Ancient bright stars known as “blue stragglers” likely increase their mass by stealing fuel from companion stars, astronomers in Wisconsin said.”These blue, luminous stars should have used up their hydrogen fuel and flamed out long ago. Yet they are still here,” said Robert Mathieu, an astronomer with the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
….While itâ??s easy to disregard compliments of Wisconsinâ??s flagship institution or the stateâ??s business climate when they come from internal cheerleaders, itâ??s a little harder when the one singing the praises is a rival.
“Wisconsin as a state has done far more to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem that can really support the innovation that comes out of the university, help convert it to jobs and products, and help keep them in the state,” Tim Mulcahy, the University of Minnesotaâ??s vice president for research, told the Star Tribune.
Biddy Martin made her first substantive moves as chancellor of UW-Madison, the slumping economy and massive state budget hole produced headaches for university administrators and â??furloughâ? became a dirty word among many university researchers.
Read on for more of the campus highlights from 2009.
By fusing mouse and human cells, scientists at Stanford have uncovered part of the mechanism involved in reprogramming skin cells back to their embryonic origin, and in doing so have shed light on the critical role played by a protein.
A team of scientists led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist has published dramatic evidence showing that a compound called T-705 could be a promising weapon against deadly avian influenza.
In 2002, Thomas Zdeblick, a University of Wisconsin orthopedic surgeon who has pocketed millions of dollars in royalties from the spinal device maker Medtronic, took over as editor-in-chief of a medical journal about spinal disorders.
It would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
In the years to come, Zdeblick would receive more than $20â??million in patent royalties from Medtronic for spinal implants sold by the company. And the medical journal he edited would become a conduit for positive research articles involving Medtronic spinal products, a Journal Sentinel analysis found.
A home near federally protected land may sound like paradise. But researchers at UW-Madison have compiled what may be the most comprehensive look at the threat of housing development in rural areas.
An experimental influenza drug can protect mice against H5N1 avian influenza better than the preferred drug Tamiflu, researchers reported on Monday. The drug, called T-705 or favipiravir, is made by Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T) unit Toyama Chemical Co. It works differently from Tamiflu and Relenza and seems to work at lower doses, the researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Itâ??s not that depressed people canâ??t feel good, itâ??s that they canâ??t hang on to that feeling, a new study claims. The novel notion upends previous beliefs that depressed people donâ??t even start out with positive emotions, and that they have no or little response in the areas of the brain related to good feelings.
“This tells us that a consideration of positive emotion is as important, if not more important, in understanding depression,” said Richard Davidson, senior author of a study appearing online Dec. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
We all know that states have “official” animals, birds, and flowers. Until I did a little research, I didnâ??t know that there were also state insects, amphibians, and reptiles. For example, the state insect of New York is the ladybug, Missouriâ??s reptile is the three toed box turtle, and the official amphibian of Washington is the Pacific chorus frog. However, recently Wisconsin has taken this naming of living things a step further. Americaâ??s Dairyland, whose state dance is the polka, has been in the news lately because there is a bill before the state legislature to name a State Germ.
Although not ranked No. 1 yet, one University of Minnesota team recently made the most impressive move of any top 20 school in the country.
Discarded food would be collected and turned into energy under a proposal announced Monday by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. The project would be one of the first in the United States to use municipal food waste to generate energy, according to Troy Runge, director of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative, a state-funded program based at the UW-Madison.
An experimental new drug could be more effective than existing drugs against swine flu and bird flu, a UW-Madison researcher found. The drug, T-705, or favipiravir, was previously found to be effective against swine flu, or H1N1. Now Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the university, has shown that the drug protects mice against bird flu, or H5N1.
Quoted: Jonathan Martin, chairman of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded a $10.1 million, five-year grant to an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by University of Wisconsin-Madison mechanical engineering professor Xiaochun Li.
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have won a $10 million federal grant for nanotechnology work.
A bill naming the bacterium that converts milk into cheese as the official state microbe passed easily Thursday with 7-1 vote.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has landed a $10.1 million, five-year grant for research into use of nanotechnology in metal castings, the university said Wednesday.
Itâ??s study day on the UW-Madison campus. Exams start tomorrow. Also, UW-Madison got a $10 million grant to research lighter-weight metals.
A manâ??s skeleton found atop a stone slab at Copán, which was the capital of an ancient Maya state, contains clues to a colonial expansion that occurred more than 1,000 years before Spanish explorers reached the Americas.
The bones come from Kâ??inich Yax Kâ??ukâ?? Moâ??, or KYKM for short, the researchers report in an upcoming Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. KYKM was the first of 16 kings who ruled Copán and surrounding highlands of what is today northern Honduras for about 400 years, from 426 to 820, say archaeologist T. Douglas Price of the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison and his colleagues. KYKMâ??s bone chemistry indicates that he grew up in the central Maya lowlands, which are several hundred kilometers northwest of Copán.
Itâ??s a hectic time for students on the University of Wisconsin campus, with finals the main focus. At the Capital Cafe in Grainger Hall, however, theyâ??re being tested at lunchtime as well.
National Institutes of Health chief Francis Collins approved another 27 human embryonic stem cell lines for federal research funding Monday, but limited support to diabetes-related pancreatic cell experiments. The 27 Harvard University cell lines join 13 from Childrenâ??s Hospital Boston added earlier this month to a NIH stem cell registry.
A new focal point of the University of Wisconsin campus is almost half finished. The project manager for the Wisconsin Insitutes for Discovery says the building is 46% completed.
Quoted: Paul E. Miller, a clinical professor of ophthalmology at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.
When Forest â??Woodyâ? Shomberg was freed Nov. 13, he became the ninth Wisconsin prisoner whose conviction was overturned at least in part on the strength of DNA test results, according to a review of the stateâ??s online court database and cases examined by the Wisconsin State Journal and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. To date, about one-third of the post-conviction DNA testing in Wisconsin has resulted in a conviction being overturned, the review found, with several cases still pending. That number could increase as the Wisconsin Innocence Project embarks next year on an 18-month, $647,000 federally funded project to identify potential DNA exoneration cases and officials scramble to collect DNA profiles from 12,000 convicted felons discovered missing this fall from the stateâ??s database.
Cynthia Murphy has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and connected with an organization formed to advocate for medical research. At the end of March a group of people toured the Wasiman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and met with Gov. Jim Doyle to ask for more state funding for research. Cynthia didnâ??t go; itâ??s too difficult, she wrote to the governor, to see other people in other stages of the disease — the stages where she may go. Last December scientists at Waisman used modified stem cells to deliver a nerve growth factor directly to muscle cells in mice. An editorial in the scientific journal that published the results called it a major step because the growth factor did seem to work in animals not showing any symptoms, however it didnâ??t slow the progress of the disease.
State budgets are tight and getting tighter, but politicians in Wisconsin are determined to promote the Badger State in a slightly cheesy way: The state Assembly is considering a bill that would name the bacterium that converts milk into cheese as — ready for it? — the official state microbe.
The University of Minnesota is making progress toward its goal of becoming one of the nationâ??s top public research universities.
When David Teie, a cellist with the National Symphony Orchestra, wanted to test his ideas about where our emotional response to music originates, he decided to try them out on monkeys. He figured that if his theories were right â?? namely, that our response to the “emotional vocalizations,” pulses and heartbeats that we first hear in the womb establishes our sense of music â?? then he should “be able to write music for another species thatâ??s effective for that species.” He contacted Charles Snowdon, a psychology professor who ran a colony of cotton-top tamarins in Madison at the University of Wisconsin, who sent him recordings of tamarin calls that demonstrated fear and calm.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin wants the Board of Regents to keep the UW System competitive in the global economy by investing in international research. (Fourth item.)
A decline in invasive breast cancer cases has been linked to a dramatic drop in the use of hormone therapy, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers report, and that is certainly good news for women and their families.
Whatâ??s troubling is that so many women were pushed into this therapy in the first place by drug companies, doctors and even universities such as UW-Madison.
Quoted: Phil Moy, a researcher with the University of Wisconsin.
There is no question that Wisconsinâ??s biotechnology industry is one of the most highly regarded in the world. The stateâ??s 608 biotechnology companies, many of them spun out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, employ nearly 20,000 people. These companies have secured close to 2,400 patents, and they continue to attract federal research and development funding.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Dairy Science chairman Ric Grummer.
It might go against the adage “oil and water donâ??t mix,” but a University of Wisconsin professor and the City of Beloitâ??s fleet manager are experimenting with technology that allows motor scooters, cars and trucks to use a combination of gasoline and water as fuel.
Theyâ??re testing a system that uses voltage from a vehicleâ??s battery and alternator to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Those molecules are then burned as supplemental fuel – reducing the amount of gasoline needed and resulting in a cleaner-running engine.
The declining use of hormone therapy among women has led to 6,000 fewer invasive breast cancer cases a year, according to an analysis by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
City of Beloit officials have taken a big step in their hydrogen project: They got a Vespa moped to run entirely on hydrogen. Beloit Public Works Fleet Manager Dan Lutz, along with a group of University of Wisconsin-Madison students, demonstrated a new hydrogen-assisted system that runs a Vespa on a hydrogen-gasoline fuel mix, according to a UW-Madison press release.
Wisconsinâ??s quaking aspens are growing much faster than in the past, and scientists think that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere provide the explanation.
A sample of nearly 1,000 aspen trees in different parts of the state showed an annual growth radial rate of 53% over the past five decades, according to scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota Morris.
The extinction of mammoths in North America at the end of the last ice age was not caused by a change in the ecosystem: itâ??s what triggered the changes, a new study suggests.T he study also elucidates a possible cause for the demise of mammoths and mastodons 15,000 years ago, and researchers say that the expanded incidence of fire in the landscape – suspected of being caused by human arrival – only appeared after the extinction.
“For the first time, we have a very close linkage between this major ecological event and some evidence about the consequences of this extinction,” said John Williams, a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the senior author of the study published in the U.S. journal, Science.
Aspen trees grow faster with increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, say researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota. â??We were quite surprised to see this large of a response,â? says Rick Lindroth, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an author of the study. â??We wouldnâ??t have been surprised to see some effect, but a 53% increase is a whopping increase.â?
The miracle of the dramatic drop in Dane Countyâ??s black infant mortality rate has become more of a mystery, as the rate shot up last year after years of surprising declines that received national attention. Health officials learned last month that the countyâ??s rate of black babies who die before their first birthdays, which dropped nearly 70 percent from 1990-2001 to 2002-2007, increased last year to slightly above the previous level. Researchers, who have been studying what seemed to be going right, also are looking at what apparently went wrong last year. The recession could be to blame, said Dr. Thomas Schlenker, director of the Madison-Dane County Health Department.
A federal advisory panel Friday suggested approval of 27 more human embryonic stem cell lines for research funding, with restrictions. Earlier in the week National Institutes of Health chief Francis Collins approved 13 other stem cell lines for federal funding after they met ethics guidelines released by the Obama administration this year.
Quoted: Daniel Einstein of the UW-Madison Division of Facilities, Planning and Management.
Could leftover fat from liposuctions heal other peopleâ??s wounds?It could, if a UW-Madison study in rabbits, published Friday, proves successful in humans.
Becky Hoffman, an advanced microbiologist at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene at UW-Madison, has received the Golden Spigot Award from the Water Quality and Technology Division of the American Water Works Association.
It would seem to hold all the appeal of listening to someone read the dictionary aloud. But hundreds of people will pack into a room on the UW-Madison campus Saturday to attend a presentation on the properties of carbon dioxide, liquid nitrogen and zirconium.In short, the choice activity in Madison on Saturday is a chemistry lecture.If it sounds like a snooze, then you donâ??t know Bassam Shakhashiri. This is the 40th time the UW-Madison professor has held his annual Christmas show extravaganza, otherwise known as “Once upon a Christmas cheery, in the lab of Shakhashiri.”
Aspen trees grow faster with increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, say researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota.
A majority of Wisconsin residents responding to a recent poll say they disapprove of the job being done by Gov. Jim Doyle. That is the first time in Doyleâ??s seven years in office that a majority of those participating in the University of Wisconsin Survey Centerâ??s Badger Poll had that negative of a reaction to Doyle.
President Barack Obamaâ??s approval rating in Wisconsin is holding steady, while anger at Congress is subsiding. Results of a poll by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center released Thursday show that 60 percent of respondents approve of the job Obamaâ??s doing. In the spring his approval rating was 63 percent.
A majority of Wisconsin residents responding to a recent poll say they disapprove of the job being done by Gov. Jim Doyle. That is the first time in Doyleâ??s seven years in office that a majority of those participating in the University of Wisconsin Survey Centerâ??s Badger Poll had that negative of a reaction to Doyle.
Aspen trees, the backbone of Minnesotaâ??s paper industry, are liking the extra carbon dioxide in the air linked to global warming. New research published Friday found that aspen growth rates increased by 53 percent during the past half-century, as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased about 20 percent. “Trees eat carbon dioxide for a living,” said Don Waller, study author and University of Wisconsin-Madison botany professor.
You may know Wisconsinâ??s state animal (the badger), the state bird (the robin), or even the state dance (the polka). Now Wisconsin lawmakers want to name an official state microbe. Itâ??s called Lactococcus Lactis, and itâ??s the microbe that turns milk into cheese. Supporters presented Assembly Bill 556 Thursday to the Committee on State Affairs and Homeland Security.
Shares of companies developing stem cell therapies surged Wednesday on news that the federal government has cleared 13 new stem cell lines for testing, bringing to a close nearly a decade of restrictions.The news from the National Institutes of Health should provide some relief to companies that have been squeezed by limited funding from both the federal government and the private sector.
Health officials Wednesday gave the green light to federally funded research on 13 human embryonic stem cell lines, the first approved since the Bush administration imposed limits eight years ago.
Shark teeth, cephalopod shells, and replicas of Tyrannosaurus rex teeth will be for sale at the UW-Madison Geology Museum Friday. The one-day sale is a trial run, designed to raise money for the museum and its education programs.
A new poll shows that Wisconsin residents are more satisfied with the way things are going in the state than they were in the spring.The University of Wisconsin Survey Center poll released on Wednesday also shows that nine out of 10 Wisconsinites believe the state is in bad economic times. However, 51 percent say they are generally satisfied with the way things are going in the state. Thatâ??s 9 percentage points more than in the spring.
This fossilized tooth of a shark called Otodus obliquus that lived 45 to 60 million years ago will be available at the Holiday Sale at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Geology Museum Dec. 4, 2009. The shark may have reached 30 feet in length.
The Wisconsin Legislature is pushing an economic growth package with some strong provisions worthy of support. This includes expanded tax credits for investors in early-stage companies and more support for commercializing university research at campuses beyond just UW-Madison.
A new poll shows that Wisconsin residents are nearly evenly divided over national health care reform. The poll released Tuesday done by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center shows that 46 percent of respondents oppose the changes being developed in Washington, D.C., based on what theyâ??ve heard or read. Forty-four percent support the changes.
A new poll shows that Wisconsin residents are nearly evenly divided over national health care reform.The poll released today done by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center shows that 46 percent of respondents oppose the changes being developed in Washington, D.C., based on what theyâ??ve heard or read. Forty-four percent support the changes.
