Molecules made by bacteria keep mosquitoes at bay, researchers report January 16 in Science Advances. Tests suggest the compounds also deter two other mosquito species: Anopheles gambiae, a major malaria carrier, and Culex pipiens, which can carry the West Nile virus.Though DEET is considered safe for human use and effective against mosquitoes, it doesn’t hurt to have more lines of defense against the disease-transmitting insects, says coauthor Susan Paskewitz, an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Category: Research
How Lichens Explain (And Re-explain) the World
Tripp agrees that “we, as a community of lichen biologists, need to revisit the role of all symbionts in the lichen microcosm.” No matter how one describes Tremella and other lichen-associated fungi, it’s clear that they do affect the form and function of the lichen as a whole. How they do so is “the great unsolved problem” of lichenology, says Anne Pringle from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wildfires Spark Population Booms in Fungi and Bacteria
“We’re beginning to parse out the ecological drivers of response to fire,” says study co-author Thea Whitman, a soil ecologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Can cash curb corruption in Indonesia?
The first is an ongoing policy experiment conducted by researchers from the United States (US); Kweku Opoku-Agyemang from the Blum Center for Developing Economies, University of California, Berkeley; and Jeremy D. Foltz from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Earth’s Tilt Could Accelerate Antarctica Ice Loss
“Really critical is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” said Stephen Meyers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the co-author of the new study. He added that extreme carbon dioxide and high-angled Earth’s tilt would be devastating for Antarctica.
Shutdown’s impact on UW: Delayed research, suspended course, postponed payments
Researchers for Wisconsin universities say the partial federal government shutdown has had minor effects on campuses so far, but they fear what long-term toll the shutdown could have on the research process.
Potatoes Have A Form Of ‘Depression’, But Scientists Have An Idea To Cure Them
A team of scientists meeting in 2016 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison proposed a new idea — reinventing the potato as a diploid crop, one with two, rather than four, sets of chromosomes.
How to help low-income children with autism
Quoted:That means the needs of an untold number of children aren’t being met. It also has serious ramifications for research, because it can skew estimates of autism, says Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: “It means that the prevalence of autism is probably even higher than we’re measuring.”
Earth’s Tilt May Exacerbate a Melting Antarctic
“Really critical is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” said study co-author Stephen Meyers, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Severe wildfires spark population boom in fungi and bacteria
“We’re beginning to parse out the ecological drivers of response to fire,” says study co-author Thea Whitman, a soil ecologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Troy Reeves keeps record at UW–Madison
It’s what Reeves has been doing, mostly alone, since arriving in Madison from Idaho in 2007. But Reeves still has a list of about 350 people he wants to interview.
How the record-breaking government shutdown is disrupting science
Some scientists can ride out any funding delays. But for those working on projects that are time sensitive, the halt in funding approvals threatens to throw off an entire year of work. Physiologist Hannah Carey is still waiting for this year’s money to come in for her research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on ground squirrel hibernation.
A Surgeon Reflects On Death, Life And The ‘Incredible Gift’ Of Organ Transplant
Noted: Mezrich is an associate professor in the division of multiorgan transplantation at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. He reflects on his experiences as a transplant surgeon and shares stories from the operating room in his book, When Death Becomes Life.
Antarctica ice melt has accelerated by 280% in the last 4 decades
The researchers, led by Richard Levy of New Zeland’s GNS Science and Victoria University of Wellington and Stephen Meyers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, were able to recreate a broad history of the Antarctic ice sheet going back 34 million years to when the ice sheet first formed — documenting multiple cycles of ice growth and decay resulting from natural variations in the planet’s tilt.
Scientists call for action to save Antarctic ice sheet
Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the study underscored just how sensitive the ice sheet is to climate change, according to Richard Levy of GNS Science and Victoria University of Wellington and Stephen Meyers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who jointly led the research team.
Mindfulness can relieve stress, but what techniques work best? Clues in new UW research
Quoted: “The scientific literature is just beginning to tease that apart,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Matt Hirshberg, who works at the Center for Healthy Minds. “This whole area of research is really quite young.”
Ice Loss in Antarctica Has Accelerated at Alarming Rate: Study
The researchers, led by Richard Levy of New Zealand’s GNS Science and Victoria University of Wellington and Stephen Meyers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, were able to recreate a broad history of the Antarctic ice sheet going back 34 million years to when the ice sheet first formed — documenting multiple cycles of ice growth and decay resulting from natural variations in the planet’s tilt.
Antarctica ice melt has accelerated by 280% in 4 decades
The researchers, led by Richard Levy of New Zeland’s GNS Science and Victoria University of Wellington and Stephen Meyers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, were able to recreate a broad history of the Antarctic ice sheet going back 34 million years to when the ice sheet first formed — documenting multiple cycles of ice growth and decay resulting from natural variations in the planet’s tilt.
Earth’s axial cycles impact the rise and fall of Antarctic sea ice
A new study has revealed that variations in the Earth’s axial tilt are linked to dramatic shifts in the the Antarctic Ice Sheet. A research team led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison has matched the planet’s celestial motions with the geologic record of Antarctica’s ice.
Baraboo teacher works with UW-Madison researchers examining rural education
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are looking to school districts such as Baraboo for insight into what it’s like to teach in rural areas and how to better connect university graduates to those schools.
States And Cities Have Already Shown Democrats’ Election Reforms Will Work
But one 2017 paper published by four political scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that reality may be more complicated. The authors analyzed early voting in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and found that while Election Day registration tends to benefit Democrats, early voting on its own is more likely to benefit Republicans.
Women Are Asking To Be Paid What They’re Worth — So Why Aren’t They Getting It?
More recent research has revealed that today, more women than ever are asking for what they’re worth — but they’re still not getting it. A 2016 study of 4,600 employees, conducted by the UK’s University of Warwick and the University of Wisconsin, showed that women now ask for raises at the same rate as their male peers — they’re just 25 percent less likely to receive them.
One-Pixel Views of Earth Reveal Seasonal Changes
Aronne Merrelli, an atmospheric scientist at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his colleagues collected over 5,000 images of the sunlit side of the Earth taken in 2016 by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on board DSCOVR.
When UW-Arboretum Restoration Research Fired Up An Oscar-Winning Disney Doc
Conservationist Aldo Leopold, the author of A Sand County Almanac, and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were the pioneers of what today is called restoration ecology. The best-known restoration project at the UW Arboretum, Curtis Prairie, played a role in an Oscar-winning Disney documentary.
More transparency means nonprofits get more donations
That’s the key takeaway from a recent study published in Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance. Researchers from Villanova University and University of Wisconsin found that charities earning a seal of transparency from the nonprofit GuideStar gained an average of 53% more contributions one year later.
Flashing lights may protect livestock by deterring predators
In the U.S., some ranchers worry about wolf attacks on their livestock as the native predator is reintroduced to more areas, according to information from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, for livestock owners in Chile, wolves are not the potential threat; pumas are
UW-Madison Researchers Testing Postage Stamp-Size Weight Loss Device
It’s the new year, a time when many are turning to resolutions — including diets. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are testing a new model of a weight loss intervention device. It zaps a nerve into making your stomach feel full so that you eat less.
Flashing lights ward off livestock-hunting pumas in northern Chile
“The implications are huge,” Omar Ohrens, a postdoctoral scholar in environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and lead author of a study on the findings, said in an interview.
Reports: Manufacturing industry optimistic about 2019 despite some concerns
In addition to federal action, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy found that more than 42,000 jobs were created between 2013 and 2016 because of the state’s Manufacturing and Agriculture Credit. The center’s study reported that more than 88 percent of tax credit recipients were small businesses, with incomes of less than $1 million.
Understanding US Annual Reports on Number of Animals in Research
Of those, 87% were reported by the private company Charles River Laboratories. Similarly, in the second highest state, Wisconsin, ~80% nonhuman primates were reported by the private company Covance Laboratories. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, which houses one of the seven National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Primate Research Centers, reported the remaining ~20%.
Har Gobind Khorana: Celebrating The Nobel-Winning Pioneer Who Decoded our DNA
Noted: After stints in Switzerland and Canada, Khorana found a research position at the Institute for Enzyme Research, a “vanguard of chemical biology” at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.
In was his decade-long stint here, he “helped to decipher how RNA encodes for the synthesis of protein,” the ground-breaking research which helped him land the Noble Prize in 1968.
What I Learned About Leadership, as a CEO Who Became an Adoptive Parent
Noted: A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that the children the researchers examined who were in out-of-home placements consistently struggled with academics more than children in stable living situations.
Mediation and exercise lower your risk of getting the flu, study claims
The team, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says it hopes the results lead to doctors ’prescribing’ one of the activities to their patients in addition to the annual flu shot.
Why aren’t more women running for office? New study reveals women don’t think they’re qualified
The researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Extension say female leaders they studied were nervous about going door-to-door asking for signatures to get on the ballot and that they also didn’t want to challenge an incumbent.
In the hunt for aliens, scientists look again to the clouds of Venus
As for the search for life in the clouds of Venus, a paper published this autumn in the journal Astrobiology by a team led by Sanjay Limaye at the University of Wisconsin-Madison presents an argument for how and why it ought to be pursued further — now more than ever. And it hinges on data we’ve been able to uncover here on Earth. (Story also includes link to limnology site.)
From Madison to Mars: UW lab plants seeds for deep space travel
“Three…two…one…engine ignited, and we have liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket and Dragon.”
On Dec. 15, 2017, Simon Gilroy listened to that countdown as he gazed across a river separating a mass of scientists from the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida. He was a couple of miles from the site, but as close as you could get without being inside the rocket.
Forty per cent weight loss in 15 days: rats fooled into thinking they’re full. Humans next
“The pulses correlate with the stomach’s motions, enhancing a natural response to help control food intake,” said Xudong Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering, in a prepared statement.
Bright Ideas 2019: Step up flood preparedness
Noted:
Federal shutdown affecting wildlife, forest product and water research conducted in Madison area
Noted: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory, located on the UW-Madison campus, also has been closed. Its employees include 60 research scientists.
UW-Madison’s patent-licensing arm ‘actively concealed’ info from research partner, judge says
UW-Madison’s patent-licensing arm actively concealed information from another university about their shared patent, misled its research partner about the patent’s true financial value and kept 99 percent of the patent’s royalties to itself, according to a federal judge’s ruling.
Implantable device could help treat obesity, UW researchers hope
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers may have come up with a new solution for treating morbid obesity: A small device that when surgically attached onto a person’s stomach can make someone feel more full after eating.
UW study: Meditation, exercise could help ward off colds, flu
If you resolve to meditate or exercise this year — and follow through — you might reduce your chance of getting a cold or the flu, according to a UW-Madison study.
Implantable device could someday help people lose weight, UW researchers say
A tiny weight-loss device developed by UW-Madison researchers could someday be implanted on people’s stomachs to trick their brains into thinking they’re full.
New weight loss device helps rats lose weight, could work in humans
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison may have discovered a new way to tackle worldwide obesity, a major risk factor for a plethora of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
A new ‘Uber for Poop’ in Senegal is creating competition to pick up waste from people’s homes
Noted: Lipscomb said she and her team — Terence Johnson at the University of Notre Dame, Laura Schechter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Jean-Francois Houde at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — did not set out to oversee the system long-term. The professors worked with an NGO and handed the project off to Senegal’s government after finishing their research in 2016.
WPR’s 10 Most-Read Stories Of 2018
Noted: List includes story about research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center.
Adults living with autism spectrum disorder may face a higher risk of developing certain health issues — such as cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive problems — than the rest of the population.
Study: UW athletes in better mental shape than classmates
A new study finds University of Wisconsin-Madison Division 1 athletes are in better mental shape than their classmates.
New Weight-Loss Device Aids Rats In Losing Nearly 40% Of Their Body Fat
University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists believe they may have come up with a way to stem the tide of obesity-related disease and illness and improve quality of life for hundreds of millions of people worldwide who suffer from weight problems. These scientists have created what they say is a safe and easily implantable weight-loss device that in lab experiments, aided rats in shedding nearly 40% of their body weight.
Strangling death of research monkey prompts federal warning; activist calls for stiffer punishment
Noted: Emory University got three citations and University of Wisconsin, Madison, got two citations in the same period. Each of those institutions has about 1,900 primates.
Sending electrical signals from the stomach to the brain can trick the brain into feeling full
Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a small implant that could prove to be a major breakthrough in the battle against obesity. Using the recent strategy of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), the implant has led to a 40 percent body weight loss in rats.
A study has warned that Earth’s climate could soon resemble conditions from 3 million years ago
According to a new scientific paper lead by Kevin D. Burke, researcher at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, if we continue our current level of greenhouse gas emissions, in just twenty years our planet will resemble the overall climate conditions of the mid-Pliocene period.
Study: Student Athletes With Limited Access To Trainers Less Likely To Have Concussions Diagnosed
A new study has found the less access student athletes have to athletic trainers, the less likely they are to have concussions properly identified and managed.
Wisconsin lands in 25th place in a state science and technology ranking
Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce president Zach Brandon said the Milken report shows the value of “supporting and investing in a world-class research university” and the importance of learning through experience.
50 years ago, Apollo 8 astronauts orbited the moon and united a troubled Earth
Noted: Lovell, 90, grew up in Milwaukee, graduating from Juneau High School where he met his future wife Marilyn in the cafeteria lunch line. He studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two years and then earned an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He earned his pilot’s wings and was a Navy pilot and test pilot before being selected in 1962 for the space program.
Hibernation Related To Space Program? Researcher Talks Possibility
Edna Chiang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program at UW-Madison and is the next speaker in the on-going series “Science On Tap” in Minocqua.
Madison lake expert wins $90,000 Catalan prize
A UW-Madison scientist whose studies of Wisconsin’s freshwater lakes are known around the world has been awarded a prestigious prize recognizing his lifetime of research.
UW researcher develops obesity treatment device
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Madison have made a small device that would attach to the lining of a person’s stomach and use electricity to stimulate the nerves that tell your brain it’s full when you eat. As a stomach moves it sends that signal and ideally makes you feel full with eating far less.
Children overprescribed opiods, UW study finds
Research from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health found that over 50 percent of children who have undergone an umbilical hernia repair are given opioids after surgery.
Skincredible! Researchers create a electronic bandage that helps wounds heal FOUR TIMES faster
A bandage that generates a gentle electrical current could help wounds heal four times faster, research suggests.
Highlights From the Year in Space and Astronomy Developments
July 12: Astronomers announced that a neutrino first detected in Antarctica had been linked to a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy, some 4 billion light-years from Earth. The finding was expected to help future detections of high-energy particles form space.