Written by James Dahlberg, a professor emeritus in the department of biomolecular chemistry at UW-Madison.
Lifesaving science at UW-Madison depends on patent rights
Wisconsin State Journal
Category: UW Experts in the News
Double danger: Rings of fire border heat domes
Wisconsin State Journal
The American Meteorological Society maintains a glossary of meteorological terms and defines a heat dome as “an exceptionally warm air mass at middle latitudes during the warm season that that is associated with a synoptic-scale area of high pressure aloft. This area of high pressure aloft can have a doming effect on the warm air mass below by suppressing rising motion and the development of clouds and precipitation.”
A banking expert says Trump’s latest Crypto policy could put the whole economy at risk
Inc.
“I am concerned that this legislation, and the broad adoption of stablecoins that it will facilitate, may trigger a crisis at the very heart of the banking system,” writes Mark Copelovitch, a professor of political science and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Copelovitch is also the author of “The International Monetary Fund in the Global Economy: Banks, Bonds, and Bailouts” and co-author of “Banks on the Bank: Global Capital, Securities Markets, and the Political Roots of Financial Crises.”
Summer of stink: Inside America’s garbage labour dispute
BBC
“We have these negative associations with waste, particularly smellier waste, that is associated with poverty and disease – other things we don’t like to see or think about,” said Sarah A Moore, a professor in the department of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Some kids need more protection from ultra-processed food. Here’s why
NPR
You don’t want to forbid these foods entirely, says psychologist Katherine Schaumberg at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. That strategy could backfire. “In our culture, food is connection. Having these foods in social settings can facilitate emotional health,” she says. “That can outweigh the physical cost of them.”
We tracked illegal fishing in marine protected areas – satellites and AI show most bans are respected, and could help enforce future ones
The Conversation
Written by ssistant professor of natural resource economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Stablecoins could trigger a crisis at the heart of the financial industry
Barron's
Written by Mark Copelovitch, a professor of political science and public affair, and director of the Center for European Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The enduring lessons of wages for housework
The Nation
Emily Callaci’s history of the international feminist movement examines the influence of their intellectual and political victories. The University of Wisconsin–Madison historian describes in “Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor,” that modes of protest were part of an emerging, dynamic wave of left-feminist activism.
Callaci’s book marks a significant contribution to the new Wages for Housework literature and serves as a reminder of the campaign’s true aims. Weaving together capsule biographies of five of its founders, it offers a history that reflects Wages for Housework’s global scope and radical ambitions.
What were ancient humans thinking when they began to bury their dead?
New Scientist
All four of the anonymous researchers asked to assess its merit were sceptical. But Berger and his colleagues were undeterred. Earlier this year, they published an updated version of their study, offering a deeper dive into the evidence they had gathered from the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. The approach paid off: two of the original reviewers agreed to reassess the science – and one was won over.
“You rarely see that in peer review,” says John Hawks at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a member of Berger’s team.
New study advances theory on why most U.S. bird flu cases have so far been mild
STAT
Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a leading influenza scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is among those who are skeptical, pointing to H5N1 infections in Cambodia, which has reported 27 cases since 2023, 12 of which have been fatal. The version of the virus circulating in that country is different from the one that has been infecting cows and poultry in the United States.
UW-Madison research drives startups. Federal science cuts stall our mission.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Written by Jordan Ellenberg, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Clinical trial at UW–Madison helping kidney recipient live without immunosuppressants
WKOW - Channel 27
When Madison native Shawn Wiederhoeft received a kidney transplant in 2020, he did not expect to be at the forefront of a major medical breakthrough. But thanks to a clinical trial at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, he is now five years post-transplant and living without the need for anti-rejection medications.
Do academics publish less after getting tenured? Depends on your field
Nature
Jessica Calarco, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says this analysis shows why so many researchers “feel completely burnt out by the time they get to tenure”. A focus on metrics, such as number of publications or citation count, doesn’t emphasize quality, innovation or longer projects, she adds. “There’s a great deal of pressure on junior academics to do as much research as possible, to prove you deserve to keep that job.”
‘It’s just the beginning’: UW-Madison professors help capture new images of the universe, launch new era of cosmic observation
The Daily Cardinal
One month ago, the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile released their survey telescope’s first images of vibrant new galaxies, asteroids and other astronomical phenomena. UW-Madison associate professor Keith Bechtol, lead scientist of the observatory’s systems engineering team, said the images, first released on June 22, create the most extensive map of the universe to date, kickstarting new scientific discoveries in the field of cosmic observation.
Sitting-rising health test explained; then, a new puppet festival in the Madison area
Wisconsin Public Radio
How well you can rise from sitting to standing may predict how long you live. Returning to talk about the sitting-rising test are physical therapists Lori Thein Brody and Jill Thein-Nissenbaum.
Even in Wisconsin, solar energy is booming. But the state lags behind other parts of the US.
Wisconsin Public Radio
Greg Nemet, a professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, knows this isn’t the first time people have declared the “dawn of the solar age.” People in the 1950s, the 1970s and the early 2000s all declared an imminent solar age, only to see fossil fuels continue to dominate.
Who picks the tissue box patterns? These Grand Chute designers are behind the look of iconic brands
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Pete Long, an adjunct professor teaching strategic communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agreed that every aspect of the design, both the graphics and the product, is intentional.
For Kleenex facial tissues, he said limited editions and seasonal graphics are created to help consumers navigate the shelf and ultimately convince them to purchase.
Cigarette smokers can earn $380 for participating in UW-Madison study
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Smokers can earn $380 if they are willing to kick cigarettes for four weeks and participate in a University of Wisconsin-Madison study.
The UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention is assessing whether nicotine pouches, like Zyn, can replace smoking.
How do dogs watch TV? That might depend on their personalities, new research suggests
Smithsonian Magazine
“I thought it was very well done,” Freya Mowat, a veterinary ophthalmologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who did not participate in the study, tells Popular Science’s Lauren Leffer, emphasizing that the team’s statistical approach made the survey-based study more credible.
ASK THE WEATHER GUYS; It’s pretty simple: Warmer air holds a lot more water
Wisconsin State Journal
ASK THE WEATHER GUYS
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.
How to design an actually good flash flood alert system
The Verge
And when it comes to warning people about flash floods in particular, experts still stress the need to get warnings to people via every means possible.
That’s why a “Swiss cheese” approach to warning people can be most effective in overcoming that last mile, Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist and manager of the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains. (And it’s similar to an ideology used to prevent the spread of disease.)
“You know you got slices of Swiss cheese and they’ve got holes in them. Nothing is ever perfect. But if you layer enough pieces of cheese, it reduces the risk because something might go through one hole, but then it gets blocked,” Vagasky says. “We always want people to have multiple ways of receiving warnings.”
‘Queer people were living, loving, suffering, surviving – but invisible’: west Africa’s groundbreaking gay novel 20 years on
The Guardian
Ainehi Edoro, associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and founder of the literary blog Brittle Paper, says the novel marked a turning point. “For a long time, queer characters in African literature were either invisible or treated as symbols of crisis, like their presence was a sign that something had gone wrong,” she says. “So when Dibia wrote a novel that centred a gay Nigerian man as a full human being, that mattered. He pushed back against an entire archive of erasure.”
Your Smartwatch could carry a hidden health risk
Newsweek
“There are a small number of studies suggesting uptake of PFAS through skin is possible and the concentrations of PFHxA reported in the study are quite high,” said Christina Remucal, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Beetles and weevils and moths, oh my! How to fight Wisconsin’s invasive insects
The Cap Times
In Wisconsin, the beetle was first discovered in 2014 in counties west of Milwaukee. In 2019, UW-Madison entomologist P.J. Liesch, on a walk with his family, found an infested shrub. This spring, Liesch fielded dozens of questions from gardeners asking about it, as did Lisa Johnson, a Dane County Extension horticulture educator.
Water sport or crime? The bitter fight over wave-making boats
The Wall Street Journal
William Banholzer, an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has been traveling to town meetings arguing research doesn’t support banning the boats. Banholzer, who owns a wakesurfing boat but says that doesn’t affect his conclusions, said studies show about 70% of a wave’s energy is dissipated at around 200 feet.
“If you’re taking my rights away, you better have a preponderance of evidence on your side, and they don’t,” Banholzer said.
Human rights defenders are fleeing El Salvador as Bukele cracks down
Rolling Stone
“The point isn’t that Trump is a ‘Latin American’ dictator — or an Eastern European one like Orban — the point is that they are all, along with the people who work under them, part of contemporary right-wing networks,” explains Patrick Iber, associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s a dynamic system for mutual support. And it is one in which authoritarian ideas get reinforced, enemies get defined, and the leaders get to imagine themselves as engaged in a project of national redemption.”
The golden oyster mushroom craze unleashed an invasive species – and a worrying new study shows it’s harming native fungi
The Conversation
Written by Ph.D. candidate in botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Science reveals dogs’ favorite type of TV
Popular Science
“I thought it was very well done,” Freya Mowat, a veterinary ophthalmologist at the University of Wisconsin who researches canine visual psychology but was not part of the new study team, tells Popular Science.
The new results are also closely aligned with a 2024 survey study conducted by Mowat and a separate group of dog researchers at the University of Wisconsin.
Seeking corporate tax insights? Check out the expanded audit report
Forbes
“Regulators introduced expanded audit reporting to increase the usefulness of the audit report to investors by requiring the auditor to discuss the most challenging issues. However, Prior research generally finds that key audit matters do not influence investor perceptions of audited companies,” says Dan Lynch, a professor of accounting at the Wisconsin School of Business.
With PBS funding cut, will the next generation be raised by ‘Skibidi Toilet’?
The Washington Post
Rebekah Willett, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who studies children and media, said she often hears from parents whose children run into upsetting content that’s recommended by YouTube’s algorithm. (One child, she said, looked up baby animal videos, which led to videos of animals giving birth, which led to videos of humans giving birth.)
Insects both welcomed and shunned; then, large study of bird songs reveals complexity
Wisconsin Public Radio
UW-Madison entomologist PJ Liesch returns to talk about the bugs we love and hate. Then we talk to another researcher on campus, Sathya Chandra Sagar, about his work on a global study of bird calls.
Justice Rebecca Bradley is up for election. But will she be on the ballot?
Wisconsin Public Radio
“If she were indeed committed to running, you would expect her to be raising money at this point, as her opponent already is doing, and as we’ve seen folks doing in prior races at this time,” said Robert Yablon, who co-leads the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin Legislature spent $26.2 million in taxpayer money on private attorneys since 2017
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“It’s a good time to be a private litigator” in Wisconsin, said Barry Burden, University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center. “This has become a very litigious state at a high level, in federal court and in the state Supreme Court.”
Measles cases surge past 1,300; experts blame erosion of trust in science
Scripps News
Dr. Jonathan Temte, associate dean for public health and community engagement at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said that the resurgence is partly due to the erosion of public confidence in science and public health systems, fueled by misinformation.
“It really is made more difficult when you don’t have an intact public health system, when you don’t have a population that believes in evidence-based science and is wracked with concerns about conspiracy, and you have people who basically profiteer off misinformation,” Temte said.
Ads in Wisconsin’s governor race are starting more than a year before the primary
WMTV - Channel 15
While it’s not unusual to see candidates announce early, this level of spending this early is unprecedented, said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A Wisconsin scientist helped launch a telescope that will create the greatest cosmic movie of all time
Wisconsin Public Radio
In April, Wisconsin’s Keith Bechtol was in the remote Andes mountains of Chile waiting for the world’s largest digital camera to turn on and take a photo of the night sky.
“I was very focused to the task at hand,” he said. “I was selecting the target that we would use for the very first images.”
9 ways Madison residents will feel the new state budget
The Cap Times
Andrew Reschovsky, an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, estimates Madison schools will receive about $9.6 million more in special education aid over the next two years. But he said without increases to general aid or equalization aid — other major forms of state funding for schools — Madison must rely more heavily on local taxes for funding.
“Even though special education aid has been increased, it’s still a relatively small part of total state aid,” he said. “At the state level, state aid all together is less than half of total money needed, or total revenues, to support K-12 education.”
Have you seen more fireflies this year?
Wisconsin Public Radio
Entomology professor Dan Young said this year marks a short-term win for the regional firefly population. The area is coming out of a drought, leaving abundant ground moisture for fireflies to thrive in during their larval and pupa stages.
“Compared to the last couple years, people would probably be noticing a lot more. I’m certainly noticing more in my own backyard.” said Young, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and serves as the director of the Wisconsin Insect Research Collection. “But looking at it more long-term, I would say … this is a pleasant blip in the radar.”
Y’all, we need to talk about ‘y’all’
NPR
“It feels like home when I hear it,” says Kelly Elizabeth Wright, an assistant professor of language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who grew up in Tennessee. “It’s from where I was raised. But it makes me feel included and welcome. And I think that’s part of why people are embracing it, because it has this capacity to make others feel included and welcome.”
Student loan payments to change from August 1: What to know
Newsweek
“Due to ongoing litigation, SAVE borrowers do not yet know when their administrative forbearance will end and payments will resume,” said Nicholas Hillman, director of the Student Success Through Applied Research (SSTAR) Lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “All they can be certain of is their interest will now start to accrue, and that’s cold comfort for borrowers who have—for no fault of their own—been stuck in administrative forbearance.”
The invisible toll of bird flu on wildlife
Scientific American
Fortunately, many of the mammals in the U.S. being reported ill or dead with avian influenza are of common species. Infected red foxes, coyotes and raccoons, for instance, are appearing relatively frequently—but not at nearly the scale of the marine mammal mass mortalities. And these are plentiful species, says David Drake, an urban wildlife ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, so he isn’t too concerned.
Orion Initiative seeks to fix rural Wisconsin healthcare
WORT FM
A new collaborative grant-making effort administered through the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, dubbed the Orion Initiative, seeks to reverse these trends for rural Wisconsin. Orion Initiative Chief Executive Officer Dr. Amy Kind and U.W. Medicine Associate Professor of Rheumatology Christie Bartels spoke with Monday Buzz host Brian Standing about the project.
State wildlife regulators investigating black bear attack in northern Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Radio
Jamie Nack is a senior wildlife outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension. If people encounter a bear outdoors, she said they should talk to the bear or shout at the animal and raise their arms over their heads to look bigger.
“You really don’t want to be turning and running, but just kind of backing away slowly and again just giving them an escape route for them to just go ahead and leave,” Nack said.
Abortion legal in Wisconsin, but access still difficult
WORT FM
Despite the ruling, reproductive care advocates say much work remains to be done to ensure equitable access. Jenny Higgins is a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is the director of the Collaborative for Reproductive Equity.
AI’s mixed success; and the history of cartography
Wisconsin Public Radio
Generative AI may “hallucinate” and pollute the internet, but it is a powerful tool for scientific inquiry, we learn. Then, 50 years of the History of Cartography Project is expected to result in six massive volumes of maps and analysis.
What’s next in the legal fight over abortion rights in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin Public Radio
University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Miriam Seifter said Planned Parenthood could still try to advance its constitutional arguments in a future case.
“Wisconsin imposes many other restrictions on abortion, and Planned Parenthood or other plaintiffs could decide to tee up the constitutional question by challenging those restrictions,” Seifter said.
What does Trump’s budget law mean for Wisconsin taxpayers?
Wisconsin Public Radio
“It’s worth remembering what those [2017] changes were,” said Ross Milton, an assistant professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. “Those were some tax cuts for middle-income households and pretty large tax cuts for high-income households, and those are being extended permanently as part of this new act.”
The UW-Madison professor helping to shape Trump’s economic policies
The Cap Times
As President Donald Trump orders and sometimes rescinds tariffs on countries across the globe this year, one of his top advisers is an economics professor on leave from his job at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Trump appointed Kim Ruhl in February to his Council of Economic Advisers, a three-member panel that plays a central role in shaping domestic and international economic policy and counselling the president.
Lifelong Learner: Tips for navigating college as a rural student
Wisconsin State Journal
Students from rural communities and small towns can bring a rich set of strengths and perspectives to college — from leadership experience and resourcefulness to a deep sense of community — but they may also face unique logistical and cultural challenges. Not only do such barriers impact individual students, but they also affect college attendance rates.
The Lifelong Learner is a monthly feature written by UW–Madison Division of Continuing Studies staff, including this week’s feature written by Christine Cina, academic advising manager.
Beetles and weevils and moths, oh my! How to fight Wisconsin’s invasive insect
The Cap Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, created in 1978, supports the public and local county extension offices by receiving and analyzing several thousand insect samples each year. Every year, about two or three non-native insect species are discovered in Wisconsin. Some are only annoyances; others bring serious trouble. The latter is the case with the viburnum leaf beetle.
In Wisconsin, the beetle was first discovered in 2014 in counties west of Milwaukee. In 2019, UW-Madison entomologist P.J. Liesch, on a walk with his family, found an infested shrub. This spring, Liesch fielded dozens of questions from gardeners asking about it, as did Lisa Johnson, a Dane County Extension horticulture educator.
What Trump’s spending bill means for Wisconsin health care, BadgerCare Plus and more
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
There are about 192,000 childless adults enrolled in BadgerCare Plus. Most of them already work and cannot get health insurance through their employer, said Donna Friedsam, distinguished researcher emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Even those who work, however, could lose coverage if they do not know how to correctly report their work hours to the state, she said.
Bad Bunny makes a ‘political statement’ as Puerto Rico residency begins
CNN
“The theme and the ethos of this record is sort of affirming that Puerto Rican culture in the face of cultural and physical displacement of Puerto Ricans,” said Meléndez-Badillo, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is attending one of the concerts this weekend.
These ‘weird’ sea spiders don’t have abdomens—and instead store organs in their legs. With DNA, scientists are learning why
Smithsonian Magazine
“They’re weird,” Prashant Sharma, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison specializing in the genomics and development of ancient invertebrates, says in a statement. “Sea spiders are just incredibly cool and understudied animals. So, that’s what draws us to them.”
More Wisconsin residents dying from alcohol-related liver failure, according to new research
Wisconsin Public Radio
“We know that COVID — and the isolation related to COVID and the stress and strain of unemployment — was a cause,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, emeritus professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “We also know that there’s a mental health crisis in our nation … alcohol can be used to self-medicate. It’s an attempt to really blunt the pain that comes from depression and or anxiety.”
Elon Musk’s New Political Party Could Be Major Blow to Republicans: Poll
Newsweek
Barry Burden, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek on Thursday that Musk’s association with the America Party remains to be seen—questioning whether it’s a long-term political strategy or a short-term “vanity project.”
He also said Musk’s stake is unclear, as far as whether he will be the face of the new party or just a major financial backer.
Conspiracy theorists are blaming flash floods on cloud seeding — it has to stop
The Verge
“[Cloud seeding] campaigns usually focus on just a few target clouds and would not have the ability to impact a large area,” Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist and manager of the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an email. “The amount of energy required to create a complex of thunderstorms and heavy rain is so high that it outweighs the small addition of silver iodide or other seed material.”
Biobanking DNA now could save species from extinction later
Wisconsin Public Radio
Native Great Lakes wildlife is at risk of extinction due in part to climate change and pollution. Before species are lost, their DNA could be “banked” for future regeneration. We talk to UW-Madison genetic professor Francisco Pelegri about the effort he’s leading to do just that.
Are mosquitoes especially bad in the Madison area this summer?
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison entomology professor Susan Paskewitz has a decade of mosquito data. As the director of the Midwest Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Disease, she studies mosquitoes, ticks and other nuisances and the diseases they may carry.
The Madison area experienced severe drought the last two years. “So the mosquitoes were incredibly low,” Paskewitz said.
Just how harmful is vaping? More evidence is emerging
The New York Times
Data on the long-term health effects is limited, because vapes are relatively new and constantly evolving. Many people who use them are in their teens or 20s; it might take a while before further effects become apparent.
Even so, “common sense tells you — your mom would tell you — that a superheated chemical inhaling right into your lungs isn’t going to be good,” said Dr. James H. Stein, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Increasingly, research is pointing to the reality that while vapes do not contain the same dangerous chemicals as cigarettes, they come with their own harms.
Gov. Evers still undecided on seeking a third term
TMJ4
“I think Evers is quite well positioned to run again, and certainly better than anyone else I can think of,” said Howard Schweber, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.