Category: Research

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is in the middle of three-day birthday party for famous naturalist Charles Darwin.

UW-Madison?s annual Wonders of Physics program — a fast-paced educational presentation designed to generate interest in physics among learners of all ages and backgrounds — returns to campus this weekend.

Geron Corp., the company conducting the first U.S.-authorized trial of human embryonic stem cells, said Chief Executive Officer Thomas B. Okarma has stepped aside as the company focuses on making deals with drugmakers.

Sometimes the next medical breakthrough is where you least expect it. Researchers at the UW made an astonishing discovery — the key to treating heart disease could come from the venom of a scorpion.

Three forums on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will highlight the ethics of animal research.

Three forums on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will highlight the ethics of animal research. Eric Sandgren, an associate professor of pathobiological sciences, announced the forums on Tuesday.

“We want these talks to be discussions with the community on the costs, benefits and ethics of animal research,” said Sandgren, who directs the Research Animal Resource Center. “More transparency, more communication and better information help everyone involved in this emotional debate.”

Wisconsin residents should expect warmer weather over the next 50 years in the state, and will need to adapt to the changing weather conditions, according to a new study on climate change by University of Wisconsin researchers.

Wisconsin?s temperatures are expected to increase by an annual average of 6 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit by midcentury – a warming trend that will be highly variable and affect everything from our farming practices to the way we fish. The study by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists and others in state government shows that a rise in temperature produces a jumble of different outcomes.

The world?s newest astronomical observatory is defined by a field of 86 colored flags rippling across an ice-covered polar landscape. Each banner marks a line of glass-covered orbs that stretches down a mile and a half into the ice, like beads on a frozen string.

Like roller coaster rides? Strap yourself in ? stem cells may be your scientific ticket.

UW-Madison scientists have coaxed blood cells, including some from a patient with leukemia, into embryonic-like stem cells, which could improve the understanding and treatment of blood cancers such as leukemia. The discovery by researcher Igor Slukvin and his campus colleagues is the second disease model created at the university involving induced pluripotent stem cells, co-discovered in 2007 by university stem cell pioneer James Thomson. The development should allow scientists to see what goes awry in blood cells when leukemia and similar diseases form, enabling the researchers to better fight the conditions, Slukvin said.

There was no apocalyptic cause for the recent deaths of 200 cattle in Central Wisconsin. The steers succumbed in a Portage County feed lot earlier this month, and Doctor Peter Vanderloo at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab said tests have shown that it was moldy sweet potatoes used in the animals? feed that did them in. ?The mold product that grows on sweet potatoes was present in the sweet potatoes,? said Vanderloo. ?All the clinical science, the death loss, the changes in the steers, are all compatible with this mold.

The Waisman Center on the UW-Madison campus is hosting its seventh annual “Autism: A Day with the Experts” program on Saturday.Three UW-Madison scientists will speak about the latest advances in autism research. The event also features a resource fair.

While this map comes courtesy the other UW (Wisconsin),The fascinating map, courtesy of the University of Wisconsin is not your normal topography.  Rather, Daniel Huffman logged about 1.5 million Twitter posts, and checked them for swear words (you can check out his methodology ? that is, which swears he used ? on his blog). 

Preschoolers know they prefer foods with salt, sugar, and fat and they can show it, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Oregon and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lying on a soft white blanket while waiting to get prepped for his medical treatment, Clyde looked bummed as he softly moaned.

It wasn?t clear whether he knew what lay in store for him. Clyde is a basset hound. Like most members of his breed, he always has a “hangdog look.”

On this day, 10-year-old Clyde was undergoing one in a series of TomoTherapy treatments for the cancerous tumor in his nose. He is one of the first pets to be treated by the relatively new radiation therapy at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, the first veterinary school in the nation to open a TomoTherapy clinic.

Last week, two stories came out on successive days. First, Todd Finkelmeyer of The Capital Times noted that UW-Madison spent more than $1 billion on annual research for the first time this past fall.

A biomass power project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been nixed by new Republican Gov. Scott Walker, on account of the project?s high cost.

For the past several years, scientists who see limitless medical benefits from stem-cell research have battled through hard limits to their ability to pursue their work.

In 2004, scientists at the National Eye Institute predicted that as the population aged, the rate of macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease with no known cause, would increase substantially. They appear to have been wrong.

Spencer Klein is holding a thick glass ball the size of a watermelon and it is stuffed with electronics. For 10 minutes or so, he turns it over in his hands and talks through what it does, how it works and the brutal environment it can withstand. This last point turns out to be key. Over the past half-decade, more than 5,000 of these objects have been shipped to the south pole, strung together like beads, and buried deep in the Antarctic ice sheet.

The body?s reaction to stress or danger can interfere with the brain?s ability to think clearly and perform some complex tasks, U.S. researchers suggest.

Dairy producers talk ?cow comfort.? The non-farm public worries about ?animal welfare.? From the cow?s perspective, those issues are one and the same. Not so with people, warns Nigel Cook, UW-Madison veterinarian, who recently spoke very bluntly about the animal welfare threat to the dairy industry to producers attending a dairy modernization meeting in Abbotsford.

James A. ?Jamie? Thomson, co-director of regenerative biology for UC Santa Barbara?s Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering, has been named a co-winner of the 2011 King Faisal International Prize for Medicine. The announcement was made today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by Prince Khalid Alfaisal, director of The King Faisal Foundation.

The nation?s dairy farmers can expect 2011 to be a second straight year of modest growth, according to a report released Wednesday that offers a small dose of optimism to an industry still recovering from a devastating 2009.

Dairy experts are expecting some gains for America?s dairyland.

Chemists George Whitesides, of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Richard Zare, of Stanford University in California, have been announced as winners of this year?s King Faisal International Prize for Science. James Thomson, of the University of Wisconsin, and Shinya Yamanaka, of the University of California, San Francisco, and Kyoto University, Japan, took the prize for medicine for their work on stem cells. Winners receive a medal and share US$200,000 in each category.

The paper was co-authored by Michael Cacciatore, a University of Wisconsin Ph.D. student; Drs. Dietram Scheufele and Bret Shaw, professors at the University of Wisconsin; and Dr. Elizabeth Corley, a professor at Arizona State University.