A study conducted by Princeton University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison revealed vast amounts of undocumented uranium has been exported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past 20 years.
A U.S. District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order last week that blocks the U.S. Department of Education from unlawfully terminating congressionally approved school-based mental health grants.
The order in the case joined by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition of 14 state attorneys general came just days before the Department of Education would have begun terminating several grants designed to provide critical mental health services to Wisconsin public school students at the end of July. Terminating the grants would have resulted in the projected loss of $12.5 million to the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
In Wisconsin, the NSF Materials AI and Transformation through Research Infrastructure for eXtreme environments Materials Innovation Platform (NSF MATRIX-MIP) will be based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. NSF MATRIX-MIP will investigate how the chemical and structural complexity of materials influences their performance in extreme environments, like those with high heat or strong radiation. MATRIX-MIP will explore how to use complexity to design and create materials with superior properties in such environments. Researchers will design experiments that use AI to rapidly predict the properties of many new materials, fabricate them using high-throughput synthesis methods and then measure their resulting physical properties.
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate UW-Madison’s federally funded primate lab after two monkeys sustained serious injuries there.
In the first incident, reported on March 12, a macaque injured another macaque’s arm as the two were reaching for food through openings in their side-by-side cages, according to a letter the university sent to the National Institutes of Health Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, or OLAW.
Microbes are pioneers of the planet. They evolved over millennia from the primordial precursors of ancient Earth, the starting point for the preponderance of life as we know it.
At the center of this momentum is a deeply collaborative ecosystem. Wisconsin’s universities serve as powerful engines of discovery, with the University of Wisconsin–Madison surpassing $1.7 billion in annual research expenditures. Organizations like the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation help translate that research into real-world impact through patents, licensing, and early-stage funding.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Princeton in the US have found that between 2000 and 2024, large quantities of uranium were extracted, concentrated and exported from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of the country’s cobalt supply chain.
University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University nuclear engineers have identified a major blind spot in nuclear accounting with global nuclear security implications.
“Limited adoption” of uranium-removal processes such as the use of acid “suggests that consistent compliance with this threshold is unlikely”, wrote the authors, Ryan Manzuk of Princeton University and Sébastien Philippe of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
As one of the nation’s leading research universities, the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers students access to thousands of research opportunities. In 2024, the university ranked fifth nationally in research volume and expenditures, spending $1.93 billion on research.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison will receive five awards ranging from $500,000 to $750,000 to support projects that seek to address the nation’s most important energy, scientific, and engineering challenges.
The grant awards, aimed at advancing nuclear energy, critical mineral extraction and commercial fusion energy, were announced July 22 by the U.S. Department of Energy during the first annual Genesis Mission Summit in Washington, D.C.
UW-Madison’s research on artificial intelligence to improve the experience for children and their families was “the poster child” in a federal Health and Human Services presentation on innovations in pediatric care, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, said.
A month later, its federal funding evaporated, as the department rescinded the grant for being “inconsistent with agency priorities,” a catch-all phrase often used in President Donald Trump’s second term to terminate funding the government had already approved.
Dr. Michelle Kelly, a pediatric hospitalist at UW Health’s American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, was disappointed, but not surprised, when she received a notice last week spelling the end of a five-year, roughly $2 million grant from the agency.
In a study by the Rural Livability Project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a national pattern shows that housing stress negatively affects rural health in high-poverty rural places, with higher prevalence of obesity, diabetes, stroke, and coronary heart disease. When rural residents face dual stress, the two constraints–housing financial stress and food insecurity–amplify each other’s negative effects on health (Figure 3).
Federal research funding cuts are having “unacceptable” impacts on scientific progress, according to the vice chancellor for research at UW-Madison.
Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska spoke yesterday on a panel in Milwaukee organized by the Wisconsin Technology Council, focused on how shifting federal priorities are impacting innovation in the state.
UW-Madison researchers are “paving the way for scalable and practical” quantum computing by using advanced sensors to improve the technology.
That’s according to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which is touting the approach as a top licensing prospect in its portfolio of engineering and computer science research from the university.
Aldo Leopold’s introduction to nature was living along the banks of the Mississippi River in Iowa.
A renowned conservationist, environmentalist and former UW-Madison professor, Leopold is considered the father of wildlife ecology and modern conservation.
“Conservation is a state of health in the land,” Leopold said in 1944. “The land consists of soil, water, plants, and animals, but health is more than a sufficiency of these components. It is a state of vigorous self-renewal in each of them, and in all collectively.”
What are the origins of domesticated crops in eastern North America and the Great Lakes region? Taylor and Kacie visit the UW-Madison Anthropology Collection to learn about Native American plant domestication and cultivation.
The first breakthrough in stem cell research happened in labs at UW-Madison, creating an entirely new branch of medicine.
“People kind of knew what stem cells were,” said Kevin Walters, an associate with Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization that patents and licenses research done at UW-Madison. “The question was, how do you use them?”
Phosphorus remains one of the region’s top concerns for lake health, said Hilary Dugan, an associate professor and researcher at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology, which studies inland lakes.
As solar power makes up a bigger piece of our electricity puzzle, there’s a worry about a trade-off, especially in rural areas: If we build more solar farms, are we losing land for crops?
But University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are asking the question: Why can’t we have both?
The results of the DCF survey align with a UW-Madison study that also found two-thirds of providers would consider cutting staff pay while half felt it would be more difficult to provide a high-quality experience.
Prediction market bettors don’t have prophetic powers: they are a “quantification of conventional wisdom,” said Ross Dahlke, a data science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
UW-Madison is responsible for another massive medical advancement — but this one was pharmaceutical, not biological.
Warfarin, one of the most widely used blood thinners on the market, began as a treatment for cows. A Deer Park farmer walked into the laboratory of Karl Paul Link, a biochemist working in the university’s College of Agriculture, because his cows had developed a bleeding disorder.
For as long as motorsports has existed, gas has been perhaps the most important part of raceday.
The cars depend on it, teams hire high-level analysts to maximize it and companies go into bidding wars to ensure their fuel goes into each competitor’s tank.
So what happens when you remove gas from the equation? You get the Sunburst.
“For many years, we’ve had this testing program that basically looks at mice first as a first step to see what happens in an actual live organism, then rabbits, then dogs, then going on to humans,” said Nicole Nelson, UW-Madison associate professor of medical history and bioethics.
“The University of Wisconsin-Madison has done a great job of research and finding a path to help and hopefully someday cure Alzheimer’s,” Lenz said. “So we’re here supporting that initiative to raise funds for everyone so that the research can continue and so that we can find an end to Alzheimer’s.”
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison used optogenetics, a technique that controls genetically modified brain cells with pulses of light, to recreate the brain rhythm of deep sleep in mice that were fully awake and moving.
Teams of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison spent months submitting proposals to the Department of Energy’s vast new Genesis Mission — an initiative centered around artificial intelligence (AI) but naming research goals in fields as varied as nuclear fusion and molecular biology. Many of UW-Madison’s proposals center around one burgeoning cross-college priority: quantum.
Newly disclosed records have put a new focus on the beagles used in research facilities. At UW-Madison, dogs were involved in 2023 experiments that included injections of blue dye before the animals were euthanized and dissected.
Those records, secured by the animal advocacy organization Rise for Animals and first reported by FOX6 News, intensify the continuing attention on Ridglan Farms and broader animal-welfare concerns.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a handy tool that uses data from a NOAA satellite and other resources to track the Saharan air layer as it ebbs and flows across the globe.
By inducing specific patterns of activity in small portions of the brain in awake mice, researchers have triggered a recalibration of neural connections that normally only occurs during sleep. This new approach offset the effects of sleep deprivation on memory tasks and revealed features of sleep that are key to its restorative effect.
A researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has published a paper that demonstrates hybrid combinations of lignocellulosic feedstock pretreatment methods can achieve high glucose yields with reduced energy consumption.
In his article in The Atlantic, grimly titled, “America is sliding toward illiteracy,” Idrees Kahloon uses data largely from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, to reflect on the recent degradation of American education. Kahloon uses this data to test theories as to why K-12 test scores have plummeted since 2007 after a brief but substantive window of improvement.
Before documents detailing its use of Ridglan Farms beagles in a 2023 study could become public, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine released a statement June 5 alongside a letter to clients of UW Veterinary Care, an animal hospital run by the university.
What we know:
In January 2023, the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine bought six, 11-month-old beagles from Ridglan Farms.
More than 1,600 beagles once caged at Ridglan Farms are getting a second chance at life. But for every Bailey, Milo, Lucy, or Ginger, there are countless others whose fate looks different.
Magnetic fields are found everywhere in the universe, from planets and stars to entire galaxies. These invisible forces influence major cosmic events and processes, including solar storms, the movement of high energy particles, and even galaxy formation. While small magnetic fields are often chaotic and turbulent, much larger magnetic structures appear surprisingly organized. For decades, scientists have struggled to explain how disorder in space could create such large-scale order.
As more than two billion people worldwide still lack access to safely managed drinking water, new research from the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW–Madison investigates the effects of early-life exposure to citywide water filtration on longevity in the early 20th century.
University of Wisconsin-Madison professors, Jane Paulsen and Michael Newton discovered that two proteins decline in the human brain as Huntington disease develops, furthering improvements for treatments of the disease.
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare, genetic disease that causes neurons in the brain to degenerate over time, affecting a person’s movement, cognition and overall quality of life.
To understand psychedelics — those powerful and cryptic agents of the mind — scientists are exploring uncharted landscapes. “We don’t yet really know why psilocybin or other psychedelic drugs seem to have the effects that they do,” Professor Paul Hutson, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances, told the Wisconsin Examiner.
As more than two billion people worldwide still lack access to safely managed drinking water, new research from the La Follette School of Public Affairs investigates the effects of early-life exposure to citywide water filtration on longevity in the early 20th-century.
The term “moonshot” most often reminds people of the Apollo space program that first landed astronauts on the moon in 1969 or April’s Artemis II mission, which was the first crewed flight beyond Earth’s orbit since 1972.
Devesh Ranjan, the new dean of UW-Madison’s College of Engineering, is hoping people will also associate “moonshots” with lofty research goals in the coming decade.
Signs of neurodegeneration in individuals with Down syndrome may start as early as birth, a critical stage of brain development, a new study shows. The research, from investigators at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides an atlas of early brain development in Down syndrome that could inform potential targeted treatments to address the developmental and degenerative aspects of the condition.
Madison non-profit hospice group Agrace will break ground on its dementia village in two weeks, the first of its kind in the country.
The village is modeled after The Hogeweyk Village in the Netherlands.
Right now in the United States — caring for those with cognitive decline means prioritizing safety.
The first dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence says the institution will be a vital non-industry leader shaping the future of AI.
Leaders in science, business, and government gathered in Madison on Tuesday to discuss the future of fusion energy.
The Fusion Summit at the Discovery Center brought together researchers, lawmakers, and more than one hundred companies exploring how Wisconsin could become a national hub for this emerging technology.
What are the true limits of life, will we even recognize it when we see it? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice explore the beginnings of life on Earth and what they might tell us about life everywhere else with astrobiologist and bacteriologist, Betül Kaçar.
The Madison school district unveiled its proposal for a new cell phone policy at a School Board meeting Monday, recommending an all-day ban for students in grades K-8 while allowing more leniency for high school students to use their phones during passing time and lunch periods.
At the meeting, some School Board members expressed trepidations about a full-day ban for K-8 students, while others questioned different aspects of the proposed policy.
A new nuclear fusion research site could be coming to the Madison area.
Kieran Furlong, co-founder and CEO or Madison-based Realta Fusion, said Wisconsin is among the “final two states” for a new research and development facility, which would entail “hundreds of millions” of dollars in capital investment and 200 or more jobs.
President Donald Trump’s dismissal on Friday of the independent board that advises the National Science Foundation included UW-Madison’s top research leader.
Vice Chancellor for Research Dorota Grejner-Brzezińska was one of the 22 current members on the board that advises Congress and the president on the National Science Foundation’s operations. President Joe Biden appointed her in 2023 when she was working at Ohio State University.
If University of Wisconsin-Madison administrators don’t get more clarity on new federal funding rules soon, the university’s Division of Extension may lay off up to 160 employees.
Vice Chancellor Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, who oversees UW-Madison’s $1.93 billion research operation, recently outlined that concern in a court declaration filed as part of a broader lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison has received $100 million in private gift commitments for its new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence, which is set to launch on July 1, 2026.
The donations come from what’s referred to as the Catalyst Collective — a group of alumni, business leaders and corporate partners who have pledged major investments in the college. The alumni donors include Andy Konwinski, cofounder of Laude, Databricks and Perplexity AI; John Morgridge, former chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, and Tashia Morgridge, a retired special education teacher; Signe Ostby, a former marketing executive; and Jeff Tangney, cofounder and CEO of Doximity. The contributors also include Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit; and Epic, a software company based in Verona, Wisconsin.
PJ Liesch, director of the UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, said around 20% of juvenile ticks carry Lyme disease, and 40% of adult ticks can transmit the infection. Ticks are also more commonly being found in residential areas, he said.
The University of Wisconsin Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research announced April 21 that it is planning to change its organizational structure, according to UW News.
“The efforts include a proposed reorganization intended to better support the research and scholarly mission of UW–Madison and grow the research enterprise and creative expression across arts and humanities, biological sciences, physical sciences and social sciences,” according to UW News.
UW-Madison researchers are celebrating a new executive order from President Donald Trump that expedites FDA approval for psychedelic treatments for conditions like depression and PTSD.
Paul Hutson from UW-Madison School of Pharmacy, who has studied psychedelics for mental health for years, says the new executive order will not only expedite FDA approvals but may help secure state funding for their research.
Anjon Audhya, PhD, will become the inaugural vice dean for research for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health effective April 19. The role serves as the chief research officer for the school, charged with articulating the goals and vision of the school’s research enterprise to major stakeholder groups and planning for the long-term success and global impact of research activities.
After months of listening, learning and analysis, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research is undergoing strategic planning efforts focused on a comprehensive set of updates to ensure the University of Wisconsin–Madison maintains a strong and resilient research enterprise amid significant changes to the research environment and to meet identified areas of opportunity.
the Trump Administration has slashed the number of grants from the National Institutes of Health, with far fewer focused on women, cancer and mental health
Americans hold varying opinions about the war in the Middle East, from support for ending 47 years of nettlesome threats by Iran’s theocracy to opposing U.S. intervention for reasons that include unclear mission goals.
Either way, it’s important to know much national defense research has little to do with building better missiles or bombs. It’s often about prevention, detection, reaction and recovery in times of emergency at home. That affects civilians as well as military personnel.
