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Category: Research

Giant ‘survivor’ planet found orbiting dead star

Earth Sky

Andrew Vanderburg at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the study, said in a statement: WD 1856 b somehow got very close to its white dwarf and managed to stay in one piece. The white dwarf creation process destroys nearby planets, and anything that later gets too close is usually torn apart by the star’s immense gravity. We still have many questions about how WD 1856 b arrived at its current location without meeting one of those fates.

How to Save the Pandemic Generation

The New Republic

Black young adults hold 10.4 percent less wealth, on average, than their white counterparts due to student debt, according to research by Fenaba Addo at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Black and Latinx borrowers also have higher rates of default than white borrowers, and two in five Native American or Alaska Native borrowers have defaulted on a federal student loan.

Black Maternal and Child Health Alliance launched to improve the birth outcomes of Black mothers and babies in Dane County

Noted: The group will be co-chaired by inaugural members Dr. Tiffany Green, assistant professor in the Departments of Population Health Sciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Alia Stevenson, Chief Programs Officer with the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness.

“The Black Maternal & Child Health Alliance is comprised of Black women serving in important roles in health care, our community, and as decision-makers and knowledge experts. Our highest priority is to ensure that the health and wellbeing of Black mothers remains front and center,” says Co-Chairs Green and Stevenson in a statement. “As the Alliance moves forward, we are pleased to join the Dane County Health Council as we work together to advance the health of Black mothers, babies and their families in this county.”

As the pandemic grinds on, the Northwoods beckons many seeking solitude, natural social distancing

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Bayfield County is projected to lose 28% of its child population by 2040. Pepin County, 25%; Price County, 20%, according to the Applied Population Laboratory at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Those communities that lose too much of their youth population are in danger of becoming unsustainable,” the university said.

OVCRGE Releases Statement on Graduate Research

The Daily Cardinal

Even though UW-Madison’s in-person instruction will be suspended from Sept. 10-25, students will be allowed to report to their jobs in research labs under strict guidelines, Steven Ackerman, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, said in a press release Thursday.

More than 350,000 accounts tweeted after Kenosha violence. Experts say bots were likely among them.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: In the last presidential cycle, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Young Mie Kim found that Russian-linked disinformation campaigns focused ads on the swing states of Virginia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in particular, targeting both sides of the political spectrum with inflammatory posts on race, gun rights and increasingly, feminism.

Parents’ business highlights kids’ books with Black characters

The Washington Post

The University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center analyzed about 3,100 children’s books published in 2018 and found that White characters were featured in half of the books. Books with animal characters were the second-most common, clocking in at 27 percent, and books featuring Black protagonists came in third at 10 percent of the total. Works with Latinx, Asian American and Indigenous characters trailed even further behind, the study said, with American Indians making up 1 percent of characters.

Michael Moore says Trump on course for win in presidential election

Business Insider

“In Minnesota, it’s 47-47,” Moore continued. “In Michigan, where Biden had a big lead, Trump has closed the gap to 4 points.” In a poll published on August 20, the GOP-leaning Trafalgar Group found support for Biden and Trump tied at about 47% in Minnesota, while another poll by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found Biden with a 4-point lead over Trump in Michigan.

How to lose weight with spouse: Study suggests support helps

Today

“The abstract builds on the evidence that has been accumulating over the past couple of decades about the influence of partners on lifestyle changes,” Corrine Voils, primary investigator of Partner2Lose, a clinical trial evaluating partner involvement on long-term weight loss, at University of Wisconsin, Madison, who did not participate in this research, told TODAY.

UW Health, UW-Madison School of Medicine to test new COVID-19 vaccine

WISC-TV 3

UW Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine will enroll about 1,600 people over the next eight weeks at University Hospital to be part of a study on whether an investigational vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca can prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

UW, UW Health picked to help run COVID-19 vaccine

NBC-15

“Our entire team has been working diligently for months to bring this important clinical trial to our state, and now Wisconsinites have an opportunity to be part of solving this crisis,” chief clinical research officer at UW Health and SMPH Betsy Nugent said.

UW Health, University of Wisconsin to test new COVID-19 vaccine

Madison365

UW Health and University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health have been selected as one of the first clinical sites in the country to study whether an investigational vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca can prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Two pandemics, same story: The potentially dangerous overuse of antibiotics and ‘the road to medical hell’

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: The idea of using azithromycin for COVID-19 was based on preliminary French research suggesting a benefit that later was found to be flawed, said Ann Misch, an assistant professor of infectious disease at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Separately, laboratory research showed hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin reduced viral replication of cells infected by the virus, though not azithromycin alone. But, she said, “there’s a huge chasm between an effect in cell culture and in humans.”

She said there is no evidence azithromycin is effective against COVID-19.

“If people are using azithromycin, I am sorry to hear that,” she said.

Tropical storm Laura damage, flooding, and other impacts on the ground: What we know

Vox

These warmer-than-average waters are, in part, the result of climate change. A new study published earlier this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a group of NOAA and University of Wisconsin Madison researchers found that from 1979 to 2017, the odds that a given tropical cyclone would become a Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricane increased about 8 percent per decade as the planet has warmed.

Study Suggests Streamlining Fewer Infection-Control Measures to Reduce C Diff

Contagion Live

“The findings of this study suggest that institutions should streamline infection control bundles, prioritizing a small number of highly cost-effective interventions,” the authors noted in the study, which was completed by investigators at the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital.

What if We Worried Less About the Accuracy of Coronavirus Tests?

The New York Times

But such tests face regulatory hurdles before they can be produced widely. Other rapid tests that are available now may need to be refined further before they can be “operationalized,” or used effectively in an actual setting, like a school, according to Dave O’Connor. He and colleagues in the AIDS Vaccine Reseach Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, have been piloting what is called a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) test, which can be done on saliva, as part of the N.I.H. Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative. They’re running their project out of a minivan. “The first day we tested five or six people,” he told me. “Today we ran 80.”

How Birds Respond to Extreme Weather

Earth Observatory

“For the first time, we can look at how species responded immediately following extreme weather conditions over the scale of an entire continent,” said Jeremy Cohen, who led the research as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Antibodies to opioids discovered in long-term users

New Atlas

“Opioid use disorder and opioid overdoses continue to be a major epidemic in this country,” says Cody Wenthur, from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “A relatively new therapeutic approach entering clinical trials is what in shorthand we call an opioid vaccine, where the immune system generates a response against the drugs. But for this approach to be successful, we need to identify the people who would benefit from that approach.”

What experts say about how to interpret COVID-19 data like positive cases, deaths and hospitalizations — and what to avoid

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: But raw numbers don’t always tell the whole story, said Ajay Sethi, an epidemiologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For example, a rise in cases can also be due to a rise in testing.

“If you think about something too simplistically, you can fall into the trap of believing something that is partially or maybe not even true at all,” Sethi said.

UW-Madison researchers working on a faster, simpler COVID-19 test that uses spit, not swabs

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In a shaded parking lot on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, so-called spit concierges guide volunteers though giving a saliva sample. On the other side of the parking lot is a pared-down biology lab where scientists test the spit-filled plastic vials for the virus that causes COVID-19.

They’ll have the results within one or two hours.

New 2020 polls suggest slim Biden lead in crucial battleground of Wisconsin

CNN

A CBS News and YouGov poll released Sunday morning found Biden leading Trump 48% to 42% among likely voters, and the Election Research Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, looking at registered voters, found Biden ahead with 49% to Trump’s 43%. The Marquette University Law School Poll, released on Tuesday, finds Biden at 50%, in a close race with Trump at 46% among likely voters.

Monday’s Campaign Round-Up

MSNBC

Noted: In Wisconsin, widely seen as a key 2020 battleground, a new poll coordinated by the UW-Madison Elections Research Center in collaboration with the Wisconsin State Journal, found Biden leading Donald Trump in the state, 49% to 43%. Among those who say they’re “certain” to vote, Biden’s lead grows to 52% to 44%.

Aniline synthesis turns to photochemistry to access challenging targets

Chemistry World

Quoted: Shannon Stahl of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the US, who developed a previous strategy to make aromatic rings from cyclohexanones, says that the new approach is ‘impressive in scope and compatibility with mild reaction conditions.’ He explains that earlier methods leveraged the use of oxygen as an oxidant and employed transition-metal catalysts to promote the dehydrogenation of the ring. ‘The present report promotes the dehydrogenation process by using light and a photoredox catalyst to generate a reactive radical, in combination with a cobalt catalyst that evolves hydrogen gas as the byproduct.’

Will These Consortia Lead The United States To Global Quantum Supremacy?

Forbes

The Chicago Quantum Exchange is another meeting place for collaboration and community creation for National Laboratories (Argonne and Fermi), universities (University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Northwestern University) and a number of large corporations (e.g., Boeing, Applied Materials, JPMorgan Chase) and startups (e.g., Rigetti Computing).

Opioid overdoses up in Wisconsin; first COVID-19 reinfection?

Wisconsin Watch

Add this to the litany of bad news about the coronavirus pandemic: Opioid overdoses are up, likely because of stress. And La Crosse County may have seen the nation’s first verified reinfection of a person who previously was diagnosed with COVID-19. On the positive side, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are testing a COVID-19 saliva test that could provide results in just a few hours, allowing schools and workplaces to reopen.

How To Advocate For Diversity In Your Kid’s Curriculum At School

Rompper

Case in point: In 2018, data compiled by librarians at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) showed that while over half of children’s books feature white main characters, only 10% depict Black characters. “There are more children’s books about talking animals and trucks than there are about all other racial/ethnic groups combined,” says Parrott. “That is appalling.”

UW-Madison develops saliva test for COVID-19

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison researchers have developed an experimental saliva test for COVID-19 that they say could be quicker, cheaper and easier to use than the nasal swab test most people take to see if they have the coronavirus.

75 in Wisconsin died from farm activities in 2017-18, new report says

Wisconsin State Journal

Agriculture workers are up to eight times more likely to die on the job than workers in other industries, according to the National Farm Medicine Center in Marshfield. The center, along with the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, the UW-Madison Division of Extension and UW’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, restarted the annual reports to bring attention to farm fatalities and ways to prevent them.