professor in the UW-Madison meat sciences department and a UW-Extension meat specialist, has the whopping challenge of convincing the public that processed meats are not the devils of the deli section. That means sending the message that hot dogs, the most notorious of all, don?t contain hooves and beaks and anything else wiener makers care to throw in the vat at the factory.
Bucky?s got his ride back. The University of Wisconsin?s classic bright red 1932 American LaFrance fire engine returns to duty at 6 p.m. today during the college?s homecoming parade in Madison.
Just in time for homecoming, a local company is helping keep a University of Wisconsin tradition alive.
What started as an optional program with roots in the University of Wisconsin for graduate students in scientific disciplines to exercise their own teaching abilities will now expand to 25 different universities across the country, according to a UW statement.
Is that the call of a black-capped chickadee, or some kind of a sparrow? The answer may soon be in the palm of your hand. A new smart phone app now in development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison could help the armchair bird watcher identify the calls of many more birds.
UW-Madison researcher Paul Kaufman will give a presentation titled “From Cells to Clinic: No Direct Flights” on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The talk is an ongoing effort by the university to hold discussions about the ethics and effectiveness of animal research. Kaufman, a professor and chair of the university?s department of ophthalmology and visual sciences, uses monkeys in his glaucoma studies. Following Kaufman’s presentation, there will be a panel discussion.
