When Miso Kwak and Emily Nott met during their early days as doctoral students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a creative and transformative friendship took root.
In 2023, their bond deepened in a feminist disability studies class taught by Prof. Sami Schalk.
“Meteorologists have been launching weather balloons for almost 100 years now. We continue to do it because that is the only way that we get direct measurements of everything that’s going on above us in the atmosphere,” said Chris Vagasky, who manages the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet, or Wisconet, a network of weather and soil monitoring stations across the state.
Written by meteorologist and research program manager at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW Extension wildlife ecologist Scott Craven joins us for another Wildlife Wednesday. Then farmer Richard Cates Jr. shares the land ethic he describes in his new book, “A Creek Runs Through This Driftless Land.”
The Badger Baby Network program was launched in 2024 by University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and Medical College of Wisconsin. The two medical schools train neonatologists at NICUs to identify babies that need genetic testing, determine which genomic test to order, and interpret the complex results.
Sometimes genetic professionals recommend testing for newborns if they aren’t responding as expected to medications, have different behaviors, or are born with a congenital disorder, said April Hall, genetic counselor and assistant professor of pediatrics at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
Wisconsin’s only bilingual memory clinic is partnering with the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health for a new elective course aimed at boosting doctor training, prevention and treatment to help with dementia in Latino communities.
Dr. Maria Mora Pinzon, an assistant professor of medicine at UW, leads the research team collaborating with the Latino Geriatric Center Memory Clinic. On WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” Mora Pinzon highlighted the center’s over 17 years of experience of working with older Latino adults who are suffering from dementia.
“We could see future cases that argue there is a constitutional right to abortion in Wisconsin and challenge other laws that we have in the state related to abortion,” said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “But those would be a bit more nuanced than challenging an outright ban.”
Advocacy groups could continue trying to litigate whether there is a right to the procedure under the state constitution, said Miriam Seifter, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. But for now, Wednesday’s ruling ends a complicated, three-year conflict over the state’s abortion laws.
“The question all along has been, how do they fit together?” she said.
Slower wage growth has an outsized impact on the cost of services, said Menzie Chinn, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Because services are provided, you know, the main input is going to be labor,” he said.
But Chinn said there are factors that could actually lead to higher wages in the service sector. For instance, employees might ask for higher wages to help them cover the cost of tariffs.
Black women survivors also face an uphill battle to be believed. In a 2025 study conducted by Chloe Grace Hart, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she found that Americans were less likely to say they believed a Black woman describing a sexual harassment experience compared to a white women describing the same thing.
Planned Parenthood had posited that the 176-year-old law conflicts with the provisions in the state constitution establishing a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as well as equal protection. So, the constitutional question goes unresolved, according to Bryna Godar, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
“And so, I think there will be continued conversations about what constitutional protections we have in Wisconsin,” says Godar. She says that could be future court cases or constitutional amendment ballot questions.
The wave of defaults may also inflict costs on taxpayers. Sending debts to collection comes with administrative costs, says Nicholas Hillman, a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There are inefficiencies in the loan repayment system and the collections system,” says Hillman. “So it’s expensive.” Hillman stressed, however, that the alternative to collections—allowing borrowers to forgo debt payments, effectively canceling the loans—would be far more costly for taxpayers.
Biologists interested in reconstructing the family trees of spiders and their relatives have long sought a complete sea spider genome, said Prashant Sharma of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is an author of the new paper. Because sea spiders are members of a group that are siblings of arachnids on land, characteristics they share with modern land spiders could be traced to a common ancestor.
Dr. Patrick Shahan, trauma and acute care surgeon at UW Health, said last year’s uptick in injuries was also felt in Wisconsin.
“It can be something as small as a hand burn from a sparkler up to really substantial, life-threatening injuries from explosions,” he said. “Things like really severely injured and disfigured hands, especially from people who are holding fireworks when they’re lighting them.”
During a recent training session for crops and soils specialists, plant pathologist Damon Smith with the University of Wisconsin says growers are experiencing weather that is ideal for corn tar spot infection.
“It’s too early to see symptoms now,” he told them, “but it is likely that infections are occurring and that growers need to be vigilant in their scouting of susceptible fields in coming weeks.”
“A new party is going to benefit most from Musk if they can draw on his resources but keep him in the background,” said Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Elections Research Center. “And if he can portray himself as an innovator and a tech entrepreneur — and somebody who is really contributing to the American economy and funding this new operation without being its front person — I think that’s probably going to lead to the most success.”
With the Fourth of July on the horizon, it’s important for residents to keep in mind several fireworks safety tips.
Dr. Patrick Shahan of UW Health is an acute surgeon and an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Sources include: Email interview, Barry Burden, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, June 17, 2025.
We talk about why UW-Madison will offer an Aging Studies Certificate starting this fall. Then, we’ll talk about the worrisome increase in U.S. deaths from alcohol-related liver disease. Then, the Weather Guys return after another widespread heat wave.
Written by ssociate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and tudent in computer science, both a the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The number of Latinos affected by dementia nationwide is expected to rise nine-fold over the next 30 years, according to Dr. Mora Pinzon, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And to meet this growing need, UW-Madison’s medical school is launching a new course to better train future doctors in culturally competent care. With around 660 students total currently enrolled, the school plays a significant role in training doctors in the state.
“The world’s example for weather services is being destroyed,” wrote Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin, on social media earlier this spring after a round of major changes were announced.
Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, are guests on WHA radio (970 AM) at noon the last Monday of each month.
Election observation rules are not updated very often in Wisconsin, and these new guidelines are mainly in response to election skeptics who are doubtful about the results of the 2020 election, University of Wisconsin political science professor Barry Burden said.
“It’s taken nearly five years to get a new set of rules to update and make clear some of the things that were bothering people in 2020,” Burden said.
The new Vera C. Rubin telescope in Chile that just started recording images of the night sky has 3.2 billion pixels – that’s billion with a “b” – making it the largest digital camera ever constructed. Interview with Keith Bechtol, an associate professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the systems verification and validation scientist for the Vera C. Rubin telescope project.
Ten or 15 years ago, the destructive insects were mostly a problem in the southern half of the state, but in the past couple of years, that trend has flip-flopped, as their populations shift to more northern parts of Wisconsin, said entomologist PJ Liesch, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab.
“Bringing a class action against the government includes incredibly high standards. And they are incredibly expensive as well as time-consuming to do,” said Erin Barbato, the director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “I anticipate there will definitely be more people joining in this or people attempting to be certified and be protected by the injunction, but at this point, it’s hard to see who is going to have the resources to do that,” she said.
Although there were other publications focused on Black lesbians, most were geared toward their own cities, according to Emerald Rutledge, a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison whose research interests focus on 20th century Black gay and lesbian literature. Aché (1989-1993) and Onyx (1982-1984) — two Black lesbian-focused outlets — were based in San Francisco; Venus (1995-2007) was originally based in Atlanta but eventually moved to New York.
“You could see [the magazines] as a first encounter for people looking for community who may be closeted or socially isolated,” said Rutledge.
Many fruits and vegetables, for example, are a key part of a healthy diet. They’re also high in fiber, which helps prevent constipation, says Chris Manakas, a urologist at University of Wisconsin Health and an assistant professor of urology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Partnering with Forward BIOLABS — one of the many tenants that call the research park home — URP helped create a new shared coworking lab incubator in Madison. Forward BIOLABS offers turn-key life science labs, fully equipped, maintained and supported with networking, training and other growth services aimed at startups.
“With millions of dollars of shared lab equipment, Forward BIOLABS is an ideal place to get started,” said Aaron Olver, managing director of the University Research Park. “And MERLIN Mentors creates customized volunteer mentor teams to help companies achieve liftoff.”
Housing financial stress has been rising among Wisconsin residents, and it is tied to an increase in negative health outcomes, according to a report from the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
The report found that housing instability is linked to worsened mental and physical health and may cause food insecurity, physical exhaustion, hypertension and lowered fertility. While this stress is more common among renters than homeowners, the consequential health impacts were linked more with older homeowners, co-author of the report and associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics Tessa Conroy said.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory released its first images this week.This is the most advanced telescope and camera system available, allowing scientists to study these incredible, high-resolution time-lapse images.
They include a Ph.D. in physics and a UW-Madison professor, Keith Bechtol.
Written by rofessor of Scandinavian Studies, Folklore, and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
University of Wisconsin Law School Professor Robert Yablon, who co-directs the State Democracy Research initiative, told WPR that one can only speculate about why the court didn’t take up the cases. He said it could be that justices felt lower courts are better equipped to handle the factfinding necessary to rule on gerrymandering claims.
Yablon said it’s also possible justices were leery about the U.S. Supreme Court “looking over its shoulder” and potentially overturning any ruling they make on the map guiding elections for federal lawmakers.
“They are expected to arrive from slightly below the horizon, where there is not much Earth for them to be absorbed,” Justin Vandenbroucke, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who was not involved in the research but peer-reviewed it, tells CNN’s Ashley Strickland. Models predict these pulses would come in at angles of only one to five degrees below the horizon—these came through the ice at a much sharper 30 degrees, leaving researchers unable to identify their origins.
While rare, it’s important for people to be aware of meteotsunamis because they can be dangerous, said Chin Wu, a professor at University of Wisconsin in Madison who has expertise in meteotsunamis.
“The potential dangers are the water levels fluctuating back and forth, particularly once the water levels go up and go down as I see in the video. Once the water level goes down, they will drag the people out of the beaches and cause drownings.”
LGBTQ+ community members came together at a pride picnic at the UW-Madison Red Gym on Wednesday. June is recognized as Pride Month, and the picnic, hosted by the UW Madison Gender and Sexuality Campus Center, was a way for the community to celebrate.
“It’s just our way of celebrating Pride Month. Being together as a community, welcoming students, community members, faculty and staff to come together,” said Sanders Weinberg, program coordinator for the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center.
As an attorney leading a law clinic that helps immigrants facing deportation, Erin Barbato knows her clients often face the bleak prospect of being deported to countries where they are not safe.
Attorneys at the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Immigrant Justice Clinic, which Barbato is the director of, regularly travel to the Dodge County Detention Facility — the only facility in the state serving as immigration detention center — to offer people free consultations and information about their rights.
UW-Madison political science professor Mark Copelovitch explains how today’s rise in authoritarianism and protectionist policies mirrors the 1930s backlash against globalization. He warns that pushback against democracy and global trade often go hand in hand.
A true shift in what parenting means is more likely to come when raising kids isn’t categorized along the lines of “his” and “hers” at all, said Jessica Calarco, professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Gender is more fluid than we give it credit for,” Calarco said. “Often these tropes become increasingly stereotypical the more they get used.”
“With county fairs, there’s always a lot of movement of cattle whether it’s within the county or if there are open shows,” Jerry Clark, a crops and soils educator with UW-Madison’s Division of Extension, said. “These cattle are moving across county lines and so it’s just another way that fairs are doing their part.”
“I think a lot of people like me carry a lot of guilt.”
UW-Madison PhD candidate and teaching assistant Tehereh Rahimi came to the United States from Iran in 2018, but much of her family still lives in Iran’s capital and most populous city: Tehran.
“A lot of Wisconsin businesses have been struggling with finding employees, and they have been for a number of years, going back to before COVID,” said Steven Deller, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison and one of the report’s authors.
Corey Pompey, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band, guest-conducted the La Crosse Concert Band during a rehearsal Tuesday at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
The American School Band Directors Association is hosting their Regional Conference in La Crosse, and in partnership with the band, the association invited Pompey to serve as both guest conductor and keynote speaker.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration had delayed grant review meetings at the National Institutes of Health and was calling for sweeping cuts to university research dollars. This left faculty scientists with limited funds to offer students.
Even though many of the review meetings are proceeding again, Wisconsin researchers said those delays have lingering effects. One of these is that fewer graduate trainees will be arriving on campus this fall.
Emily Auerbach has co-hosted “University of the Air” for 30 years. She’s a UW-Madison English professor who directs the UW Odyssey Project, so she described her work on the show as “a labor of love.” Along with Norman Gilliland, she interviewed university faculty and other guests on a range of topics, such as the Salem witch trials, the Harlem Renaissance and dyslexia.
“It’s a way to take the brilliant minds that are at the university … and share that learning with a broader audience,” she said.
“The whole idea for the (Rubin) observatory was so visionary when it was conceived (in the 1990s) that many of the technologies didn’t exist at that time” said Keith Bechtol, a physics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
John Hawks, however—a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who also did not participate in the research—sticks with just “Denisovans,” per the publication. Like Neanderthals, Denisovans interbred with our own species, so Hawks argues both are subcategories of humans. “I’m pretty confident saying these are all Homo sapiens,” he explains to the New York Times. But the skull, he says, is definitively a Denisovan based on this work.
Written by Anthony Hernandez, a faculty member in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin—Madison (UW-Madison) who received a research award from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation for his study on leadership in Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
UW’s newly expanded $174 million facility offers plenty of high-tech tools and advanced care options—but it’s the heart behind the work that stands out.
“Across the nation, there’s a shortage of veterinary technicians and staff in the veterinary profession,” said Dr. Chris Snyder, hospital director. “Giving an opportunity to welcome them in and to see what cutting-edge veterinary care can look like—and what a career working in a teaching hospital can be—and how rewarding that is to be able to train others.”
Keith Bechtol, an associate professor in the physics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has been involved with the Rubin Observatory for nearly a decade, is the project’s system verification and validation scientist, making sure the observatory’s various components are functioning properly.
He said teams were floored when the images streamed in from the camera.
“There were moments in the control room where it was just silence, and all the engineers and all the scientists were just seeing these images, and you could just see more and more details in the stars and the galaxies,” Bechtol told NBC News. “It was one thing to understand at an intellectual level, but then on this emotional level, we realized basically in real time that we were doing something that was really spectacular.”
The experimental Next Generation Fire System was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and its Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at UW-Madison. The tool detects and tracks wildfires in almost real-time using artificial intelligence to scan satellite images, helping firefighters nationwide to prioritize and quickly respond to blazes.
But delays with the institute’s five-year renewal and its fiscal year 2025 funding mean that work to develop, maintain and improve the system will pause, according to the institute’s director Tristan L’Ecuyer.
“President Trump seems very confident that the ceasefire will take effect tonight… again, I think there are a number of unknowns,” said Dr. James Davis, UW-Madison Professor Emeritus with an expertise in Iranian politics.
The excitement inside of a University of Wisconsin-Madison lecture hall Monday morning was comparable to a room full of sports lovers ready for the start of the Super Bowl.
UW-Madison political science professor Mark Copelovitch discusses how the unstable landscape of tariffs and war abroad disrupt both the overall global marketplace and the everyday lives of American consumers.
Since finishing her residency at Loyola University Chicago / Cook County Hospital in 2015, she has been an attending physician with the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Salt Lake City and a clinical assistant professor at UW-Madison, practicing with UW Health.
Edgar Lin is Wisconsin State Policy Advocate & Counsel at Protect Democracy, where he focuses on policy advocacy and litigation related to preventing election subversion. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Law School.
ANITA was designed to search for the highest energy neutrinos in the universe, at higher energies than have yet been detected, said Justin Vandenbroucke, an associate professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The experiment’s radio antennae search for a short pulse of radio waves produced when a neutrino collides with an atom in the Antarctic ice, leading to a shower of lower-energy particles, he said.
“The models that we’re seeing right now are able to create content that is incredibly persuasive, and incredibly hard to detect as AI generated. It’s impossible to predict just how corrosive this will be to political discourse in this country,” said Annette Zimmerman, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “It’s just not feasible for ordinary citizens to do a ton of extra research on which content is actually legitimate.
“One of the things that you can see as a symptom of cyanide poisoning is someone having difficulty breathing,” said John Berry, a chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “This happens very quickly.”
Berry said cyanide, which used to be in rat poisons because of its potency, can be combined with other substances to form gasses or salts that can dissolve in water. He also pointed out that cyanide is extremely difficult for someone outside of a research lab to get their hands on.
“I worry that it is being done too quickly, without appropriate scrutiny of the potential outcomes,” said UW-Madison’s Dr. Jonathan Temte.
