Category: UW Experts in the News

Noted: Neuroscientist Giulio Tononi, of the University of Wisconsin, agrees, but he cautions that their experiment only used one anesthetic and in one condition. ?To me, this [study] suggests a mechanism by which propofol can block inter-cortical communication.? In fact, rat studies using different anesthetics have also found slow oscillation, but found that some longer-range brain communication is still possible during unconsciousness, noted neuroscientist Nanyin Zhang, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who was not involved in the study.

Dale Schoeller, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has not decided if there is a relationship between high levels of caffeine and death.

The hundreds of thousands of people who vote by absentee ballots in Wisconsin might not realize mail-in ballots are probably the least reliable way to ensure a vote is counted, said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor who studies election administration. ?If there?s a vulnerability in the system that both parties should be concerned about, it?s absentee ballots,? Burden said.

Quoted: Michael Wagner, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.

Quoted: Ken Mayer and Crawford Young, political scientists at UW-Madison.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, the University of Wisconsin “political sage whose Marquette University Law School poll commands wide respect.”

Quoted: Jordan Ellenberg, a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, is one of them. He?s spent the last two months trying to absorb Mochizuki?s ideas. He?s far from convinced that the proof works, but he?s intrigued by its immense possibility.

Quoted: ?Unions have basically been in campaign mode for two years,? said William Powell Jones, a University of Wisconsin labor historian. ?They?re stronger as a result.?

Quoted: It?s no surprise Romney is doing well in a state that is home to vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and where poll numbers are much more favorable for Romney than they were for 2008 GOP nominee John McCain of Arizona, said Michael Wagner, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A new poll released Thursday showed President Barack Obama is clinging to a narrow lead in Wisconsin over former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., with only a few days left before Tuesday?s election.

Many University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, staff and community members have signed an online petition asking the Office of Human Resources to release a list of changes to be included in the personnel system redesign following recent campus feedback. UW-Madison sociology professor Sara Goldrick-Rab created the petition Tuesday morning hoping to urge the office to release the list of the changes they will make before the Faculty Senate will vote to support or deny the HR plan as a whole in a meeting Monday.

Quoted: It?s no surprise Romney is doing well in a state that is home to vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and where poll numbers are much more favorable for Romney than they were for 2008 GOP nominee John McCain of Arizona, said Michael Wagner, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced four finalists in the search for the campus? next director of university libraries Wednesday…Each candidate will visit campus in the coming months to present themselves to the community and answer questions.

When Larry Landweber was growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the 1950s, he competed on his high school math team. But he never imagined he would become a leader in a technology that has dramatically changed the world. Yet Landweber, 69, the John P. Morgridge professor emeritus of computer science at UW-Madison, is one of 33 people from nine countries who were the first to be inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame last April in Geneva.

A new Marquette Law School Poll finds President Barack Obama leading former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 51 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in Wisconsin. Five percent remain undecided or declined to state a preference, while 1 percent said that they would vote for a third party.

Both candidates suggested such numbers were far from their thoughts amid a crisis, but ?that?s just not true,? according to Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin.

Noted: Dr. Michael Kim, chief of pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, told ABC News that a better emergency room experience for children could lead to less fears of the medical system for them in the future.

Quoted: “This is an epic showdown between two people who have deep roots in the state,” University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Barry Burden said. “It?s been heavily negative, particularly in the advertising, but it?s also carried on into the debates.

Prominent scholars and professors from around the country convened at a China Town Hall meeting Monday night to focus on the impact of social media on U.S.- China relations.

Noted: But after a few years of hard work, Lawrence, who has a master?s degree in community economic development, said he began to feel pulled more toward the trenches. So he started Fathers, Families and Healthy Communities on his own in 2010 and brought in as a senior adviser Kirk Harris, a University of Wisconsin professor and expert on how to help men become more responsible fathers.

Quoted: ?As a whole, we don?t know a lot about what controls tropical storm size.?- University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist Clark Evans

Quoted: Timothy Van Deelen, a wolf expert at the University of Wisconsin, said the state will have a hard time managing such a small population. He said that even minor mistakes can be destabilizing and lead to uncontrolled population growth or collapse.

Quoted: “Sometimes there?s what we call the ?Model of the Year,? ” says Christopher Velden, a senior researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison?s Space Science and Engineering Center.

Noted: In Wisconsin, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor David Canon, Baldwin?s sexuality “certainly has not been an issue in the campaign in any big way.”

Quoted: ?You can?t take a breath without seeing a political ad right now,? said Michael Wagner, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ?If you haven?t seen a political ad in Wisconsin, you must not own a TV set.?

Quoted: ?The Republicans clearly believe that the state is still in play,? said Barry Burden, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: Connie Flanagan, a developmental psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says voting is habit forming. ?Once you?ve made your first vote, it becomes part of your routine,? she said. ?Everyone you know votes. It feels like a moral and civic obligation.?

Quoted: Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who conducted the research based on Census Bureau and county records.

Quoted: Dietram Scheufele, life sciences communication professor, and Katy Culver, journalism and mass communication professor.

Quoted: Adrian Treves, founder and director of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Conservatives are grumbling about early voting.

In a column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Christian Schneider, a fellow at the conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, compared early voting Wednesday to watching only the first three-fourths of a movie.