U.S. researchers say they have uncovered a specific process that they say contributes to unrealistic optimism.
Study authors Robin J. Tanner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Kurt A. Carlson of Duke University say consumers adopt the tentative hypothesis that they will behave in an ideal fashion when predicting their future behavior.
The birth of University Research Park on Madison’s West Side 25 years ago was a historic breakthrough in the area’s economic development.
In the story of the park’s beginning and its growth are two lessons:
University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering students also have been involved in the project. Dan Negrut, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has worked on computer simulation models to show how the tires will behave in different scenarios.
Few issues are likely to generate more emotional opposition than federal funding of stem cell research. Handled wrongly, it could energize conservative opponents and derail Barack Obama’s presidency. There is no question that we must move ahead, but caution is key.
Q. Could a Twinkie really survive intact for 100 years, as people say?
A. Go ahead and pull that box of Twinkies from your bomb shelter pantry, as their ultra-long shelf life is more urban myth than truth. Made primarily of flour, various sweeteners, water, shortening and egg (with another two dozen or so minor food components thrown in for good measure), Twinkies have an official shelf life of a mere 25 days. It’s a shockingly short term, one that human experience strongly suggests is overly conservative.
The rapid growth in the number of nonprofits in Wisconsin combined with an impending wave of retirements in that sector will create job opportunities for people seeking meaningful work. But making the leap from the corporate to nonprofit realm requires more than a big heart.
“With these trends, there’s a real need to train and educate nonprofit leadership,” Jeanan Yasiri said.
As executive director of the new, privately funded Center for Nonprofits on the UW-Madison campus, Yasiri and faculty director Shepherd Zeldin are creating undergraduate majors and doctorates in nonprofit studies â?? something Yasiri said are rare.
A biochemist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has won a $100,000 award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help develop a “stealth” drug that can be used to battle viruses such as HIV.
A proposal by a UW-Madison biochemist to create “stealth” drugs that hide inside cells until activated by a pathogen has received a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Biochemist Ron Raines and his research group were awarded the funding through the foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative.
Do you ever find yourself yawning in response to another person’s yawn? Some say it seems to happen often and claim there is scientific proof behind the theory that yawns are contagious.
Often times, yawns are a sign of fatigue or boredom. But the true meaning of why people yawn has stumped researchers.
“What a yawn is good for, we don’t really know,” said Mary Klink, associate director of University of Wisconsin Health’s Wisconsin Sleep.
For those unfamiliar with the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, the annual iGEM competition might seem more like science fiction than a college event.
The international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, which took place this past weekend outside of Boston, bills itself as the largest synthetic biology conference in the world. Much like an electrical engineer might build a circuit, synthetic biologists construct devices from cells and genes using standardized biological parts, called BioBricks.
The theory of intelligent design cannot be tested — there isn’t any evidence, any research or any hypothesis, world-renowned biologist Francisco Ayala told a Madison audience Monday night during his Distinguished Lecture Series talk attended by about 300 people in the Wisconsin Union Theater.
At the South Pole, the temperature on a pleasant summer day is 30 below zero.
In that kind of cold, skin cracks and, according to the journals of one old-time explorer, “tears turn to steam.”
So imagine the challenge of staying healthy for the large number of UW-Madison researchers and engineers who make Antarctica their home for the summer.
Jon Roll, an instructor at the University of Wisconsin, wants to make one thing clear about a new course creating buzz on the Madison campus.
“This is not a course to help kids go out and slam beers on Friday night,” he said.
On the third floor of the 101-year old University Club, wall paint is peeling, asbestos lurks under the carpet, and thick strands of cables snake visibly along the hallway ceiling.
This is to be the new home of the Center for Humanities at UW-Madison, which is moving into the aging building next year with several other humanities and arts-based centers and institutes. The directors of those centers say they are glad for the space and central location, which will be renovated and is part of the East Campus Mall, a planned arts-and-humanities hub.
Wisconsin residents that participate in funding breast cancer research and awareness may not know that the Madison area is home to many scientists who rely on the support donated by others
One of the young scientists working here is engaged in cancer research. His team’s lab is a place few get to see, but he said the public should know how their fundraising support might have helped him make a huge discovery.
The bond between a newborn infant and mother, is almost instant.
For a new dad, that instant bond isn’t as easy.
But, researchers at the Wisconsin National Primate Center at the University of Wisconsin have found the mere scent of a new baby, may make it easier for dad.
The statistics show that one in eight people will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
It can be difficult to identify — it’s not something that can be done with a simple blood test, brain scan or routine physical. People need to find a doctor who has experience in identifying Alzheimer’s disease.
But experts said that often what people think is Alzheimer’s disease could be something else.
“When someone comes into our clinic, what we’re trying to see is what’s causing their memory problems, or if they have memory problems at all,” said Dr. Cindy Carlsson, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
By examining the processes in a sea urchin’s early skeletal formation, a UC Berkeley researcher, along with scientists from other institutions, may have shed light on how biomaterials are naturally formed.
The study, which was spearheaded by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, discovered a new transitional phase in urchin development.
Q. How do public health officials determine which strain of influenza to create vaccines for each year?
A. This year’s influenza vaccine in the United States contains three strains of the influenza virus. Last March, experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization chose those strains based on the varieties of flu virus that were present at the end of North America’s flu season.
The decision also took into account viruses found in Australia, South Africa and the tip of South America. “These countries were at the very beginning of the influenza season, when we were at the tail end,” says Jonathan Temte, an associate professor of family medicine at UW-Madison.
MADISON, Wis. — The election results might be good news for local researchers, who are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the isolation of stem cells.
On Nov. 6, 1998, the journal “Science” published a paper called “Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived From Human Blastocysts” by University of Wisconsin-Madison biologist Jamie Thomson.
Ten years after the groundbreaking research began, Thomson and stem cells are household names.
A decade ago the journal Science reported Dr. James Thomson’s team at UW-Madison had discovered embryonic stem cell lines which can regenerate tissues and organs inside the body. Much of the technology has not yet reached patients but Ed Fallon of Wisconsin Stem Cell Now is optimistic. The non-profit president believes the coming years will bring advancements in cellular biology and researchers will better develop understanding as to how cells develop.
We do not have enough women engineers in the United States. When I look around the undergraduate classes that I teach I don’t see very many female faces. Why? Certainly, there are influences from home, school and peers. There are negative stereotypes — like pocket protectors and Barbie dolls that say, “I hate math.”
Author: Wendy C. Crone, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Engineering Physics and Director of the Women Faculty Mentoring Program at the University of Wisconsin — Madison.
To reverse the President Bush’s stem cell policy, which he has pledged to do, Barack Obama does not need an act of Congress or to have his aides prepare an executive order for his signature. He only needs to give a simple order to the director of the National Institutes of Health, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor.
Q. How do public health officials determine which strain of influenza to create vaccines for each year?
A. This year’s influenza vaccine in the United States contains three strains of the influenza virus. Last March, experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization chose those strains based on the varieties of flu virus that were present at the end of North America’s flu season.
Today is the 10th anniversary of a monumental achievement in stem cell research by University of Wisconsin professor James Thomson.
Ten years ago today, human embryonic stem cells entered the popular vocabulary. The world hasn’t been the same.
The first report that the human cells had been isolated and grown by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison appeared in the journal Science, triggering a decade of fierce debate and great hope.
Many meetings aren’t worth their salt, but a meeting coming up at UW-Madison could be worth its salt and much more.
More than 20 food and ingredient companies will gather on campus Thursday to see what could be used in processed foods that works as well as salt as a preservative, with the goal being cutting down American salt intake without cutting down on flavor.
A five-year, $8.6 million grant has been awarded to the University of Wisconsin by the National Institutes of Health to help continue efforts in solving problems associated with transmitting reliable cancer information to patients.
Not long after the virus that causes AIDS was identified, Margaret Heckler, then the U.S. secretary of health and human services, told a group of reporters that the discovery would enable scientists to develop a vaccine to prevent AIDS. â??We hope to have such a vaccine ready for testing in approximately two years,â? she declared proudly. It was 1984.
The author is a UW-Madison faculty member.
Q. How does the National Weather Service get the official snowfall totals for Madison?
A. If you look at snow on the ground after a snowstorm, you’ll appreciate that measuring snowfall is not an easy task.
Note: This is a new weekly weather feature tapping the expertise of UW-Madison meteorologists Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin. It will appear every Tuesday in The Wisconsin State Journal.
The first-born children of older parents are three times more likely to have autism than their siblings or those born to younger parents, according to a new federally-funded study.
This is the largest study to look at the issue of parental age and its role in the developmental disability, said the author, Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Joseph Salmons is struck by people, many of them descendants of immigrants, who complain newcomers are not trying hard enough to speak English and assimilate.
The University of Wisconsin linguist decided to find out if immigrants in the past faced the same “English or bust” pressures many newcomers now feel.
In any case, new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has revealed a way around the tendency to fib â?? the photo diary. Taking a digital snap of every meal was shown to be an even more powerful and accurate weight-loss tool. One volunteer told the researchers: â??I had to think more carefully about what I was going to eat because I had to take a picture of it.
Wisconsinites have mixed feelings about the health care system today, but when pressed, a large majority said they were more dissatisfied than satisfied, according to a new Badger Poll released Friday.
The Badger Poll, conducted by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center, was of 538 people chosen at random from Oct. 21 to 28.
Q. Why do people like to scare themselves by watching horror movies or going on thrill rides?
A. First of all, it’s important to remember that many people don’t enjoy these experiences, said Jack Nitschke, a UW-Madison professor of psychiatry and psychology. But those who do may be seeking thrills provided by the amygdala, a brain region that controls our emotional responses to salient objects and events.
Two University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and a Marquette University researcher are winners of three grants totaling $70,000 from the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation.
The three women will be honored at a luncheon on Tuesday at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee.
UW-Madison is in the midst of implementing an important initiative to reduce the energy consumption on campus and to promote grassroots efforts to motivate the community.
State transportation engineers and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are building an experimental bridge in St. Croix County. The collaboration uses advanced engineering techniques, including replacing steel inside bridge decks with high-tech plastic.
A new study by the Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Applied Population Laboratory suggests there will be more female hunters in coming years â?? and possibly just 436,000 male gun deer hunters in 2030.
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are working together to build an experimental bridge in St. Croix County.
The bridge will be the fifth built by the state and university. Their partnership has already produced four innovative, experimental state highway bridges.
While the bridges differ in details, former WisDOT state bridge engineer Finn Hubbard said they were quick and easy to erect and designed to last a long time.
Remember the long-running controversy over the construction of Monona Terrace? How about the drive to build the South Beltline, an even more contentious public debate?
Author: Pete Nowak is a professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the UW-Madison.
Madison (WKOW) — It may currently cost less to fill up your tank, but politicians continue to push for a break from foreign oil.
That means coming up with more eco-friendly ways to power America.
Thursday, some of the leaders in renewable energy are meeting in Madison to discuss how to make Wisconsin greener. (Video.)
Q. Are people having more hearing problems today because they are spending so much more time with iPods, cell phones and other gadgets?
A. “That depends,” says Daniel Stoppenbach, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders at UW-Madison. “Noise-induced hearing loss appears to be related to how loud and how long an individual is exposed to noise.”
October 26, 1988. The Los Angeles Dodgers just won the World Series. Michael Dukakis is about to lose the presidential election. And in Madison, Kelly Cotter receives a bone marrow transplant from her kid brother, Adam, that she hopes will save her life. The Capital Times puts her story on the front page: “Tough hurdle for 12-year-old athlete.”
…in the 20 years since her diagnosis, she has become a leading advocate for cancer research, not just locally but nationally. In 2002, she completed her law degree at UW and became director of legislative affairs for the National Childhood Cancer Foundation. Earlier this year, she helped lobby Congress to pass the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act, which will devote $150 million to research over the next five years. UW Hospital will honor her for her work over the years at an event Monday.
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both have solid records of supporting promising but controversial research using embryonic stem cells.
A sense of cautious optimism filled the air Tuesday as the fourth annual World Stem Cell Summit drew to a close in Madisonâ??s Alliant Energy Center.
After two days of doctors, patients, advocates, company representatives and lawyers giving talks and hosting panels, almost everyone came away with a renewed sense of wonder at the promise stem cells hold for humanity. But they were also reminded of the obstacles left in the way of fulfilling that promise.
Humankind often looks to the past to understand the future. We look at our own history as a people, using social, political, economic, religious, ethnic and scientific scopes. We look at the history of the biological world, with all of the different organisms that inhabit planet Earth. And we look at the history of the Earth itself, with all of the geological and physical properties that allow for life to occur.
On Sept. 13, during an unrelenting downpour, Chicago chose to prevent urban flooding by opening and releasing runoff containing raw sewage into Lake Michigan. About a month later, a University of Wisconsin study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine predicted an increase of 50 to 120 percent in such releases into the lake by the end of the century.
“One of the strongest indicators from climate models is more intense rains,” said co-author Stephen Vavrus, director of the university’s Center for Climatic Research. “They don’t agree on everything, but they do agree on that. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, so as we get more moisture in the air, when we do have a storm situation, you get more total rainfall.”
MADISON, Wis. — The bad economy is impacting people’s indulgence in some bad habits such as smoking.
The University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention said the group most affected by the rise in cigarette prices and the tough economy is teenagers.
The center said many smokers react in stages, initially going from brand-name cigarettes to generics and, in some cases, cutting back all together.
Man-made reservoirs are contributing to the spread of non-native species in Wisconsin lakes, a study has found.
In a comparison of natural lakes and reservoirs created by damming rivers, the reservoirs were up to 300 times more likely than lakes to harbor invasive aquatic species, according to the study published in September in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Quoted: Professor Jake Vander Zanden of the UW-Madison Center for Limnology
Almost half of Wisconsin’s minority working families are not earning enough to meet their basic needs, according to a new national report.
Overall, 24 percent of working families in Wisconsin were identified as low-income. But among minority working families, that number was nearly double at 47 percent.
“The national economic crisis is not just a problem for Wall Street, it is a problem for Wisconsin’s hard working families,” said Laura Dresser, associate director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at UW-Madison.
Add this to the growing list of undergraduate courses we’d like to take: “Zymurgy, the Science of Brewing.” Where else can you taste a frothy beer while earning credit?
After the University of Wisconsin at Madison christened a new microbial-sciences building last year, the beverage giant MillerCoors donated about $100,000 in brewing equipment to the university’s bacteriology department. The company hoped to both highlight brewing and train potential employees, while the university gained equipment to give students hands-on preparation for careers in Wisconsin’s nearly $7-billion-a-year brewing industry, says Jon T. Roll, a faculty associate in the department and a Ph.D. in bacteriology and biological sciences.
A UW forum looks at what climate change means for Wisconsin.
UW climatologist Steve Vavrus will serves as moderator for the third annual Wisconsin Climate Change Forum, sponsored by the Center for Climatic Research. “The goal of this forum is to try to pitch it to the general public, and we’ll be covering a variety of topics, mainly related to impacts in Wisconsin and the Midwest,” says Vavrus. “No one needs any particular scientific background to attend and get something out of it.”
Sara Rimer of The Times wrote an article last week that gave us a startling glimpse of just how mindless and self-destructive the U.S. is becoming.
â??The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.”
Why canâ??t religion and the Enlightenment be friends? Whatâ??s that, you say? They were friends? Why didnâ??t anyone tell us?
Well, David Sorkin has. A professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin, he argues in a new study that religion and the Enlightenment were even more than friends.
Four years after California residents captured worldwide attention by voting to spend $3 billion on stem cell research, many of the anticipated new therapies are at least 10 years away and numerous hurdles must be overcome.
Yet the optimism remains.
Mamas, you might want to let your babies grow up to be mathematicians, especially if theyâ??re girls.
“We are wasting this valuable resource,” said Janet Mertz, senior author and professor of oncology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in a news release. “Girls can excel in math at the very highest level. There are some truly phenomenal women mathematicians out there.”
A UW forum looks at what climate change means for Wisconsin.
UW climatologist Steve Vavrus will serves as moderator for the third annual Wisconsin Climate Change Forum, sponsored by the Center for Climatic Research. “The goal of this forum is to try to pitch it to the general public, and we’ll be covering a variety of topics, mainly related to impacts in Wisconsin and the Midwest,” says Vavrus. “No one needs any particular scientific background to attend and get something out of it.”
Michigan voters will decide next month whether the state will continue to have some of the most restrictive laws governing embryonic stem cell research in the country.
While federal law allows research on embryonic stem cells, federal funding is restricted to the lines that already existed when President Bush articulated the policy on August 9, 2001. Since then, the issue has been taken up by individual states, with some providing their own funding, some outlawing the research altogether, and others falling in between.
A culture that fails to encourage and even ostracizes young people, especially girls, who excel at mathematics is putting America at a disadvantage compared to countries where such talent is recognized and encouraged, according to a new study led by UW-Madison researchers.
The findings are reported today in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
