Colorado’s healthiest counties are also among its most affluent, according to a new county health rankings analysis by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Douglas County ranks as healthiest in Colorado
Axios Denver
Category: Research
UW-Madison researchers say second hunt risked wolves possibly becoming endangered or extinct in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Radio
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a second wolf hunt last year would have risked Wisconsin’s wolf population dropping to undesirable levels that include the wolf possibly becoming endangered or extinct in Wisconsin.
UW Veterinary Care offers rabbit vaccine against fatal disease
NBC-15
Researchers say a fatal rabbit hemorrhagic disease, RHDV2, is spreading across the U.S. In response to the outbreak, the UW Veterinary Care Special Species Health Service at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine is offering an emergency-authorized vaccine against the disease for rabbits.
In Praise of Anxiety
WSJ
A similar effect comes from being in the presence of others, which can cause anxiety in some contexts but can also provide a pathway out. Research shows that receiving direct social support is one of the best ways to manage all types of distress, including anxiety. A 2006 study from the University of Wisconsin, for example, brought participants into the lab to take part in a high-anxiety situation: They entered a loud, claustrophobic MRI machine to have their brain scanned and were told to expect electrical shocks in the course of the procedure. One third of the group were allowed to hold the hand of a loved one, one third held the hand of a stranger, and the last third were left alone.
The Oldest County in Every State
24/7 Tempo
Supplemental data on total population is also based on five-year estimates from the 2020 ACS. Data on life expectancy by county came from the 2021 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a joint program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The identity of county seats comes from the National Association of Counties County Explorer.
Are you muted? Not exactly, finds UW-Madison privacy researcher
Spectrum News
An investigation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers found when using video chat platforms, your microphone is still on when you’re muted.
UW study finds most teens have healthy relationship with technology
WISC-TV 3
A new study from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health found that over 60% of teens have a healthy relationship with technology. Researchers looked at almost 4,000 parent-teen pairs, observing digital media use and family dynamics.
UW researchers study health outcomes of Black women in academia
Badger Herald
High-stress work environment linked to negative mental, physical health outcomes, research aims to inform policy change.
Opinion: Ending access to legal abortion has potentially deadly health consequences for Wisconsin women
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Co-authored by Jenny Higgins, PhD, MPH, a professor of gender and women’s studies and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
Healthy alternatives to coffee for those looking to cut back and try something new
Women & Home
And numerous studies agree. Exercise has generally been found to be a real energy booster for many people, including those with various medical conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, among others.
Bioethanol: We have way too much corn.
Slate
In February, Tyler Lark, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, published a study analyzing the impact of the RFS. Lark and his colleagues researched the impact the policy had on crop prices and farm expansion between 2008 and 2016, comparing the real-world situation with a counterfactual one where biofuel production was kept at levels mandated in an earlier version of the RFS.
Straight coils for twisty reactors give new shape to nuclear fusion
New Atlas
Lonigro and her colleagues came to this realization by experimenting with a mathematical technique called “spline representation,” which they used to improve the computer code that generates designs for magnetic coils. This led to the design of magnets with straighter sections but still a strong and accurate enough magnetic field to confine the plasma. As a demonstration, the scientists designed straighter and simpler new magnets for an experimental stellarator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dallas County ranks as healthiest in Iowa
Axios Des Moines
Our neighbors in Dallas County are the healthiest in Iowa, according to a report released last week by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
New study finds liquid brine clears Wisconsin highways faster
NBC-15
A recent report released by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety Lab found use of liquid brine in winter highway maintenance cleared Wisconsin highways faster.
UW-Madison team looks to bring carbon capture to market
Wisconsin State Journal
Researchers at UW-Madison have developed a way to pull carbon dioxide from the air and store the heat-trapping gas in solid particles that can be turned into building materials.
Critical forecast tool upgraded just in time for 2022 Atlantic hurricane season
New York Post
A crucial tool that meteorologists use to forecast hurricanes is being upgraded just in time for the start of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.
The University of Wisconsin announced the significant upgrade to the Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) and says it will use full-resolution images from weather satellites, better identification of the storm eye location and the ability to analyze hurricanes occurring outside tropical regions.
ADT was developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS).
“The ADT itself is not a prediction tool, but it does help describe the current state of tropical cyclone intensity, which provides the critical starting point for both forecaster and model-based predictions of future track and intensity,” says senior scientist Christopher Velden, who leads the CIMSS Tropical Cyclone Group.
A longevity expert says you can extend your life span if you eat more carbs and less protein and fast every 3 months
Insider
Noted: Diets high in plant-based carbs and fats and low in meat and processed food may be best for longevity, according to the researchers, Valter Longo, a professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, and Rozalyn M. Anderson of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
American families need to earn $35.80 an hour just to make ends meet. Few earn that.
CBS News
Noted: An hourly wage of $35.80 equates to about $74,400 in annual income. The average hourly wage stood at $31.73 in March, or about $66,000 annually, according to the latest government data. That means many families are falling behind in their ability to afford the basics, said Marjory Givens, co-director at the County Health Rankings, which is a program of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Iowa counties ranked in terms of health by University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
The Courier
Newly released rankings on the health of people in each county in the United States has Black Hawk and Bremer counties on opposite ends of the spectrum.
The rankings, put together by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute using new data, are meant to help people “understand what influences how long and how well we live.”
Opinion: Cooperation between U.S. public and private sectors will be critical in the years ahead
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: Tana Johnson is a faculty member in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
For many American families a living wage is out of reach: Report
ABC News
“The data reinforces what we’ve known for some time. People in both rural and urban communities face long-standing barriers, systemic barriers — avoidable barriers — that get in the way of groups of people and places in our country from being able to live long and well,” Sheri Johnson, co-director of County Health Rankings & Roadmaps and director of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, told ABC News.
Chew on this: Birds have an inactive gene for teeth
Star Tribune
Noted: A study from the University of Wisconsin tells us that birds genetically retain dental potential. But for the moment at least, in place of teeth is the bill, avian equivalent of a Swiss Army knife.
Staying safe in space: UW researchers work to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation
Spectrum News
From Mars missions to moon colonies, the human species has some ambitious travel plans in the works — ones that stretch way beyond our planet.
“Space exploration is the big challenge of this century,” said Elena D’Onghia, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Beavers and wolves are key to biodiversity in northern Wisconsin, conservancy group leader says
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Lisa Naughton is a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an expert in tropical biodiversity conservation who has also studied wolf recovery in the state.
“We have to work with private landowners. That inevitably involves some compromise, but it’s urgent,” she said. “We need to keep an eye on biodiversity beyond protected areas. We need to keep our eye on agricultural land use and industrial land use that may have cascading effects for biodiversity.
“And with effort, we can push back,” she continued. “We can turn things around for some species.”
Turns Out Biofuels Aren’t All They Were Cracked Up to Be
Mother Jones
In February 2022, Tyler Lark, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published a study analyzing the impact of the RFS. Lark and his colleagues researched the impact that the policy had on crop prices and farm expansion between 2008 and 2016, comparing the real-world situation to a counterfactual one where biofuel production was kept at levels mandated in an earlier version of the RFS.
UW students, researchers convey water issues through art for Flow Project
The Capital Times
On Earth Day, students and researchers presented artworks for the Flow Project as part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s spring water symposium.
UW to participate in Healthy Minds Survey to evaluate mental health on campus
Badger Herald
The survey examines the mental health of undergraduate and graduate students, according to the Healthy Minds website. This is the third year that the survey went out to students on campus, and the first year since 2019.
Liquid brine clears roads faster than salt, UW study finds
Wisconsin State Journal
Researchers looked at data from 143 storms occurring in 10 Wisconsin counties, comparing brine-cleared roads to those nearby cleared with traditional granular rock-salt method, the state Department of Transportation said in a report detailing the UW study.
Behind-the-scenes look at Great Lakes shipwrecks-focused video game
PBS Wisconsin
Noted: The game was produced by PBS Wisconsin Education, Wisconsin Sea Grant, and Field Day Learning Games — an educational game developer within the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research and Wisconsin educators. It complements the PBS Wisconsin Shipwrecks! documentary and virtual reality experience exploring wrecks on the bottom of Wisconsin’s Great Lakes.
A tornado emergency was declared in Arkansas but no twister confirmed
The Washington Post
Such emergency declarations are rare, but they tend to be accurate. An analysis posted to Twitter by Kaylan Patel, a meteorology student at the University of Wisconsin, found of 195 tornado emergencies declared since 1999, 92 percent contained a tornado. Jacob Feuerstein, a meteorology student at Cornell, tweeted the last tornado emergency false alarm occurred in February 2016.
Liquid brine clears Wisconsin highways faster, study says
FOX6 News Milwaukee
The use of liquid brine is more effective at keeping highways safe during the winter months, a new report says.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) Lab looked at data from 143 storms occurring in 10 counties across Wisconsin. It compared brine-cleared routes to those nearby cleared with a traditional granular rock-salt method. The researchers found use of liquid brine in winter highway maintenance cleared Wisconsin highways faster, provided better friction on roadways, and reduced overall salt usage.
This Is America’s Dirtiest City
Stacker
To that score, 24/7 Tempo added each municipality’s average daily PM2.5 (the concentration of particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers) per cubic meter of air for each city’s county, drawn from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Population figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey five-year estimates. (See how the population of every state has changed since 1880.)
Staying safe in space: UW researchers work to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation
Spectrum News
From Mars missions to moon colonies, the human species has some ambitious travel plans in the works — ones that stretch way beyond our planet.
“Space exploration is the big challenge of this century,” said Elena D’Onghia, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This is the state where food stamps are used the most, according to data
Stacker
The University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Research on Poverty found the effect food stamps have in lowering poverty rates are declining. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Policy Forum released a report in September 2020 showing a 21% rise in FoodShare (SNAP) recipients in the last year, attributed to the pandemic.
‘Everything needs to get cleaned up’: UW professor breaks down the latest UN climate change report
Spectrum News
When it comes to the climate crisis, Gregory Nemet has some good news and some bad news.
“The climate problem is getting worse,” said Nemet, a professor at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. “But the solutions are getting better.”
The fossil fuel divestment debate on college campuses
Wisconsin Public Radio
There is a growing movement of climate change activists on university campuses pressuring their schools to divest from the oil and gas industries. But is fossil fuel divestment effective or a distraction? We talk to the moderator of an upcoming UW-Madison panel discussion of the issue.
Report: Pandemic triggers record spike in Wisconsin entrepreneurship
The Capital Times
“We might have expected uncertainty about the pandemic and its effects on employment, income, healthcare, and safety to have stifled entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurship, which is already seen as risky, could have appeared even more so during the global COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote authors Hannah Julian, Ted Callon and Tessa Conroy in a report for UW-Madison Extension’s WIndicators series.
Gulf Stream Collapse Will Likely Not Cause Climate Catastrophe
Forbes
But most simulations of our climate’s future may be overly sensitive to Arctic ice melt as a cause of abrupt changes in ocean circulation, according to new research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Bison: The biggest, baddest animal in Wisconsin (sort of)
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: The big mammals — mammoths, mastodons and giant beavers — came later. They were Ice Age creatures, living in Wisconsin from between 2.5 million and 11,500 years ago.
“It’s a little bit like yesterday for a geologist,” Brooke Norstead, assistant director of the University of Wisconsin Geology Museum, said.
And just like yesterday, there was a big animal roaming that huge ice sheet — so vast you could walk to the North Pole on it without touching land — that may sound familiar.
“There was an animal called a stag moose,” Norstead said. “Imagine a supersize moose, with even more interesting antlers.”
Warren Porter is a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies animal shape and size.
“One of the evolutionary benefits of being a large or very large animal is … that you don’t have to deal with as much threat of predation and may be able to better defend your young,” Porter said.
Team at UW–Madison creates material six times tougher than Kevlar
Spectrum News
A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has created a material that is tougher than Kevlar, which is found in bulletproof vests.
It’s a project they hope can help save lives.
The material in small scale is almost comparable to the look of electrical tape. However, it’s much different and much stronger. So what’s inside that makes it so strong? Engineering and physics assistant professor Ramathasan Thevamaran has the answer.
“It’s a nano fiber mat made out of carbon nanotubes and Kevlar nano fibers,” Thevamaran said.
Must-have plants to help Wisconsin’s native bees
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
One of the more important steps backyard gardeners can take to help disappearing native bees is to grow native plants that provide continuous blooms throughout the season, according to Susan Carpenter, plant curator at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.
How to help Wisconsin’s disappearing native bees in your yard
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Native plant curator Susan Carpenter with the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in Madison said they detected the rusty patched at the Arboretum about 10 years ago. “That started us on this voyage of discovery,” she said. When the rusty patched was declared endangered, she said, “people just went crazy on that.”
UW-Madison students, researchers work on development of a bird flu vaccine
WKOW-TV 27
As highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, continues to spread across Wisconsin, researchers and students at UW-Madison are trying to make a difference by developing a bird flu vaccine.
Wisconsin sees sharp increase in Type 2 diabetes among children, according to UW Health Kids data
Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin doctors are seeing a steady increase in the number of children diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes — a disease that primarily affects adults — which may be linked to COVID-19.
Data released last week by UW Health Kids shows a nearly 200 percent increase in the number of cases of Type 2 diabetes over the past four years.
While this is a trend medical experts have noticed for years, Dr. Elizabeth Mann, a pediatric endocrinologist and director of the Type 2 Diabetes Program at UW Health Kids, said it’s taken a worrisome turn recently.
More than Just Rocks: A Tour of the University of Wisconsin Museum of Geology
WORT FM
When people think about geology, most people will think of well… rocks. But the geology museum on the UW-Madison campus shows that geology is much more than rocks, it’s rocks from space, bones, and fossilized dino-droppings.
Last month, WORT reporter Andie Barrow went to the Museum of Geology to learn what makes the museum special.
‘Buyer beware’: Many CBD products in Wisconsin not accurately labeled, new study finds
Wisconsin Public Radio
A University of Wisconsin-Madison study finds many cannabidiol, or CBD, products sold in southwestern Wisconsin don’t deliver what they promise on the label. One of the study’s authors says a lack of regulation and oversight is to blame.
Internet Praises Woman Refusing To Pay Estranged Father’s Medical Bills
Newsweek
Using data from 2000 to 2008, the Center for the Demography of Health and Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison researched the implications of parental divorce on estranged fathers and their relationships with adult children—particularly when there has been a new relationship since the divorce.
Gas prices: Biden will expand ethanol gas access into summer
USA Today
A Harvard study last year showed the use and production of ethanol emits up to 46% fewer greenhouse gasses than gasoline. A University of Wisconsin study has challenged that finding, saying ethanol is worse for the environment than gasoline, based on changes in how land is used to grow the corn used to produce it. But the Argonne National Laboratory disagreed with the Wisconsin study last month, saying the group overestimated carbon loss from soil and double-counted some emissions, among other concerns.
Sahotra Sarkar: Meet the UW chemist who cracked the DNA code
Wisconsin State Journal
Har Gobind Khorana emerged from this background to receive a Nobel Prize in 1968 at UW-Madison for deciphering the genetic code that translates DNA sequences into the protein molecules that carry out the functions of living cells.
3 areas of improvement for One City Schools: Staffing, transparency, communication
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison researchers in partnership with the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative interviewed teachers, staff, including leadership staff, and families between January 2021 and September; observed preschool and elementary classrooms; sent surveys to staff, teachers and families; and analyzed documents from One City Schools including reports, newsletters and administrative documents to compile the first phase of the report.
Wanted: A Quantum-Ready U.S. Workforce
Forbes
Based at the University of Chicago, the CQE is built around the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Northwestern University. Its members also include more than 130 researchers at universities, laboratories and even in business research sites around the world focused on quantum sensing, communications, computing, materials, optics, nanomechanics as well as topological and device physics.
Interns at these companies can take home six figures
CBS News
About half of those students who were lucky enough to snag internships during the pandemic had to complete them remotely, according to a 2021 workforce study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Remote interns reported lower satisfaction in part because managers were less likely to assign them “high-skill supervised work,” according to the study.
Racial disparities in homeownership are a statewide problem in Wisconsin. Milwaukee’s affordable housing plan is one effort to address it.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Written by Joe Peterangelo, a senior researcher for the Wisconsin Policy Forum and Ned Littlefield, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a research fellow with the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
Climate report: Despite dire warnings, UW-Madison prof optimistic
Wisconsin State Journal
After three years of work on a report warning that time is running out to head off a climate disaster, Greg Nemet is optimistic about the planet’s chances.Nemet, a professor at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, was one of the lead authors of a report on ways to slow climate change released Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Drug-releasing hydrogel keeps cancer from returning after surgery
New Atlas
After surgery to remove tumors, some cancer cells can be left behind where they can grow back or spread to a new part of the body. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have now developed a hydrogel that can be applied post-surgery to prevent or slow tumor regrowth
Stephanie Foo book What My Bones Know excerpt: What is complex PTSD?
Slate
Then I read a section in one of the books that featured a long line of photos of a woman making various expressions—transitioning slowly from a sad face to an angry one. A study at the University of Wisconsin showed these pictures to children who had not experienced abuse, then to children who had. The abused kids thought that more of these photos presented an angry threat than the children from normal homes did. They were hyperalert to even the smallest twinges in facial expressions.
Report ties COVID-19 deaths to poverty, systemic policy failures
Wisconsin Examiner
Quoted: The report’s findings confirm other research that has shown the link between poverty and COVID-19, says Tiffany Green, a University of Wisconsin economist who researches the impact of race and economics on health.
“This is not about individual behavior,” Green said in an interview. “It’s about what kinds of social conditions place people at risk.”
Early in the Wisconsin pandemic, outbreaks occurred in the meatpacking industry in Brown County. “And because of the way our occupational system is structured, they were disproportionately likely to be Hispanic immigrants,” Green says. “And they were working under conditions that were not properly regulated, that were not safe, when it comes to trying to prevent COVID.”
Business Class: Madison startup develops conversational AI tech for healthcare uses
Wisconsin State Journal
The report touted Madison as a center for research (the third category), but suggested that in order to keep up with the country’s emergent AI industry, local business leaders should forge more corporate research partnerships with UW-Madison, promoting entrepreneurship and encouraging local job retention and attraction.
Egg prices jump as bird flu hits U.S. poultry flocks – MarketWatch
MarketWatch
(Photo caption) Microbiologist Anne Vandenburg-Carroll tests poultry samples collected from a farm located in a control area for the presence of avian influenza, or bird flu, at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 24, 2022 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Study co-authored by a UW researcher finds benefit to treating women even with just mild high blood pressure
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Pregnant women with mild high blood pressure and their babies can benefit from treatment, according to a large study co-authored by a researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.