Column authored by Gottwald, the director of licensing at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation in Madison.
Jennifer Gottwald: Don’t jeopardize UW patents
Wisconsin State Journal
Category: Research
New Wyoming rhynchosaur discovered, named in First Nations language
New Atlas
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a new species of ancient reptile in central Wyoming and named it in the language of the First Nations people indigenous to the area where it was found.
After accidents in UW-Madison lab studying viruses, Wisconsin Republicans question oversight
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin’s Republican delegation is asking the country’s top health officials for more information about two biosafety incidents at a University of Wisconsin-Madison research lab — a request spurred by a recent opinion article that the university has disputed as “not rooted in the facts.”
Wild turkey restoration adds rich dimension to spring in Wisconsin
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Tom Yuill, a University of Wisconsin professor and wildlife disease expert, provided health testing of the birds.
Foxes wreaking havoc on Madison golf course become part of relocation study
Wisconsin State Journal
But a rambunctious skulk of four red foxes found a new way to torment greenskeepers by digging holes in putting greens at The Glen Golf Park on Madison’s Near West Side. And now the foxes have found themselves in a six-month research effort by the UW Urban Canid Project that has been studying foxes and coyotes in Madison for nearly 10 years.
Scientists Are Fighting To Save Ancient Human History From a Rising Threat
John Hawks
Our story begins in Africa, where our species and its close relatives evolved; even the Flores hominins are descended from a species called Homo erectus that arose in Africa before spreading across most of the world. Most of the hominin sites in southern Africa tend to be in caves, like the Rising Star Cave System, where University of Wisconsin anthropologist John Hawks and University of Witwatersrand anthropologist Lee Berger have studied the remains of a species called Homo naledi, first discovered in 2013.
First Thing: Will the Fox settlement restore confidence in elections?
The Guardian
PHOTO: Soy leaves that were damaged by the weedkiller dicamba as part of University of Wisconsin research into whether the herbicide drifted from where it was sprayed in Arlington, Wisconsin. Photograph: Tom Polansek/Reuters
Recent study finds how principal investigators influence lab culture
Badger Herald
Successful principal investigators communicate, are transparent, exhibit inclusivity, stabilize group member size.
UW-Madison School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences to receive new home
NBC-15
The university revealed that construction will begin Tuesday on a nearly 350,000-square-foot building to house the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences, which was launched in 2019.
Why we celebrate: Essayists offer reasons for hope from Wisconsin, birthplace of Earth Day
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Greg Nemet continues the tradition of environmental scholarship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison through the La Follette School of Public Affairs, studying energy, climate change and public policy. He says despite a gloomy international report, the capacity to tackle problems has never been greater:
“If there were ever a time to have optimism about our collective capacity and will to address climate change, this is it. This idea was threaded through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which emphasized that we can still effect transformational change that could stave off the worst possible outcomes and lead to a sustainable, equitable world. Globally, we’ve made considerable progress in a broad range of technologies that are making the transition to a low-carbon economy more affordable and feasible than ever.”
Meet the ‘elite’ couples breeding to save mankind
The Telegraph
There is also emerging evidence that the personality traits thought to undergird political beliefs – such as empathy, risk-taking, and a preference for competition vs cooperation – may be partly inherited. A literature review by New York University and the University of Wisconsin found evidence that political ideology is about 40 per cent genetic. Hence, the Collinses fear that as fertility declines it will not be some racial Other who outbreeds everyone else but each culture’s equivalent of the neo-Nazis. ‘We are literally heading towards global Nazism, but they all hate each other!’ says Malcolm.
11 great apps for learning about mindfulness
Mashable
Developed by experts at the Center for Healthy Minds at University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Healthy Minds Program is designed to give users practical skills for practicing mindfulness in daily life.
Study finds endangered species are harmed by ethanol production
Wisconsin Public Radio
The production of ethanol as fuel for vehicles is likely harming the habitat of scores of endangered species. That’s the conclusion of a new study by a lead scientist at UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. The author of the study joins us.
UW-Madison works to expand state’s weather station network
Wisconsin Public Radio
A new project will see a network of more than 90 weather stations built to better monitor local soil and weather conditions across the state. We speak with the head of the project to learn how researchers and farmers may benefit from more data.
The unholy alliance of academic elites and government bureaucrats threatens free speech everywhere
Fox News
For example, the University of Wisconsin has been awarded a $5 million grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a system that can detect and “strategically correct” what the government perceives as misinformation relating to COVID, elections, and vaccines. This new grant adds to the previous $7.5 million grant awarded by the NSF to ten universities to develop anti-misinformation tools as part of the “Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems” initiative.
‘Here & Now’ Highlights: Michael Wagner
A survey of Wisconsin citizens shows the state’s political divides are disrupting social relationships and personal bonds. Michael Wagner, a UW-Madison journalism professor, said the center embarked on this research to understand problems of a divided state to help articulate a solution. Its report shows results of what are described as “civic fractures.”
Civic fracture growing among Wisconsinites according to new UW report
The Daily Cardinal
A report from the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal (CCCR) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found civic fracture is growing across Wisconsin.
Stalagmites in Wisconsin’s Cave of Mounds hold clues to previous climate changes in state
The Badger Herald
Batchelor dated the stalagmite using a Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry instrument from UW professor John Valley’s Lab. Valley said the SIMS instrument provided a more accurate record of data compared to other studies that have been conducted up until recently.
UW-Madison dairy production stopped in 2019 — now it’s back and bigger
The Capital Times
After nearly five years of construction, new upgrades to the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant and a three-story addition for the Center for Dairy Research are finally complete at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Book alleging lax oversight of UW flu research distorts facts, campus says
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison didn’t promptly report a 2019 lab incident involving a potentially dangerous bird flu virus to some authorities, raising questions about whether the public can trust oversight of such controversial research, an investigative reporter alleged Tuesday in a USA TODAY opinion piece promoting her new book.
‘We’re testing the waters’: Researchers sample bears, deer for COVID to see how the virus spreads
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“It’s really dynamic. We can expect that there will be mutations that pop up and a lot of them won’t be very successful at being transmitted and maintained in populations of animals,” Thomas Yuill, a professor emeritus of pathobiological science, forest and wildlife biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tom Still: Undergrad research opportunities can make college more relevant
Wisconsin State Journal
A recent forum at UW-Eau Claire, one of the region’s leading universities when it comes to getting undergraduate students internships and other career experiences, highlighted some antidotes to the enrollment slump. It also spoke to how colleges can help local economies by keeping talent close to home.
New Babcock Hall facilities stand to drive innovation in Wisconsin’s dairy industry
Wisconsin State Journal
State-of-the-art renovations to UW-Madison’s Babcock Hall are expected to revolutionize the Wisconsin cheese industry and bring the university’s iconic dairy production back to campus after a three-and-a-half year hiatus.
The Message You’re Sending Your Employees When You Take Away Promotions And Bonuses During Mass Layoffs
Forbes
The second study was conducted by Charlie Trevor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Anthony Nyberg of the University of South Carolina.
Roland Griffiths’ Magical Profession
Chronicle of Higher Ed
Meanwhile research centers are popping up like — what else? — mushrooms after a rainstorm, including at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the University of Texas’ Dell Medical School, in Austin. Psychedelics are in the midst of what journalists inevitably refer to as a “renaissance.”
Participating in clinical trials
Wisconsin Public Radio
Thousands of clinical trials underway in Wisconsin require thousands of volunteers – people whose ailments, desire for compensation or altruism motivate them to take part in medical research. We talk with Betsy Nugent, the director of clinical research for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
What’s behind Wisconsin’s county health rankings
Wisconsin Public Radio
The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute has released its new county health rankings. We speak with Sheri Johnson, the institute’s director about the variables that produce the healthiest communities.
New technologies, policies and global commitments give reason for optimism this Earth Day
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Written by Gregory Nemet, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs.
Philadelphia ranks last in Pennsylvania for good health
Axios Philadelphia
About half of Pennsylvania’s counties were in the bottom portion of an annual ranking of health outcomes, according to the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Video games as educational tools
Wisconsin Public Radio
The Field Day Lab in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research is creating online video games to be used as learning tools for students. We talk to Sarah Gagnon, creative director for the Field Day Lab in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the UW–Madison School of Education, about their latest games and how they work.
How Much Does Tumor Removal for Dogs Cost? (2023 Guide)
Forbes Advisor
Cancer is the No. 1 cause of illness and death in the aging dog population. According to the School Of Veterinary Medicine at University Of Wisconsin-Madison, roughly one out of every three dogs is affected and 6 million new cancer diagnoses are made in dogs each year.
Wisconsin Stalagmite Records North American Warming
Eos
Although documented in the Greenlandic ice cores, “prior to this study, there was a lack of evidence that suggested that the Midwest responded to DO events,” said Cameron Batchelor, a geologist and postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Batchelor, the first author on the study, completed this work during her doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “For the first time, we have proof that this region of the world was sensitive to DO events.”
Wisconsin pediatrician says improving social media requires input from teenagers
Wisconsin Public Radio
The leader of the social media and adolescent research team at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Dr. Megan Moreno, says conversations about social media best practices need to include teenagers.
Following PFAs from toilet paper to the Great Lakes
Wisconsin Public Radio
The growing research into PFAs contamination finds sources in everyday consumer goods like toilet paper and traces PFAs into Green Bay and the Great Lakes. We talk to Christy Remucal, is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the director of the Water Science and Engineering Laboratory at UW-Madison, about where we’re finding PFAs in Wisconsin’s waters.
The effect of climate change on freshwater fish
Wisconsin Public Radio
When it comes to adjusting for warmer water, some fish are defying expectations. We talk to Olaf Jensen, an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Center for Limnology at UW-Madison.
‘Not everyone in every county has the same opportunity to be healthy’: Outcomes among Wisconsin counties are unequal
Wisconsin Public Radio
Health outcomes are not even across Wisconsin’s 72 counties, and even the healthiest counties have sharp disparities, with Black residents far more likely to die prematurely, according to new data from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Population Health Institute.
Colorado’s biggest cities aren’t the healthiest in the state
Axios Denver
State of play: The healthiest counties in Colorado are its wealthiest ones, with Douglas County ranking at the top once again and other mountain communities not far behind, according to an analysis by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Uncovering the causes of infant and maternal mortality
Wisconsin Public Radio
Two new reports from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention detail infant and maternal mortality rates in the U.S. We talk with Tiffany Green, a reproductive health expert and assistant professor in the Departments of Population Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, about what needs to be done to save the lives of mothers and their babies.
‘Science of reading,’ whole language,’ ‘balanced literacy’: How can Wisconsin resolve its ‘reading wars’ and teach kids to read?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: On the other side of the debate is Mark Seidenberg, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the leading scientists cited by advocates for the science of reading. Seidenberg said there is a large volume of research that sheds light on how children learn to read and that supports the science of reading approach.
Can using such approaches raise the overall success of kids in becoming readers? “I think it’s huge,” Seidenberg said in an interview.
Red America is growing because blue America is shrinking
The Washington Post
Overall, large urban counties (using definitions from the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute) saw a slight decline in population, while rural ones saw a slight increase. Since “urban” and “rural” correspond to “strongly Democratic” and “strongly Republican,” the same pattern applies to counties that voted most heavily for President Biden or Donald Trump in 2020.
The Best Places to Buy a House on a Budget
The New York Times
Median home prices were sourced from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Other data were drawn from the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the American Community Survey, state and local income tax tables, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the F.B.I., and Bestplaces.net.
Wisconsin’s healthiest, least healthy counties; UW reveals new data
FOX6 News
Ozaukee County ranks the healthiest in Wisconsin and Menominee is the least healthy county in the state, according to new data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute released on Wednesday, March 29.
Helping People Pay Their Sky-High Water Bills Is a SNAP
Newsweek
Written by Manuel P. Teodoro, an associate professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Teodoro studies water sector management, regulation, and finance.
How the Gun Became Integral to the Self-Identity of Millions of Americans
Scientific American
University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher and assistant professor Nick Buttrick studies the psychological relationship that millions of Americans have with their guns. Buttrick’s research builds on the historical record to show that in the U.S.—the only country with more civilian firearms than people—white Southerners started cultivating the tradition of the home arsenal immediately after the Civil War because of insecurities and racial fears. During the rest of the 19th century, those anxieties metamorphosized into a fetishization of the firearm to the point that, in the present day, gun owners view their weapons as adding meaning and a sense of purpose to their lives.
Scientific American spoke with Buttrick about the psychological roots of the gun culture that has contributed to the more than 100 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. so far this year.
Jane Goodall returns to Madison
Wisconsin Public Radio
We caught up with the acclaimed ethologist and conservationist before her talk on UW-Madison’s campus, where she reflected on her time in Tanzania and our shared climate future.
Q&A: UW-Madison director and researcher Jill Denson takes action-oriented approach to studying maternal, child health in Wisconsin
Daily Cardinal
Utilizing knowledge from her experience as a social worker, Denson evaluates reproductive justice from nuanced angles.
Energy Update: Microgrids might be part of our future solution to power grid problems
Wisconsin Public Radio
We talk with Giri Venkataramanan, the Keith and Jane Morgan Nosbusch professor of electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison and director of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium, about the state of the U.S. power grid, the influence of climate change on its future and a solution being explored at UW-Madison.
Preventing the spread of dangerous, drug-resistant fungus
Wisconsin Public Radio
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention warns they’ve seen an increase in the potentially dangerous, drug-resistant fungus Candida aurus. We speak with Dr. David Andes, a UW Health infectious disease physician and Division chief for infectious disease at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, about maintaining sterile facilities and staying safe.
A Quantum Leap In Timing
Forbes
Noted: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity explains how a gravitational field slows time. Optical lattice clocks have been used at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and at the University of Colorado Boulder to measure this gravitational time dilation on sub-centimeter scales. The ability to accurately measure minute changes in gravity will transform fields such as mineral exploration, earthquake prediction and national security.
Weather Guys roundup: Spring equinox, looking back on this winter, bomb cyclones
Wisconsin Public Radio
The spring equinox symbolizes the start of spring. That’s an occasion celebrated around the world, at festivals like Holi in India and Chunfen in China. We learn more about the equinox and more with the Weather Guys, Steve Ackerman and Jon Martin, both professors of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison.
Energy Update: Microgrids might be part of our future solution to power grid problems
Wisconsin Public Radio
We talk with Giri Venkataramanan, an engineering professor and researcher at UW-Madison, about the state of the U.S. power grid, the influence of climate change on its future and a solution being explored at UW-Madison.
Studies show rates of Black infant, maternal deaths increase in 2020, 2021
WISC-TV 3
New data out this month from national health leaders show infant and maternal mortality rates have been on the rise the last few years. Additionally, people of color remain disproportionately affected.
“In some ways, this is not unexpected, per se,” Dr. Tiffany Green of UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health said. “You know, it’s hard sometimes because people were like, ‘Oh, this is a big deal.’ And we’re like, ‘Well, we’ve been talking about this for a very, very long time.’”
Update about efforts to manage Wisconsin’s aquatic invasive species
Wisconsin Public Radio
Sea lampreys, zebra mussels and white perch are a few of the aquatic invasive species in Wisconsin. We catch up with the efforts to control them with Tim Campbell, an aquatic invasive species outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant program.
WATCH: Early spring migratory birds returning to southern Wisconsin
WISC-TV 3
Anna Pidgeon, a professor of forest and wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, joins Live at Four to share what to look for as migratory birds return to southern Wisconsin.
UW-Madison researchers studying new approach to protect bats from white-nose syndrome
Wisconsin Public Radio
A new strategy to combat the deadly white-nose syndrome decimating bat populations in Wisconsin and other states is being studied by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
What’s happening at the Foxconn site in Wisconsin five years after the company announced its plans
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It signed an $100 million agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and several local agreements to build “innovation centers” in Racine, Green Bay and Eau Claire. However outside of signing the agreements, not much else has been done.
The $100 million agreement with UW-Madison is to create the Foxconn Institute for Research in Science and Technology and a new interdisciplinary program in the College of Engineering.
UW-Madison researchers receive grant to help protect bats
WKOW-TV 27
They’ll be looking into ways to protect bats from the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome. The syndrome causes bats to wake up from hibernation and burn up fat they need to survive the winter.
Department of Energy grant funds next five years of Great Lakes biofuel research
Daily Cardinal
The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) announced an additional five years of grant funding from the DOE on March 17. Funding is expected to reach $27.5 million this year, with a ceiling of up to $147.5 million over the next five years.
Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center receives $27.5M to develop cleaner fuel alternatives
Wisconsin Public Radio
Efforts to develop sustainable fuels as an alternative to gasoline, diesel and other petroleum-derived products are receiving renewed federal support at a University of Wisconsin-based research center.
Opinion | Proposed soot standards are not enough
The Capital Times
If the EPA followed these recommendations, some studies estimate that the number of lives saved per year would increase to 20,000. That estimate climbs even as high as 53,000 nationwide, according to a 2022 study conducted by the University of Wisconsin, with 150 of those in Wisconsin alone.