“RNA nucleotide triplets serve very specific informatic functions in translation in all cells,” says Zachary Adam at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, meaning they are used to convey information. “This paper is interesting because it might point to a purely chemical role – a non-informatic function – for RNA nucleotide triplets that they could have served prior to the emergence of a living cell.”
A UW-Madison researcher has made a surprising discovery that could transform how we source important chemical compounds used in everyday products, moving from fossil fuels to trees.
Brian Fox, a biochemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has identified parahydroxybenzoate—a chemical compound used in medicine, cosmetics, and food products that’s normally taken from oil—in biochemically engineered poplar trees.
Wisconsin’s flagship state university is under pressure on a variety of fronts this spring, making it difficult to keep up with developments in the news.
As the Trump administration reshapes the federal government and its relationship with higher education, authorities in courtrooms, the state Capitol and university administration are also tackling big decisions that could affect campus life for years to come.
“Research has overwhelmingly found that advice is really beneficial, and that people tend to under-utilize advice, usually causing them to make lower quality decisions,” says Lyn van Swol, a professor of communication science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies advice and information-sharing in groups. The catch, she notes, is that most of that research looks at advice from one, two, or three other people, not dozens, hundreds, or thousands of strangers on TikTok: “It’s overwhelming — it’s like a fire hose of advice.”
Brandon Coventry never thought he would consider a scientific career outside the United States. But federal funding cuts and questions over whether new grants will materialize have left him unsure. While reluctant to leave his family and friends, he’s applied to faculty positions in Canada and France.
“I’ve never wanted to necessarily leave the United States, but this is a serious contender for me,” said Coventry, who is a postdoctoral fellow studying neural implants at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
According to Guarente, pellagra is characterized by what are known as the four Ds; dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, and death. “Pellagra turned out to be a disease of NAD+ deficiency and the molecules that could prevent and/or cure it were termed vitamin B3s,” he says, which Conrad Elvehjem, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, proved in 1937.
Of course, not every household follows the traditional gender roles. But data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that women still spend twice as many hours doing physical housework as their male partners.
It doesn’t stop there. Allison Daminger, an assistant professor of sociology, found in her research that in 80% of opposite-sex couples, women shoulder most of the cognitive labor — things like managing family calendars, planning meals and checking on homework.
Macchiarelli now brokered the publication of two of them on the widely read blog of John Hawks, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and longtime Sahelanthropus sceptic. In principle, to print images of someone else’s unpublished fossil was a clear breach of ethics. But then, Macchiarelli, Bergeret and Hawks reasoned, after Beauvilain’s article, the femur was no longer unpublished.
Scientists aren’t completely sure why some intense thunderstorms turn the sky green, but research meteorologist Scott Bachmeier at University of Wisconsin-Madison says it could be linked to two factors: the color of the sky late in the day and the amount of rain in the storm.
“Different components of your diet have value and impact beyond their function as a calorie,” said Dudley Lamming, a metabolism expert from the University of Wisconsin who is involved in both studies. “We’ve been digging in on one component that many people may be eating too much of.”
“Coastal communities that are adapting to and preparing for future sea-level rise are largely adapting to the amount of sea-level rise that has already occurred,” said co-author Andrea Dutton, a geoscientist and sea level expert at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In a best-case scenario, she added, they are preparing for sea level rise at the current rate of a few millimeters per year, while the research suggests that rate will double within decades.
We get an insect update from UW-Madison entomologist PJ Liesch. Then we talk about the benefits of wetlands and efforts to protect them.
The analysis is largely in line with the findings of Wisconsin’s Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, according to Jonathan Patz, a professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We’re seeing more nighttime warming than daytime warming, which is a problem for health,” Patz said. “Because if you don’t have cooling temperatures in the nighttime, it’s more dangerous, and there are more people at risk from heat waves.”
“Saving Hearts and Killing Rats: Karl Paul Link and the Discovery of Warfarin” (HenschelHAUS Publishing), by Doug Moe. University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemist led the team that transformed spoiled sweet clover hay into both lifesaving medication and deadly rat poison. In his spare time, this man with strong opinions liked to spar with authority and rivals.
A group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been working with local Realta Fusion to make fusion energy a reality, but they’re not the only ones, according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Three of the 45 companies working on fusion are already based in Wisconsin, and new bills supporting the advancement of this promising clean energy technology could draw even more to the area.
“Every fraction of a degree matters,” said Andrea Dutton, a research professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who was a co-author of the study. “We can’t just adapt to this type of sea-level rise. We can’t just engineer our way out of this.”
We know sitting for long periods of time can result in back pain. A recent study has also confirmed that sedentary behavior, such as time spent scrolling on smartphones, causes neck pain, too. Physical therapists Lori Thein Brody and Jill Thein-Nissenbaum explain how to avoid this outcome.
A recent survey of Wisconsin’s farmers found that 56 percent of them believe climate change is happening. Another 26 percent think it isn’t happening, and 18 percent are unsure.
Michael Bell, the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who helped conduct the study, said attitudes and behaviors don’t always match up. Bell found encouragement in how the farmers are acting, not their beliefs. The same survey asked farmers if they are practicing any of 15 different sustainable agricultural practices.
Professor Andrea Dutton of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was part of the study team, said: “Evidence recovered from past warm periods suggests that several metres of sea level rise – or more – can be expected when global mean temperature reaches 1.5C or higher.”
A statewide survey conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty found that 25% of providers said they might close if the revenue isn’t replaced.
Preschoolers often miss the lessons we think they learn from watching Clifford, Sesame Street, and other educational programs, while teens may use TV sitcoms to broach difficult topics with their parents. Includes interview with Marie-Louise Mares, a professor of communication science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
With the study of social genomics — or sociogenomics — scientists argue that genes and environment truly coexist and influence another throughout a person’s lifetime.
University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor Silvia Helena Barcellos said social genomics really just got started roughly 10 years ago, around the same time that scientists decoded the human DNA sequence and began to better understand it.
As Elissa and Russell said their vows, Xu and Cain were working to build HistoSonics, the company they’d formed in 2009 with Tim Hall, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and J. Brian Fowlkes, a professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at U-M.
Their company created the Edison System, a device with a robotic arm that delivers precision histotripsy treatments using a specialized, high-powered ultrasound transducer through a tub of water.
Chris Vagasky explains how reduced weather balloon launches and staffing shortages at the National Weather Service may compromise the ability to predict dangerous weather events.
The Horizon Elm tree was developed by UW Madison to make sure it was the best tree, in the best spot.
New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that mindfulness and therapy led to lasting improvements in chronic back pain. We hear from an author of the study, Dr. Bruce Barrett.
“There are always midges coming out of the lakes, but most people don’t really notice them because they’re not very abundant. So it’s not really on the radar,” said Jake Vander Zanden, who studies the biology of lakes as chair of the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It is truly the pinch point. It is the one place where you have a large canal that connects the two,” said Jake Vander Zanden, who directs the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology.
Astronomers have identified hundreds of exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our own – but very few exist in habitable zones that could support life. We talk to Thomas Beatty, an exoplanet researcher and collaborator with The Wisconsin Center for Origins Research, and Jim Lattis, director of the UW Space Place, both at UW-Madison.
Still, other researchers argue broad restrictions on gain-of-function research could stifle studies that could ultimately protect people from risky viruses. The University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin testified against the bill last year.
“Gain-of-function experiments allow investigators to understand the complex nature of host-pathogen interactions that underlie transmission, infection, and pathogenesis and can help attribute biological function to genes and proteins,” a UW-Madison spokesperson said in a statement to WPR.
UW-Madison conducts a wide range of health and disease studies, including research that helps track viruses like avian influenza. The university is assessing how the order and related NIH guidance might affect research on campus, the spokesperson said.
In a 2024 study conducted by Chloe Grace Hart, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she found that Americans were less likely to say they believed a Black woman describing a sexual harassment experience compared to a white women describing the same thing.
“That suggests that when it comes to sexual violence, Black women survivors face a particularly steep uphill battle to be believed,” Hart previously told USA TODAY.
“The sediment deposition gets really complex,” David M. Lovelace, a geoscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led a comprehensive study of the cave’s stratigraphy, explains. “Sediment that’s washing in can leave little pockets of deposition in one area. Then the inlet or the stream will shift slightly, so it deposits in another area.” Sometimes a fresh stream cuts through older sediment to drop in new surface material. “It literally forms almost a new cave through the old sediment, so you can deposit younger material under older, previously existing material. The complexities become outstanding.”
Professor Jung-Hye Shin, chair of UW’s Design Studies Department, said she heard from older adults and adults with disabilities while researching in the field, “telling me that it’s really hard to get any reliable assessment because there is no one out there who’s actually doing it at a reasonable price.”
“Without the continued research that’s made possible with federal funding, it would set us back,” said John Shutske, an agricultural safety and health specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’ve seen over the last several decades a pretty dramatic decrease overall in our farm fatality rate. And while I think [the number of deaths] would probably plateau, I don’t think we would be able to continue to make the kind of progress that we’ve had.”
Realta raised $36 million in a round led by Future Ventures with participation from other investors, including Avila VC, GSBackers, Khosla Ventures, Mayfield, SiteGround, TitletownTech, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Written by Juliette Becker, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a founding member of the Wisconsin Center for Origins Research. She studies exoplanet dynamics and planet formation, and she is passionate about teaching UW–Madison undergraduates how to conduct scientific research.
As of May 3, UW-Madison has been ordered to stop work on three federally funded projects and told to stop work on 10 others involving other organizations. Another 62 research grants have been terminated.
UW-Madison has appealed three of the terminations; one of those has already been denied. The numbers have been in constant flux for weeks as new cancellations are handed down and judges authorize temporary restraining orders.
Consider the humble soft drink. A well-known 1996 study by linguists at the University of Wisconsin inspired a now-famous map illustrating the regional divide: in the Northwest and Midwest, people say “pop”; on the East and West Coasts, it’s “soda”; and across the South, it’s simply “coke” – regardless of the brand.
Earlier this year, Dr. Avtar Roopra, a professor of neuroscience at UW-Madison, published research that shows a drug typically used to treat arthritis halts brain-damaging seizures in mice that have a condition similar to epilepsy. The treatment could be used to provide relief for a subset of people with epilepsy who don’t get relief from other current treatments.
A new independent study by the University of Wisconsin found that preschool-aged children who used the Toniebox showed 32% higher emergent literacy scores compared to those who didn’t. The randomized control study focused on kids ages 3–5 and measured literacy gains over time.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison ($5.5 million) would work on improving the ability of certain bacteria to deliver nitrogen to crops – and on introducing nitrogen-fixing traits into corn and sorghum.
In a demonstration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, weather researchers showed WISN 12 News how it works.
“The balloon is launched from the ground and rises up into the atmosphere, can rise up to 50,000, sometimes 60,000 feet or so, and gathers temperature, moisture and wind data as it rises through that column of the atmosphere,” Derrick Herndon said.
The United States had a taste of such a gap during the Vietnam War. At the time, academic scientists found themselves caught in the crosshairs of zealous anti-war activists who, despite scant evidence, accused them broadly of collaborating on weapons research in support of the war. In 1970, the situation reached a violent crescendo with the death of Robert Fassnacht, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who was working in a building that was bombed by anti-war protesters.
Kristin Litzelman deals with data sets and research studies in her work studying caregiving as an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
But she wanted to contribute something artistic for “In Care Of: Postcard-Sized Portrayals of Caregiving in Wisconsin,” a new exhibit she helped put together at UW-Madison’s Nancy Nicholas Hall, 1300 Linden Drive.
Written by meteorologist and research program manager at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The National Institutes of Health director faced a flurry of questions from Medical College of Wisconsin researchers about the Trump administration’s funding cuts that have caused financial uncertainty across higher education.
Written by Anthony Hernandez, a faculty member in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin—Madison (UW-Madison), who received a research award from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation for his study on leadership in higher education. He has been recognized with four teaching awards at UW-Madison. He led the evaluation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) in Dane County, Wisconsin for two years.
In 2023, University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Michigan researchers published a study that found that when people felt positively about “doing their own research,” they were more likely to believe misinformation about the pandemic and to mistrust scientific institutions in general.
Like much of her work, a new project by University of Wisconsin-Madison genetics professor Ahna Skop includes research, experimentation and inspiration from other scientists.
The general public wants clean rivers and streams. Less clear is how much people are willing to pay to ensure waterways are unpolluted. UW-Madison environmental economist Daniel Phaneuf shares the data.
Led by Dr. Abigail Cutler, a practicing OB-GYN at UW Health, the new study intended to document changes in clinical practice among Wisconsin doctors as a result of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
New research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that 1 in 31 American 8-year-old children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder — raising renewed focus on arguments why autism diagnosis rates have increased for the last 25 years.
For decades, astronomers were certain that half of the ordinary matter in the universe — protons and neutrons, the building blocks of everything we see — had simply gone unaccounted for.
About 48% of surveyed state residents opposed crane hunting while 35% were neutral and 17.6% supported it, when asked by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center for a 2023 study.
To investigate this phenomenon, psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison used mathematical and computational tools (including ChatGPT) to study word embeddings, which are mathematical models that capture how words are used together in large collections of words, like books, news articles, and transcripts of speech.
Three of the country’s 25 nuclear fusion companies are located in Wisconsin, with ties to the top-ranked nuclear engineering program at UW-Madison. A package of bills in the state Legislature would pave the way for these companies and others to eventually build fusion reactors in the state.
The arrival of drug treatment has made people living with Alzheimer’s more optimistic, says Dr. Nathaniel Chin, a geriatrician at the University of Wisconsin who was not involved in the survey.
“Even if it doesn’t stop the disease in its tracks, it tells people that we’re making progress,” he says. “They want to know if they potentially could have this therapy or maybe the next therapy or two therapies down the road.”
“There are many kids with autism that have IQ scores that would define them as having intellectual disability, but their adaptive scores are higher,” said a co-author of the research, Maureen Durkin, a professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Outside of specific genetic diseases, scientists have identified more than 250 genes that are associated with a higher likelihood of ASD. As Maureen Durkin, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explained to me, some of these genes are also associated with beneficial traits. “It’s not as simple as ‘these are causes of autism, and you’d want to edit them out of the genome,’” she said.
To learn more about the jobs Wisconsin will most need to fill in the coming years, we spoke to Matt Kures, who researches state labor and demographic trends as a community development specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension.
