Entomologist Phil Pellitteri returns to help us deal with insect pests. Then, we talk about citizen-scientist wildlife monitoring. Then, we meet the new director of The Arb.
Interview with John Hawks, subject matter expert and the Vilas-Borghesi Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Our hope is that some of them will choose to remain here in Madison and work in Madison schools, where they have had a shortage of school psychologists,” said Katie Eklund, a professor in UW-Madison’s School Psychology program who led the project.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that automation apps, like iPhone’s ‘shortcuts’, can be a vehicle potential abusers use to control their partner’s activities on their mobile device.
Rahul Chatterjee, an assistant professor of computer science at UW and founder of the Madison Tech Clinic, said Madison Tech Clinic helps individuals who have been virtually stalked or harassed by their partners.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is proposing a bill to require UW-Madison and state private animal researchers who use cats and dogs to make an active effort over a three-week period to rehome or transfer them to an area humane society.
University of Wisconsin-Madison students will soon move into their dorms and apartments. Classes will begin early next month. And as a new school year gets underway, a variety of pressing challenges on campus will linger.
“The labor market has cooled and so companies now are starting to feel they have more leeway, more leverage with their employees,” said Barry Gerhart, a professor of management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Shane Hubbard is a research scientist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Space Science & Engineering Center. He says Wisconsin is a leader in helping communities mitigate against flooding disasters.
“We have some communities here that have really experienced what it means to mitigate and help us not have as many damages as a state when we have flood events,” he said.
Dietram Scheufele is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in misinformation, social media and AI. He told WPR the rise of artificial intelligence models has opened numerous legal and ethical questions that courts are left to grapple with.
On the technical side, Sheufele said, the question is how AI models are able to create lifelike images of child pornography. Another question is whether people or businesses that create the algorithm to assist the AI models that ultimately create the images would be liable.
“The same logic that applies to child pornography will apply to a whole bunch of other things — not in the sense of obscenity, but in the sense of responsibility and copyright, and all the other things that come that come along with that,” Scheufele said.
Jack pine and black spruce trees fall into this category, according to David Mladenoff, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both species reproduce by using cones that are sealed up with resin, and open to spread seeds only under the intense heat of a fire.
“The nature of the (jack pine and black spruce) trees — their foliage, their bark, they have a lot of resin — they burn easily. They kind of encourage fire because they need fire,” said Mladenoff.
“Pregnancy is an extremely complex process, with each step being extremely delicate and critical,” said Yi Fuxian, an obstetrician at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who conducts demographic research,
He told Newsweek the robot is “likely just a gimmick” and warned of “many health and ethical risks” even if it could ultimately bring a child to term.
Snapshot Wisconsin is led by two DNR staffers, both with doctorates from the University of Wisconsin-Madison: Christine Anhalt-Depies, research scientist; and Jennifer Stenglein, wildlife research scientist.
Both have been with the program since its beginning, have helped guide its path and now have valuable perspective on one of the state’s largest citizen science projects.
Embracing an attitude of lifelong learning can help seniors combat the effects of aging and find meaning in every day. In a study by Scientific American, seniors who regularly engaged in learning over three months performed similarly to adults 30 years younger on cognitive tests.
Whether it’s online learning, art classes or stargazing in Wisconsin state parks, educational opportunities can help make your golden years shine.
A new report published by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers in the journal Current Biology may hold clues to an unfolding mushroom mystery: the origins and possible consequences of the invasive golden oyster mushroom.
Menzie Chinn, a renowned economics professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has chronicled a wide array of Antoni’s basic misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and mistakes. In other words, Antoni would probably not get hired as a junior economist at the agency he’s now slated to run.
“This whole idea of unconventional habitability, especially afforded by … radiation, I think is really underexplored,” says astrobiologist Zach Adam of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was not involved in the study.
“This plant is quite harmful to our forests,” said Mark Renz, a professor and Extension weed specialist at UW. “It makes wildfires more frequent and severe, alters nutrient cycling and soil microbes, and reduces wildlife habitat, all of which decreases biodiversity.”
New research from UW-Madison reveals how golden oyster mushrooms — first imported from Asia more than 20 years ago and increasingly popular among growers and foodies — are spreading rapidly and encroaching on native mushroom species in the Midwest. We talk to the lead author of the study.
Oceanography has much to tell us about the health of planet Earth – as well as far-flung exoplanets. Then, we learn why space rovers get stuck on Mars and the moon. Then, an up-to-date report on another summer of blue-green algal booms on Wisconsin waterways.
An invasive plant has been spotted in southcentral Wisconsin, and scientists are asking the public for help to prevent it from spreading across the region.
Japanese stiltgrass was spotted in Rock County last month.
Mark Renz, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension weed specialist and professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, said the grass is bad for a number of reasons.
Japanese stiltgrass is an annual grass, like crabgrass, that can grow in the woods.
“What it does is it produces a lot of fuel, and when that annual grass dies in the winter, that fuel persists, so it can increase the timeframe when fires naturally can occur in the forests,” said Mark Renz, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension weed specialist and professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences.
John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the work, said the find is exciting because it opens a window into a critical and mysterious period of human evolution between 2.5 million and 3 million years ago. He said he’s eager to see the work published but noted that such finds raise as many questions as they answer.
A political scientist explains why Wisconsin and other states are fighting over redistricting. Then, we look at why seven of the 10 places with the worst air quality in the country last week were in Wisconsin. Then, we discuss the downfall of the Schlitz beer empire.
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.
“If the state legislative districts were so gerrymandered that they violated the Wisconsin State Constitution, then the same is true of the congressional districts… Legally, the case is straightforward,” said Howard Schweber, affiliate faculty at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
The secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has long argued — first as a cable news host and then in his current position — that “woke” policies undermine morale in the military. But some who have studied military history disagree with that assertion.
“Nothing in my nearly 25 years of experience in the military substantiates that argument,” said John W. Hall, a professor of military history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Hall, a 1994 West Point graduate, said that the military had been an early champion of diversity initiatives, “not out of any sense of innate progressivism or certainly not wokeness.” Rather, he said, “they were necessary for the effectiveness of the military.”
On Aug. 5, U.S.Health and Human Services Secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy, Jr. announced the elimination of five hundred million dollars of federal funding for research on messenger RNA vaccines. Interview with Aaron Hoskins, the Wasson Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His lab focuses on understanding the role of messenger RNA in human cells.
Written by rofessor of cultural anthropology and international studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Menzie Chinn, a professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research, reviewed the claims and found them wanting.
“The conclusion that real GDP is lower as of 2024Q2 than it was in 2019Q1 is not backed up by any calculation using defensible deflators a sensible economist would use. Second, other non-deflator sensitive indicators of real economic activity do not exhibit a downward decline from 2022 onward,” Chinn said.
Jake Baggott, UW-Madison associate vice chancellor and executive director of University Health Services, said in a statement that UW-Madison as a campus has been actively preparing over the last year for a potential measles case.
University Health Services led and coordinated a walkthrough exercise with campus, local and state public health officials to simulate their preparedness during a measles outbreak, Baggott said
Kurt Paulsen, a UW-Madison professor who studies urban development and housing policy, says the region’s high rents and low vacancy rates spurred developers to build more housing: “We have had a lot of supply come online in the last year, and a lot in the pipeline in the last year. And you see that now in the fact that the vacancy rate has shot up.”
Still, Paulsen cautions that new construction will likely slow down as developers wait for these units to be absorbed into the market. High interest rates and tariffs on construction materials — the U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced it is tripling duties on Canadian lumber to 21% — pushed by the Trump administration are also likely to slow construction. And though rent growth has stagnated, Madison’s high prices are still pricing out many potential residents.
Here’s what guests on the Aug. 8, 2025 episode said about the direction of the economy, wildfire suppression in Canada, and the risk of measles outbreaks around Wisconsin.
This positive behavior can be taught. “It’s kind of like weight training,” says researcher Helen Weng from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We found that people can actually build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help.”
Astrobiologist Betül Kaçar on why the simple act of asking questions (without needing a reason) is one of the most powerful things a human can do.
Wisconsin lost thousands of dairy farms in the ‘90s. At one point, farmers received inflation-adjusted milk prices that were 20% lower than in 1960 and about half of the peak price in 1979, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.
When Bill Zhu started a computer science major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021, he had no expectation the tech job market would dip, or would dip so soon. Over the previous decade, computer science became one of the most popular majors for new college students.
Fifteen years ago, the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. The resource provides a “treasure trove” of public data and offers a snapshot on the health of nearly every county in the nation, said Sheri Johnson, the institute’s director.
While more than 700,000 people use the resource each year, Johnson said, County Health Rankings and Roadmaps will soon lose its primary funder. The New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is set to end its support after 2026.
“Tariffs, either on our part or on the part of our export market destinations, are not helpful for farmers in Wisconsin,” Chuck Nicholson, an agricultural economist at UW-Madison, said. “The longer we keep them in place, the bigger the negative impacts will be.”
“The National Weather Service is a testament to just how important this knowledge is and significantly reducing the number of fatalities from lightning from hurricanes, from tornadoes, from any of these hazards that impact Wisconsin every year,” said Chris Vagasky, a UW-Madison meteorology expert.
“Invasive golden oyster mushrooms, a wood decay fungus, can threaten forests’ fungal biodiversity and harm the health of ecosystems that are already vulnerable to climate change and habitat destruction,” said Aishwarya Veerabahu, a mycologist and graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who recently co-authored a study on the species.
Menzie Chinn is professor of public affairs and economics at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. He told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that it’s normal for job figures to be revised several times after initial publication.
“The fact that the preceding months were revised down meant that you had a drastic change in the trajectory that you saw,” Chinn said. “… And that is what the markets reacted to.”
“You’ve got a convergence of people who are thinking that they can improve their children — whether it’s their children’s health, or their children’s appearance, or their children’s intelligence, along with people who are comfortable using the newest technologies and people who have the money and the chutzpah — the daring — to try and do this,” said R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin professor emerita, lawyer and bioethicist, who’s now consulting with government agencies and private companies.
Dr. Jonathan Patz, a University of Wisconsin environmental public health researcher who was not involved with the research, said the studies add “a really important piece to the understanding of the true health risks from these extreme climatic events.”
UW Health Allergist Dr. Mark Moss suggests wearing an N95 mask when conditions are unhealthy.
“The best thing to do is limit your time outdoors,” Dr. Moss said. “Spend time indoors, preferably in air conditioning to give yourself a break to recover from some of the irritation that your airway is experiencing when you’re out in the poor air quality.”
“Precipitation for the most part has been maybe a little bit above normal, but not that much,” said Jerry Clark, the regional crops and soils educator at UW-Madison Extension in Chippewa County. “We’ve just had several high humidity, lot of moisture, precipitation days.”
What’s so special about being a college versus a school or even a department, which is how computing programs at UW-Madison were structured up until six years ago? It’s not about bragging rights or status, but being able to build business relationships, raise money and more quickly carry out a mission that’s in step with the times.
The world is a terrible mess right now. Climate change, government upheaval, warfare have many of us on edge and filled with anxiety about the future. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture asked its Design and Innovation graduate students to contemplate the question, “what if everything turns out OK?”
Beer is a big part of Wisconsin’s culture. So it’s no surprise that the University of Wisconsin-Madison has an entire class devoted to brewing. We learn more about the science behind brewing and hearing about fermenting yeast, SCOBY and lactose.
In a sunlight-dappled room in UW-Madison’s Science Hall, between historical maps from around the planet, rests a world unlike the others: the fantasy land of Middle-earth.
Curated by Mark Fonstad, the exhibit showcases the hand-drawn maps, writing tools and stories behind the atlas depicting the “Lord of the Rings” realm his mother Karen Wynn Fonstad created.
“For example, if you’ve been immunized for polio, and then you get a measles infection, the immunity you had to polio could be wiped out or reduced,” said Malia Jones, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. “You wouldn’t even know that you’re susceptible to some of this stuff.”
Wisconsin Watch spoke with two University of Wisconsin-Madison experts: Dr. Jim Conway, a professor in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Global Pediatrics; and Malia Jones, an assistant professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Health.
Launched this spring, The SoulFolk Collective is the first research lab to be housed in UW-Madison’s Department of African American Studies. The group is made up of about a dozen undergraduate and graduate students and is led by Jessica Lee Stovall.
“As a Black studies professor,” Stovall said, “I’ve been really interested in the ways that we can create learning and research environments that are Black affirming, that center Black joy and Black liberation, Black organizing.”
Dr. Ahmed Elbayomy, a research fellow in neurological surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lead author on two of the studies said in a statement: “More research is certainly needed, but seeing the potential protection offered by these medications is a fascinating finding.”
Written by Greg Wiercioch, a member of the clinical faculty at the Frank J. Remington Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Michaela Hoffelmeyer, an assistant professor of public engagement in agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, recalled interviewing early-career queer farmers who worried that valuable internships and apprenticeships would place them in hostile work environments or unsafe communities.
Queer farmers may also be forgoing good farmland because they want to avoid harassment, Hoffelmeyer said.
Dr. Katie O’Brien, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been leveraging social media to bridge the gap between doctor and patient, fostering a more familiar and approachable relationship.
As one of only two specialty-trained pediatric adolescent gynecologists in Wisconsin, Dr. O’Brien dedicates her career to diagnosing and treating common female pelvic conditions. She practices at the Teenage and Young Adult Clinic in Middleton and the UW Health Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic in Madison.
In an increasingly tough housing market, a University of Wisconsin program seeks to give renters a leg up in their search for safe, affordable housing by educating them about the process and improving their standing with landlords.
Rent Smart, a free, six-module course developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, covers the essentials of renting — everything from what’s affordable, what to look for during an apartment inspection and what to ask a landlord while applying.
In pregnant women, the effects are particularly impactful, as such DNA changes not only play out in the mother, but in the developing fetus and also the germ cells within the fetus, the precursors to sperm and eggs.
“This means that malnutrition has the potential to influence three generations—the mother, her child, and her grandchild,” says Hasan Khatib, a professor of genetics and epigenetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Such effects have been seen in the descendants of both the Great Chinese Famine and the Dutch Hunger Winter during World War II, where the children of babies starved in the womb carry genetic alterations that have placed them at higher risk of diabetes, as well as addiction and even schizophrenia in adulthood.
The connection between mental health and extreme heat is relatively new, but it’s a big one, said Jonathan Patz, a professor at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Department of Population Health Science at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
We don’t always see this level of direct confrontation when a group member is accused of being dangerous, according to Jessica Calarco, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin.
“Most will tend to continue the friendship,” Calarco said. “This is because when someone close to us – or even similar to us – engages in violent or toxic behavior, we’re less likely to blame them for their actions than we would be if we saw the same behavior from someone to whom we’re not close.”
In the 1980s, everything changed. President Ronald Reagan slashed funding for renewables and research and development into solar power. “It was really ideological,” said Greg Nemet, professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “They cut the solar budget by 85 percent within a couple of years.”
