Written by James Pikul, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Madison.
UW engineer: Feeding robots could be breakthrough
Wisconsin State Journal
Category: UW Experts in the News
Dane County health officials monitoring federal COVID vaccine limits
The Cap Times
Dr. Dominique Brossard, chair of the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said social scientists are worried the federal policy changes could instill more distrust in science more broadly.
“My concern is that if you start with (existing distrust in science) and giving doubt about these specific vaccines … does that instill a doubt about all the vaccines? So, is it opening the door or building that hesitancy?” Brossard said. “The whole context is definitely breeding ground for doubt and that we need to closely watch.”
Wisconsin celebrates Dairy Month as state trade exports reached $8.2 billion last year
Spectrum News
Chuck Nicholson is an associate professor of agriculture and economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said 20% of the milk produced ends up outside the U.S.
Nicholson said he doesn’t expect the dairy export market with China to be significantly impacted for the time being and that’s a good thing for Wisconsin.
“Cheese is definitely important as an export product, and it’s obviously quite important in Wisconsin. The other part about that is that with cheese typically comes whey, and we’re also a major exporter — from the State of Wisconsin — of whey products, and China is also a major market for our whey products as well,” Nicholson said.
Please, Democrats, just try to be normal
The Washington Post
And Allison Prasch, an instructor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is quoted as saying that “Democrats trip over themselves in an attempt to say exactly the right thing.”
Nonsense. Some Democrats trip all over themselves trying to obscure the meaning of what they say. Take referring to felons as part of “justice-involved populations.” Likewise, the term “undocumented person” implies that the problem is one of paperwork. It simply omits the fact that the person resides in the United States illegally.
Robots run out of energy long before they run out of work to do − feeding them could change that
The Conversation
Written by ssociate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Abortion bans harm care for pregnancy problems, UW-Madison study says
The Cap Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Collaborative for Reproductive Equity released a study this spring showing that during the 13-month period in which abortion was largely unavailable in Wisconsin, OB-GYNs struggled to provide care for pregnant patients and treat pregnancy complications because of unclear legal guidelines.
A fungal disease ravaged North American bats. Now, researchers found a second species that suggests it could happen again
Smithsonian Magazine
“Cave ecosystems are so fragile that if you start pulling on this thread, what else are you going to unravel that may create bigger problems in the cave system?” said University of Wisconsin–Madison wildlife specialist David Drake to the Badger Herald’s Kiran Mistry in December.
Hypogamy, the increasingly common romantic choice among brilliant women
The Body Optimist
Historically, hypergamy—when a woman marries a man of higher social or educational status—was the norm. However, this trend is gradually reversing. In the United States, according to sociologist Christine Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin, the proportion of couples where the woman is more highly educated than her partner increased from 39% in 1980 to 62% in 2020.
Will your car hit that deer? Depends on your headlight bulbs—and the deer’s personality
Science
“It’s a really exciting area of research,” says John Orrock, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who was not involved in the study. “What’s key here is that it’s not whether you’ve got a deer in the headlights—and not so much even which headlights—but which deer you have in the headlights.”
Annette Zimmerman on AI data centers, jobs and the economy
PBS Wisconsin
UW-Madison political philosophy professor Annette Zimmerman considers economic motivations for locating AI data centers in Wisconsin and political conflict over how this industry can impact jobs.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will soon make final ruling on abortion. How did we get here?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The 1849 law has been on hold since a lower court’s ruling in December 2023. The state then returned to its pre-Dobbs abortion laws, under which abortion is banned 20 weeks after “probable fertilization.”
“We’re just waiting for a final answer on that,” said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “The current state of the law has been that abortions are legal, subject to other laws we have in the state.”
Will you be able to get a COVID-19 shot? Here’s what we know so far
Associated Press
Together, the moves have left health experts, vaccine makers and insurers uncertain about what to advise and what comes next.
“It’s going to add a lot of confusion overall,” said Ajay Sethi, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin Supreme Court suspends Dane County judge over ‘intemperate’ behavior
Wisconsin Public Radio
Although the process for handling judicial misconduct varies by state, it is “somewhat rare” for judges to be suspended in Wisconsin and across the nation, said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
“[Nationwide] the overall judicial disciplinary process is sometimes critiqued from both sides as being overly lenient on judges or as being too harsh on judges,” Godar said. “It’s really difficult to strike this balance between accountability for judicial officers while wanting to preserve the independence of state courts and state judges.”
Dog park etiquette, Being a veterinarian
Wisconsin Public Radio
With more American households now having pets than children, demand for veterinarians is on the rise. Citing an increase for veterinarian job listings of 124 percent over the last three years, the employment website Indeed this year named being a vet their top job of 2025. We talk with veterinarian and clinical instructor Dr. Calico Schmidt of the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine about the joys and challenges of making a living caring for animals.
UW-Madison center sees promise in using psychedelics for addiction, PTSD, depression
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The UW–Madison Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances supports research and education into psychedelic drugs and related compounds. The idea is to learn how these psychedelic substances may help mood or behavior in ways other forms of therapy can sometimes fall short.
For the last 10 years, the center at UW-Madison has been part of a psychedelic renaissance in the science community, one that comes after decades of negative media attention stymied research and public perceptions.
We’re getting close to recreating the first step in evolution of life
New Scientist
“RNA nucleotide triplets serve very specific informatic functions in translation in all cells,” says Zachary Adam at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, meaning they are used to convey information. “This paper is interesting because it might point to a purely chemical role – a non-informatic function – for RNA nucleotide triplets that they could have served prior to the emergence of a living cell.”
UW-Madison researcher discovers valuable chemical compound in engineered poplar trees
Channel 3000
A UW-Madison researcher has made a surprising discovery that could transform how we source important chemical compounds used in everyday products, moving from fossil fuels to trees.
Brian Fox, a biochemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has identified parahydroxybenzoate—a chemical compound used in medicine, cosmetics, and food products that’s normally taken from oil—in biochemically engineered poplar trees.
After becoming fixture of Monroe Street, beloved ‘Madison Mural’ to come down
Channel 3000
Local artist Liubov Szwako, better known as “Triangulador,” and University of Wisconsin-Madison graphic design lecturer Henrique Nardi were commissioned by the owner of Lauer Realty to transform the blank wall.
The internet is littered with advice. What’s it doing to your brain?
Vox
“Research has overwhelmingly found that advice is really beneficial, and that people tend to under-utilize advice, usually causing them to make lower quality decisions,” says Lyn van Swol, a professor of communication science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies advice and information-sharing in groups. The catch, she notes, is that most of that research looks at advice from one, two, or three other people, not dozens, hundreds, or thousands of strangers on TikTok: “It’s overwhelming — it’s like a fire hose of advice.”
Five years after George Floyd’s death, why misinformation still persists
Al Jazeera
“The core through-line that emerges is the kind of longstanding, deep racist narratives around Black criminality and also the ways people try to justify who is or isn’t an ‘innocent victim’,” Rachel Kuo, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who studies race, social movements and technology, said of the falsehoods.
Scientists have lost their jobs or grants in US cuts. Foreign universities want to hire them
Associated Press
Brandon Coventry never thought he would consider a scientific career outside the United States. But federal funding cuts and questions over whether new grants will materialize have left him unsure. While reluctant to leave his family and friends, he’s applied to faculty positions in Canada and France.
“I’ve never wanted to necessarily leave the United States, but this is a serious contender for me,” said Coventry, who is a postdoctoral fellow studying neural implants at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
‘It does kind of make me the breadwinner’: stay-at-home mom charges husband $2,700 a week for household labor — sparking a debate on TikTok
Moneywise
Of course, not every household follows the traditional gender roles. But data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that women still spend twice as many hours doing physical housework as their male partners.
It doesn’t stop there. Allison Daminger, an assistant professor of sociology, found in her research that in 80% of opposite-sex couples, women shoulder most of the cognitive labor — things like managing family calendars, planning meals and checking on homework.
Democratic troubles revive debate over left-wing buzzwords
The Washington Post
Honestly, Democrats trip over themselves in an attempt to say exactly the right thing,” said Allison Prasch, who teaches rhetoric, politics and culture at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “Republicans maybe aren’t so concerned about saying exactly the right thing, so it may appear more authentic to some voters.”
She added: “Republicans have a willingness to paint with very broad brushstrokes, where Democrats are more concerned with articulating multiple perspectives. And, because of that, they can be hampered by the words and phrases they utilize.”
The curse of Toumaï: an ancient skull, a disputed femur and a bitter feud over humanity’s origins
The Guardian
Macchiarelli now brokered the publication of two of them on the widely read blog of John Hawks, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and longtime Sahelanthropus sceptic. In principle, to print images of someone else’s unpublished fossil was a clear breach of ethics. But then, Macchiarelli, Bergeret and Hawks reasoned, after Beauvilain’s article, the femur was no longer unpublished.
5 myths about food expiration dates and best-by labels
The Washington Post
Kathy Glass, who recently retired as associate director at the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said she respects “use-by” dates and other storage guidance (like an ideal fridge temperature) on refrigerated products, particularly those designed to be eaten cold.
“Many manufacturers have researched spoilage versus safety to determine those dates,” she said. On those keep-cold products, she said the phrase “use by” signals “they’ve done their studies to demonstrate that if you would use it by that particular date, and you kept it at a good refrigeration temperature, it should be safe.” Food should be refrigerated between 35 and 40 degrees, she said.
An ominous green sky is often associated with severe weather, but not every storm causes the sky to change colors.
AccuWeather
Scientists aren’t completely sure why some intense thunderstorms turn the sky green, but research meteorologist Scott Bachmeier at University of Wisconsin-Madison says it could be linked to two factors: the color of the sky late in the day and the amount of rain in the storm.
Split Supreme Court blocks Oklahoma’s Catholic charter school − but future cases could hinge on whether charters are, at their core, public or private
The Conversation
Co-authored by Susan S. Engeleiter Professor of Education Law, Policy and Practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Special contact lenses let you see infrared light – even in the dark
New Scientist
“It’s an audacious paper but, using just the contact lens, you wouldn’t be able to read a book in the infrared, or navigate down a dark road,” says Mikhail Kats at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the research.
This simple diet change can add decades to life expectancy, study finds
The Brighter Side
“Different components of your diet have value and impact beyond their function as a calorie,” said Dudley Lamming, a metabolism expert from the University of Wisconsin who is involved in both studies. “We’ve been digging in on one component that many people may be eating too much of.”
Environment 4 hours ago The Paris Agreement Target for Warming Still Won’t Protect Polar Ice Sheets
Mother Jones
“Coastal communities that are adapting to and preparing for future sea-level rise are largely adapting to the amount of sea-level rise that has already occurred,” said co-author Andrea Dutton, a geoscientist and sea level expert at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In a best-case scenario, she added, they are preparing for sea level rise at the current rate of a few millimeters per year, while the research suggests that rate will double within decades.
Midges, ticks and other bugs; the value of wetlands
Wisconsin Public Radio
We get an insect update from UW-Madison entomologist PJ Liesch. Then we talk about the benefits of wetlands and efforts to protect them.
Analysis finds summers are heating up nationwide, including in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Radio
The analysis is largely in line with the findings of Wisconsin’s Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, according to Jonathan Patz, a professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We’re seeing more nighttime warming than daytime warming, which is a problem for health,” Patz said. “Because if you don’t have cooling temperatures in the nighttime, it’s more dangerous, and there are more people at risk from heat waves.”
UW-Madison computer science prepares to relocate, meet ‘AI moment’
The Cap Times
When he looks at Morgridge Hall, though, he’s filled with excitement. The newly built facility will soon house UW-Madison’s School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences, or CDIS.
Arpaci-Dusseau recently took over as director of the rapidly growing school. Enrollment nearly doubled from the 2018-19 academic year to about 6,200 students in 2024-2025. The school also houses the university’s two largest majors: computer sciences, followed by data science.
Erika Meitner reads Philip Levine with Kevin Young
The New Yorker
Erika Meitner joins Kevin Young to read “What Work Is,” by Philip Levine, and her own poem “To Gather Together.” Meitner’s books include “Useful Junk” and “Holy Moly Carry Me,” which won the 2018 National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. She is currently a Mandel Institute Cultural Leadership Program Fellow, and she’s the director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Earth may already be too hot for the survival of polar ice sheets, study says
The Washington Post
“Every fraction of a degree matters,” said Andrea Dutton, a research professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who was a co-author of the study. “We can’t just adapt to this type of sea-level rise. We can’t just engineer our way out of this.”
Everything you need to know about bird flu
ZME Science
A dangerous bird flu, in other words, was suddenly circulating in mammals — mammals with which people have ongoing, extensive contact. “Holy cow,” says Thomas Friedrich, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “This is how pandemics start.”
Expert: Cellcom outage highlights infrastructure issues in rural areas
NBC 26
A University of Wisconsin–Madison professor says the recent Cellcom outage may be exposing a larger problem: insufficient investment in communication infrastructure, particularly in rural regions.
Professor Parmesh Ramanathan, who teaches electrical and computer engineering, says many networks lack backup systems to keep services running when critical lines go down.
Wisconsin speech and hearing clinic helps transgender clients find their voice
Wisconsin Public Radio
At a time when gender-affirming care in Wisconsin is under fire, providers at a speech clinic are helping transgender clients find their voice.
“Our voice is [an] external representation of us,” Maia Braden, a speech-language pathologist at the UW Speech and Hearing Clinic told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “Anytime our voice doesn’t match who we feel we are, it can be extremely distressing.”
Another reason not to sit too long, and the benefits of massage therapy
Wisconsin Public Radio
We know sitting for long periods of time can result in back pain. A recent study has also confirmed that sedentary behavior, such as time spent scrolling on smartphones, causes neck pain, too. Physical therapists Lori Thein Brody and Jill Thein-Nissenbaum explain how to avoid this outcome.
Survey finds Wisconsin farmers value sustainable practices
Wisconsin Public Radio
A recent survey of Wisconsin’s farmers found that 56 percent of them believe climate change is happening. Another 26 percent think it isn’t happening, and 18 percent are unsure.
Michael Bell, the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who helped conduct the study, said attitudes and behaviors don’t always match up. Bell found encouragement in how the farmers are acting, not their beliefs. The same survey asked farmers if they are practicing any of 15 different sustainable agricultural practices.
Sea level rise will cause ‘catastrophic inland migration’, scientists warn
The Guardian
Professor Andrea Dutton of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was part of the study team, said: “Evidence recovered from past warm periods suggests that several metres of sea level rise – or more – can be expected when global mean temperature reaches 1.5C or higher.”
Wisconsin commemorates 50th anniversary of Hmong resettlement
Wisconsin Public Radio
Mai See Thao, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that these resolutions are “long overdue.”
“Recognizing Hmong-Lao veterans is really important because they have never received the kinds of recognition that they’ve needed, given the fact that they supported the U.S. as proxy soldiers,” she said.
Families in a media age
Wisconsin Public Radio
Preschoolers often miss the lessons we think they learn from watching Clifford, Sesame Street, and other educational programs, while teens may use TV sitcoms to broach difficult topics with their parents. Includes interview with Marie-Louise Mares, a professor of communication science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Why Madison got so many midges this spring
The Cap Times
“You’re going to have a lot of spider webs on your house, and they’re going to be absolutely filled with midges,” said Jake Vander Zanden, who leads the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology.
Wisconsin is at the center of emerging scientific field with answers to ‘nature vs. nurture’
Wisconsin Public Radio
With the study of social genomics — or sociogenomics — scientists argue that genes and environment truly coexist and influence another throughout a person’s lifetime.
University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor Silvia Helena Barcellos said social genomics really just got started roughly 10 years ago, around the same time that scientists decoded the human DNA sequence and began to better understand it.
Elissa’s journey: A young mom’s relentless battle for life after colorectal cancer hit
USA Today
As Elissa and Russell said their vows, Xu and Cain were working to build HistoSonics, the company they’d formed in 2009 with Tim Hall, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and J. Brian Fowlkes, a professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at U-M.
Their company created the Edison System, a device with a robotic arm that delivers precision histotripsy treatments using a specialized, high-powered ultrasound transducer through a tub of water.
When should your child stop using a pacifier?
CNN
“Ideally, if it’s not a huge challenge, trying to see (the) use of thumb sucking or pacifier use stop by 18 months is a good thing, but I wouldn’t get too worked up about it if it was still happening at age two, maybe even three,” said Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health who is also a pediatrician and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Early Childhood.
Meteorologist warns National Weather Service funding cuts may threaten severe storm forecasting
TMJ4
Chris Vagasky explains how reduced weather balloon launches and staffing shortages at the National Weather Service may compromise the ability to predict dangerous weather events.
Childcare provider strike, Settling the nature vs. nurture debate, New research on back pain
Wisconsin Public Radio
New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that mindfulness and therapy led to lasting improvements in chronic back pain. We hear from an author of the study, Dr. Bruce Barrett.
Dr. Ryan Spencer on what happens when obstetricians leave
PBS Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health OB/GYN Dr. Ryan Spencer explains the difficulties that arise when fewer obstetric providers are available to serve mothers in a community.
Wondering about those pulsing insect clouds by Wisconsin’s lakes?
Wisconsin Public Radio
“There are always midges coming out of the lakes, but most people don’t really notice them because they’re not very abundant. So it’s not really on the radar,” said Jake Vander Zanden, who studies the biology of lakes as chair of the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Smoke-like swarms of midges may be ‘eerie,’ but completely harmless expert says
Channel 3000
“This year does really seem to be standing out in terms of the intensity of the midge activity,” PJ Liesch, extension entomologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said.
According to Liesch, midges are born and spend their young life down in the sediment of Madison’s lakes.
Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, accused of helping a man evade ICE, pleads not guilty
Wisconsin Public Radio
John Gross, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said he wasn’t surprised by the grand jury indictment.
“The prosecutor has an enormous amount of control over that proceeding, and so it’s never surprising to hear that a grand jury voted to indict,” Gross said.
Great Lakes invasive carp barrier moves forward after Trump memo
Wisconsin Public Radio
“It is truly the pinch point. It is the one place where you have a large canal that connects the two,” said Jake Vander Zanden, who directs the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology.
Conservation gardening, and the search for exoplanets
Wisconsin Public Radio
Astronomers have identified hundreds of exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our own – but very few exist in habitable zones that could support life. We talk to Thomas Beatty, an exoplanet researcher and collaborator with The Wisconsin Center for Origins Research, and Jim Lattis, director of the UW Space Place, both at UW-Madison.
As Cassie shares graphic abuse details in Diddy trial, are we all asking the wrong question?
USA Today
In a 2024 study conducted by Chloe Grace Hart, an 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.
“That suggests that when it comes to sexual violence, Black women survivors face a particularly steep uphill battle to be believed,” Hart previously told USA TODAY.
A trove of Ice Age fossils buried in a Wyoming cave is rewriting our understanding of prehistoric animals
Smithsonian Magazine
“The sediment deposition gets really complex,” David M. Lovelace, a geoscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led a comprehensive study of the cave’s stratigraphy, explains. “Sediment that’s washing in can leave little pockets of deposition in one area. Then the inlet or the stream will shift slightly, so it deposits in another area.” Sometimes a fresh stream cuts through older sediment to drop in new surface material. “It literally forms almost a new cave through the old sediment, so you can deposit younger material under older, previously existing material. The complexities become outstanding.”
A ‘tofu-dreg’ edifice: Most of China’s official economic data is probably fake
The Hill
Dr. Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin, an expert in China’s demographics and prominent critic of that country’s one-child policy, has been digging into the details of China’s population claims — and what he has found is not good.
For starters, Yi believes that China’s population is overestimated by at least 130 million — more than one-third of the U.S. population. In a recent monograph, Yi details the many discrepancies buried within China’s current and past census data.
Federal cuts threaten Wisconsin farm safety center for children, rural communities
Wisconsin Public Radio
“Without the continued research that’s made possible with federal funding, it would set us back,” said John Shutske, an agricultural safety and health specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’ve seen over the last several decades a pretty dramatic decrease overall in our farm fatality rate. And while I think [the number of deaths] would probably plateau, I don’t think we would be able to continue to make the kind of progress that we’ve had.”
Wisconsin education program helps older adults manage prescriptions
Wisconsin Public Radio
Almost 15 years ago, professor Betty Chewning of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy was struck by an idea. Instead of focusing only on helping students learn how to speak with patients, what if she could help teach patients, as well?
Her idea became Med Wise Rx, an education program aimed at teaching older Wisconsinites to better communicate with pharmacists and safely manage multiple prescriptions.