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Category: Experts Guide

America is awash in conspiracy theories. A Missouri researcher says ‘radical empathy’ can help

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NPR Kansas City

Conner and researchers Saverio Roscigno, of the University of California, Irvine, and Matthew Hannah, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, write in the forthcoming “QAnon: Capitalism and the Crisis of Meaning” that participating in QAnon means interacting with what they call gamified systems that are “strategically engineered to increase the likelihood that users will engage with them.”

This means the internet offers spaces to share ideas and encourage participation, but also “capitalizes on psychological mechanisms to hook and hold its followers,” they write.

Afghans in Wisconsin face uncertainty amid Trump administration crackdown

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Some say they fear being scapegoated for the actions of one man — an Afghan national who has been charged in the ambush-style shooting of two National Guard members last week.

“No community is responsible for an individual’s act,” said Najib Azad, a lawyer and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was resettled along with his wife and children in Stevens Point almost four years ago.

Sick of those state Supreme Court campaign ads, Wisconsin? Here’s how other states avoid them

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Wisconsin Watch

Politicians’ support for switching to partisan judicial elections seems to depend on whether they think it will help their own side. Ohio Republicans figured they would benefit from fully partisan high court elections, and they have won every race since the 2022 change, said Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Similarly, Louisiana Republicans are changing Supreme Court justice nominations to regular partisan primaries, starting in 2026, instead of the state’s unique all-party primaries.

Improv classes enhance medical students’ interpersonal skills at UW-Madison

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Channel 3000

he University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has used improv classes to help medical students develop their interpersonal skills, combining performing arts and health-related fields into a six-week course.

Amy Zelenski, a professor of medicine at the school, teaches an elective class in improvisational theater. She is no stranger to the performing arts scene, as she has a background in theater.

Future of UW foreign language programs at risk amid federal, campus funding cuts

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The Daily Cardinal

A series of federal and campus funding cuts have plunged the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s foreign language programs into financial uncertainty.

Last spring, UW-Madison regularly offered 31 different foreign languages through the fourth semester level, but now, the future of many lesser-taught languages are in limbo after the Trump administration withheld federal funding and university-ordered campus-wide budget cuts.

Is my morning coffee climate friendly?

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The New York Times

A study led by Andrea Hicks, the director of sustainability education and research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, yielded similar results, concluding that single-serve coffee pods have a similar environmental impact to drip-filter and French press coffee.

“I was surprised when we first found this, after reading all of the popular press saying that single serve coffee pods were terrible for the planet,” Dr. Hicks said. “It seems the public has a hard time believing this, as well.”

Spotify Wrapped reveals the real battle for attention in the music industry

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Axios

AI-generated tracks already make up nearly one in five uploads on some platforms, said Jeremy Morris, a media and cultural studies professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, raising concerns about royalty dilution and algorithmic bias.

“Streaming is the new record-store shelf,” Morris told Axios, adding that algorithms now determine which artists get the best placement.

Amanda Shubert’s new book reveals the history of optical illusion

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Madison Magazine

“When you see your best friend on Zoom, you don’t think, ‘OMG, a ghost,’ or ‘How did she get so tiny and inside my computer?’” says Amanda Shubert, teaching faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of the new book “Seeing Things.” “The question my book asks is: When, how, and why did this experience of seeing things that are not there become part of daily life — a kind of illusion we enjoy, but are not tricked by?”

Wisconsin Supreme Court elections have drawn an ‘obscene’ amount of spending. Here’s why and what can be done about it.

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Wisconsin Watch

That kind of “strident, negative television advertising” characterized Wisconsin’s first million-dollar contest in 1999, then-Rep. Mary Hubler, D-Rice Lake, complained at the time. Liberal Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson won reelection against conservative challenger Sharren Rose in a race that cost $1.4 million.

Before then, high court candidates in the 1990s typically spent around $250,000 each, which “looks like a pittance” now, former Justice Janine Geske said in an interview. Howard Schweber, professor emeritus of political science and legal studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called those earlier races “gentlemanly” and “low-key affairs.”

Early study results show landfill runoff in Wisconsin has high PFAS levels

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Early results of a new study show landfill runoff contained the highest levels of PFAS among liquid wastes sampled statewide in Wisconsin.

Since 2023, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been collecting and analyzing samples from four waste materials that could be potential sources of PFAS in groundwater, which provides drinking water to two-thirds of state residents. It’s also a source of drinking water for around 800,000 private wells.

Think it’s cold now? Just wait for this week’s Arctic blast that’s poised to break records

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CNN

Over the rest of December, we can expect frequent oscillations between milder-than-average conditions and frigid temperatures as storms move through.

However, this polar vortex event isn’t the only factor behind those upcoming temperature fluctuations, said Andrea Lopez Lang, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s definitely contributing, but it’s not the whole story,” Lopez said.

These groups help crime victims. Trump’s anti-DEI push is putting them on the defensive.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Howard Schweber, a UW-Madison professor who studies constitutional law, said it is widely accepted that Congress, as the branch of government that holds the power to tax and spend public funds, sets the terms of federal grant restrictions.

What is debated is how much power the president has to alter those terms after Congress has appropriated funds to federal agencies, he said.

According to Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, federal grant funding has followed a predictable structure of laws and contracts for decades. Trump’s declarations are challenging the limits of constitutional law, he said.

Teaching assistant receives UW fellowship for second consecutive year: a look into his research

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The Daily Cardinal

PhD candidate Morgan Henson received the Gulickson fellowship for the second year in a row, an award given to graduate students working to improve the teaching experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His research focuses on how far-right political movements use digital platforms and media to gain political support. Outside the classroom, Henson is making a different kind of impact: helping his fellow teaching assistants.

Archaeologists in Wisconsin unearth an ancient ‘parking lot’ with 16 dugout canoes — including one that’s 5,200 years old

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Smithsonian Magazine

For the past few years, Thomsen has been collaborating with the preservation officers with the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, as well as Sissel Schroeder, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory. Together, they’re unraveling the mysteries of the Indigenous canoes, which are some of the oldest surviving specimens of their kind in eastern North America.

Can we opt out of facial recognition technology?

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The Nation

Alan Rubel, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison studying public health surveillance and privacy, spoke to WPR about the issue and drew attention to the offer’s language, saying a trade rather than buying the data would be “very useful for that company. We’ve collected this data as part of a public investment, in mugshots and the criminal justice system, but now all that effort is going to go to training an AI system.”

Defying definition: Why fictional words cast such a spell on us

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Observer

Gary Lupyan, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, also emphasizes the importance of context in understanding hitherto unseen words. “Words like ‘horrendible’ in Wicked, by virtue of being so close to a conventional English word, can be understood when first encountered,” he says. “Especially if they’re also used in a context where one might expect a familiar word, such as ‘horrible.’”

UW-Madison will launch Wisconsin’s first public policy undergraduate major

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Wisconsin Public Radio

In fall 2026, UW-Madison will launch the state’s first undergraduate major in public policy.  Students will be able to earn a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science in public policy from La Follette.

“Our point here is not to change anybody’s values, but to have students exercise their intellectual muscles to hear different points of view with the hope that when they enter into the workforce, they will be more amenable and curious about other points of view,” said La Follette School Director Susan Webb Yackee. .

8 new cookbooks, including some with Wisconsin ties, to give as holiday gifts in 2025

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

‘Lab culture: A recipe for innovation in science’ by Dr. Ahna Renee Skop, Crystal Xin Qing, Hareem Rauf, Dr. Diana Chu

This cookbook — written in-part by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, a student and an alumnus — is a collection of more than 75 recipes and stories from more than 120 scientists from around the globe who are connected with the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s IF/THEN Ambassadors program.

Small businesses feel more uneasy ahead of the holidays after a year of slow sales and high costs

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Wisconsin Public Radio

“If you are a consumer worried about what’s going to be happening to your food, housing or health care expenses, you might start to cut back on the categories that are less essential or in the categories where you have options,” said Tessa Conroy, associate professor and economic development specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Liver transplant has Wisconsin administrator, donor connected for life: ‘Such a gift’

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Wisconsin State Journal

Years living with an autoimmune disease meant it was a matter of when, not if, Adam Barnes would need a liver transplant. That time was approaching after he was hospitalized for a blocked bile duct in 2024. The idea of seeking a living donor came up but there was something about it that turned him off.

Barnes, the University of Wisconsin senior associate athletic director for business operations, initially didn’t want someone else to go through the danger of elective surgery and a painful recovery to benefit him.

Don’t let politics tear Thanksgiving apart. Talk it out.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The good news amid the rancor is that people are not only studying why we’re so polarized, but they are also working on ways to fix it. I learned that fact during my recent interview with Susan Yackee, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW–Madison.

The school is launching a new undergraduate public policy program in the fall of 2026, including a required course titled Advancing Public Policy in a Divided America.

In it, students literally practice talking across ideological divides. “If I don’t work out my bicep, it’s just not gonna get strong, right? It’s the same thing with our students and their skills in talking across differences,” Yackee told me. “[It’s] super easy for them to be siloed in their own little social media environments and not hear or have to interact with people that think differently than them. So we’re gonna force that in the class.”

Evers approves SNAP payments for November during uncertain federal order

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The Badger Herald

Though the regular full-time student does not meet the requirements for SNAP, there are special opportunities for students with different circumstances, like students in a work study program or who have a child caretaking role.

“There are certain exemptions that make students able to access SNAP … working in a work study job, if you have a caretaking role or if you have a certain kind of disabilities,” said University of Wisconsin assistant director for student engagement Kasie Strahl. “Finally, if you work more than an average of 80 hours a month, you qualify.”

Wisconsin could face heavy flu season as virus ramps up, vaccinations decline

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Dr. Jim Conway, medical director of UW Health’s immunization program, said he thinks health care providers and public health officials have done a good job communicating the risks of flu and other respiratory illnesses for seniors.

“But it is a little bit troubling that they do seem to be, even for that group, a little bit behind,” he said.

Justin Sydnor on rising costs for ACA health insurance plans

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PBS Wisconsin

Extending enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Marketplace plans was what Democrats were holding out for in the government shutdown that ended on Nov. 12. The continuing resolution put forth by Republican lawmakers ended up passing without that extension, and ACA policyholders are girding for premium hikes that could more than double.

“There’s really no uncertainty about that — it’s basically pretty straightforward, simple math,” said Justin Sydnor, a professor of risk and insurance at the Wisconsin School of Business. “The way the tax credits work is that they’re tied to a share of the percent of your income, and the enhanced tax credits increased or decreased the share you would have to pay, and increase the income range for people who are eligible. So they’ll definitely go up. The share that you’re responsible for paying goes up if those subsidies expire — how much depends a lot on your income level.

Eastpark Medical Center appointments higher than expected in first year, UW Health says

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Channel 3000

This fall marks one year since UW Health opened its Eastpark Medical Center, and the facility’s usage is already outpacing the healthcare provider’s predictions.

The 475,000 square-foot facility, located at 4621 Eastpark Blvd., saw about 1,050 clinic visits per day in its first year. There were also about 4,600 ancillary appointments per day for services such as imaging, nutrition and rehab.

WARF increases UW research investment with $206.9 million

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The Daily Cardinal

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) announced a $206.9 million commitment on Nov. 13 to support research and innovation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in FY26. The commitment is one of the largest annual investments in the university’s history and marks the celebration of the foundation’s centennial celebration and federal research funding uncertainty.

Abortion pill makers brace for restrictions a year after Trump’s election

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CNBC

“The more that these drugs are stigmatized, the more that the pharmacies themselves risk becoming stigmatized simply by providing the drugs,” said R. Alta Charo, a professor emerita of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said. “At some point these pharmacies may say we don’t want to get involved in that, and they may just decide not to stock the drug.”

Investigators race of find the cause of botulism contamination in ByHeart infant formula

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CNN

“If you think about seeds, like plant seeds, spores are like the same version, only produced by bacteria,” said Dr. Kristin Schill, a food microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Food Research Institute. “They package their DNA and kind of like a protein shell, like a seed, that prevents them from being killed in harsh environments.”

Invasive tree-killing pest ‘highly likely’ to show up in Wisconsin, expert says

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Wisconsin Public Radio

The insects have killed millions of trees in the eastern U.S. and threaten 80 million eastern hemlock trees in Wisconsin. A single egg sac may contain as many as 300 eggs. Hundreds of thousands of the insects can feed on the trees with their needle-like mouth parts, said PJ Liesch, an entomologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension.

“It’s a whole bunch of them ganging up on the trees,” Liesch said. “Together, that combined feeding damage over time causes those hemlock trees to decline and ultimately die.”

Here’s why Wisconsin Republican lawmakers pass bills they know Gov. Tony Evers will veto

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Wisconsin Watch

Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center and political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said political messaging votes can have impacts on elections, especially in what will be some of the close Senate races in 2026.

“It’s kind of a messaging opportunity, not really a policymaking opportunity. It’s also maybe a way for Republicans to let off some steam,” Burden said.

How much will Thanksgiving dinner cost in Wisconsin in 2025?

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It’s more uncertain this year somewhat because of the government shutdown but also because of some other factors moving around in some of these markets,” said Jeff Hadachek, assistant professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Generally, I anticipate prices will be higher, but the question is: ‘How much higher?’”

UW research examines AI’s role in journalism

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The Daily Cardinal

Tomas Dodds, journalism professor and founder of the Public Media Tech Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, hopes to help local journalists understand the implications of AI in the newsroom by providing a variety of resources, such as training sessions and workshops.

“In the newsroom, you don’t know how your colleagues are using AI,” Dodds said, adding that the Public Media Tech Lab would facilitate discussions in the newsroom where coworkers could disclose how they use it and create AI usage policies from these discussions.

Kids are expensive. Do they have to be?

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NPR

Families across the country are asking that same question when it comes to childcare, as the yearly costs for daycare are becoming comparable to a year’s rent in many places. How did childcare become so expensive, and how might everyone benefit if the government provided more support to parents? Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Jessica Calarco, and Senior Fellow at the Think Tank Capita Elliot Haspel are here to help Brittany find out.

UW-Madison’s new center studies the link between aging and diseases

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison researchers at a new federally funded center on campus will examine how aging influences diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s.

The Wisconsin Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging will fund new research that examines how metabolic changes associated with aging are linked to disease. The center’s researchers aim to develop improved treatments or methodologies that physicians can use to better address their patients’ conditions.

It’s time to break up the programmatic accrediting agency monopolies

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Inside Higher Ed

As John D. Wiley, former provost at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, correctly noted almost 20 years ago, “We are already seeing this very phenomenon of degree inflation, and it is being caused by the professions themselves! This is particularly problematic in the health professions, where, it seems, everyone wants to be called ‘doctor.’ I have no problem whatsoever with the professional societies and their accreditors telling us what a graduate must know to practice safely and professionally. I have a big problem, though, when they hand us what amounts to a master’s-level curriculum and tell us the resulting degree must be called a ‘doctor of X.’ This is a transparently self-interested ploy by the profession, and I see no conceivable argument that it is in the public interest. All it does is further confuse an already confusing array of degree names and titles, to no useful purpose.”

The polar vortex is about to bring a wild weather pattern change

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CNN

It’s still not certain there will be a major winter blast, but scientists are watching for colder than normal conditions to develop in the mid-latitudes — where most of the world’s population resides — over the next month or so. Once the polar vortex is disrupted, it can take a month or more to recover, said Andrea Lopez Lang, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We can see more active and shifted storm tracks and increases in cold air outbreaks in regions across the Northern Hemisphere,” she said in an email.

What the Trump administration’s latest moves to dismantle the Education Department mean for schools and students

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Time

Experts also expressed concerns that the process of disseminating funding or services may change once they’re moved to other federal agencies. Nicholas Hillman, a professor in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says he wonders, for instance, if a college that is seeking funding from an OPE grant will now be asked different questions and will have to undergo a different review process, which could potentially create “additional hurdles” for colleges that are “already stretched pretty thin.”

California State University embraces direct admissions

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Inside Higher Ed

“My work, in partnership with states and national nonprofit organizations, shows that direct admissions programs can not only increase students’ early-college going behaviors but also subsequently raise their college enrollment outcomes,” said Taylor Odle, a professor of education policy studies at the University of Wisconsin. “These benefits are particularly large for students of color, those who will be the first in their family to attend college, and those from lower-income communities. States who have implemented direct admissions also consistently report higher enrollment levels following implementation.”

Naturalized US citizens thought they were safe. Trump’s immigration policies are shaking that belief

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Associated Press

What citizenship has meant, and who was included, has expanded and contracted throughout American history, said Stephen Kantrowitz, professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said that while the word “citizen” is in the original Constitution, it is not defined.

“When the Constitution is written, nobody knows what citizenship means,” he said. “It’s a term of art, it comes out of the French revolutionary tradition. It sort of suggests an equality of the members of a political community, and it has some implications for the right to be a member of that political community. But it is … so undefined.”

Researchers examine the professional skepticism of audit partners

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Forbes

The research team examined the audit reports of 19,200 financially distressed companies in Belgium between 2008 and 2017. The vast majority of the companies examined were private companies, as is the case with most Belgian companies. The study is authored by Kris Hardies from the University of Antwerp, Sanne Janssen of the Court of Audit, Ann Vanstraelen of Maastricht University, and Karla M. Zehms from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

WHYsconsin: Where can kids get the 2025 COVID vaccine?

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Dr. Jim Conway, the medical director at UW Health’s immunization program, said some pharmacies may be concerned about a state law which generally requires a prescription before a pharmacist administers a vaccine to someone under 6 years old. Even so, Conway said the state directive was intended to clear that up, by specifying that prescriptions aren’t required for the COVID vaccine.

“It’s not just flipping a switch,” Conway said. “We had to get vaccine ordered and get it shipped in and then get it distributed to the clinics. So that was happening … and then everything was finally in place and we were ready to go. We’re very excited.”

 

UW-Madison pioneers cancer detection research

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The Daily Cardinal

According to University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Zachary Morris, the university has experts in nearly every area of a rising field of cancer research called theranostics.

Morris, a faculty member at the School of Medicine and Public Health and Chair of the Department of Oncology, leads the UW-Madison Initiative for Theranostics and Particle Therapy. He told The Daily Cardinal the theranostics field has quickly been gaining traction over the past decade, and UW-Madison is poised to be at the forefront.

Most Wisconsin schools protect students from discrimination against everything but this.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A study of Wisconsin school board policies has found that nearly all districts have policies protecting students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and the vast majority protect students from discrimination based on gender identity.

“I don’t think there’s enough work that describes the environment that we’re in.  But then the project gained some urgency when we started hearing from educators across the state about the need for some sort of description of the state of guidance affecting teachers and students,” said Mollie McQuillan, lead author of the school board policy research and an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at UW-Madison.

Wisconsin joins clinical trial to see if AI can catch more breast cancer cases

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The trial, led by the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Davis will look at hundreds of thousands of mammograms at UW Health and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s medical school, as well as academic medical centers in four other states. Wisconsin researchers say it’s an important foray into better understanding both the potential benefits and drawbacks of using AI in cancer screenings.

University of Wisconsin psychology professor Gary Lupyan: If you talk to yourself out loud, you’re probably this type of person

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As

Talking to oneself out loud—known in psychology as “self-talk” or “thinking out loud”—is a common and beneficial behavior, not a sign of irrationality. Rather than indicating madness or social isolation, self-talk serves as a powerful cognitive tool with a range of psychological benefits. Gary Lupyan, associate professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, explains that this practice can improve memory and concentration, challenging the stereotype that talking to oneself is a symptom of instability.

In one experiment, participants who named objects out loud were able to locate them more quickly than those who remained silent. As Lupyan explains, “Even though we all know what a banana looks like, saying the word out loud helps the brain activate additional information about that item, including what it looks like.” Verbalizing names or thoughts engages both visual and contextual processing in the brain, enhancing identification and recall.

 

How to relieve nausea during pregnancy, according to an OB-GYN

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Business Insider

“Because this idea of ‘morning sickness’ is common, a lot of women don’t report their symptoms,” says Cynthie Wautlet, MD, an OB-GYN at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reporting your symptoms is especially important since early detection and prevention are the best ways to control nausea.

“Eating every two hours — just a small amount — can be easier on the stomach,” says Wautlet. To feel full from these smaller meals, she adds that high-protein, nutrient-dense foods will help. But you should avoid foods with smells or spices that may trigger your nausea.