Gloria Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Educational Policy Studies for the University of Wisconsin.
Noted: Sustain Dane selected three individuals as this year’s Badger Bioneers for their leadership and courage in making our region more sustainable. They are Shannon Bunsen, who created her position as the sustainability program coordinator at UW Health and is responsible for shaping the organization’s overall vision and strategy for sustainability. . . . and Jason Vargo, who helps direct the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s activities toward healthy cities and sustainability across Wisconsin and abroad through his work with the university’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Global Health Institute.
Quoted: “I’m surprised (at finding them), but I’m mostly surprised that it’s only showing up now,” said Center for Limnology professor Jake Vander Zanden, whose students discovered the mussels about two weeks ago along the Lakeshore Path, not far from the limnology lab.
Nick Smith is enologist for the UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, an expert on fermented beverages who leads the university’s efforts to support Wisconsin producers of wine and cider.
(Video) UW Breast Cancer Center Director Dr. Lee Wilke talks to News 3 This Morning about new breast cancer screening guidelines released this week.
Quoted: “You’re likely to cut your feet when you’re walking in the water,” UW limnology professor Jake Vander Zanden said. “Another concern is that it tends to increase the prevalence of blue-green algae blooms, which can be toxic.”
Vander Zanden said zebra mussels have not been found in Lake Monona, and boaters can help keep it that way by drying their boats.
“It’s really important to make sure we are not transporting water from one lake to another because they have microscopic larva,” Vander Zanden said.
Quoted: Stephen Small, a professor in the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology and an expert on adolescent development, says it’s not surprising that most middle-schoolers don’t get enough sleep because they’re coping with the biological changes of puberty, a natural change in sleep cycles, and busier lives as they get older.
Quoted: “This is a fairly normal phenomenon for the time of the year,” said P.J. Liesch, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab.
Quoted: Francis Halzen from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is intrigued by the study. “I find it amazing that each time we detect a higher-energy event, we actually improve the precision on a fundamental measurement,” he said.
(Video) The head of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation visits News 3 This Morning to explain what the organization does and a successful WARF lawsuit against Apple.
Noted: Dr. David Drake, who studies urban coyotes and foxes through the UW-Madison’s Canid Project, said the problem of aggressive coyotes is not new. He said most coyotes in the Madison area can live peacefully among people. But Drake said there were instances of aggressive coyotes reported on Madison’s West Side in 2009 and 2011.
At the University of Wisconsin’s Arlington Farm Research Station, they’re using modern technology to track herd health. In the past, that took a lot of time and paperwork. “We had lots of paper records and we wanted to turn that into something more functional,” says Prof. Nigel Cook, of the UW School of Veterinary Medicine.
With the help of the “DoIT” center on campus, the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine developed a series of digital teaching tools, which continue to play a role in preparing the next generation of food animal veterinarians. “We now have an app with pictures, with a scoring system, with just a touch screen system to be able to screen for a lot of cows very quickly,” says Cook.
Quoted: Tom Oliver, professor of population health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said that the hike is meant to encourage people to get health insurance.
Quoted: “I suspect that the average visitor to the BuzzFeed website does not really see the difference, maybe doesn’t care about the difference between sponsored and non-sponsored information,” says Barry Burden, a political scientist and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Noted: An interview with Professor Robert Enright.
At some point we have all been wronged and have also wronged others, but how do we find forgiveness? A leading authority in the scientific study of forgiveness outlines steps to deal with anger and build a pathway to emotional healing.
Noted: Autumn’s falling leaves can often run off into lakes and streams, where they release phosphorus into the water. That helps more algae bloom, according to Steve Carpenter of UW’s Center for Limnology.
“[Algae] can be toxic, [making] people sick or pets sick,” he says.
Jim Hoyt is professor emeritus and former director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication; former chair, UW Athletic Board; and a former TV news reporter and producer. He is working to raise awareness for gynecological cancers as a planning committee member and supporter of UW Hospital’s Sparkle of Hope event.
Predictions about the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle and the complexity of the phenomenon itself can easily create confusion about its impacts on weather and the economy in the U.S. and around the world. Dan Vimont, an associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shared a sobering perspective about ENSO in a Sept. 4, 2015 interview on Wisconsin Public Television’s “Here and Now” program.
Back pain affects 80 percent of the average population and knowing how to deal with it will be useful, according to two University of Wisconsin physical therapists. Fortunately for most people, back pain will subside in two to three days, said Lori Thein Brody, physical therapist and athletic trainer with the UW Sports Medicine and Spine Center.
The news is that Paul Ryan is open to running for Speaker of the House. The House doesn’t return to Washington from recess until Tuesday evening, but people close to Ryan are already saying that he is considering launching a bid for Speaker. Interviewed: Political scientist David Canon.
Quoted: A couple of factors probably have led to the growth, said UW-Madison business professor James Johannes.”One is a generally stronger economy, and with that, there are more deposits to be had,” said Johannes, director of the Puelicher Center for Banking Education.
A jury has awarded the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation more than $234 million in a patent infringement lawsuit against computer maker Apple Inc.
Noted: The patent dispute involved chip technology that was co-invented by University of Wisconsin-Madison computer sciences professor Gurindar Sohi, who was in the courtroom for the decision. U.S. District Judge William Conley told Sohi he hoped he felt his work was vindicated.
Experts say conflicts with coyotes seem to be on the rise in the last couple months in Wisconsin.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Madison Urban Canid Project say recent reports of those conflicts, and in some cases attacks, have come from Madison, Milwaukee, Neenah and Mequon. Some coyotes have attacked and killed dogs, or even followed residents who were walking their dog.
Noted: David Drake, a researcher with the UW-Madison Urban Canid Project, comments.
Quoted: Bob Drechsel, director of the UW-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics, told 27 News the state’s open records law doesn’t directly address the use of personal email.
“I don’t think there’s anything that says you can’t use it, but I think the law is written and interpreted in such a way that says if you do use it you still will be subject to an open records request,” said Drechsel.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison atmospheric and oceanic sciences professor Dr. Jonathan Martin said the weather pattern could be reminiscent of the El Niño that hit Madison in the late 1990s.
“Which was extremely warm,” Martin said. “That winter we were able to throw rocks in Lake Mendota in mid-February.”
Martin said with less snow likely that will have an impact on ground water.
“So if you have a snowless wintertime in Madison, you tend to lose a lot of groundwater through evaporation, sublimation. That’s bad for farmers in the spring,” Martin said.
Quoted: Gabriel C. Javier is assistant dean of students and director of the LGBT Campus Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which also uses a chosen-name system. “I see it as a universal-access issue,” he says. As of June, about 4,300 of the approximately 44,000 students and 20,000 employees on the campus had designated a chosen name.
Quoted: Bob Drechsel, director of the UW-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics, told 27 News the state’s open records law doesn’t directly address the use of personal email.
Noted: Dr. Sandra Newbury is the master mind behind this project. She’s the director of the Shelter Medicine Program at UW-Madison. This program played a big role in helping the Georgia shelter work through its distemper outbreak. She also realized shelter trends across the country.
“In most of the northern states, we see lower intake per capita than we see in a lot of the southern states. That shelter has struggled in the past, but this is kinda of a new beginning for them. They are on this new life saving path,” said Dr. Newbury.
Quoted: “The demographics would very much point you to the idea that there should have been this huge outflow of business owners,” says Daniel Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin School of Business. “But it hasn’t really happened.”
Noted: Majid Sarmadi, a University of Wisconsin-Madison textile expert who studied the visibility of blaze pink for Milroy and Kleefisch, told the committee that blaze pink is more visible against the orange fall landscape than blaze orange.
“The pink is more visible when everything is turning yellow and orange,” Sarmadi said. “The orange will get lost between those oranges that are there in nature. Therefore, it will be less safe.”
Noted: Dr. Perlman, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, started research work at The Gorilla Foundation in 2010, where Koko has spent more than 40 years living immersed with humans and interacting for hours a day with psychologist Penny Patterson and biologist Ron Cohn.
Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison textile expert Majid Sarmadi, who studied blaze pink’s visibility for Milroy and Kleefisch earlier this year, told the committee that pink stands out better than orange against Wisconsin’s orange-brown fall landscape. He also said deer have an easier time seeing blaze orange than blaze pink.
Quoted: UW Political Science Professor Mike Wagner is voicing opposition on Twitter.
“Am I worried, about it? Yeah, I would be worried about going into a classroom knowing 120 students are not enjoying a lecture…or worrying themselves, yeah I worry.”
And UW Madison Police Spokesman Marc Lovicott says his department opposes the bill.
“We don’t feel putting more weapons in the hands of our students, even though they legally have a permit to do so elsewhere will make our campus safer.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say warmer weather earlier in the year might have consequences for farmers as well as wildlife.
“Our projections show that winter will be shorter—which sound great for those of us in Wisconsin,” Andrew Allstadt, a [postdoctoral] researcher [in forest and wildlife ecology] at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an author on the paper, said in a statement “But long distance migratory birds, for example, time their migration based on day length in their winter range. They may arrive in their breeding ground to find that the plant resources that they require are already gone.”
Noted: P.J. Liesch directs the Insect Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin. Liesch told Minnesota Public Radio the beetles were first spotted in the Upper Midwest in large numbers in the mid-1990s. The insects can bite and will secrete a foul-smelling odor if they’re disturbed.
Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison wetland ecologist Quentin Carpenter said bogs can also go out of sight in cooler weather when decomposition slows.
Noted: They first were spotted in the Upper Midwest in droves in the mid-1990s, said P.J. Liesch, who directs the Insect Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin.
Chemotherapy drugs usually succeed at killing cancer cells, but some cancers have a tendency to develop a resistance to treatment, according to a University of Wisconsin Health release.
“If a patient will not be sensitive to a treatment, they should not be placed on that treatment. They should not be over-treated,” said Dr. Wei Xu, professor of oncology at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center and McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research and senior author of the study. “Also, we want to give timely treatments, because if you match the patient to the right treatment, you’re more likely to save someone’s life.”
Quoted: “Children need some sort of unorganized and unsupervised playtime, specifically because it stokes their imagination and allows them to create imaginary worlds,” said Erik P. Hoel, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: “In principle, there isn’t an age at which you can no longer learn new things,” said Bradley Postle, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is not involved with the institute.
Noted: The arguments from those Wisconsin economists, John Karl Scholtz and Ananth Seshardi, are often used to justify policies that would limit the expansion of Social Security and prevent the formation of a universal pension system. Because these policies have far-reaching implications, it’s worth inspecting Scholtz and Seshardi’s argument, which essentially boils down to this: Spending a lot of money to raise children is good preparation for retirement.
Noted: To be effective, placemaking initiatives need to grow from the ground up, according to Sherry Wagner-Henry, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Noted: Julia Sherman is the coordinator for the Wisconsin Alcohol Policy Project. She says despite little action in the state legislature, progress is happening in town after town and through volunteer programs like police saturation patrols.
Quoted: Low-income families generally do “very, very well given the very meager resources and high expenses they have,” said Michael Collins, the faculty director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “But there comes a point in time when there’s just nothing there. There’s no more income, there’s no more savings, and the options are pretty limited, because you don’t have the social network, you don’t have the legal and other resources available to you to find a solution.”
Quoted: Katy Bartzen Culver, a professor of of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that when fewer outlets are competing for stories, it does indeed jeopardize the quality of journalism, particularly when it comes to state and local government coverage.
Quoted: “It seems like a pretty high risk, that ’if you build it, they will come’ mentality,” said Nick Hillman, an assistant professor who studies higher education policy and finance at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s School of Education.
Quoted: To complete the proof, Mochizuki had invented a new branch of his discipline, one that is astonishingly abstract even by the standards of pure maths. “Looking at it, you feel a bit like you might be reading a paper from the future, or from outer space,” number theorist Jordan Ellenberg, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, wrote on his blog a few days after the paper appeared.
Noted: When we asked Sarah Van Orman, the executive director of health services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about the discrepancy between the two figures at her school, she said the AAU’s claim that 133 students reported a rape last year was a realistic estimate—even though only 22 show up in UW-Madison’s 2014 Clery statistics.
Recent campus shooting incidents remain on the minds of many, while a new review out of UW-Madison finds first-person shooter games could actually improve cognition.
“You have to identify targets, clutter and make very quick, accurate decisions,” psychology professor Shawn Green said about the fight-or-flight styled games.
“These games will trigger the fight-or-flight response, when that response is triggered, lots of things change,” Professor Green said.
Noted: Still, there are other arachnids like mites that have kneecaps but no copy of the Dachshund gene, says Prashant Sharma, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who was not involved in the work. “Reconciling how that occurs is something the study needs to grapple with before it can claim that one particular gene copy explains how all arachnids have patellas.”
Quoted: Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education and director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says “there still remain significant concerns about our institutions’” commitment to diversity.
Quoted: Dr. Lee Wilke, director of the University of Wisconsin Health Breast Center, said physicians would like to think that they don’t make mistakes.
Quoted: “It’s in all of our interests to ensure that those who are wrongfully convicted are given the assistance they need,” said Keith Findley, director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project [at the UW Law School], who joined lawmakers for a news conference on the bill at the State Capitol Thursday morning.
Quoted: UW pharmacy professor Jeanette Roberts says because [supplements] haven’t been approved, we just don’t know what side effects they could have.
“I say that we’re experimenting on ourselves, because we really don’t know a lot about these plants or products in a lot of cases,” said Roberts.
If it seems to you that the earth has seen quite a lot of major seismic activity in recent years, you’re in the good company of scientists. One of the leading centers for research into these quakes is located not along the San Andreas Fault, but at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Harold Tobin is one of those scientists looking closely at seismic events in the Department of Geoscience.
Quoted: Sarah Bradley, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology; Laurel Rice, professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin researcher Anita Mukherjee published a paper in March evaluating whether private prisons save states money. She suggests one of the major issues with the system is contracts.
Quoted: Dr. Michael Fiore and Timothy Baker, tobacco researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, wrote in a commentary in the journal that the study shows the potential for a policy to cut nicotine that “could help to end the devastating health consequences” of smoking.
Noted: Earlier this week, University of Wisconsin-Madison public affairs professor Donald Moynihan wrote that he hoped the new civil service reforms wouldn’t become a new Act 10. According to Moynihan, the approach Walker is taking in supporting the civil service modernization bill is “echoing the divisive tactics of Act 10.”
