Health officials are interested in first responders, daycare and grocery store workers, and retail employees, among other workers, joining the study.
UW COVID prevention study expands enrollment to essential workers
WISC-TV 3
Category: Research
UW researchers encourage essential workers to participate in COVID-19 prevention study
NBC-15
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health researchers are encouraging essential workers Tuesday who cannot work remotely to take part in a study that will look into practices to prevent COVID-19 infections.
When Will Kids Get COVID Vaccines?
Scientific American
Quoted: Given that most kids are at low risk for complications from COVID, the need for a pediatric vaccine for the disease may not seem pressing. But scientists say the pandemic may never be fully controlled until kids are inoculated. When we only vaccinate adults, we leave vulnerable “an enormous, immunologically naive population,” says James H. Conway, a pediatrician and associate director for health sciences at the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Without a pediatric vaccine, “the disease, even if our kids don’t get super sick with it, is going to be there and continue to circulate routinely.”
How school lunch could improve when classrooms are full again
The Conversation
Jennifer Gaddis, Assistant Professor of Civil Society & Community Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison: Before the pandemic, a growing number of schools were employing cafeteria staff to cook nutritious meals from scratch, and implementing farm-to-school programs and other practicesto improve jobs, local economies and the environment.
Due to fewer kids eating school meals during the pandemic and the increased costs associated with COVID-19 safety protocols, these positive changes may stall, or even be reversed.
My research suggests these reforms are needed to transform the school lunch experience and maximize the ability of school meals to improve public health and contribute to a post-pandemic economic recovery.
‘I’m empty.’ Pandemic scientists are burning out—and don’t see an end in sight
Science Magazine
Quoted: “The pace that led to the incredible generation of knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 has put enormous demands on the people who are expected to generate that knowledge,” says David O’Connor, a viral sequencing expert at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who has been tracking the spread of the virus, doing Zoom Q&A sessions with the vaccine hesitant, and helping neighborhood schools set up diagnostic testing. “This is a terrible time and we should all do what we can to help. But is it going to be sustainable?”
The depths of Lake Michigan are getting warmer, new study reveals. That could mean more snow and less ice
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: The warming of the lake could also result in changes in the amount of snow seen around the lake, said Michael Notaro, the associate director of the Nelson Institute Center for Climate Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“The warming lake waters and declining lake ice cover support enhanced lake evaporation and lake-effect precipitation during the cold season. As the lakes warm in the cold season, the temperature difference between the water and overlying air increases, supporting greater turbulent fluxes of heat and moisture from the lake to the atmosphere,” he said in an email. “That favors more vertical atmospheric motion that can support cloud and precipitation formation in the cold season.”
Bacteria from cat-scratch fever potentially linked to schizophrenia, study says
Wisconsin State Journal
Infection from bacteria associated with cat-scratch disease could potentially play a role in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, according a pilot study conducted in part by a UW-Madison veterinary medicine professor.
When Does Tick Season Start?
Consumer Reports
If you find a tick—attached or not—and are curious about what kind it is, several free services can help you identify the species from a photograph. Mather at the University of Rhode Island runs one of these services, called TickSpotters. The University of Wisconsin at Madison also runs the photograph-based Tick Identification Service for residents of Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
UW participated in under-review AstraZeneca vaccine trial
Badger Herald
Chief UW Health experts says the vaccine is safe and effective — it is just a matter of figuring out how effective it is.
Trying to conceive: 10 tips for women
LiveScience
Women who are underweight, with a BMI less than 18, might not be getting regular periods or could stop ovulating, which also hinders their ability to become pregnant, according to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority.
AstraZeneca reports 79% effectiveness rate for COVID vaccine in trial, conducted in part at UW-Madison
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
AstraZeneca reported Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection among adults of all ages in a long-anticipated U.S. study, a finding that could help rebuild public confidence in the shot around the world and move it a step closer to clearance in the U.S.
Report: $15 Minimum Wage Would Help 30 Percent Of Wisconsin Workers
Wisconsin Public Radio
A new report from a think tank at the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would help three out of 10 Wisconsin workers, and work to close racial and gender pay gaps in the state.
The report, from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), finds that 843,000 workers — or 21 percent of workers in the state — currently make less than $15 an hour and would be directly impacted by a boost to the minimum wage.
Madison companies still pursuing COVID-19 vaccines, saying more options needed
Wisconsin State Journal
Even with three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. and others possibly available soon, two UW-Madison spinoff companies continue to pursue coronavirus vaccine candidates they say could find a niche.
UW study: Climate change linked to longer ‘dead zones’ in lakes
WISC-TV 3
A newly published study done on Lake Mendota says climate change is linked to longer lasting dead zones. In the summer, lakes can settle into having two layers of water, a phenomena known at stratification. Warm water is lighter and sits on the top of the lake, while colder water sits at the bottom of the lake.
VA funds UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine cancer study in dogs
NBC-15
A new study at the University Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine is combining canines, cancer and the military.
Study: We’ve Lost More Than 20 Million Years of Life to COVID-19
Spectrum News
Quoted: “It’s just a very large number,” said Adeline Lo, an assistant professor of political science at UW-Madison who worked on the study. “Sometimes it’s even hard to think about what that actually means.”
Racial diversity in children’s books grows, but slowly
The Washington Post
Kids are seeing more of these possibilities in the books they read as authors make a bigger push to reflect the diversity around them. Racial diversity in children’s books has been picking up since 2014, reversing a 25-year plateau, according to Kathleen T. Horning, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center.
Anesthesia monitoring changes suggested by UW study of consciousness in monkeys
Wisconsin State Journal
Electrodes placed on the foreheads of patients to check for consciousness during general anesthesia might work better if moved to the back of the head, according to UW-Madison researchers who studied electrical activity in the brains of monkeys.
How to Debunk Misinformation about COVID, Vaccines and Masks
Scientific American
In a 2015 study, Leticia Bode and Emily K. Vraga, both then at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, found that this kind of corrective juxtapositioning can reduce users’ misperceptions.
Scientists launching cat-and-mouse game with COVID because ‘we’re seeing variants arise like crazy’
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: “We don’t know if we have to do it for the long-term, like with influenza, but it’s smart for vaccine companies to be gearing up,” said Kristen Bernard, a professor of virology at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s school of veterinary medicine.
Coyotes among us: Wily survivalists spotted throughout Madison, but few conflicts reported
Wisconsin State Journal
“They’re here,” said David Drake, a UW-Madison professor and extension wildlife specialist who uses radio collars to track and study Madison’s coyotes. “A lot of people don’t even know they’re wandering through the neighborhood.”
Stem cell therapy reverses Parkinson’s symptoms in monkeys, UW-Madison study says
Wisconsin State Journal
Using stem cells from monkeys with a condition like Parkinson’s disease, UW-Madison researchers grew brain cells that produce a chemical depleted by the disease. When they injected the cells into the monkeys’ brains, the animals’ Parkinson’s-like rigid movements were replaced by more fluid walking and climbing.
UW professor receives Research Service Grant Award for project examining discrepancies in U.S. midwifery
Badger Herald
“It really concerns me that that’s the case even within midwifery which does offer a really beautiful model but again is hampered by these exclusions still being perpetuated even with this potentially transformative model of care,” UW professor says.
Emmy Award-Winning Journalist Linsey Davis On Teaching Representation To Children
Forbes
Diversity and representation in children’s literature has always been skewed. According to a 2018 study by the librarians at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 10% of children’s books depict the main characters as Black, and just 4% of executive-level publishing professionals and literary agents are Black.
POV: Why Halting Publication of Six Dr. Seuss Books Is the Right Call
BU Today
The recent controversy surrounding Dr. Seuss allows us an opportunity to reflect broadly on the need for more positive representation in children’s books. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison determined that in 2019, books depicting either white main characters or animals and nonhuman objects—such as trucks—made up 71 percent of all books published, leaving little room (29 percent) for books depicting any main characters of color (11.9 percent Black, for instance, and 5.3 percent Latinx).
Scott Walker’s War on Unions Fueled New Wave of Labor Organizing
Teen Vogue
In the last decade, Act 10 has hurt Wisconsin. A report by the School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin found a 70% decline in public-sector union membership from 2010 to 2017.
A year changed some of what we knew about COVID and who it affects most. But heartbreak was the constant.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: People who live to be 75 to 79 in Wisconsin, on average are expected to live another 13 years, according to state data. That average includes people who are quite ill with health conditions, noted Pat Remington, an epidemiologist from the University of Wisconsin- Madison.
“It is amazing how long people can live with multiple chronic conditions,” Remington said. “Everyone thinks that is when people die, but at 77 they are just likely to live to 90 on average.”
‘Personalized’ grafts reverse Parkinson’s in monkeys
Medical News Today
“Those drugs work well for many patients, but the effect does not last,” says Prof. Marina Emborg, who researches Parkinson’s at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, part of the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison).
Don’t let covid-19 keep kids from playing sports
Washington Post
Let’s start with an inconvertible fact: Being outdoors is very low risk. This holds for kids and adults. A new study, out in preprint but not fully peer reviewed, from the University of Wisconsin, which followed nearly 1,000 schools and more than 150,000 athletes, found that outdoor sports had half the rate of new cases as indoor sports.
Forget what you think happiness is
The Wall Street Journal
Noted: Psychologist Richard Davidson, founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes the brain can be trained, and that exercises including short meditation practices will become routine, like running and weight lifting. Emotional well-being will be as important as physical well-being in the coming years, according to Dr. Davidson.
Pulling racist Dr. Seuss books makes kids? literature better and more inclusive, writes Meena Harris
The Washington Post
But the problem isn’t just the presence of stereotypes in children’s literature. There’s also an absence of inclusion. According to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s school of education, about half of new children’s books in 2018 centered White characters while about 1 in 4 focused on people of color.
Dr. Seuss Books Are Pulled, and a ‘Cancel Culture’ Controversy Erupts
The New York Times
Data compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education in recent years has shown a significant increase in the number of authors and characters of color in the books it tracks. There remains, however, a long way to go.
Fragile X researcher takes on COVID-19
Spectrum News
Fragile X syndrome usually arises from mutations that silence the FMR1 gene, curbing production of a protein called FMRP and leading to runaway synthesis of other proteins. SARS-CoV-2, which contains a single long stretch of RNA, hijacks the same protein production machinery to crank out more virus, making people sick in the process. Could drugs designed to thwart protein synthesis help with both? “The idea kept me awake at night for a week,” says Westmark, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
U.S. Ramps Up Covid-19 Sequencing, as New Variants Spread
The Wall Street Journal
Quoted: “Most mutations that occur do not cause the virus to be more infectious or deadly, but some variants have mutations that are more concerning,” said Ajay Sethi, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
With One Move, Congress Could Lift Millions Of Children Out Of Poverty
National Public Radio
Quoted: In 2015, Congress convened a committee to study how to cut child poverty in half within a decade. Hoynes served on that committee, as did Tim Smeeding, a professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They say the group issued a clear warning to policymakers: Alleviating child poverty would cost billions, yes, but not doing so would be even more expensive.
“We argued that the cost of not doing anything was $800 billion” in lost productivity, as well as in increased costs associated with crime and health care, Smeeding says. “On the other hand, the cost of doing one of our [recommendations] was about $100 to $110 billion — an 8-to-1 return.”
Satellite photo shows Michigan looking beautiful under full moon
Michigan Live
Noted: The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison shared the image on social media.
Wisconsin Sea Grant Releases Biennial Report Addressing Progress On Organization’s 4 Pillars
Wisconsin Public Radio
The Wisconsin Sea Grant recently released it’s biennial report addressing the organization’s progress on its four pillars: healthy coastal ecosystems; sustainable fisheries and aquaculture; resilient communities and economies; and environmental literacy and workforce development.
Part of the national Sea Grant, the Wisconsin Sea Grant has studied the Great Lakes for more than 50 years.
Jim Hurley, director of the Wisconsin Sea Grant, said it makes sense for the Great Lakes to be part of the Sea Grant because many of the issues that occur in the oceans and coasts also occur in the Great Lakes.
“Issues like sea level rise,” he said. “We’ve seen tremendous fluctuations in Great Lakes water levels. Where they may be looking on the ocean coast at small increments of sea level rise, we’ve seen changes in Lake Michigan of 4 feet over the course of maybe five or six years.”
Broken protein bridge linked to Rett syndrome traits
Spectrum News
Quoted: Because these mice mimicked Rett model mice in some ways but not in others, it may be that mCAC methylation, “although significant, does not account for the entirety of MECP2 function,” says Qiang Chang, professor of medical genetics and neurology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the work.
Scientist Recounts 1960s Yellowstone Research That Made COVID-19 PCR Tests Possible
Weather.com
Noted: Brock was a pioneer in studying microbial ecology at Yellowstone, and his research was funded by the National Science Foundation, according to a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Now 94, he retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison after a distinguished career as a professor and researcher and runs a nature conservancy with his wife, Kathie.
UW-Madison professor Tracey Holloway wants to educate moms on climate change through work with Science Moms
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As a scientist, Tracey Holloway has spent a lot of time thinking about how climate change is going to affect the world.
As a mother of two young boys, she spends a lot of time thinking about what the world will be like when her youngest son — now only 10 months — turns 30.
“It always seemed like 2050 was so far into the future, but now my baby’s going to be 30 in 2050, and that’s not that far away,” she said.
Holloway, a professor at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been studying air quality and pollution for nearly 20 years. Now, she’s teaming up with other women scientists to help make understanding climate change accessible, forming a group called Science Moms.
How 3 ‘Determined’ Green Bay women are giving a voice to anguish, resilience of Alzheimer’s families with film 10 years in making
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Noted: “Determined” tells the story of three women participating in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention, or WRAP, the world’s largest family history study of Alzheimer’s disease. The University of Wisconsin-Madison research group that began in 2001 is made up of primarily middle-aged adults with a deceased or living parent with Alzheimer’s, a factor that makes them 2½ times more likely to get the disease than those without a family history.
When There’s No Heat: ‘You Need Wood, You Get Wood’
The New York Times
The connections between climate impacts, wood supply, and poverty have drawn researchers at the University Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Wisconsin to study wood banks on a national scale. Growing out of dozens of interviews of wood bank volunteers done by Clarisse Hart, director of outreach and education at the Harvard Forest, the team has identified 82 wood banks across the country.
Scientists Just Changed the Rules of What You Can Do While You Sleep
Popular Mechanics
Quoted: Benjamin Baird, a sleep researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who wasn’t involved in this study, told Scientific American the findings “challenge our ideas about what sleep is.” SciAm has more: Sleep has classically been defined as unresponsiveness to external environmental stimuli—and that feature is still typically part of the definition today, Baird explains. “This work pushes us to think carefully—rethink, maybe—about some of those fundamental definitions about the nature of sleep itself, and what’s possible in sleep.”
Urine analysis could detect early signs of some cancers, research shows
NBC-15
UW School of Medicine and Public Health explained that the study, published in Science Translational Medicine, explains how urinalysis has been used to detect other diseases or disorders, but never cancer.
Pleasure Practices with Sami Schalk: A recipe for rest
Tone Madison
As we approach a full year of this pandemic and attempt to survive sub-zero Wisconsin winter, many of us are tired; physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I teach at UW-Madison and the beginning of the semester is always an intense energetic marathon for me so I find myself having to be extra mindful about resting. So this month’s piece isn’t about food, but about rest as a political practice of resistance.
Ancient Trees Show When The Earth’s Magnetic Field Last Flipped Out
NPR
Quoted: “That high-resolution temporal record is, I think, pretty impressive,” says Brad Singer, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the history of the Earth’s magnetic field but was not part of the research team. “This is only a small number of specimens that they measured, but the results look fairly reproducible in the different trees, and I think that’s a pretty impressive set of data.”
When There’s No Heat: ‘You Need Wood, You Get Wood.’
New York Times
Noted: The connections between climate impacts, wood supply, and poverty have drawn researchers at the University Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Wisconsin to study wood banks on a national scale. Growing out of dozens of interviews of wood bank volunteers done by Clarisse Hart, director of outreach and education at the Harvard Forest, the team has identified 82 wood banks across the country.
People Answer Scientists’ Queries in Real Time While Dreaming
Scientific American
Quoted: These findings “challenge our ideas about what sleep is,” says Benjamin Baird, a postdoctoral researcher who studies dreams at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was not involved in this study. Sleep has classically been defined as unresponsiveness to external environmental stimuli—and that feature is still typically part of the definition today, Baird explains. “This work pushes us to think carefully—rethink, maybe—about some of those fundamental definitions about the nature of sleep itself, and what’s possible in sleep.”
Scientists entered people’s dreams and got them ‘talking’
Science Magazine
Quoted: “This work challenges the foundational definitions of sleep,” says cognitive neuroscientist Benjamin Baird of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies sleep and dreams but was not part of the study. Traditionally, he says, sleep has been defined as a state in which the brain is disconnected and unaware of the outside world.
Why do people have lucid dreams? Study questions the limits of consciousness
Inverse
Quoted: “That would be a really interesting future direction of this methodology,” Benjamin Baird tells Inverse. Baird is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison who studies lucid dreams, but was not involved in this study. He also has lucid dreams himself.
How a microbiologist’s 1966 discovery in Yellowstone made millions of COVID-19 PCR tests possible
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Like so many great scientific discoveries, Tom Brock started the research that would go on to revolutionize the field of biology — and pave the road to the development of the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight a pandemic — with a question.
Nature Makes Wood. Could a Lab Make It Better?
WIRED
In addition to the tantalizing possibilities of growing whole furniture, the plant-based materials could enhance fuels and chemicals production, says Xuejun Pan, a professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who wasn’t involved in the study. “You don’t have to necessarily grow a strong piece of wood. If you can produce a biomass, for example, as a future feedstock for bioindustry—competitively and productively—that could be attractive,” he says
CDC cites UW-Madison research in mask fitter recommendation
WKOW-TV 27
The agency cites research done at UW-Madison that found that when the Badger Seal – a mask fitter that was developed by UW-Madison engineers – was put over a three-ply mask, it reduced the amount of particles able to enter by 15 times.
UW-Madison scientist Tom Brock on the importance of basic research
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In this video from UW-Madison, scientist Tom Brock talks about the importance of basic research and how he discovered life in an unexpected place.
Wisconsin Labs Use Genomic Sequencing To Track Spread, ‘Architecture’ Of New Coronavirus Strains
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Two researchers at UW-Madison began sequencing SARS-CoV-2 samples in February 2020. Virology professor Tom Friedrich and pathology professor Madison Dave O’Connor have a background in HIV research, and began sequencing SARS-CoV-2 samples from around Dane County as soon as local spread began.
“The sort of architecture of how the virus looks at the genetic level is a little different,” O’Connor said. “But the basic principles are the same as for HIV, and flu and other viruses.”
UW-Madison sued for allegedly hiding critical comments from its social media accounts
Wisconsin State Journal
AUW-Madison alumna alleges that the university scrubbed her critical comments about the university’s animal research practices from its social media accounts in a violation of her First Amendment rights. The Animal Legal Defense Fund sued UW-Madison last week on behalf of the former student, Madeline Krasno, who previously worked in a university research lab as an undergraduate animal caretaker.
UW Study: Sports shutdown negatively impacts student-athletes’ mental health
WKOW-TV 27
UW-Health researchers conducted studies focused on how the cancellation or resumption of fall sports affected student-athletes’ mental health.
UW-Madison report shows economic impact reaching $30.8 billion
Daily Cardinal
Nearly 9% of Wisconsin’s $345 billion economy is generated by UW-Madison and related organizations and startup companies, according to a February 2021 report done by NorthStar Analytics, LLC.
Making masks fit better can reduce coronavirus exposure by 96 percent
Science News
Quoted: Those data show that “it’s mask fit that really matters, and there are bunch of different ways to improve mask fit,” says David Rothamer, a mechanical engineer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering.
This Valentine’s Day, reframe alone time as a perspective-taking opportunity
Fast Company
Noted: A 2012 study led by Leslie Seltzer at the University of Wisconsin, for instance, found that phone calls can approximate in-person interactions in reducing cortisol (the stress hormone) and stimulating oxytocin (a neuropeptide associated with bonding and affection).