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Category: UW Experts in the News

Wisconsin jury says Apple owes $234 million in patent case

WKOW (AP)

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.

Neighbors troubled by string of coyote attacks in Madison

WKOW (AP)

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.

DIGGING DEEPER: The use and disclosure of personal email in the Walker administration

WKOW TV

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.

Forecast calls for warmer, drier than average winter

Channel3000.com

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.

Colleges Consider Adopting Inclusive Language in Their Systems

Chronicle of Higher Education

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.

Dogs from Georgia get a second chance at life in Wisconsin

NBC15

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.

Legislators try to persuade panel to approve blaze pink bill

Channel3000.com

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.”

Campus Concealed Carry Proposal sparking controversy at UW Madison

WKOW TV

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.

Report: Climate change could bring spring 3 weeks early

Channel3000.com

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.”

UW researchers blaze a trail toward better breast cancer treatment

Channel3000.com

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.”

Why It’s So Hard to Know How Much Retirement Savings Is Enough

The Atlantic

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.

The Burden of Debt on Black America

The Atlantic

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.”

The biggest mystery in mathematics: Shinichi Mochizuki and the impenetrable proof

Nature

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.

Here’s What’s Missing From the Stats on Campus Rape

Mother Jones

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.

UPDATE: UW review suggests first person video games boost brain power

WKOW TV

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.

How spiders got their knees

Science/AAAS

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.”

Diversifying Higher Ed Still a Challenge

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

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.

Unapproved drugs could be in some supplements

WKOW TV

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.

Scientists Study Past In Hopes of Being Step Ahead of Future Earthquakes

WUWM-FM

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.

Civil service reform is not the next Act 10

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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.”

UW-Madison scientist reacts to announcement of water found on Mars

WKOW TV

A scientist at UW-Madison says while there’s been proof of water on Mars for almost 20 years, Monday’s announcement could determine whether there’s life on Mars.

“We had suspected that there was some ice underneath the surface that was melting and causing the water to flow down the slopes,” said Dr. Sanjay Limaye, a Distinguished Senior Scientist at UW-Madison. “I think most people had accepted that fact the fact that scientists can prove it that it is liquid water that is substantial.”

Students create inventions of the future in UW-Madison garage

WKOW TV

Some of America’s greatest innovations have come from garages, or basements. The makerspace called Garage Physics at UW-Madison is both.

It’s giving young scientists like Felix Tsao the ability to reach for something brand new. “It’s like a virtual reality project where basically it extends a digital experience to your vision,” said Tsao.

Quoted: Duncan Carlsmith, professor of physics.

Brain Series 3, Episode 3: Charlie Rose

Bloomberg News

On “Charlie Rose,” a look back at moments from the Charlie Rose Brain Series 3: Episode 3, the brain and gender identity. We are joined by Ben Barres of Stanford University, Norman Spack of Boston Children’s Hospital, Catherine Dulac of Harvard University, Melissa Hines of the University of Cambridge, Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel of Columbia University. (Source: Bloomberg)

The science supporting gender-neutral marketing

CNN.com

Quoted: A few common perceptions held, according to psychologist Janet Shibley Hyde of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Compared with women, men could throw farther, were more physically aggressive, masturbated more and held more positive attitudes about sex in uncommitted relationships.

Fiorina hitches rise in Iowa to untested strategy

Des Moines Register

Quoted: “What we’re seeing is campaigns experimenting with new techniques. Some will work. Others will not,” said campaign finance analyst Ken Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s almost a legal fiction that they are separate from the campaign, but as long as that distinction is permitted, campaigns will leverage that.”