Category: UW Experts in the News

Noted: “It’s like an apartment building of sorts,” explains Jordan Gerth, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “There’s some general expectation that everybody keeps relatively quiet. In the spectrum land, we have our meteorological application, our science applications, and those that require a very quiet environment and [quiet] adjacent environment. But the telecom signals are typically very loud, and are also susceptible to leaking outside their space.

Noted: Paul Mitchell, director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said farmers have received a small portion of food dollars for years. He said the trend is driven by consumers’ desire to buy the cheapest food products available.

Noted: According to Jerry O’Brien, Executive Director of the Kohl’s Center for Retailing at UW-Madison, while the crowds may not seem as big as they did a decade ago, Thanksgiving weekend still brings out roughly 170 million shoppers. That’s why, he said it’s still serious business for big box retailers.

Noted: “Farmers had prepared themselves for three-year cycles, but not five,” said Mark Stephenson, director of Dairy Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: “We’ve been salting very heavily for going on 60 years,” said Hilary Dugan, an assistant professor in freshwater sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Quoted: “Wisconsin has been one of the major states in helping provide the samples and making the determinations that have moved the investigation forward,” said Noel Stanton, chemical response coordinator at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Marina Maes, an assistant professor specializing in family medicine at UW-Madison’s School of Pharmacy, said she has worked in states where similar legislation is already enacted.

Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Andrew Reschovsky praised the study, but called Harris’ claim misleading.

Quoted: Christopher Kucharik, professor and chair of the agronomy department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and the National Weather Service, says three of the six wettest years ever recorded (since 1869) in Madison have happened in the past several years?—?2013, 2016 and 2018.

Noted: “I don’t understand the conceptual model for global competence that leaves language out,” said Dianna L. Murphy, director of the Language Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Noted: Christopher Kucharik, professor and chair of the agronomy department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, citing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and the National Weather Service, says three of the six wettest years ever recorded (since 1869) in Madison have happened in the past several years?—?2013, 2016 and 2018.

Quoted: When Chia Youyee Vang heard about Sunday night’s horrific shooting in Fresno, she pictured her brothers.

“They get together to watch Sunday Night Football, too,” said Ms. Vang, the director of the Hmong Diaspora Studies Program and a history professor at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. “It was so tragic because it was part of a normal routine in life — you’re not hiding in the jungle, you’re not in a war zone.”

Quoted: UW-Madison Director of the Personal Finance Program Linda Lepe said when it comes to sticking to your budget one of the best tips is, “do your homework.” “Know what you’re shopping for before you hit the stores,” Lepe said.

Noted: Brian Mayhew, professor of accounting at UW-Madison, says Hi-Crush recognizes the mines are not worth what they paid for them.

OK, let’s dive in. Christof Koch is one of today’s leading thinkers on the problem of consciousness. He was a long-time collaborator of Francis Crick, taught for many years at the California Institute of Technology, and is now president and chief scientist at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. In his new book, The Feeling of Life Itself, Koch advocates for integrated information theory, or IIT, developed by Giulio Tononi, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Quoted: Derek Johnson, UW-Madison professor of communications, said that a large wave of audiences began cutting the cord in 2012. He added that the up-front costs for a streaming service like Netflix ($12/month) comes at a bargain compared to cable ($60).

Quoted: “The public doesn’t fully see this as a human health crisis. Maybe polar bears were our early indicator — the proverbial canary in the coal mine. But when you talk about this crisis, the bear images should be replaced with pictures of children,” said Dr. Jonathan Patz, a professor and director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the new report.

For Robyn Cawley, editor in chief of The Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin, it was a small relief that the confrontation in Evanston had happened far away from her turf in Madison. Once, she said, the College Democrats urged her to take down an article, arguing that it presented them in an unflattering light. “I was like, of course you’re not going to like it,” she said. “Good for you. That’s the point of journalism.”

Quoted: Mark Stephenson, the director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he was not completely surprised by the announcement, only the timing.

Quoted: Theresa Waage is a security supervisor with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department who’s trained in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED.  The certification helps her look at a building like a criminal would, allowing her to identify possible points of access and recommend ways to prevent a break-in.

Quoted: If you’re not entirely convinced by religious beliefs right off the bat, that’s alright; stay open to the possibility that it’ll come with time, and know that you can still benefit by participating now. Sociologist Robert Putnam, of “Bowling Alone” fame, and Chaeyoon Lim, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that “religious people are more satisfied with their lives than nonbelievers,” because of the “social networks they build by attending religious services.”

Quoted: Steven Deller is an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He says US employment figures are somewhat deceptive.

In his new book, “The Feeling of Life Itself,” Koch advocates for integrated information theory, or IIT, developed by Giulio Tononi, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. IIT doesn’t ask how matter gives rise to consciousness — rather, it takes as a given certain attributes of consciousness, and asks what kinds of physical systems would be needed to support them.