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Category: UW Experts in the News

The Cyberthreat Under the Street

New York Times

Quoted: Surprisingly, there isn’t even a good map of the Internet’s highways and byways to clearly show locations that, if taken out, would severely hamper the system. “Everybody assumes somebody knows, but after a while you find out nobody actually knows,” said Paul Barford, a professor of computer science at the University of Wisconsin who has made it his mission to find out where the vulnerabilities are.

Department of Workforce Development, Madison College team up to help displaced Oscar Mayer workers

Badger Herald

Quoted: Oscar Mayer has not confirmed what type of severance packages or benefits they will provide to the displaced workers, Barry Gerhart, University of Wisconsin professor of management and human resources, said. But regardless of the compensation, the closure will be a major challenge for displaced employees.

Food manufacturing jobs dropped 40 percent in Dane County between 2001 and 2014

Capital Times

Noted: In an October 2014 report on the area’s agriculture, food and beverage industry cluster prepared for the Madison Region Economic Partnership, Matt Kures of the UW Extension Center for Community and Economic Development wrote that a loss in food manufacturing employment was a result of changes at individual companies rather than declining regional competitiveness.

Turkey prices up this year

WHBY-AM, Fox Cities

Expect to pay more for your Thanksgiving dinner turkey this year, thanks to the outbreak of the bird flu last spring. UW-Madison poultry expert Ron Kean says prices will probably be up 10 to 15 percent, to around $1.15 to $1.20 per pound.

Walker: Oscar Mayer has ‘nothing to do with Wisconsin’

AP

Quoted: “Not sure the state could do much of anything to convince Kraft Heinz to change their minds,” said Steven Deller, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in community development. “From a purely corporate perspective I can understand K-H wanting the top administrative offices … located at the K-H Chicago headquarters.”

Warm Wisconsin weather expected through November

Channel3000.com

Quoted: University of Wisconsin meteorology professor Jonathan Martin said a stronger-than-normal El Nino pattern in the Pacific will push warmer temperatures into the Midwest throughout the rest of the month. But he said it will likely not be as warm as the 70 degree days Wisconsin will enjoy this week.

This is the first time in nearly two decades such a strong weather pattern has hit the Great Lakes states.

“[In ’97-’98] you could throw rocks into Lake Mendota,” Martin said. “The ice was gone Feb. 28, so I went down with my kids and threw rocks in the lake, and I told them, ‘This will never happen again.’ Well, it might this year.'”

And That’s My Opinion!

New York Times

Quoted: Paula McAvoy, the program director for the Center for Ethics and Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — and, I should note, my son Amato’s fiancée — recently suggested a different idea: “Why don’t they spend their money on infrastructure instead?”

Music to Cats’ Ears

New York Times

Quoted: Owners often leave the radio or a playlist on for cats alone in the house, assuming they will share human musical tastes, be it classical, country or the lyrical tones of NPR hosts. But cats’ hearing develops differently and “we mindlessly turn on music” for them, said Charles Snowdon, an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who worked with Mr. Teie on the project. With its special instruments and tonal mixing, “Music for Cats” aims to bridge that sensory gap, he said.

Pediatricians Unveil Game Plan for Safer Youth Football

Live Science

Noted: The majority of studies have shown that the injury rate for youth football is quite low, and is actually significantly lower than the injury rates of high school or college football, said Dr. Gregory Landry, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, and the lead author of the policy statement.

Appleton Planned Parenthood suspends abortions

Appleton Post-Crescent

Quoted: “We have seen that clinic closures lead to burdens for women in a variety of states,” said Jenny Higgins, an assistant professor in gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a board member with the Guttmacher Institute. “This is true for Planned Parenthood, but is also true for any clinic that offers abortion care.”

UW-Madison ecologist leads national society through changing scientific sphere

The Daily Cardinal

As scientific fields rapidly evolve, putting more emphasis on effective communication skills and accessibility, the newest president of the Ecological Society of America, Monica Turner, the Eugene P. Odum Professor of Ecology and Vilas Research Professor of Zoology at UW-Madison, said she will use decades of experience as an ecologist to navigate the organization through changing times.

UPDATE: WHO claims processed meats linked to cancer

WKOW TV

Quoted: Jeff Sindelar, an extension meat specialist at UW-Madison, said consumers should “certainly take note” of the WHO’s findings.

But he said the method used by the IARC in determining cancer risk levels based on red or processed meat consumption does not consider other factors, in many meat eaters, that may also be contributing to that risk.

“Lifestyle, genetics, other foods they’re eating and other habits, like smoking, drinking, etc., those all come into play,” Sindelar said.

GOP Changes Make It Harder To Investigate Political Crimes In Wisconsin

Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Even before these proposed changes, elected officials received special treatment under Wisconsin law. While the average citizen is tried for crimes where they allegedly occur, public officials are tried for violations of ethics and election laws in their home counties. Law professor Ben Kempinen, who runs the Prosecution Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that requirement coupled with the move to grand juries will present big challenges to a DA from a small county.

Study: Processed meats linked to cancer

Channel3000.com

Quoted: “To be included in the same category doesn’t mean it’s as bad for your health as smoking or obesity or lack of exercise or using tanning beds,” said Dr. Sam Lubner, with the UW Carbone Cancer Center. “It simply means that the evidence shows that the link is real.”

The study also doesn’t mean that occasional steak or brat will kill you. Lubner said it just highlights the need for a balanced diet.

“Is eating a steak going to immediately cause cancer? Absolutely not,” he said. “[But] don’t eat four pounds of meat a day and expect to live a healthy life.” .

High School Football Tackling Rule Significantly Knocks Down Concussion Rates

Associated Press (NBC15)

Noted: Findings show that the rate of sports-related concussions sustained during high school football practice was more than twice as high in the two seasons prior to the rule change as compared to the 2014 season, said University of Wisconsin–Madison senior scientist Timothy A. McGuine, PhD, ATC.

“This study confirms what athletic trainers who work with high school football programs have long believed regarding the association of full contact drills or practices and the likelihood a player will sustain a concussion,” Dr. McGuine said. “This is probably also true for other football injuries such as sprains, fractures and dislocations.”

Gorgeous fall may lead into milder winter

Appleton Post-Crescent

Noted: That’s not necessarily good news for everyone, notes Ed Hopkins, an assistant state climatologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Apart from its positive economic effects for snow removers and ski resorts, those crisp, white flakes also help protect a farmer’s soil come spring.

No Doe? Experts say still ways to chase political misconduct

AP

Quoted: State grand juries will be cumbersome – they require 17 people – and bringing one into court day after day requires space and is expensive, said University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor David Schultz.

Still, other states have been able to pursue political corruption cases without the John Doe process. Wisconsin prosecutors still have considerable powers and there are more statutes on the books that can be broken now than ever before, said Donald Downs, a UW-Madison political science professor and an expert on criminal law and politics.

Is RushCard Really the Problem?

Pacific Standard

Quoted: “For somebody who has a low balance and doesn’t actively manage their bank account, having a traditional bank account can be pretty costly,” explains Michael Collins, a financial literacy expert at the director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin. “If you’re only trying to save $300 [over the long term] and you’re paying $10 a month in fees, it becomes really hard to justify having a bank account.”

Prosecutors face limited options under law targeting John Doe probes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: State grand juries will be cumbersome — they require 17 people — and bringing one into court day after day requires space and is expensive, said University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor David Schultz. Still, other states have been able to pursue political corruption cases without the John Doe process. Wisconsin prosecutors still have considerable powers and there are more statutes on the books that can be broken now than ever before, said Donald Downs, a UW-Madison political science professor and an expert on criminal law and politics.

The M List celebrates visionaries

Madison Magazine

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.

Zebra mussels found in Lake Mendota

Channel3000.com

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.

At the crack of dawn

Isthmus

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.

UPDATE: East Madison residents gather for meeting on coyotes following reports of attacks on small dogs

WKOW TV

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.

UW’s dairy mobile app helps farmers worldwide

WKOW TV

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.

Do BuzzFeed’s native political ads cross a line?

Columbia Journalism Review

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.

Watch A UW-Madison Climatologist Discuss El Niño

Wisconsin Public Radio

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.