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Category: Research

Big oil firms touted algae as climate solution. Now all have pulled funding

The Guardian

“It’s very challenging and very expensive to bring these technologies to market,” said George Huber, whose biofuels research at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was funded by Exxon for years. “It’s not gonna happen overnight. It’s great they make these commitments, but you know they need to start putting more capital into these projects.”

Scientists unlock new information about Wisconsin’s climate in Cave of the Mounds. Here’s what they found.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A new study, published in Nature Geoscience, found there were abrupt changes in Wisconsin’s climate that have a “credible link” to a major warming episode in Greenland between 48,000 and 68,000 years ago.

As the climate is projected to get warmer, scientists can look back at these major warming events for clues about what to expect in the future, said Cameron Batchelor, lead author on the study and now a post-doctoral researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study was a part of her doctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Stalagmite from Cave of the Mounds shows evidence of sudden warming during last ice age

Wisconsin Public Radio

Researchers with the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a stalagmite from Cave of the Mounds in southern Wisconsin holds clues about the impact of abrupt, global climate changes during the last ice age. A team of UW-Madison scientists led by Cameron Batchelor removed a stalagmite about the length of a pinky finger and used chemical and physical analysis to detect telltale signs of sudden warming in the atmosphere.  A paper on their research was published this month in the journal Nature Geoscience.

“This work really puts Wisconsin on the map in terms of showing that this region of the world is not immune to these abrupt climate change events,” Batchelor told Wisconsin Public Radio.

Can new, sweeter beets defeat stigmas? Wisconsin breeders hope so

Wisconsin Public Radio

“It’s no longer your grandmother’s pickled beets,” said Adam D’Angelo, a UW-Madison graduate student and plant biologist. “You go to the grocery store, and you find beet juice, beet chips, beet this and beet that.” D’Angelo and UW-Madison horticulture professor Irwin Goldman recently appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Larry Meiller Show” to discuss their work redesigning beets for modern tastes. Goldman said people often complain “about the fact that they taste like dirt.”

“You look at it, and you think of the huddled masses of our ancestors and their old-style foods,” Goldman said. “But there’s something about its earthiness, about its color and its beauty that I find has grown on me over the years I’ve worked on it.”

It’s been more than a decade since Wisconsin cracked down on phosphorus. Has it helped protect our lakes and rivers?

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Phosphorus runoff also increases after extreme precipitation events, which are projected to be more frequent as the climate changes. A 2017 study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology found that phosphorus “pulses” into waterways after extreme rainfall, building on previous research that showed waterways receive most of their phosphorus in just a dozen or two events per year. The bigger the rainstorm, the more phosphorus was flushed downstream, the UW study found.

Gain-Of-Function Research And Covid-19: Could Too Much Oversight Slow Progress?

Forbes

The broader debate over gain-of-function experiments certainly did not begin with Covid-19. The current discourse largely can be traced back to 2011. In that year, virologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Erasmus Medical Center independently reported that they had genetically modified the avian influenza virus A/H5N1 to make it transmissible among ferrets. Why is this noteworthy? The A/H5N1 virus has a high mortality rate in humans. However, human-to-human transmission is limited.

A simple way to mitigate doctor burnout

Washington Examiner

A controlled (but not randomized) study performed at the University of Wisconsin Health evaluated the impact of scribes on physicians involved in primary patient care. In the study, which included 37 scribe users and 68 controls, scribes were physically off-site and joined patient visits via an audio-only cellphone connection to hear and document visits in real time.

A prolific fundraiser, Rebecca Blank reshaped UW-Madison research, finances

Wisconsin State Journal

Rebecca Blank’s influence can be seen in some unexpected places.

It’s embedded in a nationwide breast cancer database that examined how long patients could delay surgical treatments at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s noticeable in research endeavors she helped make possible. It’s found, subtly, in portraits hanging at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

USF researcher living 30 feet underwater in Key Largo

Axios Tampa Bay

He’s advancing conclusions from a University of Wisconsin study, where cells exposed to increased pressure doubled within five days — suggesting increased pressure has the potential to allow humans to live longer and prevent diseases associated with aging.

A bipartisan consensus could be growing on how to teach reading statewide

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In 2021, the DPI and the Wisconsin Center of Education Research at UW-Madison surveyed school districts statewide about the curriculums they use for teaching reading. Participation was voluntary; more than 80% of districts responded. Of those, 79% were using curriculums that were not listed by a national nonprofit organization called EdReports as meeting quality expectations. DPI recommends that districts use programs recommended by the organization.

States With the Most Cancer Cases Linked to Alcohol

24/7 Tempo

Excessive drinking rates are from the 2022 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program, produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Population data came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey.

Hitting the Books: Why America once leaded its gasoline

Engadget

In early 1921 Kettering learned about Victor Lehner’s synthesis of selenium oxychloride at the University of Wisconsin. Tests showed it to be a highly effective but, as expected, also a highly corrosive anti-knocking compound, but they led directly to considering compounds of other elements in group 16 of the periodic table: both diethyl selenide and diethyl telluride showed even better anti-knocking properties, but the latter compound was poisonous when inhaled or absorbed through skin and had a powerful garlicky smell.

Camel antibodies could help pioneer future medicine

Knowable Magazine

Every four months, pathologist Aaron LeBeau scoops into a net one of the five nurse sharks he keeps in his University of Wisconsin lab. Then he carefully administers a shot to the animal, much like a pediatrician giving a kid a vaccine. The shot will immunize the shark against a human cancer, perhaps, or an infectious disease, such as Covid-19. A couple of weeks later, after the animal’s immune system has had time to react, LeBeau collects a small vial of shark blood.

Like her mom, UW professor battled breast cancer. Now she’s the first to complete vaccine trial.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Dr. Eva Vivian was a teenager when her mother, not yet 40, learned she had a breast tumor.Vivian’s memories aren’t pleasant.

“The only option was a mastectomy. They were mean to women back then. It was a male-dominated profession,” said Vivian, a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Pharmacy. “There wasn’t a lot of empathy toward women who developed breast cancer.”

People respond positively to humanlike robots, UW researcher finds

The Badger Herald

Alumni, students and staff gathered in the Discovery Building Tuesday evening to learn about robot-human interactions. Computer Sciences Professor Bilge Mutlu gave a talk titled “What Can Robots Tell Us About Our Humanity,” which explored research on human fascination with robotic technology.

You Can Change Your Attachment Style

The Atlantic

In a series of experiments, Harlow, a University of Wisconsin psychologist, separated baby rhesus monkeys from their mothers and placed them in cages. In one study, each monkey was alone with two “surrogate mothers”: one made of wire, which dispensed milk, and the other made of terry cloth, which did not.

The Lab Report: How past life could predict otherworldly life

The Badger Herald

Kaçar is an assistant professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin and the director of NASA’s Interdisciplinary Consortium for Astrobiology Research program. Through her work, Kaçar ties together the cosmos and biology to address several questions regarding past life on earth and possible otherworldly life — where did life evolve from? Are humans alone? Are there other forms of life to exist?

PETA takes credit for ending sheep experiments, but UW-Madison cites funding lapse

Wisconsin State Journal

Earlier this week, animal activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) put out a statement saying its protests had pushed the Navy to nix the partnership with UW-Madison. But it was lack of funding that prompted the university and the Navy to jointly agree to end the experiments, Michelle Ciucci, UW-Madison Animal Program faculty director said.

UW study focuses on recruiting Black participants to make Alzheimer’s research more inclusive

WISC-TV 3

“African Americans lead in Alzheimer’s disease. And yet, in terms of being participants in the research, our numbers are very small,” said study recruiter Dr. Fabu Carter. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Black Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to develop Alzheimer’s. However, they are often severely underrepresented in research.

Size, Sex and Breed May Predict Dogs’ Cancer Diagnosis

Scientific American

To determine what factors were associated with age of cancer diagnosis, Flory and her team at PetDx evaluated previously collected data from 3,452 dogs in three separate groups. Two of those groups of samples came from academic sites within the U.S.: one from the University of California, Davis, and another from a consortium that included Colorado State University, the Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and others.

Could fuel from plants replace petroleum? Wisconsin researchers think so

Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center are creating carbon-neutral fuels they hope to power the transportation sector through deconstructed, nonfood plant materials.

“We are producing the basic science knowledge on campus to generate the fuels and chemicals that will allow us to have a decarbonized economy and create environmental and economic benefits for the people of Wisconsin and around the United States,” said Tim Donohue, principal investigator and director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.

30 Plants You Can Grow In An Indoor Hydroponic Garden

House Digest

Arugula (Eruca sativa) isn’t only delicious on sandwiches, bagels, and salads, but it’s also super simple to grow in a hydroponic garden, as told by Eden Green. Like other leafy greens, this plant is packed with good things such as vitamin K and iron. When growing arugula in a traditional garden, it is known to become weedy, as per the University of Wisconsin-Madison, so planting it indoors this way offers multiple benefits.

How AI can detect heart attack risk and outsmart No. 1 killer in US

CNBC

Cleerly has established a number of partnerships, including American College of Cardiology, Canon Medical, Heartbeat Health and several others. Cleerly works with a number of universities for its studies and clinical trials, including Mass General Brigham, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin, Oregon Health Sciences University, George Washington University, Houston Methodist Hospital, UCLA and Scripps Clinic.

Groups seek to bar the use of hounds while hunting in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: Wisconsin’s wolf population fell around 14 percent to 972 wolves after the 2021 wolf hunt, according to the Wisconsin DNR. Even so, state wildlife managers say data indicates the state’s wolf population is stable. However, some researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say the agency is overestimating the state’s wolf population.

Climate change is making conditions harder for Wisconsin trout. But there is hope.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: In a study published in the journal Ecosphere in December, Alex Latzka, a fisheries biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Bryan Maitland, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Aquatic Sciences Center, compared annual brook and brown trout population numbers over nearly three decades with climate and weather data from the streams the trout swam in.

Direct Air Capture Could Help Pull Carbon Dioxide From the Sky

Business Insider

“The next decade is crucial because the amount of deployment required in the second half of the century will only be feasible if we see substantial new deployment in the next 10 years,” Gregory Nemet, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a coauthor of the report, said during a press call.

How to protect your pets during flu season

Axios Dallas

They’ve spent the last few months working with the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s veterinary medicine school to coordinate a “clean break” among their dogs, housing exposed dogs in a separate area from others.

UW-Madison professor creates beet that actually tastes good

Wisconsin State Journal

Irwin Goldman has spent much of his career de-beeting the beet. A horticulture professor at UW-Madison, Goldwin is a plant breeder focusing on onions, carrots and beets in his lab. And while carrots and onions are just fine, beets take priority for him, since he’s the only person in the nation who’s working on breeding the plant.

Cancer blood test using DNA fragments brings hope for earlier detection, say researchers

Fox News

A University of Wisconsin­–Madison research team was able to detect cancer in the bloodstream in most of the samples tested, it said. Muhammed Murtaza, professor of surgery at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health based in Madison, Wisconsin, led the study, which was published recently in Science Translational Medicine, a medical journal from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, according to the study’s press release.

Global Carbon Removal Efforts Are Off Track for Meeting Climate Goals

Scientific American

“Carbon removal looks a lot like renewables did like 25 years ago,” said Gregory Nemet, an environmental policy expert at the University of Wisconsin and one of the report’s co-authors. “Interesting technology: [It] could be really helpful for climate change, but [it’s] still small and not taken very seriously — in part because there wasn’t a lot of data about how much these technologies cost, how much we would need or how much there even was.”

Scientists study crowdsourced trail camera photos of Wisconsin wildlife

Wisconsin Public Radio

Snapshot Wisconsin has collected more than 2 million images caught on motion-sensor trail cameras. Researchers have looked at many of the photos and found further evidence of animals changing their behavior due to the presence of humans and loss of habitat.

Interview with associate professor Benjamin Zuckerberg, and Jonathan Pauli, a professor of wildlife ecology, both in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology.

Las Vegas valley flood patterns are changing, new study shows

KLAS

This change in the urbanization of the valley is the focus of a new study published on Jan. 6 in The Journal of Hydrometeorology, from the Desert Research Institute (DRI), the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, the University of Wisconsin- Madison, and Guangdong University of Technology. The study shows that flood intensity in the valley took an “abrupt shift” in the mid-1990s.