Quoted: “They’re fabulous structures given what they’ve done. But it’s time,” said Ernie Perry, principal investigator of a recent University of Wisconsin-Madison study examining how agriculture products would move to markets if the locks and dams closed.
Quoted: The USDA only just announced how they would require manufacturers to disclose GM ingredients, though the law was enacting back in 2016, and the new rules don’t use the term “GMO” or even “GM.” Instead, they opt for “BE” or “bioengineered,” perhaps to avoid using loaded terminology. “I’m not sure how much people will know that term,” says Dominique Brossard, a communications professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison specializing in life science issues like GMOs. “I don’t think it’s going to be very easy for people to find out [which foods are genetically modified].”
Bassam Shakhashiri, who pushed for chemistry graduate education reform as ACS president, hopes every chemist will read this important report. Its findings echo many of the recommendations an ACS committee made in 2012. Shakhashiri adds, “This really is about the future of the university.”
Quoted: Mostly floodwater species of mosquitoes — those bloodsuckers laying eggs in heavy woods, low-lying areas or wherever they find a pool of water, such as a tire or bird bath — were out in force for the first time over the holiday weekend, said Patrick Liesch, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison insect diagnostics lab.
Quoted: Alfonso Morales, a professor of food systems and urban planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, seconded that. “Urban agriculture is a process,” he said. “It’s not something that happens from one day to the next.”
Quoted: “This is a really innovative approach to conserving biodiversity in our landscapes,” UW-Madison Entomology Professor Claudio Gratton said.
Quoted: “We’re seeing an obvious center of the storm just a couple of hundred miles south of us, across northern Indiana, which is just unbelievable,” said Jonathan Martin, UW Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.
Quoted: “It makes sense to have free public transport paid for by taxation, as it’s beneficial for the whole of society, not only those who use public transportation,” says João Peschanski, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has examined free public transit systems around the world.
For an administration that has made no secret of its hostility to immigration, punishing unauthorized migrants may be a good in and of itself. But it isn’t clear that deterrence is an effective policy tool.
Anna Oltman is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Wisconsin Historical Society Press’ book Somos Latinas (“We Latinas”): Voices of Wisconsin Latina Activists first began as part of a UW-Madison course in an effort to engage students in documenting the lives of Latina women in Wisconsin.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher is examining ways to improve athletes’ reporting of brain injuries — a key to preventing long-term neurological damage.
Quoted: A 1,000-year rain event, as its name implies, is exceptionally rare. It signifies just a 0.1 percent chance of such an event happening in any given year. “Or, a better way to think about it is that 99.9 percent of the time, such an event will never happen,” explained Shane Hubbard, a meteorological researcher at University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center.
Quoted: The short answer: It’s hard to say. One of the biggest problems with bias training is that so few people have evaluated whether it’s effective, said Patricia Devine, a professor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison who focuses on how to manage prejudice in society. Some studies have also found that, when done the wrong way, these kinds of trainings can actually make the problem worse.
Quoted: Through the end of June, justices are expected to hand down decisions on 29 more cases, said Ryan Owens, a professor of political science and affiliate law faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The next opinion day is scheduled for Monday, June 4, Owens said, and decisions will likely come every other day after that.
Noted: Last year the number of births fell 4% from the year before and China’s fertility rate was at 1.24 births per woman, below the expected rate of 1.63, according to Yi Fuxian, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health.
Quoted: Bob Cropp, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the slowdown in milk production is good for milk prices, which have remained at low levels for the last three years thanks to an abundance of milk on the market.
Quoted: Urban and rural divides are not new, as University of Wisconsin political scientist Kathy Cramer told the New York Times. What’s unique about our moment, however, is that “cultural divides overlap with political divides, which overlap with geography,” creating a maelstrom of suspicion and disconnect.
Quoted: “Last year did not seem to be a boom year for tick density,” said Susan Paskewitz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of entomology who conducts field research on ticks and the diseases they carry. “We didn’t see a lot more ticks like we did in 2013 … I think the infection rates were higher in those ticks, and we don’t have an explanation for why that would be.
Quoted: “That surprised me,” said Arlin Brannstrom, associate professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I thought there would be some dampening in that enthusiasm for land ownership given the weak prices we’ve seen for agricultural commodities, in particular milk. But I think there’s still a lot of demand.”
Noted: “In general, the results look like (what) I would have expected from the general literature on perceptions of police,” said Pam Oliver, a UW-Madison sociology professor who’s studied racial disparities in criminal justice in Wisconsin. “There is a substantial literature that says the police and policing are actually different in different kinds of places or for different kinds of people, so that experiences with police differ.”
Quoted: Dee Warmath, an assistant professor of consumer science at the School of Human Ecology.
Noted: Even with the switch from rain to heat, mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus may not emerge right away, said Tony Goldberg, an epidemiology professor at University of Wisconsin.
Noted: Bradley Bolling, a food-science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, decided to put some women on a yogurt-heavy diet. He and his colleagues had 60 women, half of whom were obese, eat 12 ounces of low-fat yogurt every day for nine weeks. A control group ate a non-dairy pudding during that same time. Then, they measured the levels of proteins excreted by immune cells to determine how much inflammation was in these women’s bodies.
Noted: “People are scared of what their neighbors think,” said Paul Robbins, the director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of “Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are.”
Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Elections Research Center , finds his students and fellow academics puzzled when he uses the hard G in speeches and lectures. “Sometimes a person will ask, ‘What word did you just say? What is that word?’” Mr. Burden said.
Quoted: “Ticks are definitely out in full force at the moment, so anyone heading outdoors this Memorial Day weekend should be on the lookout,” said P.J. Liesch, extension entomologist and director of the UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab.
Author an University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Christine Whelan discusses what’s next for recent graduates.
Quoted: “Almost everybody comes back,” says Catalina Toma, associate professor of communication science at the University of Wisconsin. “Social networking sites tap into what makes us human: we like to connect with others.”
Noted: “It appears that all of this proactivity paid off,” notes Barry Burden, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In November 2016, Madison saw high voter participation while overall state turnout declined. This April, Madison’s turnout roughly doubled that of the state at large, helping to propel progressive Rebecca Dallet to a landslide victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
Noted: While everyone we spoke to is relieved a serial killer is off the streets, Dr. Alta Charo, a law professor at University of Wisconsin Madison who also researches bioethics, says the case could have negative consequences.“ Anytime we give people the impression that the information may be turned against somebody else, or against them, we discourage people from participating in what I think is going to be a 21st Century necessity,” Dr. Charo said.
Noted: If the judge pursues that thought, it could have sweeping effects across the business world. Many tech companies, including Facebook, Google and Snap, are set up with dual-class structures. If Delaware judges start reining in controlling owners, it could change how those companies are run. “It’s a ray of light,” said Yaron Nili, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, who has raised concerns about dual-class structures.
Noted: “I do have this fear that these divides have exacerbated some since the 2016 election,” said Kathy Cramer, a University of Wisconsin political scientist who consulted with Pew on the new report, which asked more than 6,000 adults to self-identify their communities as urban, rural or suburban. Urban-rural divides in politics are not new, but Ms. Cramer believes we’re witnessing something different. “We’re in a political moment where cultural divides overlap with political divides, which overlap with geography.”
Noted: “So many issues have come up. They have to [abandon the limits]. The Chinese government has no choice,” said Yi Fuxian, a longtime critic of the limits, and senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health.
Noted: But before you plant anything, figure out whether the crops you want to grow match up with Wisconsin’s growing conditions, said Vijai Pandian, a horticulture educator for University of Wisconsin-Extension in Brown County.
Noted: Many major pharmaceutical companies are currently studying the concept, according to industry experts. “That’s the promise—that you’ll be able to target a range of things,” says Aseem Ansari, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who is involved in this area of research. Despite thalidomide’s success, protein degradation so far remains largely untested in humans—and it will probably be several years before early trials in patients can advance enough to prove the approach will work beyond multiple myeloma.
Noted: Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, told me, “What Wisconsin gave the nation was the model where you could take a very tiny electoral margin and act as if you had won an overwhelming victory, and the other side had no say at all.” Dale Schultz, a Republican who was formerly a leader in the state senate, told me that the early days of the Walker administration, “created a malaise that hangs in the state to this day.”
Noted: “A colony of microorganisms could survive and evolve in those clouds,” says Sanjay Limaye, senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Noted: Bob Cropp, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the slowdown in milk production is good for milk prices, which have remained at low levels for the last three years thanks to an abundance of milk on the market.
Matt Allen, Associate Professor in Engineering Physics at UW-Madison, discusses the physics behind rocket design. Allen highlights the structural dynamics, the vibration limits, and the amount of engine thrust that is necessary to successfully launch a spacecraft into space.
Quoted: Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on Aug. 26, 2017, and lingered in the region for nearly a week. As much as 60 inches of rain fell in the storm, setting a U.S. rainfall record. More than 20 inches of rain fell across about 29,000 square miles. No storm rivals Harvey, said Shane Hubbard, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin who made and mapped that calculation.
Quoted: “It looks to me like West Virginia intended for there to be a ban on sore losers, including in legislation this year. It looks like they were intended to stop someone like Blankenship,” said Barry C. Burden, the director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “However, the law is not written perfectly.”
Quoted: Tom O’Guinn, a University of Wisconsin expert on consumer behavior, said packaging issues aren’t enough to sway diners’ decisions on where to eat.”The average American doesn’t care lot about this,” he said. “People don’t want to sit there and think, ’Gee, this is a slight improvement in packaging.’”
Quoted: An estimated 25 million workers could be affected by the decision, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School professor Steph Tai.”About 50 percent of non-union, private sector employees have arbitration agreements in their contracts,” Tai said.
Quoted: “Self-criticism can take a toll on our minds and bodies,” said Dr. Richard Davidson, founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also teaches psychology and psychiatry.
A lakes researcher says some impacts from a changing climate are already showing up in Northwoods fisheries.
Quoted: Dr. Michael Abernethy, chief flight physician of UW Health Med Flight in Madison, does not believe the Eurocopter AS 350 should have been flying.”You’d be hard pressed to find a physician in the United States who has spent more time in the back of a helicopter caring for patients. I’ve been doing it for almost 30 years,” Abernethy said.
Quoted: According to Jill Boissonnault, Ph.D., a professor of physical therapy at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, to avoid back injuries you should also not turn your body when you pick up your toddler. As she told Parents, “Avoid twisting your torso while lifting, which places the spinal area at risk for injury.”
Quoted: He may have an explosive temper; he may even have access to guns. “But if he hasn’t come right out and said, ‘I’m going to kill someone tomorrow,’ or ‘I’m going to kill myself,’ you’re not going to be able to involuntarily hospitalize him,” says Michael Caldwell, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin who works with dangerous young men at a juvenile treatment center in Madison.
Quoted: “It embedded itself into our cultural fabric,” said Shawn Francis Peters, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who grew up in Catonsville and wrote a book about the Catonsville Nine. “I don’t think that they even dreamed that it would have this kind of resonance.”
Noted: The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is among the groups that say a personhood measure could criminalize certain forms of birth control. Alta Charo, a professor with expertise in law and bioethics at UW-Madison, said the same. Charo, who served on former President Barack Obama’s transition team, said certain infertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization also could be affected.
Quoted: “Retailers prefer sampling events to price-based promotions, such as coupons or temporary price reductions, because these events encourage consumers to try a product and build loyalty that won’t disappear once the price goes back up,” said Qing Liu, an associate professor in marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who contributed to the study.
However, injuries are all too common in high-intensity interval training environments. This is why engineers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW-Madison) recently designed a wearable that can directly identify muscle strain to help mitigate recurring injuries.
Noted: A study from a couple years ago from the University of Wisconsin, Madison used thermal sensors and satellite imagery to compare the growing seasons of plants inside and outside the city.
Noted: In the last few years, the rate of launches of miniature satellites has increased exponentially. The industry is “moving away from these really large satellites that are expensive to build, expensive to launch, and into satellites that are highly specialized and often intended to last,” says Lisa Ruth Rand, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the environmental history of near-Earth space. “The smaller the satellite, the cheaper it is to launch, the better rate a company will get.”
Noted: These conclusions about safety net spending for children are broadly similar to those reached in a 2010 paper by Yonatan Ben-Shalom of Mathematica Policy Research, Robert Moffitt of Johns Hopkins University and John Karl Scholz of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. But the new paper uses federal administrative records, rather than survey data dependent on people’s responses, to produce its results.
Noted: “This is exactly what research on the influence of gender would predict—that men would be favored in the review process for a new, highly prestigious award that is based on potential, not proven ability,” says Molly Carnes, director of the Center for Women’s Health Research at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Noted: In the 2010 midterms, the Tea Party movement helped Republicans win both the gubernatorial and Senate races in Florida and Wisconsin. The races in Wisconsin, for instance, “were fueled by anger at the Obama administration,” says University of Wisconsin political scientist Barry Burden. Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker emphasized his opposition to Washington, and Ron Johnson, the Republican Senate challenger to Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold, “appeared on the scene out of nowhere, motivated almost entirely by his opposition to the Affordable Care Act.”
Noted: “There’s not an obvious point when a person becomes a politician,” said Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist, “but Bryce has done enough things that he’s clearly moving toward that category.”
Noted: Rep. Mark Pocan, whose Democratic congressional district includes Dane County, pointed to the get-out-the-vote effort in Madison: Democrats there did an “amazing” job, he told the Cap Times. And UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden suggested Madison might have done better because of “its expanded early voting hours and locations.”
Noted: The exception was in the early 2000s, when the Twin Cities were rapidly suburbanizing. At that time, there was a lot of migration from the Twin Cities into western Wisconsin counties like Polk and Pierce, said David Egan-Robertson, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin Applied Population Laboratory.
