The government was premature in deregulating production of alfalfa that is genetically engineered to resist a weed-killing herbicide, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
In an unassuming building on the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison campus, scientists are attempting to perfect techniques that could allow them to mold embryonic stem cells into cells that emulate the functions of the cells that our own bodies produce. Like a blank page waiting to be written on, these cells have the potential to change the way we look at the world of medicine.
Madison, Wis. – Molly Jahn is a realist, and she’s telling anyone within ear shot that Wisconsin has a realistic chance to lead the drive toward energy independence.
Molly JahnThe new dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jahn believes Wisconsin can leverage existing economies and industries to grow an emerging one – biofuels.
New findings, reported in the journal Nature, help to explain why so many of the 50m people killed by Spanish flu were healthy men and women in the prime of life.
Quoted: Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Gov. Jim Doyle met with a British politician and world-renowned stem cell researchers Monday to discuss research collaboration possibilities between the two countries, closing the gap between Abbey Road and State Street.
British Honorary Consul Michael Bright, the self-described â??eyes and ears of the British government in Wisconsin,â? said the meeting witnessed the first talks between two top stem cell research facilities, the U.K. Stem Cell Bank and the UW-Madison based-WiCell Research Institute.
While hosting officials from the United Kingdom at the state Capitol Monday, Gov. Jim Doyle announced University of Wisconsin-affiliated laboratories would team up with its U.K. counterparts on embryonic stem-cell research.
TomoTherapy – considered one of Madison’s shining stars in the new tech economy – could also shine on Wall Street, experts said Monday, after the company filed papers seeking to raise up to $201 million in a public stock offering.
MADISON, Wis. – Leaders of national embryonic stem cell banks in the United States and the United Kingdom pledged Monday to work together to promote research, create international standards and more efficiently distribute each other’s cells.The officials told reporters they hoped the efforts were the beginning of a long partnership between the banks, the National Stem Cell Bank in Madison and the U.K. Stem Cell Bank near London.
MADISON, Wis. — The governor announced Monday the formal collaboration between Wisconsin and the United Kingdom on stem cell research.
Though there is still a lot of controversy over the research the governor and others said that they couldnâ??t stand in the way of science.
In a news conference heavy with political overtones, leaders of stem cell research in Wisconsin and the United Kingdom gathered in the State Capitol today to announce increased collaboration.
Big discoveries are rare in research labs. Most of the time, scientists have to try over and over again to achieve the effect they want. Drugs are especially tricky, since even effective drugs can have toxic side effects. Fiddling with the molecular structure can improve a drugâ??or make it worse. Up until now, those attempts to tweak existing drugs focused on the carbon chemistry of medicine. Like humans, medicines are made up mostly of carbon.
Fusion is not being envisioned solely as an energy source anymore.
A major problem right now is it takes much more power to fuse certain hydrogen elements than what is produced.
Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are developing the technology for medical purposes and detection of nuclear explosives.
For more than 30 years, UW-Madison engineering professor Gerald Kulcinski has been one of a number of researchers at universities and federal laboratories working to find an economically feasible way to use fusion to make electricity.
Imagine a window opening onto the universe, a window affording views unparalleled in history and offering glimpses of thousands of spinning galaxies and luminous, exploding stars.
For a brief time, UW-Madison astronomer Jay Gallagher had such a view, the equivalent of a courtside seat for an eye-boggling cosmic show.
HOUSTON — Tired of badgering the kids to quit wasting time with those computer and video games and get started on homework? Here’s a news flash for the 21st Century: It turns out many of the games might be better than homework.
In a series of research projects as likely to thrill young people as they are to horrify their parents and teachers, academic experts across the country are unearthing educational benefits in the digital games that surveys show are now played by more than 80 percent of American young people ages 8 to 18.
Quoted: David Williamson Shaffer, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of a recent book, “How Computer Games Help Children Learn”; Kurt Squire, another University of Wisconsin researcher.
World-renowned chemist and UW-Madison graduate Alan G. MacDiarmid, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry in 2000 for his work on plastics conducting electricity, has died after suffering a fall at his home near Philadelphia Wednesday. He was 79.
LAKE DELTON – Major roadblocks remain before human embryonic stem cells could be transplanted into humans to cure diseases or replace injured body parts, a research pioneer said Thursday night.
University of Wisconsin scientist James Thomson said obstacles include learning how to grow the cells into all types of organs and tissue and then making sure cancer and other defects are not introduced during the transplantation.
Slightly fewer babies are born with autism in Wisconsin than in the rest of the nation, but the reason for the difference remains unclear.
A study released Thursday by U.S. health officials found evidence of autism in 5.2 per 1,000 Wisconsin children born in 1994, compared to an average of 6.6 cases per 1,000 children born in 13 other states tracked for the study.
Scientists also found that autism rates in Dane County were more than twice those in Milwaukee County, according to Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
At first blush it seemed like a UW version of “greenwashing,” the term applied to corporate PR efforts to mask their polluting ways.
But researchers organizing the “Citizens’ Coalition on Nanotechnology” claim their effort is nothing of the sort.
(This column appeared in the Feb. 6 Capital Times.)
Dr. Alan MacDiarmid, a Nobel Prize winner and University of Wisconsin graduate, died Wednesday at the age of 79.
LAKE DELTON, Wis. — A leading Wisconsin stem cell researcher said that major roadblocks remain before human embryonic stem cells will turn into cures for diseases.
University of Wisconsin scientist James Thomson said in a speech to the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Thursday night that transplantation therapies should work but it could take decades.
He said obstacles include learning how to turn embryonic stem cells into all types of organs and tissues in the body and then making sure cancer and other defects aren’t introduced during the transplant.
Most are betting on biology to convert carbohydrates into biofuels. Jim Dumesic thinks catalysis is the key
The United States is counting on biofuels to reduce reliance on imported petroleum and to cut carbon emissions from vehicles. But most cars won’t run on corn oil, so scientists must find ways to convert plant matter into practical fuels. Much hope–and hype–centers on harnessing microbes and enzymes to convert biomass to ethanol. But James Dumesic, a chemical engineer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is blazing another trail.
An expert in catalysis, Dumesic is searching for a philosopher’s stone to turn sugar water into fuels and higher value chemicals.
Three University of Wisconsin professors in Madison say a new state law forcing sexual predators to wear tracking devices for the rest of their lives is unconstitutional.
The professors — Walter Dickey, Byron Lichstein and Meredith Ross — say that the measure violates privacy rights and amounts to punishment and warrantless surveillance when applied to offenders who aren’t on parole or government supervision.
The professors sent a letter to Corrections Secretary Matthew Frank on February 3rd to outline their beliefs.
Big ideas can mean big money…And that’s what UW Madison undergrads hope their creative inventions lead to.
Today, those inventions were judged during the 13th Annual Innovation Days Competition at the Engineering School.
Students can win almost $30,000 in prize money.
Missouri lawmakers cut $113 million in university building projects from a $335 million higher education bill Wednesday, as The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported. Their reason? As the Post-Dispatch puts it, â??The committee chairman, Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, said the projects that had been cut had been identified as possibly housing stem cell research in the future.â?
Q: What’s going to happen when all the TV stations go to HDTV?
A: By Feb. 17, 2009, all over-the-air TV broadcasters will be required by federal law to convert their current analog signals to digital high definition television, says Barry Orton, a UW-Madison consumer science professor and expert on the telecommunications industry.
Employers can substantially help lower-paid workers by helping them do their taxes, according to new research that has prompted a pilot program in Madison.
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is trying out the idea, which came from John Hoffmire, director of the Center on Business and Poverty at the University Innovation Center.
Aruna Biomedical, a Georgia-based maker of neural stem cell kits for researchers, will relocate to Wisconsin if it can raise sufficient amounts of angel capital, the Wisconsin Technology Network reported.
….Aruna is a licensee of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for its human embryonic stem cell technology, and (management team member Jim) Stice told WTN the company would like to relocate to Wisconsin to take advantage of stem cell research synergies offered by the UW.
Engineers help drive innovation throughout the U.S. economy and often play leading roles in helping good ideas become commercial products. That’s why major efforts to bolster the education of engineers at Marquette University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are welcome developments for southeastern Wisconsin.
Madison, Wis. – Wisconsin officials and investors who are trying to come up with the financing that will enable a Georgia life science firm to relocate here have a fight on their hands.
Have you ever considered donating your body to science? I’m not talking about specific organs for transplant. Many of us have signed our intent to do this on the back of our driver’s license and this is an extremely valuable gift.
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. That’s how you could describe the past year when it came to the state’s farm economy in 2006.
According to the latest Status of Wisconsin Agriculture Summary from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, total net farm income in the Badger State dropped by more than 40 percent during the past 12 months–which was the lowest level since 2002.
UW-Madison physicists developed a new method of projecting possible shapes of extra dimensions, according to a study released Friday in Physical Review Letters.
Humans have exacerbated global warming, according to the international report on global climate change released Friday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
WESTCHESTER, Ill., Feb. 2 (UPI) — A U.S. study found that the “quality” and “intensity” of wakefulness can affect slow-wave activity, or SWA, during subsequent sleep.
Dr. Chiara Cirelli of the University of Wisconsin-Madison says the paper demonstrates that the crucial factor linking physiological waking activity to sleep SWA is synaptic plasticity, notably synaptic potentiation, mediated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling, or BNDF.
Q: Why do things take longer to bake at high altitude?
A: The behavior of water – especially its boiling point – is as critical to baking as to boiling on the stovetop, said Srinivasan Damodaran, professor of food science at UW-Madison. Air pressure inhibits the boiling of water, and air pressure and boiling point both fall as altitude increases.
The average person realizes it takes a huge, sophisticated telescope ââ?¬â? like the Hubble Space Telescope ââ?¬â? to begin mapping the universe.
What might take more explaining is being told by UW-River Falls Physics Professor Jim Madsen that another telescope of universal exploration isn�t in orbit or even aimed at the heavens. It�s buried deep in South Pole ice.
Madsen belongs to an extended team of scientists that labor for the IceCube Project, spearheaded by UW-Madison. Most funding ââ?¬â? $275 million ââ?¬â? comes from the National Science Foundation, an independent U.S. government agency.
The energy giant BP has chosen the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as recipients of a $500-million grant for research on the development of alternative energy sources.
The grant will create the Energy Biosciences Institute, which California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said would be the largest institute in the world dedicated to creating energy from biological sources. The governor has proposed adding $40-million in state financing to the institute, along with $30-million for another sustainable-energy project at the national laboratory, which is a federal facility managed by the University of California.
The morning after putting research expansion at the forefront of his State of the State address, Gov. Jim Doyle jetted to Washington to urge the U.S. Senate to increase federal funding for embryonic stem cell research Wednesday.
The University of Illinois, as part of a research partnership, is set to announce Thursday that it has won a portion of a $500 million renewable-energy project financed by oil giant BP PLC. The research will focus on developing biofuels that use organic matter besides corn.
Academic research on what scientists call cellulosic biomass is going on around the world, but BP is one of the first corporations to make a significant investment in the field.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Declaring that the political debate is over, Gov. Jim Doyle is calling on Congress to pass legislation expanding government-financed embryonic stem cell research, despite President Bush’s promise to veto it.
“I think the president’s position is becoming more and more untenable,” Doyle said Wednesday after meeting with Senate Democrats on the issue. “The political debate on this is over.”
An internationally renowned veterinarian will come to Madison this spring to work hand in hand with University of Wisconsin students as the head of one of the state�s largest laboratories.
An international panel of scientists plans to release a report Friday on global climate change that will likely affect environmental policy worldwide.
Already achieving an international reputation for extensive and groundbreaking scientific research, the University of Wisconsin decided to take further strides last year by approving a multi-million dollar project to build a new research facility on University Avenue.
Gov. Jim Doyle met with Democratic lawmakers Wednesday to push for expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, an issue on which Congress and the White House appear headed for another standoff.
Count to three. Did you feel anything unusual? By the time you finished counting, more than 150 trillion tiny particles called neutrinos shot through your body at about the speed of light.
A group of scientists at the South Pole is tracking these tiny particles as they fly through ice. They are building a telescope called Ice Cube to find out what happens when a neutrino bumps into other particles in the ice.
Marquette University on Tuesday announced a $5 million contribution toward a “transformation” of its College of Engineering, which if successful would advance the region’s scramble to compete in research, technology and scientific innovation.
State Sen. Ted Kanavas unveiled a new batch of economic development incentives last week that included tax credits for investors in start-up companies and in companies springing from nanotechnology research in the Chippewa Valley. Noticeably absent: the Biomedical Technology Alliance.
The alliance, a consortium of five universities, has been a catalyst for collaborative research since it was launched more than two years ago, and Kanavas (R-Brookfield) has been a key supporter in the past.
As Congress renews debate about funding stem cell research using human embryos, people are thinking hard about what to do with excess embryos after their families are complete. Only they ââ?¬â? not politicians, doctors or ethicists ââ?¬â? are legally entitled to make the call.
Researchers at UW-Madison have found that silicon, the material used for years to make computer chips, may have healing properties for humans.
Because humans are carbon-based life forms, all medicines are also carbon-based.
You have seen the posters sprouting up all over campus. At College Library, Memorial Union and many other university hot spots, the ââ?¬Å?We Conserveââ?¬Â campaign organized by the UW-Madison Energy Initiative is making itself visible at the university.
The organization�s website discusses energy-saving techniques, but, other than promising to promote them, does not directly address issues of alternative energy sources.
As UW-Milwaukee embarks on several endeavors to boost its research university presence in Wisconsin, Chancellor Carlos Santiago announced his proposal to establish two more UWM campuses in the greater metropolitan area Friday.
A new relationship blossoming between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and manufacturing giant Rockwell Automation could be a watershed in Chancellor Carlos Santiago’s efforts to expand research at UWM.
Molly Jahn, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at UW-Madison, was on hand at the Jan. 10 meeting of the board of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). Her task was to discuss agricultural issues and the future direction of CALS.
DATCP Secretary Rod Nilsestuen introduced the new dean to the board, noting “she brings a lot of scientific muscle to the job.”Although she’s only been at her job for the past five and one-half months, Jahn’s made it a priority to get out in the state and has shown up at most UW campuses across the state.
With unusually warm weather in December and January, some Madison residents wondered if Lake Mendota would ever freeze.
Embryonic stem cell research should advance a bit more freely because of policy changes announced this week by a major patent holder in this area, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). The move could clearly benefit biotech companies and possibly negate for now some criticism that the organization has endured.
“It creates a little more comfort in academic research institutions,” explained Tom Quinlan, an attorney in the San Francisco office of Reed Smith LLP. He added that the new guidelines would provide “an increased opportunity to get research going or continue.” It also would delay questions on “whether the WARF patents are going to continue to be challenged or should have been issued in the first place,” he added.
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=5422
Most people who look at plants just see plants ââ?¬â? ferns, perhaps, or perennials or weeds, or trees. When Dr. Mohammad Fayyaz looks at plants, the director of the UW botany departmentââ?¬â?¢s greenhouses and garden looks beyond species and sees opportunity.
He did not, for example, acquire a rare Wollemi pine seedling just for the educational uses ââ?¬â? although ââ?¬Å?it is a good specimen for teaching,ââ?¬Â he says, citing applications in courses ranging from plant geography to classification, morphology and anatomy.
Q: Can dogs be trained not to bark?
A: “Yes, absolutely,” said canine authority and UW-Madison adjunct associate professor of zoology Patricia McConnell.
Charles Roselli set out to discover what makes some sheep gay. Then the news media and the blogosphere got hold of the story.
The Wisconsin foundation that holds patents covering U.S. embryonic stem cell research will waive some of its fees to encourage more industry-sponsored research.
The changes follow criticism from scientists who said the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s fees and its licensing system were driving some investment overseas.
Scientists around the country hailed the policy changes, which will let researchers share their cells for free and allow companies to sponsor research at universities without having to obtain licenses that cost up to $400,000.
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposal for a statewide smoking ban and a tax hike on cigarettes by $1.25 a pack isn’t supported by some smokers or businesses, but it’s getting rave reviews by the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention.
Officials said on Wednesday that it’s the shock value that tends to convince people it’s time to quit smoking, and this could provide that impetus, WISC-TV reported.
Twenty-year smoker Moe Bird celebrates a month free from cigarettes this week.
