Category: UW Experts in the News

Noted: Dr. Guangqing Chi, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State University and director of the university’s Computational and Spatial Analysis Core, worked with Dr. Derrick Ho, a research fellow from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and James Beaudoin, a geographical information systems/web developer from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to create a Land Development Index.

Noted: In its most recent guidance, University of Wisconsin Extension entomologists say that while it can be difficult to assess the extent of infestations at early stages, insecticides can help and are most effective when infested trees have less than a 50% thinning of the canopy.

Quoted: Cambodia’s history with curses, magic and spells predates Buddhism, says Ian Bard, a professor of geography at University of Wisconsin-Madison. But while traditionally rituals were used in village spats and personal vendettas, new types of conflict between local communities on the one hand and politicians and businesses on the other have spawned a whole new avatar of the tradition.

Noted: In Wisconsin, makers of industrial equipment and parts are also seeing costs rise with tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and lumber, said Noah Williams, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy.

Noted: “The people who do this work are by and large people working hard to help kids make it to their families, which is a fundamentally different role than serving as a detention facility for kids who have been involuntarily separated from their families. It is not an appropriate role for HHS,” said Maria Cancian, who served as deputy assistant secretary for policy in HHS’s Administration for Children and Families during the Obama administration.

Noted: The combination of poverty and the fear of deportation inspires most undocumented immigrants to tie themselves closely to their employers. They work hard and avoid public places. In the words of the sociologists Jill Harrison of the University of Colorado-Boulder and Jennifer Lloyd of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, undocumented workers become “compliant workaholics” in order to survive. Employers in low-wage industries have found this disciplined, loyal and flexible workforce very attractive.

Quoted: “The purposes of that statement was twofold. One was to just raise awareness about the link between alcohol and cancer,” said Dr. Noelle LoConte, an oncologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was lead author of that statement.

Noted: “This study reinforces [the evidence] that people who drink a lot have higher rates of cancer and higher rates of dying from those cancers,” says Noelle LoConte, an oncologist and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin. She was not involved in the study, but NPR asked her to review the evidence.

Quoted: Studies have shown that alcohol has potential cancer-causing effects. Noelle LoConte, M.D., an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, likened alcohol to a converted carcinogen. “It’s not a mystery why we get cancers of the head, neck, and esophagus—people basically bathe their body tissue in carcinogen,” she says.

Quoted: “Although not the final word on this question, the GAO study provides credible evidence that strict ID requirements may depress turnout,” said Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin.

Noted: “The placement of the cells is critical,” agrees Marina Emborg, who studies Parkinson’s disease at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was not involved in the study.

Noted: Taking a similar stance, Tova Walsh, assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, expressed her concern that this policy doesn’t do enough to address the well-being of immigrant children.

“Fake apps spread by social engineering, such as by enticing users with the possibility of playing a popular game,” says Vaibhav Rastogi, a computer science research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The vulnerability exploited here is not in the computer system but in the human.”

Noted: “The main purpose of summer school is to catch up the students who are struggling during the school year, to make sure that they’re not falling further behind and to actually get them to push forward,” says Drew Joseph, a doctoral student in the department of curriculum and instruction at UW-Madison, who works for the district. “They’re mostly there for literacy and math instruction, but what we also want to do with the enrichment classes is push their literacy and math skills forward.”

Noted: In the majority of states, non-Hispanic whites are dying faster than they are being born, according to a recent study by the Applied Population Lab at the University of Wisconsin.

Noted: In the 1950s, the American psychologist Harry Harlow took young rhesus monkeys from their mothers and found that the youngsters became reclusive.

We have analysis of yesterday’s special election results, and get a refresher course on the redistricting case before the US Supreme Court. Guest: Barry Burden

Quoted: “They basically again just punted on any underlying questions of the constitutionality of this and didn’t say anything about whether gerrymandering is OK or not,” said David Canon.

Noted: David Canon, a University of Wisconsin political science professor, weighed in on the court’s decision Monday.

Quoted: Jo Handelsman, a microbiologist and genomic sequencing pioneer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who likewise is not associated with the project, concurs. “The thrill of sequence information is that you don’t know what you’re going to find,” she says. “I think probably the bigger payoffs will be things that we can’t even anticipate.”

Noted: Mental health advocates hope this bit of viral attention can be harnessed for lasting changes. Dr. Steve Garlow, a psychiatry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied suicide, said he hopes the growing awareness can finally build a lasting public health effort like those rallied around other leading causes of death.

Noted: A spending plan shows how overspending one week will leave you with a cash shortage the next week. Even a $50 shortfall can feel stressful, says J. Michael Collins, faculty director for the Center for Financial Security at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said the November election will likely draw more voters than Tuesday, but higher turnout doesn’t necessarily mean good news for Republicans.

Mental health advocates hope this bit of viral attention can be harnessed for lasting changes. Dr. Steve Garlow, a psychiatry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied suicide, said he hopes the growing awareness can finally build a lasting public health effort like those rallied around other leading causes of death.

Noted: Over five school years, ending with the spring of 2016, 71 percent of rural districts in the state saw a drop in enrollment, said Sarah Kemp, a school demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.