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Category: Research

UW-Madison researcher develops ice cream that doesn’t melt

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Wisconsin State Journal

In the UW-Madison basement-level lab, the answer was largely predestined. One scoop was regular ice cream, not unlike what visitors could buy upstairs at the Babcock Dairy store. The other was a concoction of UW-Madison Ph.D. researcher Cameron Wicks, in which an addition of polyphenols — compounds naturally occurring in plants such as blueberries and green tea leaves — helps ice cream keep its shape by counteracting melting ice crystals.

USDA, UW–Madison break ground on new dairy research facility

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Wisconsin State Farmer

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and University of Wisconsin–Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Jun. 10 in Prairie du Sac for the construction of a world-class dairy research facility that will expand the two organizations’ long-standing partnership to tackle key issues affecting dairy farms across the country.

Carbone Cancer Center aims to make research more accessible

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Wisconsin State Journal

The UW Carbone Cancer Center is starting a research program for college students underrepresented in oncology this summer. The program — Science Careers in Oncology Research with Equity, or SCORE — is a 10-week program for college students to learn and participate in cancer research in a lab setting, working closely with professionals in the field as well as their peers.

Wisconsin scientist: Plants respond to biting insects faster than you might think

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Simon Gilroy, a University of Wisconsin-Madison botany professor, is among a handful of scientists uncovering how plants respond to the world. But Gilroy hesitates to use the word “intelligence” when talking about them.

“One of the things that we do as humans is we anthropomorphize all the time. Inanimate objects, we attribute them human characteristics. And it’s just built into our DNA of how we interact with the world … so that must be how everything else operates,” Gilroy told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” recently. “That can sometimes totally get in the way.”

Ancient crystals reveal the earliest evidence of fresh water, scientists say

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CNN

John Valley, a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agreed that the conditions for life could have existed on Earth so long ago. Valley wasn’t involved in the new research but was among the first scientists to use zircons to show that Earth had ancient oceans and cooler temperatures more than 4 billion years ago, challenging the view that Hadean Earth was a hellish orb with fiery seas of magma.

Why Bird Flu Is Causing Eye Infections in Dairy Workers

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Scientific American

“Given the amount of virus detected in milk from H5N1 virus-infected cows, I am concerned about its spillover to humans, poultry and other animals,”says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor of virology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Proposed ‘alcohol density’ rule could stop new Madison liquor licenses by schools, parks and more

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Wisconsin State Journal

Dane County has some of the highest levels of excessive drinking in Wisconsin and has a higher level of traffic deaths involving alcohol than the rest of the state and the country, according to the UW-Madison Population Health Institute. Across the state, alcohol-induced deaths have tripled since 1999, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Project seeks to define presence of PFAS in deep aquifer on French Island

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Wisconsin Public Radio

A project on French Island near La Crosse aims to define the movement of PFAS in groundwater and to determine whether a deep aquifer could serve as a source of safe drinking water for residents with contaminated wells.

On Monday, a team of partners will drill to create three wells at depths ranging from 85 to 400 feet within the town of Campbell on French Island. Researchers with the University of Wisconsin-Madison will collect samples of sediment and rock beneath the surface.

Cicada records help scientists study long-term health impact of pesticide exposure

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Jason Fletcher, professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said during the early 20th century, producers of tree crops like apples commonly used the chemicals when preparing for an emergence.

“Because cicadas are known, when they’re coming and where they’re going to be in general terms, certainly in the past, farmers tried to protect their crops by dousing everything with pesticide,” he said.

Smith: Centennial of nation’s first wilderness area highlights Aldo Leopold’s legacy

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

We Wisconsinites who value the natural world and outdoor recreation hold Aldo Leopold in especially high esteem.

Not only was Leopold a pioneering ecologist, forester and author who profoundly influenced the modern conservation movement, but he spent much of his adult life in the Badger State as a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and cultivator of his family’s “shack” on an old farm near Baraboo along the Wisconsin River.

Dairy cows cut the cheese, UW-Madison researchers cut the emissions

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The Capital Times

There’s a farm in the little town of Arlington, 20 miles north of Madison, that looks and smells like any other Wisconsin dairy operation. Its 550 cows are milked twice daily, once before dawn and again in the afternoon, like they are at thousands of dairy farms across the state. 

But at this farm — the University of Wisconsin’s Agricultural Research Station — when a cow eats, gets milked and burps, a data point is created. That data collection is helping researchers at UW-Madison adapt Wisconsin’s herd to the challenges of climate change. 

Hidden recession? Mental illness costs the U.S. a staggering $282 billion annually, shows new study

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Fortune

Mental illness isn’t just a pervasive problem in the U.S.—one in five adults experience it each year, per the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness—it’s also an expensive one, costing the economy $282 billion annually. This, according to a new study by economists at Yale and Columbia universities and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Legislator-led committee to study sandhill crane management, including potential hunting season

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A study conducted in December by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center found 17% of state residents would support a sandhill crane hunting season while 48% oppose the idea.

The work, funded by the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo and the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, was the first controlled, science-based look at public support for crane hunting in the state. It polled 2,769 members of the UWSC’s WisconSays survey panel.

You can try beer, and a dessert, made with cicadas at Lake Geneva’s ‘Cicadapalooza’

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Insect Diagnostics Lab PJ Liesch received the first reports of Brood XIII cicadas in Wisconsin this year out of the Lake Geneva area just over a week ago. With some of the best-documented historical cicada activity in the state, Lake Geneva could very well be Wisconsin’s “bug central” this summer. Residents have already shared photos of cicadas covering tree trunks, sidewalks and other surfaces.

UW survey finds inflation, gun violence and health care top issues for Wisconsin residents

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Main Street Agenda is a project designed to focus on the issues Wisconsinites rank as most important heading into the 2024 election. The topics come from a survey of nearly 4,000 residents conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Survey Center in partnership with the La Follette School of Public Affairs.

Smartphone use can actually help teenagers boost their mood

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New Scientist

Now, Matt Minich and Megan Moreno at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have gone further, showing a positive association with smartphones. They enlisted 253 children in the US to take part in a six-day study, sending them 30 short surveys via text at random times between 9am and 9pm.

The problem with the nudge effect: it can make you buy more carrots – but it can’t make you eat them

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The Guardian

That’s actually worse because of the waste. True. It also raises questions about whether nudging has any effect or benefit in the long run. Now, marketing academics Evan Polman from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Sam Maglio from the University of Toronto have done some research into this and written about it in the Wall Street Journal.

The Problem With Nudging People to Make a Better Choice

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Wall Street Journal

In the end, though, the main takeaway from our research is that nudges may be a great first step. But that’s all they are: a first step. Much of the hard work is what comes next.

-Evan Polman is an associate professor of marketing and Kuechenmeister-Bascom professor in business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sam J. Maglio is a professor of marketing at the University of Toronto.

Why Race Matters — discussing COVID-19

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PBS Wisconsin

UW–Madison’s Kevin Lawrence Henry Jr., an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, has been working to improve educational outcomes for underserved students and shares his experiences and recommendations.

“Studies have shown that students who were engaged in longer periods of distance learning or virtual learning fared far worse than some of their counterparts,” he explains. “And that particularly hurt Black and brown students in the state of Wisconsin.”

Sun research could help predict solar flares, auroras

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Axios

Yes, but: Further research is needed to confirm their findings and University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Ellen Zweibel, who was not involved in the study, wrote in an accompanying editorial that the modeling was “highly simplified,” but “sure to inspire future studies.”

Rocket Lab to launch satellite to monitor Earth’s polar regions

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RNZ

The mission, called PREFIRE, short for Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, includes two shoebox-sized satellites or ‘cubesats’ to find out how much heat Earth’s polar regions radiate out to space and how that influences our climate. University of Wisconsin professor, and principal investigator for the mission, Tristan L’Ecuyer spoke to Corin Dann.

On Amazon trip, Eric Hovde ate armadillo, swam with piranhas – and found relief from MS

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A study led by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor emeritus John Fleming published in 2017 found that “potentially favorable MRI outcomes and immunoregulatory changes were observed” in patients who ingested whipworm eggs, “however, the magnitude of these effects was modest, and there was considerable variation among the responses of individual subjects.”

‘Climate Trackers: Superpowered by Ecometeorology’ shows the power of combinations and collaborations

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PBS Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences professor Ankur Desai and his lab conduct ecometeorological research, a cross-pollination of meteorology and ecology. At Seven Seeds Farm, they investigate how cattle farming on silvopastures impacts climate.

Fear over avian flu has died down for Wisconsin dairy farms. But experts warn of continued threat.

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Jackie McCarville is a regional dairy educator for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension in southwestern Wisconsin. She also feels like concern around avian flu has died down, especially as many farms begin work in their fields this spring.

“But I think it’s still in the back of a lot of minds: what happens if it does get into Wisconsin?” McCarville said. “What considerations should we be looking at? It’s a great time to look at your biosecurity plan to see what you can do to protect your farm.”

Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said much of the national dairy industry has been opposed to doing more testing for the virus on farms. He said the number of avian flu tests in cattle across the country has actually declined since the federal order requiring them went into place.

A Madison birding program connects students with nature and neighbors

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Trish O’Kane calls herself an “accidental birder.” After surviving Hurricane Katrina in 2005, O’Kane moved to Wisconsin with her husband to start a new chapter. She had spent years as a human rights journalist in Central America and was now setting her sights on a Ph.D. in environmental natural resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What are the new COVID FLiRT variants, and are they in Wisconsin?

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

KP.1.1 and KP.2, nicknamed FLiRT (pronounced “flirt”), are considered omicron variants, said University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of population health sciences Ajay Sethi. The “FL” and “RT” in the name refer to the mutations present in the variants that allow them to evade some of the immunity people have built up from past infections or vaccines.

Historic pig-to-human kidney transplant excites Wisconsin medical community

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Wisconsin Public Radio

The milestone transplant excites Dr. Anna Gaddy of the Medical College of Wisconsin and Dr. Didier Mandelbrot of UW Health who work with patients living with chronic kidney disease.

“The burden of chronic kidney disease in the United States is just enormous and the vast majority of people with chronic kidney disease don’t know that they have it,” Gaddy said.

‘Here & Now’ Highlights: Peter Hart-Brinson, Eileen Newcomer, Dr. Keith Poulsen

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PBS Wisconsin

Dr. Keith Poulsen, director of the UW-Madison Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, has been monitoring a strain of avian influenza called H5N1 that has so far been identified in dairy cows in nine states. It has not been found in Wisconsin, but Poulsen said researchers are testing cows that are transported across state lines.