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Category: UW Experts in the News

Many reasons cited for Target CEO’s ouster

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: “The data breach is an easy thing to point out, but even before the breach they weren?t doing so well. People weren?t shopping there with the type of frequency they had in the past,” said Tom Bakas, who is pursuing an MBA in finance and is participating in the Applied Security Analysis Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Bacon Fest organizers announce new stop on tour

Des Moines Register

Noted: Brooks Reynolds, co-founder of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival said, “We?re delighted to break bacon with the great people of Wisconsin.” And because Reynolds is nothing if not serious about bacon, he?s already enlisted the advice of Dr. Jeff Sindelar of University of Wisconsin?s Meat Science & Muscle Biology Laboratory to recruit the state?s best bacons for the event.

Court forces out Thai leader, but crisis continues

AP

Quoted: “The credibility of the justice system has vaporized,” said Thongchai Winichakul, a professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin. “The royalist conservatives may celebrate this judicial coup. But the world will mourn over the death of another democracy.”

Deadly Virus Sending More Pigs Straight From County Fairs to Slaughterhouse

Businessweek

Noted: Effective or not, the new recommendations are being taken seriously. In Wisconsin, most fairs are heeding McGraw?s advice and holding terminal shows, says Bernie O?Rourke, an extension youth livestock specialist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Instead of spring weigh-ins at which animals may mingle, some fairs are using DNA testing to verify animals? identities, O?Rourke says.

Jobs recovery expected to continue, slowly

Racine Journal-Times

Quoted: ?I think it?s a reflection of how close we came to the financial markets really melting down and going into another depression,? said Steve Deller, professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Virus Kills Millions of American Pigs, Pushing Up Pork Prices

National Geographic

Quoted: Christopher Olsen, a professor of public health at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Juergen Richt, a distinguished professor of veterinary medicine at Kansas State University in Lawrence, say PEDv is part of a family of coronaviruses that includes the SARS respiratory virus and others that have jumped from an animal host to humans.

GOP Operative Pulls Election “Shenanigans” In New York House Race

Mother Jones

Quoted: “It would not surprise me if this [was] an effort to fracture the progressive vote,” says Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who specializes in electoral politics. “It is a competitive district, so drawing even a small number of votes away from Robertson could [have] help[ed] ensure Reed?s reelection.”

As cable customers get traded, no high marks for service

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: If the deal goes through, some hassles are likely for current Time Warner Cable subscribers. For example, Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications professor, said it is likely that those who use “rr.com” email addresses provided by Time Warner eventually would have to switch to “@charter.net” addresses.

Beach closures highlight algae, bacteria threats in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Quoted: ?They are flatlining,? said Steve Carpenter, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who has studied the Yahara lakes since the 1970s. ?There are no trends in the lakes. The lake water quality is not getting better. It?s not getting notably worse. It?s as if the interventions we?re doing are just holding the line, running in place like the red queen in Alice in Wonderland.?

Unrest surfaces in Republican ranks

AP

Quoted: Both Republican and Democratic conventions typically feature a tension between mainstream and more radical elements of the party, but that has become a more difficult balancing act for Republicans since the rise of the tea party in 2010, said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor and expert on state politics.

Michigan mom ‘at wit’s end’ charged with trying to kill teen with autism

The Detroit News

Noted: Such hopelessness is common among mothers of children with autistm, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A 2009 study by the college found the women, who handle most of the child-rearing duties, have stress levels comparable to combat soldiers. They also suffer from chronic fatigue.?This is the physiological residue of daily stress,? said Marsha Mailick, director of the school?s Waisman Center.

Family: U. of Utah?s sperm swap probe was ?biased … incomplete?

The Salt Lake Tribune

Noted: University of Wisconsin law professor and medical ethicist R. Alta Charo was asked by the U. to provide an outside perspective on the committee?s process for generating the report and to review a draft of the report. After reading the final report Thursday, Charo told The Tribune via email that the committee?s ethical reasoning is sound (see box).

Neanderthals Likely Lived in Small, Isolated Groups, Scientists Say

History Channel

Noted: A subsequent study, however, asserted that Neanderthals and modern humans rarely mated with each other, if ever, and that their similar genomes were simply the result of having a common ancestor. ?We don?t know where, and we don?t know when, and we don?t know how often,? John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said in reference to interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans. Some scientists want to believe it was essentially an unrepeated ?one-night stand,? he added, while others want to believe that ?every time they met they couldn?t keep their hands off each other.?

HBO’s John Oliver begins his weekly comedy series ‘Last Week Tonight’ on Sunday

Star Tribune

Quoted: “John Oliver does bring something kind of different,” said Jonathan Gray, a media and cultural studies professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “The ?Daily Show? is primarily about American politics and so much about John Oliver?s shtick reminds you that he?s not an American. It?s not the insider humor of Stewart. It?s more of an outsider?s observations. Sometimes they may look similar, but I think it can allow for a different kind of comic sensibility.”

What Happens When Kraft Recalls 96,000 Pounds Of Hot Dogs?

Wisconsin Public Radio

Kraft Foods is recalling 96,000 pounds of Oscar Mayer Classic Wieners because the packages may instead contain Classic Cheese Dogs, which are made with milk – a known allergen. Adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Meat and Muscle Biology Lab and former fellow at the Oscar Mayer Division of Kraft Foods describes how this happens and how a company like Kraft recalls tons of hot dogs.

How Rwanda’s Paul Kagame Exploits U.S. Guilt

Wall Street Journal

Quoted: “There has to be an uncompromising position on opening up political space in the country and ending the destabilization of the Congo,” said Scott Straus, a University of Wisconsin political scientist. “I don?t think it will be easy, but more of the same isn?t going to work.”

NSF Pulls Support for Quake Observatory

Scientific American

Quoted: ?Given all the money and time invested, in my opinion it would be wise to finish the job,? says seismologist Cliff Thurber of the University of Wisconsin?Madison, who organized a 31 March letter of support for the project signed by 36 scientists. Mark Zoback, a geophysicist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., who was one of SAFOD?s original principal investigators, calls the NSF?s decision short-sighted.

Baby gorilla dies less than month after birth at Milwaukee County Zoo

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A complete necropsy will be performed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. In a paper published this year, a team of researchers led by Tony Goldberg of the SVM concluded that the previous death of an orangutan at the zoo raised concerns about the health of captive apes in similar settings.

The inventor of everything

The Verge

Noted: I later run his comments by three experts, including professors in quantum chemistry and zeolite catalysts. They tell me Cheiky?s got his science a bit mixed up and is making exaggerated claims. But it?s not until I call the University of Wisconsin that I really find the smoking gun. I reach William Banholzer, PhD, a chemical engineer who previously spent eight years as the chief technology officer at Dow Chemical. “I actually use Cool Planet as a teaching example of outrageous claims that defy common sense,” Banholzer says.

Are Touchscreens Melting Your Kid?s Brain?

Wired

Quoted: An app that teaches your kid his ABCs isn?t the same as a television cartoon, but the AAP is probably right to be conservative with its advice. ?Researchers know almost nothing about the impact of touchscreen technology on young children,? says Heather Kirkorian, an assistant professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is trying to find some answers. ?Our society is running a large-scale experiment with real children in the real world, and we won?t know the impact, if any, for many years to come.?

You Feel Closer to Your Destination Even When You’re Not

Pacific Standard Magazine

Noted: Sam Maglio and Evan Polman, of the University of Toronto and University of Wisconsin-Madison, respectively, recently hit the streets of Toronto and Vancouver and interviewed pedestrians at strategically chosen subway stops, crosswalks, and a mall. Their questions gauged people?s feelings of proximity to things based on the direction they were headed. Over five studies, which tested both physical and emotional senses of closeness, they arrived at some surprising results:

UW Study finds cause of canine tremors

Daily Cardinal

A team of researchers led by Ian Duncan, professor of neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, reported last November in the journal glia that they have found the genetic basis for canine tremor disorder. Their findings hold implications for dog owners, dog breeders, and families of individuals with certain disorders.