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.
Quoted: “We’re trying to make the campus more accessible as a destination for the best and brightest students in our state,” said Ilia Guzei, director of the X-ray crystallography lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the organizer of the contest.
Noted: According to a UW study, nearly 90% of Wisconsin’s immigrant dairy workers are from Mexico. Some of them have come here from other states, such as Arizona, that have passed laws cracking down on undocumented workers.
Low oil prices are restraining the ability of renewable energy technologies to compete, but work forges ahead on alternatives to petroleum-based fuels.
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.
Letter to the editor from UW-Madison undergraduate student, Ryan Prestil, president of the Student Society for Stem Cell Research, opposing current efforts in the state to restrict fetal tissue research.
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.
UW Madison professor and researcher Kenneth Cameron made a monumental discovery this week.
Fungi samples found by George Washington Carver, the famous African American scientist, were discovered after sitting untouched for over fifty years.
Column cites research of Sohad Murrar, a doctoral candidate in social psychology at UW-Madison, who used the Canadian TV show “Little Mosque on the Prairie” to test whether entertainment media can reduce prejudice.
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.
Q&A with Associate Professor of Engineering Laura Albert McLay about operations research, in which mathematical models are used to aid decision-making, offers much more benefit to the world than trying to win the lottery.
Despite the constant media attention the Zika virus has received so far in 2016, University of Wisconsin-Madison pathologist David O’Connor thinks people shouldn’t panic.
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.
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.
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.
Believe it or not, Wisconsin is the Silicon Valley of sheep cheese.
A unique organic agricultural research opportunity in the form of a $2 million endowment has been created for UW-Madison with help from two organic food companies.
UW-Madison researchers plan next week to start monkey studies of Zika virus, which has caused an outbreak apparently linked to birth defects in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The National Institutes of Health is funding a Zika Virus at UW-Madison. While many research teams across the country are still drafting their proposals, a team led by UW-Madison Pathology professor Dave O’Connor and associate professor of Pathobiological Sciences Thomas Friedrich will begin their first study on Monday.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Bill Tracy has become the school’s first organic agriculture researcher, inaugurating an endowed professorship that could lead to new advances in a field that might not otherwise see university research.
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.
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.
Shaun Marcott, an assistant professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a co-author of a new article in Nature Climate Change that tracks the grim long-term effects of climate change on sea level, UW-Madison News reports.
A group of international climate scientists warning that if carbon pollution continues at its current rate, it will wreak havoc on the global climate for more than 10,000 years.
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.
Fresh produce isn’t usually on the menu for astronauts in space, but some University of Wisconsin-Madison botanists are working with NASA to get astronauts gardening.
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.)
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.
UW-Madison’s Jorge Osorio, Matthew Aliota and Jonathon Patz speak about the spread of Zika virus, funding issues in infectious disease research, the interdisciplinary nature of the work, and the role of climate and climate change in the global spread of the virus.
Matthew Aliota, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine who helped detect Zika in Colombia, discusses a possible reason why Colombia has not yet seen cases of the rare birth defect linked to the virus in Brazil.
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.
CLEMSON — Gloria Ladson-Billings may not be the first to name-drop hip-hop superstars like Lupe Fiasco, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj in the halls of higher education.
Noted: The bills would lay out $50,000 to purchase licenses for a virtual dementia tour; $50,000 in additional funding annually for Alzheimer’s research at UW-Madison; and $1 million in additional money annually for the state’s Alzheimer’s family and caregiver support program.
Noted: In addition, Johnson says she’ll work with UW-Madison to get funding to watch for the particular mosquito that caries the virus.
A new study from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Minnesota found lithium ion batteries used to power laptops and cell phones can be harmful to important microorganisms in soil.
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.
University of Wisconsin-Madison professor John Hawks is part of a team that made one of the greatest fossil discoveries of the past half century.
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.”
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.”
Students who are part of the University of Wisconsin’s BadgerLoop team took third in the world for their Hyperloop design in Texas yesterday.
Angela Byars-Winston, a counseling psychologist at the U. of Wisconsin at Madison, is involved in an ambitious training program in “culturally responsive mentoring,” funded by the NIH.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Column by chemistry professor Helen Blackwell on her research at UW–Madison.
Live at Four talks to UW-Madison’s Kristen Bernard and Matthew Aliota, both experts on Zika virus. Aliota is part of team that confirmed the Zika virus in Columbia and is working to find a way to stop it.
A new paper says that the first tests confirming transmission of the Zika virus in Colombia were carried out by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Colombia’s Universidad de Sucre.
Report on the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study from Pamela Herd, a professor of public affairs and sociology, a faculty affiliate with the Institute for Research on Poverty and principal investigator of the study.
Smoking cessation pills aren’t any better than nicotine patches or lozenges at helping people successfully quit, a U.S. study suggests.
A Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinic in 2010 provided heart and brain tissues from aborted fetuses to University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers for studies aimed at understanding the growth of babies with and without birth defects.
Many would describe using science to defy the laws of physics as a rare feat. But for University of Wisconsin assistant professor Mikhail Kats, it’s just another day in the lab.
Looking ahead to February, temperatures are expected to be above normal in Wisconsin, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison meteorologist.
Computer scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are tasked with protecting data from some of the nation’s most prolific science research programs, and they’ve just gotten a financial boost to bolster their efforts.
Certain types of debt that parents take on may have adverse effects on children’s socioemotional well-being according to a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Dartmouth published by the journal Pediatrics. The study sheds new light on the link between debt and family well-being, as previous research on debt has typically focused on how debt affects the mental health and well-being of adults and has yet to explore how parents’ debt may impact a child’s well-being.
While past studies have examined the ways in which debts affect the mental health and well-being of adults, new research led by professors at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Dartmouth College examines the problem from the child’s point of view.
The other bills include $500,000 to fund four dementia care specialists in counties with fewer than 150,000 people and a statewide specialist responsible for educating employers about dementia; $250,000 to train mobile crisis teams in how to care for those suffering from dementia; and $50,000 to fund research by UW-Madison’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin have worked with colleagues at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection on a plan to help the state’s honey bees.
According to a new study, about 44 percent of working people diagnosed with metastatic cancer continue to work after their diagnoses. Interviewed:Amye Tevaarwerk, the UW-Madison oncologist who worked on the study about which factors are associated with employment changes among patients with metastatic cancer.
