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Category: Experts Guide

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

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

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.

Wisconsin rarely grants compassionate release as aging, ailing prisoners stress systems

Wisconsin State Journal

“In Wisconsin overcrowding is a huge issue. Assigning more people to a room than they’re supposed to, which, of course, affects your sleep,” said Farah Kaiksow, associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, who has researched aging and care in prison.

Here’s how Trump’s new tax law affects people with low incomes

Wisconsin Watch

Benefits that people with low incomes do receive may be outweighed when considered alongside other provisions in the bill, said Andrew Reschovsky, professor emeritus of public affairs and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This is especially true of cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, Reschovsky said.

“This is the dilemma – if you count those things in with the tax side, the net will be that a lot of people are going to be worse off.”

A big corn crop in 2025 creates a tricky price situation for Wisconsin corn growers

PBS Wisconsin

“Corn is one of the biggest contributors to the dairy industry, both in corn silage crop and a corn grain crop, which is also used for foraging,” said Harkirat Kaur, a corn agronomist with UW-Madison Division of Extension Crops and Soils program. Harvesting grain differs from producing silage because it focuses on using the corn plant’s kernels for human food and animal feed, as well as the basis for ethanol biofuel.

Two UW–Madison professors awarded prestigious MacArthur ‘Genius grants’

WKOW - Channel 27

Two University of Wisconsin–Madison professors have been named MacArthur Fellows, receiving one of the nation’s most prestigious honors.

Angel Adames Corraliza studies tropical weather patterns, focusing on atmospheric physics and climate model simulations. He says his research helps improve understanding of the planet and can ultimately save lives.

Sébastien Philippe, the second recipient, studies the harms and risks of building, testing and storing nuclear weapons. Using archival research, data modeling and his experience as a nuclear safety engineer, he examines the damage caused by nuclear testing. His work has influenced policy and improved compensation for people exposed to nuclear radiation.

Fishing plays greater role on Midwest fish populations than warming, study finds

Wisconsin Public Radio

Despite worries over rising temperatures, it turns out anglers have a greater effect on fish populations than global warming. That’s according to a new study led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We found that for the majority of the populations so far fishing has far more greater impact than warming on the fish populations,” said Luoliang Xu, postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl 2026 halftime show could finally bring Puerto Rican history into the spotlight

Teen Vogue

To purposely further adhere his politics and his art, Bad Bunny involved University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor of history Jorrell Meléndez-Badillo in the DtMF album rollout. The distilled history lessons from Meléndez-Badillo’s acclaimed book “Puerto Rico: A National History” were used as visualizers and displayed onscreen during the Residencia. His anti-colonial storytelling clarifies moments like the SCOTUS Insular cases, which afforded Puerto Rican U.S. citizens only some constitutional rights. He also emphasizes that these decisions were made in the early 1900s, when both journalistic coverage of Puerto Ricans and public intellectual discourse of them (including the President), was almost unilaterally disparaging and racist. This proliferated the idea that Puerto Ricans could never be American because of their “ignorance, laziness, and inferior ability to self-rule” (Melendez-Badillo, ch. 6).

‘Affordability’ becomes a watchword as Democrats look to 2026 elections

Wisconsin Examiner

Nathan Kalmoe, a University of Wisconsin political scientist, said via email that emphasizing poor economic conditions could be risky for Wisconsin Democrats running in state elections. While Republican lawmakers “may take some blame, the governor is a Democrat,” and voters tend to hold the chief executive responsible for economic conditions, he said.

Kalmoe added that focusing on the economy exclusively at the expense of concerns for the most marginalized or concerns about Trump administration actions that threaten democracy would be “disturbing, and dangerous.”

What the Pacific ‘blob’ + La Niña means for winter in the US

CNN

Atmospheric scientist Elizabeth Maroon of the University of Wisconsin-Madison told CNN there are large uncertainties in how this marine heat wave will affect the atmosphere above it, but there is no question that the blob will have an impact.

For example, she said there is the question of, “Will the marine heat wave get amplified by La Niña conditions, which is a very distinct possibility?” Those two would then work together to change winter weather patterns, she said, calling it one of several scenarios.

These UW-Madison faculty have been awarded MacArthur fellowships

Wisconsin State Journal

wo more MacArthur fellows were added Wednesday to UW-Madison’s growing list of faculty who have received the prestigious award.

Since 1985, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has granted eight UW-Madison professors the fellowship, which often is referred to as a “genius award.”

2 UW-Madison professors named MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ fellows

Wisconsin State Journal

Two UW-Madison professors have been named MacArthur Foundation fellows, called “genius awards,” for their work in studying weather patterns in the tropics and investigating the effects of nuclear weapons.

UW-Madison professors Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, who is an atmospheric scientist, and Sébastien Philippe, a nuclear security specialist, were selected Wednesday for the prestigious fellowships. Fellows receive $800,000 paid out over five years for any use.

MacArthur 2025 ‘genius’ grant winners include 2 UW-Madison professors

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named atmospheric scientist Ángel Adames Corraliza, 37, and nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, 38, as recipients of the prestigious MacArthur fellowship. Also known as the “genius grant,” the national award is given annually to a small group of people across a range of disciplines who show exceptional creativity in their work and future ambitions.

Meet the 22 artists, scientists and authors who will each get $800,000 MacArthur genius grants

Associated Press

For Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the award is also a recognition of the talent and grit coming from Puerto Rico, where he is from, despite the hardships his community has endured. His research has uncovered many new findings about what drives weather patterns in the tropics, which may eventually help improve forecasting in those regions.

Adames said usually one of his classes would be ending right when the foundation would publish the new class of fellows, so he was planning to end the lecture early to come back to his office. He said he’s having trouble fathoming what it will be like.

“I am low-key expecting that a few people are just going to show up in my office, like right at 11:02 a.m. or something like that,” he said.

Many 2025 ‘Genius’ Fellows affiliated with universities

Inside Higher Ed

Since the fellowship launched in 1981, fellows have included writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers and entrepreneurs. While no institutional affiliation is required, the award went to the following 2025 fellows with ties to a college or university:

  • Atmospheric scientist Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, an associate professor in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for investigating the mechanisms underlying tropical weather patterns.
  • Nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, assistant professor in the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for exposing past harms and potential future risks from building, testing and storing launch-ready nuclear weapons.

Fishing is impacting fishery populations more than climate change, new study finds

Channel 3000

It’s no secret that Wisconsinites love fishing. But who knew the effects of local anglers on our fisheries were outpacing that of climate change?

That’s exactly what a new study from postdoctoral researcher Luoliang Xu and Prof. Olaf Jensen at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology found. The discovery was published last week in the journal Science Advances.

“Warming and fishing are happening at the same time, and they both can strongly affect the fish populations,” Xu said. “So the intention of our study is to try to tear apart these two factors.”

UW scientists prepare for final IceCube expedition

Isthmus

This fall, as temperatures plummet to -50°C (or -58°F) at the South Pole, a team of UW-Madison scientists and engineers will embark on an adventure to the frozen desert. Their goal: drill seven holes through a mile and a half of Antarctic ice to complete a revolutionary upgrade to the world’s coldest neutrino telescope.

“Whoever had the idea of drilling holes a mile and a half into a glacier was crazy,” says Vivian O’Dell, project manager for the IceCube Upgrade. “Completely nuts. And yet it works.”

UW research resumes on social media effects after funds frozen

Badger Herald

Funding for a long-term study on the effects of social media on 325 Wisconsin teenagers aged 13-15 resumed on Monday after funding for the study was frozen by the Trump administration in March of this year, according to UW News.

The study is operating on a five-year $7.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health who terminated the grant on the basis that the grant no longer “effectuates agency priorities,” according to UW News.

Lake Winnebago wild rice restoration project continues despite federal funding cut

Wisconsin Public Radio

For Jessica Skeesuck, vice chair of the Brothertown Indian Nation, restoring wild rice goes beyond just helping the environment.

“It is an important food from a nutritional value perspective, but also from a very important cultural perspective for many tribes, including Brothertown Indian Nation,” Skeesuck told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

Skeesuck and Jessie Conaway, an outdoor educator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are co-leads on the Intertribal Lake Winnebago Wild Rice Revitalization Project.

About that column I didn’t write as a UW professor

Wisconsin State Journal

I am not going to be that professor who posts on social media and is promptly pilloried for expressing an opinion.

“Like many academics these days, I have been wanting to weigh in on recent crises and tragedies that are at the top of the news cycle. But such a course hardly seems wise.”

Written by Russ Castronovo, a professor of English and the director of the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison.

Tool developed at UW-Madison helps map health disparities nationwide

Wisconsin State Journal

Where someone lives can shape their health, just as much as the care they receive. That’s why Dr. Amy Kind of her team at UW-Madison have developed the Area Deprivation Index (ADI).

The tool maps health disparities using the impacts of income, housing, education and employment on health.

UW-Madison lab creating archive of historic, significant locations for Black Madisonians

Spectrum News

New research going on at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is focused on how Black residents find and build community in the City of Madison, which is predominantly white.

About a dozen students are part of the first research lab within UW-Madison’s Department of African American Studies. It’s called the Soulfolk Collective.

Here’s what the return of nuclear power to Kewaunee County means for Wisconsin’s workforce

Wisconsin Watch

Bringing a new power station online means Wisconsin would need more nuclear engineers to design and operate the plant.

Department Chair Paul Wilson and Assistant Professor Ben Lindley believe there is a ready pipeline of qualified workers in the state to keep up with that added demand. UW-Madison “pumps out” nuclear engineers, but Wisconsin has only one nuclear plant located in Two Rivers, Lindley said. This leaves some graduates to look for employment in other states.

“A lot of them want to stay in the state, and so having more job opportunities would certainly help,” Lindley said.

Trump education cuts quietly declare that opportunity should be rationed on race

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Written by Anthony Hernandez, a faculty member in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He received a research award from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation for his study on leadership in higher education.

A Milwaukee woman thought her insurance covered flood damage. It was a $60K misunderstanding.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Many residents in high-flood-risk areas, like coastal or riverside communities, have shifted to private flood insurance programs that can cover more damage, said Ben Collier, an associate professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The NFIP covers up to $250,000 for homes and buildings and up to $100,000 in personal property. Collier said costs can easily exceed that in the most severe flood situations.

“The National Flood Insurance Program has been priced too low and has run deficits for many years,” Collier said. “The coverage limits are not especially high.”

Federal budget cuts could affect tremendous progress in weather forecasting

Wisconsin State Journal

“Recent budget reductions to NOAA are reducing the observations needed to support these accurate weather prediction models. This budget impact results in fewer observations of the atmosphere and elimination of future satellite systems.”

Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.

Trump’s tariffs are hurting the people who voted for him

HuffPost

“The tariffs are an insult to injury,” said Paul Mitchell, a professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mitchell says farmers are now quietly rethinking the Trump administration’s strategies.

“We already have enough problems,” as he puts it. “Why are you making more for us?”

Wisconsin lawmakers propose ban on hemp-derived THC

WKOW - Channel 27

“I feel like closing loopholes is kind of like this idea of putting Band-Aids on big wounds … it doesn’t seem like it will solve a problem,” said Shelby Ellison.

Ellison, a hemp researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at UW–Madison, proposes that the state could implement age limits, require testing and labeling, and prevent packaging that appeals to children.

“There’s lots of things to do with packaging and marketing that there are no restrictions on in Wisconsin that many other states have … but just that you can’t make it look like Skittles, right?” Ellison said.

UW Health, CDC differ in COVID-19 vaccine guidance for Wisconsin

Spectrum News

While the current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and pregnant women, UW Health is recommending the vaccine for everyone 6 months old and older.

“We’ve always leaned into the professional societies’ recommendations,” said Dr. Jim Conway, the medical director of the UW Health immunization program and an infectious disease physician with UW Health Kids. “The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians [and] the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology have all endorsed, based on data, that every person over 6 months is eligible and should consider getting these vaccines.”

Wisconsin moves to bring PFAS limits in line with contested federal standards

Wisconsin Public Radio

The EPA could take enforcement action against Wisconsin if the Legislature decides not to approve the rule or comply with federal standards, said Steph Tai, an environmental law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“They could initiate what’s called an administrative order to tell the state to comply, or they could do a civil action against the state,” Tai said.

Strifling added the EPA could offer water systems assistance with co

Swap your boiler for a money-saving heat pump

Popular Science

While heat pumps in the US have traditionally been associated with warmer locations, they are starting to become more feasible for colder climes. “You can pretty much buy a heat pump for most climates in the US and it can lower your energy bills,” Allison Mahvi, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells Popular Science. Some of Mahvi’s research focuses on  how to make more efficient heat pump systems for cold climates.

Flu, COVID-19 vaccines available at UW Health

WMTV - Channel 15

Dr. Jim Conway, medical director of the UW Health immunization program and infectious disease physician with UW Health Kids, stressed the importance of vaccines to protect yourself and your loved ones respiratory illness season kicks off.

“By getting vaccinated, you decrease your chances of getting infected, or, if you do get infected, it’s more likely to be a milder case,” said Conway, who is also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “Everyone who can, should get the vaccines, but especially those who are 65 and older or individuals with high-risk factors.”

Fall wildlife, and the impact of antibiotics pollution on frogs

Wisconsin Public Radio

For another Wildlife Wednesday, emeritus professor and UW Extension wildlife ecologist Scott Craven joins us to talk about fall hunting seasons, the cost of poaching, and the latest on wolves in Wisconsin.

Antibiotic drugs are polluting waterways and exacerbating the spread of an infectious fungal disease in frogs and salamanders. We talk to Jessica Hua, an associate professor in UW-Madison’s Forest and Wildlife Ecology Department, about new research on the subject.

Local industries impacted by government shutdown

Spectrum News

Barret Elward is an engineer at UW-Madison, and co-president of United Faculty and Academic Staff (UFAS) Local 223, the union that represents faculty and staff at UW-Madison.

Elward and his team study fusion energy. Their work is mainly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is directly affected by the government shutdown.

“We’ve already been operating under don’t buy the expensive things, or be really cautious about your expenses,” Elward said.

Ascension Wisconsin no longer in-network for patients with UnitedHealthcare after talks fail

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In the short term, it will also force patients to rethink their upcoming health care appointments, said Dan Sacks, associate professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“It absolutely puts people in this impossible situation where you’re signed up for a plan that you thought covered your provider, and then it turns out it doesn’t for three months,” he said.

Wisconsin country musician releases ‘Fear the Beer,’ a tribute to Milwaukee Brewers

Wisconsin Public Radio

When he’s not writing Brewers-themed songs at a breakneck pace, Gibson fronts Nate Gibson & the Stardazers, a local band that plays country, honky-tonk, rockabilly and bluegrass tunes from the Starday Records label. He is also an archivist at the Mills Music Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and hosts a long-running classic country music show at community radio station WORT 89.9 FM.

UW-Madison is changing its financial aid process. Here’s what to know.

Wisconsin Watch

Students applying to the University of Wisconsin-Madison will soon need to complete a second, longer financial aid application if they want a share of the millions of dollars in financial aid the university gives out each year.

Starting this fall, UW-Madison will require applicants to fill out the CSS Profile, an online application used by around 270 colleges, universities and scholarship programs to award institutional aid, separate from a different form used to apply for federal financial aid. Students can start working on their CSS Profile Oct. 1.

Trout Lake Station documentary highlights local, global impact of Wisconsin research

Wisconsin Public Radio

For nearly a century, Trout Lake Station in Boulder Junction has been at the center of environmental research in Wisconsin. Now, a new documentary aims to show how the year-round field station’s work extends far beyond lake shorelines.

Operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology, Trout Lake Station has been supporting research since 1925.

Finding joy and confidence in writing with new ‘Whoopensocker’ collection

PBS Wisconsin

PBS Wisconsin Education, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education, recently launched Whoopensocker, a new educational resource collection for upper elementary learners that provides an on-ramp to writing through group games and scaffolded lessons.

Whoopensocker was first developed as a six-week teaching artist residency by Erica Halverson, a professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at the UW-Madison School of Education. Halverson teamed up with PBS Wisconsin Education to make a multimedia version of the program that’s accessible to more educators around the state and in spaces where an artist residency may not be available.

Expert warns Planned Parenthood abortion pause will lead to more out-of-state, pill-based abortions

CBS 58

“This terrible decision between offering abortion care or receiving Medicaid reimbursement for other services is a decision that, ultimately, is going to affect patients,” Dr. Jenny Higgins, director of the University of Wisconsin Collaborative for Reproductive Equity. “It’s a decision that no healthcare system should have to make.”

UW researcher pushes for federal funding for nuclear fusion research

Channel 3000

“What we study is thinking about new technology that would be a way to start up future fusion devices. And it’s really looking at, how do you reduce the cost and complexity,” said Steffi Diem, an assistant professor at UW-Madison and principal investigator of the Pegasus Three experiment. “And our technology looks at building. It looks kind of like a small lightsaber that injects, you know, the fuel in it, and then we capture it by a magnetic field.”

RFK Jr. wants an answer to rising autism rates. Scientists say he’s ignoring some obvious ones

Los Angeles Times

The rate of children with profound autism has remained virtually unchanged since the CDC started tracking it, said Maureen Durkin, a professor of population health science and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Indeed, the highest rate of new diagnoses has been among children with mild limitations, she said.

‘Trailblazers in Motion’ exhibit unveils progressive history of UW-Madison women’s physical education program

The Daily Cardinal

When the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched a Women’s Physical Education Department in 1912, Wisconsin women did not have the right to vote. Women, only reluctantly admitted to UW-Madison in the first place, faced scientific misconceptions, double standards and restrictions from administration. But the department itself was always years ahead of its time, alumni said, from its early days to its eventual merger with the men’s program in 1976.

How one university is reimagining a humanities Ph.D. program

Inside Higher Ed

“We’re thinking about how we can distribute historical thinking skills as widely as possible across as many sectors of industry as possible,” said Matt Villeneuve, an assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and member of the Doctoral Futures postdegree pathways subcommittee. “Because we believe that historical thinking skills are good for individuals and society. So why would we not want to deploy them as far and wide as possible?”

UW-Madison’s first African American research lab conducts survey on Black affirming spaces

WMTV - Channel 15

University of Wisconsin-Madison’s first research lab in the African American Studies department is collecting data on spaces where Black people thrive throughout the city.

The UW-Madison research lab, Soulfolk Collective, partnered with the Center of Black Excellence and Culture to determine how to amplify Black voices, stories and lived experiences.

The only alternative to political violence is civil dialogue, Wisconsin experts say

Wisconsin Public Radio

Michael Ford is Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue at UW. As his organization works to encourage healthy political dialogue on Wisconsin’s college campuses, he worries that people are beginning to see civil discourse as a sign of weakness.

“My real fear is that the next generation of leaders are going to think politics is all about threats of violence and what-about-ism,” Ford said. “And when we get to that point, we’re ceding the space to the most extreme elements of our society.”

Free speech expert weighs in on ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel

WKOW - Channel 27

“The First Amendment only prohibits actions by the government,” said Anuj Desai, a Volkman-Bascom Professor of Law and First Amendment expert at UW-Madison’s Law School. “So, generally speaking, if you are employed by a private employer, as Jimmy Kimmel was — or is — it does not regulate the relations between your employer and you.”

Can University of Tennessee fire professor over Charlie Kirk comment? Free speech experts weigh in

Knoxville News Sentinel

Donald Downs, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led the charge to successfully fend off speech codes in the 1990s that would have disproportionately targeted conservative ideas at the historically liberal Madison campus. Downs thinks UT is overreaching if it tries to fire Shirinian.

“Who is threatened by what this professor said?” Downs said. “I think what she said was deplorable, and I think there are too many academics that are running around with those kind of ideas that are detrimental. But she’s got due process protections, she has certain academic freedom protections and extramural speech, and those have to be respected, too, especially because of the consequences of not doing that.”