Skip to main content

Category: Research

Critics: State’s plan to save bees provides little protection from pesticides

Posted on
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (via Channel3000.com)

Quoted: Claudio Gratton, professor of entomology, who worked on the pollinator proposal for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Paul Mitchell, associate professor and co-director of the UW-Extension’s Nutrient and Pest Management Program; Russell Groves, an insect ecologist and vegetable crop specialist at the UW-Madison Department of Entomology.

Critics: State’s plan to save bees provides little protection from pesticides

Posted on
Capital Times

Noted: By 2012, virtually all corn seed, and about 30 percent of soybean seed planted in Wisconsin and across the country, was coated with neonics, said Paul Mitchell, a UW-Madison associate professor who co-directs the UW-Extension’s Nutrient and Pest Management Program. Neonic-coated seeds also are widely used on other crops such as potatoes and in lawns and gardens. Also: Russell Groves, an insect ecologist and vegetable crop specialist at the UW-Madison Department of Entomology, said farmers continually search for ways to reduce the risk of crop loss due to pests in part to meet consumer demand for low food prices. Groves said federal policies also incentivize larger farms, where natural pest solutions are less practical.

Railroad crossing bill moves down track

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Coyote meeting, chat: A public meeting on the Milwaukee County coyote trapping and tracking project will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at Wil-O-Way Underwood, 10602 Underwood Parkway, Wauwatosa. Researchers from the UW-Madison Urban Canid Project will discuss coyote ecology, coyote-human conflict and behavior modification as well as ongoing monitoring and management efforts. Representatives of the Milwaukee County Parks Department and DNR also will be on hand.

Survey Of Wisconsin Prairies Shows Some Plant Species There Are In Decline

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

About 60 years ago, renowned University of Wisconsin-Madison Botany Professor John Curtis and some of his students did a survey of plants growing in hundreds of prairie remnants in southern Wisconsin. Thirty years later, researcher Mark Leach returned to those same sites to find that many of those species had disappeared.

Mapping brains of people with epilepsy

Posted on
Isthmus

An ambitious project to map the human brain by the National Institutes of Health has funded a four-year, $5 million statewide study to image the brains of people with epilepsy. Researchers at UW-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin have joined the NIH Human Connectome Project, a national library of medical imaging data being used to create maps of human brain connectivity.

Assembly to take up dementia bills

Posted on
AP (via WKOW)

The state Assembly is set to approve a package of legislation designed to help people cope with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The 10-bill package includes proposals to spend $50,000 for virtual dementia tours, in which participants wear goggles to simulate dementia effects, and give the University of Wisconsin-Madison an additional $50,000 for Alzheimer’s research.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin: Strengthen America’s commitment to next generation of researchers

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin column: I have worked across party lines with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and introduced the Next Generation (NextGen) Researchers Act. Our bipartisan legislation builds opportunities for new researchers, helps address the debt burden that young scientists face today, and invests in the future of research, science and innovation. This common-sense proposal, which cleared Senate committee consideration this month, would create the “Next Generation Researchers Initiative” in the NIH Office of the Director to coordinate all NIH policies aimed at promoting opportunities for new researchers and earlier research independence. The legislation also directs the NIH to consider recommendations from a National Academy of Sciences comprehensive study and report on fostering the next generation of researchers.

Madison’s wily coyotes: An uptick in encounters has some worried, others delighted

Posted on
Capital Times

Noted: A University of Wisconsin-Madison research project looking at the habits and health of urban coyotes and foxes has emerged as something of an ambassador for the animals. “What we’re really trying to do with this project, in addition to understanding how these animals are using the urban landscape and understanding how health or not healthy these animals are, is trying to engage the public and educate the public and increase the public’s tolerance of these animals so we can increase a peaceful coexistence,” said David Drake, the lead researcher for the UW Urban Canid Project, which studies the urban habits of both coyotes and their cuter, less-threatening cousins, the foxes.

Cycle for Sight – A Q&A with McPherson Eye Research Institute volunteer Marshall Flax

Posted on
Madison Magazine

Noted: MM: How has the McPherson Eye Research Institute and its events enhanced the Madison community?
For those who have an interest in vision – in the broadest sense of the word – the McPherson ERI is a place where one can present or consider new ideas. The events that are presented range from cutting edge research to basic information about vision and eyes from the cellular to the cultural. By providing a greenhouse for research and ideas, the McPherson ERI helps to keep UW-Madison as a world leader in vision research. This, in turn, helps to foster growth and development in departments and labs throughout the UW, which brings in more resources that can benefit a number of other environments.

UW-Madison researchers genetically reprogram cells

Posted on
Daily Cardinal

UW-Madison researchers published a journal Feb. 11 detailing how they genetically reprogrammed the most common type of cells in mammalian connective tissue into master heart cells.

The research team, led by Timothy J. Kamp, said that the technology they created has the possibility of producing a virtually unlimited amount of the three major types of cells in the human heart, according to a university release.

UW-Madison engineers discover process to turn off genes

Posted on
Daily Cardinal

A group of UW-Madison engineers has discovered how to turn on and off specific genes within bacteria, according to a university press release.

“We were frustrated because synthetic biology is littered with examples of artificial factors that can turn on and turn off gene expression under different conditions, but they only work for certain genes,” said Brian Pfleger, a UW-Madison associate professor of chemical and biological engineering.

UW researchers will tackle Zika virus study

Posted on
NBC15

As the Zika virus continues to make headlines around the world, researchers here in Madison are working hard to find answers to questions surrounding the outbreak. Next Monday they are hoping to start their research on the virus’ effects.

“I’m excited about this in the same way a meteorologist would be excited about a hurricane,” said David O’Connor. He’s one of the professors heading the Zika virus study at UW, and there are many reasons why he is passionate about this study.

UW-Madison picked as the site for first-ever organic research endowment

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is the recipient of the nation’s first endowed chair focused on plant breeding for organic crops, representatives of Organic Valley and Clif Bar & Company said today at a ceremony at the State Capitol. The endowment will be funded in perpetuity with a $1 million gift from the companies and matched by a $1 million gift from UW graduates John and Tashia Morgridge.

Breakup Science Says You Should Never, Ever, Ever Get Back Together

Posted on
Inverse

Noted: In the Journal of Adolescent Research, researchers from the University of Wisconsin and Bowling Green State University describe relationships as “intimate unions” that are “best conceived of as dynamic trajectories involving a heterogeneous and multi-directional array of transitions.” That’s academic for: you don’t really have a clue what’s going to happen. In a study of 792 young adults who were dating, about half of the respondents had tried to rekindle an old relationship; a few more, 57 percent, had at least had sex with an ex.

Geography Plays Role in College Access

Posted on
Education Week

The college frenzy obsesses on key hurdles students must clear to snag a spot in a good college: taking tough courses and getting good grades, building an impressive list of extracurriculars, gathering the financial resources to pay the bills. But the simple fact of a student’s street address can be as big a hurdle as any.

Footsteps could charge mobile devices thanks to UW engineers

Posted on
Channel3000.com

University of Wisconsin-Madison mechanical engineers have developed technology that could reduce reliance on the batteries in mobile devices by simply plugging a device into your shoe, according to a release. (Researchers: Tom Krupenkin, professor of mechanical engineering, and J. Ashley Taylor, senior scientist in Department of Mechanical Engineering.)

Insurance student hopes to help at-risk farmers cope with climate change

Posted on
Automotive News

Noted: The University of Wisconsin School of Business student has collaborated with Askar Choudhury, James Jones and Raquiba Choudhury of Illinois State University, using an innovative statistical approach to analyze data by finding a trigger point that would initiate payment for crop loss through a simplified, index-based insurance policy. The approach is designed to be less costly than traditional agricultural insurance policies.

How Much Should We Worry About Zika Virus?

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

The spread of mosquito-born Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects in children of infected women, has led to travel advisories for pregnant women and, in some countries, advice that women delay pregnancy entirely. What is Zika, and how can countries fight it? Joy Cardin talks to UW-Madison’s Kristen Bernard about how Zika is spreading, the challenges it poses, and how big a problem it may become in the U.S.

Finance committee to vote on dementia bills

Posted on

The Legislature’s budget committee is set to vote on five bills to help people cope with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.The bills would lay out $50,000 to purchase licenses for a virtual dementia tour, a program that simulates dementia; $50,000 in additional funding annually for Alzheimer’s research at UW-Madison; $1 million in additional money annually for the state’s Alzheimer’s family and caregiver support program; $465,000 in ongoing funding to support four more dementia care specialists spread across counties with fewer than 150,000 people and a state specialist trainer; and an additional $250,000 in fiscal year 2016-17 for state grants for training county and regional crisis teams on providing help to dementia sufferers.

Teachers, UW-Madison game designers collaborate on video games

Posted on
Daily Cardinal

Noted: Field Day Lab is continuing to develop some of the ideas that were born in the workshop into free, open-sourced video games. The game designers said they aim to further engage students with an interactive learning environment.

“By engaging science teachers right from the start, we want to build games that will actually be used in classrooms,” said David Gagnon, the director of Field Day Lab, in the release. “Too many games languish because they do not fit what teachers want. With the teachers’ help, we want to build them right—right out of the gate.”

Want to end prejudice? Watch a sitcom

Posted on
CNN

Quoted: “We thought the effect might be dampened with the groups actual media exposure prior to watching the program. Typically Muslims and Arabs are shown on television as more violent and aggressive and are shown in more stereotypical ways like as terrorists,” said Sohad Murrar, the study author. Murrar is a graduate student studying social and personality psychology in at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It was particularly exciting to see this positive shift it was quite a robust effect, and we think if people’s prejudice was dampened in this case, this could be applied to other target groups.”

MIT wins Hyperloop pod design competition (Wired UK)

Posted on
Wired

A team of students from MIT have won a competition to design pods for the still-unbuilt Hyperloop transportation system. More than 100 university teams presented design concepts to a panel of SpaceX judges, with MIT beating out teams from Delft University of Technology, The University of Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and the University of California, Irvine to win first place.

Greenland

Posted on
60 Minutes

One of the most significant efforts to study changes in the climate has been taking place near the top of the world. It’s a place called Petermann Glacier in Greenland, one of the largest glaciers in the Arctic Circle and a glacier that has experienced dramatic melting. It is a harsh and dangerous environment, and it has drawn some of the world’s leading climate scientists who are only able to work there a little over a month a year.

UW evolutionary biologist Sean Carroll named winner of prestigious Lewis Thomas Prize

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This year’s winner of the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science is Sean B. Carroll, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of several books including, “Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species,” which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2009.

Study: Wisconsin’s Rural School Districts Face Declining Enrollment, Less Funding

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin’s rural school districts are facing a “perfect storm” of declining enrollment and uncertain funding that pose tough questions about their future, according to a new report. A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher said that the information she compiled in her report are the kind of problems that won’t go away any time soon.

WIAA board takes action on fall sports recommendations/realignment

Posted on
NBC15

Noted: The Board voted to approve a proposed University of Wisconsin study entitled “Academic Effects of Concussion in High School Student Athletes,” reflecting the membership’s constant commitment to the safety and well-being of Wisconsin high school athletes. The Board’s support of the research study does not obligate a member school to participate in the study.