According to Sanjay Limaye, a scientist working at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Space Science and Engineering Center, “Venus has a potential to harbor conditions for iron- and sulfur-centered metabolism.”
10 hot facts about Venus
How to Geek
Category: Research
Layoffs gut Federal Education Research Agency
Inside Higher Ed
“Some of these surveys allow us to know if people are being successful in college. It tells us where those students are enrolled in college and where they came from. For example, COVID impacted everyone, but it had a disproportionate impact on specific regions in the U.S. and specific social and socioeconomic groups in the U.S.,” said Taylor Odle, an assistant professor of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
“Post-COVID, states and regions have implemented a lot of interventions to help mitigate learning loss and accelerate learning for specific individuals. We’ll be able to know by comparing region to region or school to school whether or not those gaps increased or reduced in certain areas.”
Trump’s science cuts have thrown the research world into chaos
Bloomberg
This canceled grant — which funded research into retirement that informed federal policymaking — has impacted the work of more than 50 people at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, including the termination of five senior researchers, says Ghilarducci, who anticipates more job losses at the other centers.
Trees in art, as well as life, often follow simple mathematical rules, study finds
CNN
The math concept hidden in this tree art — geometric shapes known as fractals — is apparent in branching patterns in nature and may be key to humans’ ability to recognize such artwork as trees, according to Mitchell Newberry, a mathematical biologist at the University of New Mexico, and his colleague Jingyi Gao, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin.
Study at UW-Madison brings possible placenta treatment closer to clinical trials
The Daily Cardinal
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Florida have discovered a treatment for placentas deficient in the growth hormone IGF-1 that may soon be going toward human clinical trials.
Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs take effect today—here’s how they could impact prices
Forbes
The manufacturing sector lost about 75,000 jobs as a direct result of the metals tariffs, according to a 2020 study by University of California, Davis economics professor Kadee Russ and University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor Lydia Cox for Econofact.
NIH cuts off more research funding, including for vaccine hesitancy. mRNA may be next
NPR
“It appears that there are forces intent on destroying our existing vaccine enterprise,” says Dr. Jonathan Temte, a professor of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin who studies vaccine hesitancy. “Defunding research on vaccine hesitancy is the latest example of this effort.”
Federal research instability risks postdoc careers, American leadership
STAT
Trey Wenger, a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin, is funded by the NSF and found himself financially stretched when the agency suddenly halted postdoc stipends, only to be restored by a court order. “I missed a paycheck when rent was due, and remain concerned that my paycheck could be turned off at any time,” wrote Wenger, whose work in astronomy helps us better understand how galaxies form and evolve.
Here & Now’ Highlights: Mariel Barnes
PBS Wisconsin
UW-Madison professor Mariel Barnes conducted research into how and why the “manosphere” took political hold, and described her findings and its impacts on politics.
Cuts to Medicaid would affect wide range of Wisconsin residents, researcher says
Wisconsin Public Radio
Donna Friedsam is a researcher emerita who has been studying health care policy and reform for decades at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Friedsam told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that changes at the federal level could have significant ripple effects at home.
“Many people who are on Medicare, who are low-income, also duly rely on Medicaid to cover things that Medicare does not cover,” Friedsam said. “So, Medicaid is actually quite a wide-ranging program and reaches over a million Wisconsin residents who rely on it.”
Feds warn UW of “potential enforcement actions” over alleged antisemitism at campus protest
Madison 365
The federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the University of Wisconsin-Madison for antisemitism, according to a press release issued Monday.
UW is one of 60 institutions that received letters “warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities,” according to the release.
UW-Madison researcher loses Fulbright award for climate change project
The Cap Times
Four days before Rick Lindroth planned to leave Madison and fly to Argentina, he received an email saying his Fulbright award had been rescinded.
“That was a head spinner,” said Lindroth, a professor emeritus in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s entomology department.
Trump pulled $400 million from Columbia. UW-Madison is on list of schools that could be next
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin-Madison was among a list of 60 schools the U.S. Department of Education warned Monday about a potential loss of federal funding if they fail to protect Jewish students.
COVID-19’s fifth anniversary: 5 areas where life changed in U.S.
Deseret News
As the Journal Sentinel reported, quoting Sedona Chinn, an assistant professor and researcher in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at University of Wisconsin-Madison, folks who were frustrated started doing their own research, but it also “led to more misinformation and more anti-expert bias, making it all the much harder for solid science to break through.”
Fennimore farmers work to reduce dairy intolerance through products
WMTV - Channel 15
Researchers explain that some people have a reduced ability to chop up and absorb lactose. UW Madison’s Center for Dairy Research is hoping to continue to learn more about the future of dairy digestion.
“There is weak evidence at the moment that this change in the moving from what is typically A1 to A2, that there’s a difference in potential difference in how the body digestive,” Dr. John Lucey, the center’s director said.
Is ‘Severance’ making your dog freak out?
The Washington Post
Freya Mowat, a veterinary ophthalmologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s school of veterinary medicine, has done research on visual perception for dogs. She said a show displayed on older televisions would appear like “old movie screens” to dogs with individual flickers and a low refresh rate. Modern televisions, though, offer more flow and smooth projection.
UW-Madison young scientists’ careers in upheaval as Trump slows research funding
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Randy Kimple, a professor of human oncology at UW-Madison, has two Ph.D. students in his lab supported by grants, called “supplements,” meant to promote diversity among researchers. The supplements fund not only students of color, but also first-generation college students and those from rural areas or low-income neighborhoods.
Kimple expects to lose that funding — roughly $150,000 — in the summer, given the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
UW System leaders urge Congress to preserve federal research funding
The Daily Cardinal
Leaders from Wisconsin’s top universities, including University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman and UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, urged Congress to reverse federal research funding cuts at a press conference Wednesday at the UW-Madison’s Health Sciences Learning Center.
New fossil discovery reveals surprising insights into prehistoric human behavior
Discover Magazine
In a press release, Professor Pickering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates that “this individual, probably a female, was only about a meter tall and 27 kg (60 lbs) when it died, making it even smaller than adults from other diminutive early human species, including those represented by the famous ‘Lucy.’”
Democratic lawmakers introduce new bill to address gaps from federal funding freeze
The Daily Cardinal
Wisconsin receives roughly $654 million per year in National Institutes of Health grants, which supports more than 7,700 jobs and $1.4 billion in economic activity, according to United for Medical Research.
Without additional funds from elsewhere, UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said the capping of indirect costs would have a “ripple effect” on the state’s economy.
Amid nationwide immigration crackdown, Wisconsin farmer worries about impact on the industry
Spectrum News
An estimated 70% of the labor on dairy farms in Wisconsin are carried out by unauthorized immigrants, according to a 2023 survey from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers.
Madison teachers wary as district notifies principals of staff cuts
The Cap Times
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have projected overall enrollment declines at Madison schools next year, according to the district’s long-range facilities plan. However, in advocating for the referendum last year, district leaders and school advocates said those predictions were imperfect. They said the district defied projections this year and anticipated future enrollment increases, citing expected growth in the city of Madison and new housing developments.
Universities of Wisconsin System president talks potential impact of NIH funding cuts
The Badger Herald
Thursday afternoon, University of Wisconsin staff and various members of the scientific community gathered to address concerns of cuts in medical research funding from the National Institutes of Health.
‘It’s gut-wrenching’: life-saving neurological research on line with NIH funding cuts, UW leaders say
Channel 3000
Life-saving work in biomedical research is on the line, University of Wisconsin System and UW-Madison administrators said, if the National Institutes of Health makes cuts to its funding to the system.
“Taking a meat cleaver to this funding is simply wrong,” Universities of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman said Thursday.
UW leaders, Wisconsin medical researchers defend NIH funds amid uncertainty
Wisconsin Public Radio
Researchers at the Universities of Wisconsin defended their work in medical research on Thursday as they face uncertainty amidst federal funding cuts.
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin warned of the danger of “indiscriminate reductions in research funding,” and medical and scientific researchers argued that funding from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, is critical to their work.
He studies Alzheimer’s. Federal cuts could cripple his search for treatments
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Sterling Johnson leads one of the world’s largest and longest-running studies of people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. His team aims to diagnose the disease years before people even develop symptoms and identify ways to slow its progression. He finds his work meaningful and rewarding.
But over the past seven weeks, as President Donald Trump’s administration proposes deep cuts to biomedical research, Johnson has encountered a new feeling. Something he’s never felt since he started studying studying Alzheimer’s in 1997.
‘There aren’t easy answers’: Mnookin fields faculty questions on NIH funding cuts’s impact on junior faculty, graduate students
The Daily Cardinal
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin indicated during a Faculty Senate meeting Monday the university would walk back hiring and rethink grant-making if a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding cut is implemented.
UW-Madison leaders prepare for expected federal funding cuts
The Cap Times
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and other campus leaders are evaluating different scenarios for how federal funding cuts and policy changes could affect the University of Wisconsin-Madison financially.
Four Trump threats to Social Security
Forbes
Under the radar, but also a critical threat to Social Security is the recent cancellation of Social Security research and evaluation contracts with six university-led research consortia, including College of New York (CUNY and The New School, Boston College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland, and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Homeowner discovers shocking truth about towering plant in parents’ yard: ‘It’s not a tree’
The Cool Down
In fact, velvetleaf can be best described as a weed, according to the University of Wisconsin’s Horticulture Department. It is invasive and “extremely competitive” with other plants. Per the university, it costs soybean and corn growers hundreds of millions of dollars by robbing crops of nutrients and water.
Killing a nuclear watchdog’s independence threatens disaster
Scientific American
Co-authored by Paul Wilson, the Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and the chair of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s department of nuclear engineering and engineering physics, and Michael Corradinia, a former member of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, a former president of the American Nuclear Society and a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
RFK Jr. has targeted antidepressants for kids. How do SSRIs work?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Dr. Marcia Slattery, a physician and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focuses on anxiety disorders in patients between 5 and 18 years old. She could not speak to any of Kennedy’s claims, but offered her expertise on SSRIs and their role in children’s mental health.
Typically, once a signal is passed between neurons, serotonin is reabsorbed in those cells, a process called “reuptake.” SSRIs block this process of reuptake, which increases serotonin levels in your brain. That enables the brain to continue using serotonin to connect more dots as we go about everyday tasks.
COVID changed how we talk, think and interact. Now, how do we go forward?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It was March 2020 when Dr. Ajay Sethi got a call from his best friend in Maryland. His friend’s father had died from COVID-19, one of the earliest U.S. casualties of the virus.
“Because I’m an epidemiologist and I think about numbers, the emotions behind those numbers, how is it I know someone so early who’s died from COVID-19?” said Sethi, who serves as the faculty director of the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The odds are so unusual, I remember thinking then, it must be big.”
Psychedelic drug studies face a potent source of bias: the ‘trip’
Science
Charles Raison, a psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has been experimenting with having people sleep through their trips, as a way to understand how much a conscious psychedelic experience matters. Two volunteers received psilocybin while in a deep sleep with a sedative, and 1 week later both “swore they got placebo,” Raison says. He is now developing a larger study in which people with self-reported reduced emotional well-being will be randomized to get psilocybin or placebo while either awake or asleep, to tease out how the trip influences longer term effects on emotional state.
UW-Madison might admit fewer grad students but affirms support for current researchers
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison deans should admit fewer graduate students, given the uncertainty of federal research funding going forward, leaders say.
But graduate school Dean William Karpus also this week reiterated his commitment to current grad students.
We Energies Kenosha County power plant threatens public health and environment
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Written by Jonathan Patz, the Vilas Distinguished Professor & John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment at the Nelson Institute & Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Midwest winters are changing. So is the ancient sport of falconry
Associated Press
Jonathan Pauli, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has observed by systematically capturing, collaring and monitoring carnivores and their prey across the state and comparing their historical numbers to current-day ones. He said his team has observed a “relatively fast range contraction” of snowshoe hares, moving northward as climate change increasingly turns them into “white lightbulbs” highly visible to their predators in the winter.
‘It’s really heartbreaking’: UW biochemist’s research uncertain with NIH funding
WISC — CBS Channel 3
“It’s been impossible to predict and impossible to plan for the future,” Aaron Hoskins said. Hoskins is the Wasson Professor of Biochemistry and a chemistry professor. With his small lab, he works on gene expression, making sense of what we may find senseless and finding solutions.
‘It’s an enormous concern’: UW-Madison medical researcher reacts to proposed NIH funding cuts
WMTV - Channel 15
“For us to be in a situation where NIH funding is threatened,” UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health Professor and Associate Dean Jon Audhya said. “It’s an enormous concern. It’s going to really slow down our progress and our ability to address some of those diseases that are most prevalent in our society.”
23 Dem AGs think they’ve cracked the code to fighting Trump
Politico
On February 10, 22 of the states sued over cuts to the National Institutes of Health. It was filed in Massachusetts, but is filled with details on which programs at the University of Wisconsin are being the most impacted.
“Making sure that information is being included and considered as part of these cases is what I see as sort of a key role for us and for other states,“ said Wisconsin’s Attorney General Josh Kaul.
Careful messaging, uncertainty reign on Wisconsin college campuses in Trump’s second term
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
College leaders are scrambling to assess the ramifications Trump’s orders would have on their institutions and come up with a long-term strategy to defend higher education, which has long been a political punching bag for Republicans. They are trying to respond in a way that appeases students and professors, who tend to be progressive, without antagonizing the conservatives now in charge of the federal government.
“The chancellor is trying to thread a very, very narrow needle,” said Michael Bernard-Donals, a UW-Madison professor of English and Jewish studies.
UW-Madison researchers discover plant photoreceptor mutation with implications for dicot crop growth
Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison researchers discovered that in the absence of photoreceptor cry1 Arabidopsis plants grow significantly taller.
Guardian caps didn’t impact concussion rate in Wisconsin high school football, study finds
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison researchers found that guardian caps had no impact on sports-related concussion rates after evaluating nearly 3,000 high school football players in their study.
This Wisconsin county keeps roads clear, saves money by using cheese byproduct. Here’s why
Wisconsin State Farmer
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) lab have found liquid brine in water highway maintenance cleared the state’s highways faster, provided better friction on roadways and reduced overall salt usage.
“The data tells a very positive story for winter highway safety in Wisconsin,” says Andrea Bill, associate director of the TOPS Lab, which is housed in the UW-Madison College of Engineering. “Liquid brine is an effective tool, and along with training, education and technology, our storm fighters are making effective reductions in the amount of chloride on our roads and improving the performance of winter roads.”
China told to drop marriage age to boost birth rate
Newsweek
“Even lowering the legal age of marriage to 18 will do nothing to boost the fertility rate now that people have become accustomed to marrying young and having children later,” said Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who conducts demography research. “China’s age of first marriage in 2020 was 29.4 years for men and 28.0 years for women, and it will continue to be delayed, following along the same path as Taiwan and South Korea.”
NIH funding cuts ‘a travesty to biomedical research,’ says UW research director
Wisconsin Public Radio
An announcement from the National Institutes of Health earlier this month said the agency would slash support for indirect research costs paid to universities, medical centers and other grant recipients.
The change could leave research institutions like the University of Wisconsin-Madison scrambling for millions of dollars from other sources to support labs, students and staff.
Trump administration delays Wisconsin research funds by withholding, canceling review meetings
Wisconsin Public Radio
“This is clearly a loophole which is now used to stall the reviews,” said Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, vice chancellor for research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The impact of the postponement won’t be felt immediately, she said. But if the meetings can’t continue, it will have an impact in coming months.
“At the minimum, a delay. At the most extreme case, maybe funding won’t happen,” Grejner-Brzezinska said. “At the moment, we hope that it is just a delay. And are watching what’s going to happen next.”
Rule breaker investing: Pet Perks, Vol. 2
The Motley Fool
Let’s move to pet perk number 2. This one’s a little bit quicker hitting. I was reminded that I got it from Jordan Ellenberg, the mathematician and the academic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who joined me for Authors in August in 2023. His book “How Not To Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking” is where pet perk, number 2, comes from. I’m going to quote him in a sec, but here it is, essentially. As you get richer as a person, as you get richer as an investor, you’re able to take more risk and that is indeed a pet perk.
Theoretical physics professor lectures on mathematics, geometric phase
Badger Herald
Sir Michael Berry’s lecture kicks off three-part series on theoretical physics, his work in field.
Alzheimer’s research at UW-Madison could bear brunt of Trump’s medical research cuts
Wisconsin State Journal
A major cut in federal funding for medical research, announced by the Trump administration this month, would harm efforts at UW-Madison to better treat cancer, diabetes and heart disease, university officials said.
People are buying up burned lots in LA. Should they be concerned about future fires?
CNN
Between 1990 and 2020, the number of homes in these California areas grew by 1.3 million, according to data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Universities of Wisconsin president speaks on Gov. Evers’ State Budget Address
Channel 3000
Jay Rothman interview with WISC-TV on the state budget bill introduced this week by Gov. Evers.
How to channel anxiety as an emotional intelligence strategy
Forbes
In 2013, Researchers at University of Wisconsin put this idea to the test. They placed people in MRI machines and threatened to shock them at random. There were three groups of participants:
The researchers measured fear activity in each person’s brain. And they found something incredible in the third group. Participants’ brains were much less active. They could literally outsource their fear to their loved ones. That means your brain can offload negativity. Leaning on others in tough times is like taking ice cream scoops of negativity out of your brain. The EQ Strategy: Ask your friends and family for support. Don’t let fear of vulnerability hold you back.
In pursuit of the best protein bar
Wisconsin Public Radio
“We weren’t trying to design the best protein bar ever.” said Audrey Girard, who is an assistant professor in food science at the university. “We were trying to figure out how these protein bars harden so that someone else could take this, and then design the best protein bar ever.”
Finnish saunas are having a moment in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Radio
Arnold Alanen is a professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he researched the history of sauna structures. Alanen told “Wisconsin Today” that as a Finnish American, sauna has been a way of life for him from the beginning. He said he was first brought into a sauna as a very young baby, and then he caught on to the ritual when he was about 8 years old, living on his grandparents’ farm in Minnesota.
“The weekly sauna tradition was something that we did on our farm, just without interruption. We would do it every Saturday evening,” he said. “It became such an integral part of my life, as well as of our family.”
‘Heartbreaking to slow down’: UW-Madison researchers warn funding cuts would delay new treatments for cancer, more
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the nation’s top research institutions, are wary of potential cuts to funding under the Trump administration that they warn could slow their work and delay new treatments for cancer and other diseases.
Lab workers key to California’s bird flu response are poised to strike
The Washington Post
Since last summer, senior managers have hired technicians, and scientists from the University of Wisconsin and Cornell University have completed rotations at the lab, Ontiveros said.
U.S. dairy farmer says Trump’s mass deportation plan would put him out of business
CBS News
John Rosenow, a fifth-generation farmer in Waumandee, Wisconsin, owns more than 900 acres and over 600 dairy cows. He said about 90% of the work on the farm is done by immigrants.
Those immigrants include Kevin, who was born in central Mexico and crossed the U.S. southern border illegally when he was 18. Now 21, Kevin, who did not provide his last name during an interview with CBS News, is among the 11 million undocumented migrants living in the U.S. More than 10,000 of them work on Wisconsin dairy farms, according to a report by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Elon Musk is trying to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Mother Jones
In a University of Wisconsin study published in September 2017, 1 in 10 registered voters in Milwaukee County and Madison’s Dane County who did not cast a ballot in 2016 cited the voter ID law as a reason why.
UW-Madison receives $5.5 million federal grant to reduce synthetic fertilizer use
The Daily Cardinal
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers received a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy on Jan. 10 to study methods to reduce synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use in crops.