Like some humans, giant pandas struggle with digestion due to changes in diet – an affliction that could be interrupting their reproduction, according to a new study.
Painful pooping may stop panda sex
Cosmos
Category: Research
Aztalan dig open for public tour
Daily Jefferson County Union
AZTALAN — Ancient Aztalan was a prehistoric Native American village in southern Wisconsin occupied by Mississippian and Late Woodland peoples 800 to 1,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence suggests it was an ethnically diverse community — some residents were local to the area, but others were newcomers who brought their exotic beliefs, practices and ways of living with them.
Rare condition no match for boy’s love of music
NBC-15
Noted: Recently, that method of playing changed thanks to the help of engineers at UW-Madison. They made a device for Roy so he’s able to play the instrument by himself.
Underwater sensor may detect deadly rip currents
Duluth News Tribune
University of Wisconsin researchers this week installed an underwater wave pressure sensor along Duluth’s Park Point beach that could help detect deadly rip currents.
Vector biologist Matthew Aliota looks at the Zika virus in Wisconsin
WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee
UW-Madison vector biologist Matthew Aliota joined Steve Ketelaar on Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News to look at the latest case of the Zika virus in Wisconsin, if it could start to spread locally, and if athletes should be concerned about it in Rio for the Olympics.
Beach Projects At Park Point Designed To Save Lives
KDAL-AM, Duluth
Coinciding with National Beach Safety Week and Rip Current Awareness Week from June 4th to the 11th, the WIsconsin Sea Grant Program is continuing a couple of projects at the Park Point Beach in Duluth designed to save lives.
New Project Installs Trail Cameras Throughout Wisconsin To Monitor Wildlife
Wisconsin Public Radio
An impressive cadre of researchers just launched a new initiative to install trail cameras throughout Wisconsin that will help scientists keep track of the state’s wildlife populations.
Continued Beach Projects Coming to Beaches in Southeast Wisconsi
CBS 58, Milwaukee
Just in time for National Beach Safety Week and Rip Current Awareness Week June 4-11, beaches on lakes Superior and Michigan will be safer thanks to continuation of two projects, according to a press release from Wisconsin Sea Grant.
Tech and Biotech: UW students enter national wind energy contest; local companies sign collaborations
Wisconsin State Journal
What if the power of the wind could help villagers in rural India stay in touch via cellphone?
Crystal clear: Winners emerge in crystal-growing contest
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A high school student from Fond du Lac and a team of middle school students from Berlin grew the best overall crystals in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s third annual crystal-growing contest.
Johnson Controls expands battery research partnership with UW-Madison
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Expanding its research collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, Johnson Controls Inc. is funding projects in Madison that will research improving fuel efficiency for both start-stop and battery-electric vehicles.
Why We Are Better At Making Decisions For Other People
Fast Company
If you’ve ever started a sentence with, “If I were you . . . ” or found yourself scratching your head at a colleague’s agony over a decision when the answer is crystal-clear, there’s a scientific reason behind it. Our own decision-making abilities can become depleted over the course of the day causing indecision or poor choices, but choosing on behalf of someone else is an enjoyable task that doesn’t suffer the same pitfalls, according to a study published in Social Psychology and Personality Science.
How UW System Contributes To State Economic Development
Here and Now
Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still explains how budget cuts will continue to affect the University of Wisconsin System’s ability to contribute to economic growth in Wisconsin. Still says a bipartisan effort is necessary in order for both the state economy and UW System to thrive.
Spring Comes Earlier to Urban Environments
Voice of America
Spring comes earlier to dense cities, and while that might be great for city gardeners and outdoorsy types, it might be bad for native birds and insects.
NASA and Wisconsin are covering the state with wildlife cameras
Engadget
NASA’s next search for life is headed somewhere close to home: into the woods of Wisconsin, where the space agency is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to create “one of the richest and most comprehensive caches of wildlife data for any spot on our planet.”
Stem cell scientist says industry poised to boom
WisBusiness.com
Twenty years after UW-Madison scientist Jamie Thomson began work to isolate human embryonic stems, research has advanced so far that the field is now poised to boom and create Wisconsin companies that could rival Epic, the Verona-based electronic healthcare records company with more than 9,000 employees.
Can my spazzed-out cat be calmed by YouTube cat music?
The Daily Dot
Musician David Teie composed music inspired by cats’ vocalizations and matching purr frequencies. “An independent study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and published in Applied Animal Behavior verified that Music for Cats resonates conclusively with its audience,” Music for Cats says on its site.
Billions at Stake in University Patent Fights
Bloomberg
A powerful and inexpensive technique for rewriting snippets of DNA — known as CRISPR-Cas9 — has two research institutions locked in a bitter patent battle. On one side is UC Berkeley, where faculty first reported using the gene-editing technology in 2012, on the other, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where faculty won a special expedited patent for the technique in 2014.
Atucha: How Wisconsin Fruits Were Hit By A Late Spring Frost
Wisconsin Public Radio
Every year as spring unfolds, fruit growers around Wisconsin start feeling anxious, wondering whether a late frost will harm their crop. Overall, temperatures are warming across the state amidst global climate change, but this pattern is accompanied by unseasonable cold weather events, such as the late spring frost much of the state experienced earlier this month.
New Strategy Could Yield More Precise Seasonal Flu Vaccine
Lab Manager Magazine
During the 2014-15 flu season, the poor match between the virus used to make the world’s vaccine stocks and the circulating seasonal virus yielded a vaccine that was less than 20 percent effective.
UW virologist devises strategy for more accurate development of seasonal flu vaccine
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Medical science has had difficulty developing flu vaccines that accurately match circulating seasonal influenza strains.
UW-Madison scientist says flu virus mapping could improve vaccine
Wisconsin State Journal
The development by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka follows research he did last year suggesting another way to improve flu shots: manufacturing them with dog or monkey cells instead of the current, lengthy process using chicken eggs.
Thousands more trail cameras coming to Wisconsin
WISC-TV 3
Wisconsin scientists have launched an ambitious new project that uses trail cameras to inventory wildlife and tamp down simmering questions about how many deer really roam the state.
Antigone Lupulus: Climate change impacts futuristic farmers in Yahara Watershed
WISC-TV 3
Editor’s note: The Water Sustainability and Climate project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison collaborated with other groups to launch the Our Waters, Our Future Writing Contest in January. The group—including the UW–Madison Center for Limnology, Sustain Dane and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters—sought short stories reflecting visions for positive futures for the watershed. This is the winning piece. To read the entry chosen as the runner-up, see the June tablet edition of Madison Magazine.
Painful pooping may stop panda sex
Cosmos
Like some humans, giant pandas struggle with digestion due to changes in diet – an affliction that could be interrupting their reproduction, according to a new study.
UW researches why obesity is breast cancer risk factor
WISC-TV 3
Studies show that being overweight or obese is associated with a higher risk of cancer. One woman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is trying to figure out why that is, specifically in cases of breast cancer.
Thousands more trail cameras coming to Wisconsin
AP
MADISON — Wisconsin scientists have launched an ambitious new plan to catalog wild animals using thousands of trail cameras, a project that could help answer just how many deer and other creatures roam the state.
Wisconsin trail cam project goes live
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: “Something like this has never been done before, not for such a large area,” said UW–Madison Professor of Forest and Wildlife Ecology Phil Townsend, a leader on the project, in a statement released Tuesday by the university. “The number of trail cams and the spatial scale we’re working on will make this project unique.”
Panda feces study provides insights into microbiome, reproductive troubles
ScienceDaily
A stomachache can put a real damper on your love life — especially if you’re a giant panda. One minute it’s breeding season and you’re happily dining on fresh bamboo leaves, the next you’re left clutching your stomach while your gastrointestinal lining passes through your system. This is exactly what seems to happen to captive giant pandas, and the researchers behind a new study are beginning to suspect it may play a role in their struggles to reproduce.
Health officials work with UW to track Zika-prone mosquitoes
WISN-TV, Milwaukee
Health officials are collaborating with the a state university after learning that a Wisconsin woman contracted the Zika virus.
The Opening Bell 05-18-16: GMO + TSA = BAD!
WGN Radio, Chicago
On the May 18, 2016 episode of The Opening Bell, Steve Grzanich talked with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Life Science Communication department chair, Dominique Brossard. The two discussed the recent details of a genetically engineered crop study and how it effects the market. Rick Seaney, airline industry expert, stopped by as well to share some more perspective on the TSA line madness.
Taking a ‘snapshot’ of Wisconsin wildlife
Wisconsin Radio Network
Wisconsin is home to numerous species of wild animals, although getting a handle on just how many can often prove quite difficult. A joint effort between University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and the state Department of Natural Resources could take some of the guesswork out of that process, with members of the public also lending a hand.
Increased number of ticks becomes bigger problem in Madison area
Channel3000.com
Noted: Researchers at UW-Madison have seen a spike in the ticks in the UW arboretum, increasing from around 40 in 2014 to 600 found last year.
“It’s a new risk for people to worry about for both themselves and for their families and for their animals,” said Susan Paskewitz, a UW-Madison entomologist.
Paskewitz is leading a group of students to find ways to reduce the risk of Lyme disease from ticks.
DNR, UW-Madison researchers launch crowdsourced wildlife tracking project
Wisconsin State Journal
Anyone with computer access can now take part in conducting wildlife research in Wisconsin.Snapshot Wisconsin, a collaboration between UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is recruiting the public to help track the state’s wildlife population.
Regeneration pioneer to join UW faculty, Morgridge Institute
Wisconsin State Journal
A scientist who is a pioneer in studying how the body regenerates damaged tissue will be joining the UW-Madison faculty this fall.
There’s a Hotline for People With Knotty Wood Questions
Atlas Obscura
Who would you call if you had a wood-related question? The Forest Products Laboratory, of course. But, did you even know of its existence?
NASA Satellite Data Helps Document Wisconsin Wildlife
NASA
A collaboration of NASA, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Snapshot Wisconsin aims to provide one of the richest and most comprehensive caches of wildlife data for any spot on our planet.
Madison company invents compound to make lithium ion batteries safer
Channel3000.com
Noted: Silatronix was founded by two UW-Madison chemistry professors, Robert Hamers and Robert West, after a hallway conversation in which the “two Bobs” sought to literally change the world.
“The safety issues are very real,” Hamers said recently in an interview in the company’s laboratory on the city’s east side, near the Madison College campus. “Our goal is to make lithium ion batteries perform better and be safer, and the way we did that is by inventing a new liquid called an electrolyte. It’s one of the three major components of the lithium ion battery.”
What it means to be mindful and how it can help your kids
Channel3000.com
Noted: According to Lisa Thomas Prince, there’s even research going on in Madison on the topic of mindfulness and children. She said prior research proves kids who can tap into their thoughts and feelings and “check in” can better focus their attention, lower their anxiety and maintain good physical health. In addition, adolescents who have participated in the Center for Healthy Minds courses have had an easier time sleeping and navigating social situations.
Research tackles communication disorders in kids
Wisconsin State Journal
In a special column for the paper, Katie Hustad, Waisman Center professor of communication sciences and disorders, writes about her work studying how communication develops in children with cerebral palsy.
Wisconsin knows how its gardens grow
BTN LiveBIG
Every parent wonders at some point: How do you get kids to eat their vegetables? The answer: You make them grow the vegetables too!
Scientists to check for Zika-carrying mosquitos in Rock, Walworth counties
Janesville Gazette
MADISON—Nothing to worry about—really. But just to be sure, scientists will be collecting mosquito eggs in Rock, Walworth and other state-line counties this summer to make sure the Zika virus can’t creep north. They’ll set traps in June, said Susan M. Paskewitz, a professor of entomology at UW-Madison.
‘Blood Does Not Buy Goodwill’: Hunting Study Calls Into Question US Approach to Wildlife Management
VICE News
Wildlife authorities around the world have long turned to culls — a polite word for hunting — to reduce the populations of wild animals living too close to people or livestock.
Ticks that can carry Lyme disease becoming abundant in Madison
Wisconsin State Journal
When Susan Paskewitz,a UW-Madison professor of entomology, searched the UW Arboretum two years ago for immature deer ticks, the kind most likely to infect people with Lyme disease, she found 32. Last year, during the same amount of sampling at the same 17 sites in the Arboretum, she found 592.
UW professor picked to lead world’s largest biomedical library
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Patricia Flatley Brennan, a professor of nursing and industrial engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the new director of the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest biomedical library.
Watch kids’ toys explain why killing wolves might be a bad idea
The Washington Post
Hunters in Finland took to the forests this year to kill nearly 20 percent of that country’s 250 or so wolves. They did so as part of a controversial, government-approved “cull” that officials said was intended to prevent illegal poaching of the wolves.
Government culling of Minnesota’s wolves could increase poaching
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Governments often take on the job of killing problem wolves that attack livestock in order to increase public tolerance for the predators and, in theory, to reduce poaching by frustrated citizens.
Could legal hunts be encouragiong the poaching they’re meant to preempt?
Christian Science Monitor
A new study challenges the notion of government hunts as a conservation tactic to limit poaching of large carnivores such as wolves, big cats, and bears.
Why wolf hunting is bad, as explained by Playmobil figurines
The Verge
Listen: the US has had bad policies when it comes to wolves, and a very earnest French man would like to explain why, using what appear to be Playmobil figurines.
Why are carrots orange?
Christian Science Monitor
What’s two plus five? Three times nine? The square route of 16? Now name a vegetable. Chances are, you picked a carrot. Why? Because when we do math, we tend to think of the color orange. And which vegetable is indelibly linked to orange? The humble but ubiquitous carrot.
Dane County Sweet Potato Project Enlists Growers To Fight Food Insecurity
Wisconsin Public Radio
Dane County has rich farmland, dedicated farmers and gardeners, and some of the best homegrown food in the country. But not everybody is able to enjoy the region’s bounty.
Is hunting really a conservation tool?
Isthmus
The findings of a new study co-authored by a UW-Madison researcher challenge the conventional wisdom that hunting is an effective tool for the conservation of predators. It could have implications for Wisconsin’s wolf hunt as well as wildlife management efforts around the world. The authors anticipate a backlash.
Study Casts Doubt on Theory That Legal Hunting Reduces Poaching
New York Times
Government wildlife authorities and some conservation groups have for years argued that allowing some legal hunting can help reduce the illegal killing of threatened carnivores like wolves and grizzly bears.
Ever wondered the reason carrots are orange, here’s why
AFP
Scientists unveiled the gene in carrots that gives rise to carotenoids, a critical source of Vitamin A and the pigment that turns some fruits and vegetables bright orange or red.
Gene editing transforms biology, raises ethical questions
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison researchers are joining scientists around the world in using a powerful gene editing tool that is transforming biology and could improve human health as much as anything since the first successful isolation of human embryonic stem cells, at UW-Madison, in 1998.
Scientists peel back the carrot’s genetic secrets
Reuters Africa
Scientists have gotten to the root of the carrot, genetically speaking. Researchers, including lead scientist, University of Wisconsin horticulture professor and geneticist Phil Simon, said on Monday they have sequenced the genome of the carrot, an increasingly important root crop worldwide, identifying genes responsible for traits including the vegetable’s abundance of vitamin A, an important nutrient for vision.
UW and Medical College win $5.5 million grant to study Alzheimer’s
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Medical College of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin-Madison have joined forces to win a $5.5 million federal grant to study Alzheimer’s disease.
UW researchers discover new technique to track brain development
A team of researchers at University of Wisconsin has developed a noninvasive method to track brain development in children using two different brain imaging techniques.
UW Doctor Among Those Focusing On Physician Training To Combat Opioid Epidemic
Wisconsin Public Radio
A Dane County doctor is using a federal grant to educate colleagues about the appropriate use of strong painkillers in an attempt to help combat a national epidemic of death and addiction related to opioids. But an increasing push to focus on — and potentially change — how physicians practice has some pushing back.
New WARF leader to make first public appearance
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Erik Iverson, who takes the helm July 1 at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, will make his first public appearance in the state at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in June.