A professor at UW-Madison weighs in on Tuesday nights presidential debate and looks ahead to Mondays final show-down between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
UW professor breaks down presidential debate
WKOW-TV 27
Category: UW Experts in the News
Four Beltline power poles lowered for views inside Arboretum
Wisconsin State Journal
American Transmission Co. has lowered the height of four power poles along the Beltline so they don?t ruin the pastoral view inside the UW Arboretum. In the quiet of the Arboretum, where wild turkeys wander and bicyclists meander, there?s little sense of the hubbub of the city ? or the busy Beltline Highway ? just beyond.
Quoted: Donna Paulnock, the Arboretum’s interim director and associate dean for biological sciences in the UW Graduate School.
Decline of the Middle Class: Behind the Numbers
U.S. News and World Report
Quoted: “Their economic future isn?t very bright,” says Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin?Madison. “Wages and income are flat. Transportation, childcare costs, and healthcare costs are going up, and your income isn?t.”
What was for dinner a million years ago? It might have been antelope ribs
ScienceNow
Noted: The debate is important because ?the archaeological record is very stingy,? says the study?s lead author, paleoanthropologist Travis Pickering of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. So evidence on how humans got their food ?is one of the few things we can ? extrapolate from to talk about cognition and sophistication and social organization.?
UW-Madison prof to lead excavation at Troy
WKOW-TV 27
A University of Wisconsin archaeologist will lead a new round of excavations at ancient Troy.
UW-Madison prof to lead excavation at Troy
WISC-TV 3
A University of Wisconsin-Madison archaeologist will lead a new round of excavations at ancient Troy.
Gearing up for 2nd presidential debate
Wisconsin Radio Network
Noted: One thing?s for sure, tonight?s town-hall style format between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney will look much different than their first meeting. Also, University of Wisconsin-Madison Political Scientist Barry Burden says the first debate changed the dynamic of the campaign, with Romney coming out ahead.
$2.1 million goes to UW vegetable project
Badger Herald
The federal government awarded University of Wisconsin researchers $2.1 million to fund a project intended to promote sustainable vegetable production on behalf of producers and processors.
Chris Rickert: Heroes, villains and humans
Wisconsin State Journal
Public television?s investigative series “Frontline” did a great job last week telling the life stories of President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. So great it actually made me want to vote for them. Not because they came off as particularly brilliant or capable or caring. But rather because they came off as all these things and more, including unserious, haughty and ineffectual. Human, in other words.
Arguably at the forefront of efforts to understand what fuels political stance-taking in Wisconsin is UW-Madison associate political science professor Kathy Cramer Walsh, who spent more than a year gathering the opinions of regular folk in face-to-face interviews around the state. In a guest column in this newspaper in June she noted that “politics is often … about us versus them” and candidates “often make claims about the ?type? of people they are battling on behalf of.”
The biomechanics of stronger bones
Daily Cardinal
Among the books and binders in her office in the Mechanical Engineering building, associate professor Heidi-Lynn Ploeg?s shelves are filled with bones. She pulls out a thin cardboard sleeve, and inside are dozens of mouse femurs. Each one of these leg bones is shorter than the length of a fingernail. ?It?s amazing how we can compare these to the human body,? Ploeg said. Ploeg is the director of a Bone and Joint Biomechanics laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Questions abound before Wisconsin’s wolf hunt
Wisconsin State Journal
As the state prepares for its first wolf hunt, scientists say they don?t know what effect the five-month hunt beginning Monday will have on Wisconsin wolves. One hunt won?t put wolves ? removed from the federal endangered species list last year ? back on the list but research hints at possible longer-term harm to the wolf population and even an increase in wolves killing livestock, researchers say.
Quoted: Tim Van Deelen, a wildlife biologist at UW-Madison who has studied the state’s wolves extensively.
Q&A: Laurie Cox helps a growing contingent of international students at UW
Capital Times
Of the 42,818 students enrolled at UW-Madison this fall, 4,753 are international students, according to preliminary figures produced by the university. That?s a record high for UW-Madison and means that one of every nine students on campus today hails from outside the United States….One of the people tasked with providing information, programs and support to these international students is Laurie Cox, an assistant dean with the Division of Student Life who directs the International Student Services program.
Playing it safe: New standards in place to protect young athletes from repeat concussions
Madison.com
Even with increased focus on concussions, football remains by far the most popular high school sport. In Wisconsin, 29,807 football players compete at about 420 schools in Wisconsin ? nearly double the number of track and basketball players. But greater awareness of the effects of head injuries has prompted much conjecture about the viability of the game, said Dr. David T. Bernhardt, a pediatrician in primary care sports medicine at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
Curiosities: How do scientists find origin of metals in archaeological artifacts?
Wisconsin State Journal
A: Metal sources are determined by finding some attribute that is unique to a given source, explained UW-Madison chemist James Burton, who directs the T. Douglas Price Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry. “For example copper from Europe has gold in it, while North American copper does not. We are mainly interested in bronze, an alloy of copper and other metals such as tin and lead.”
Ask the Weather Guys: What is an air mass?
Wisconsin State Journal
A. An air mass is a large body of air whose properties of temperature and humidity are similar in any horizontal direction. Air masses can cover hundreds of thousands of square miles. Air masses are formed when air stagnates for long periods of time over a uniform surface. The characteristic temperature and moisture of air masses are determined by the surface over which they form. An air mass acquires these attributes through heat and moisture exchanges with the surface.
Scholar panel discusses Sikh temple shooting
Daily Cardinal
A panel of scholars from across the country met Friday to discuss ways to educate the public about the Aug. 5 Oak Creek Sikh temple shooting by connecting it to greater issues involving racism and violence. To connect what happens in smaller-scale terrorist incidents, such as the Oak Creek shooting, to current larger issues, UW-Madison professor Donald Davis said it is necessary to determine if such incidents are ?just a weirdo acting out? or if they are linked to greater global and national problems.
Former UW lab veterinarian supports PETA allegations
Daily Cardinal
A former University of Wisconsin-Madison veterinarian who resigned due to frustration with how the university handled his concerns about maltreatment of research animals has become another voice siding with an animal rights group that recently made similar allegations.
Scholar panel discusses Sikh temple shooting
A panel of scholars from across the country met Friday to discuss ways to educate the public about the Aug. 5 Oak Creek Sikh temple shooting by connecting it to greater issues involving racism and violence. To connect what happens in smaller-scale terrorist incidents, such as the Oak Creek shooting, to current larger issues, UW-Madison professor Donald Davis said it is necessary to determine if such incidents are ?just a weirdo acting out? or if they are linked to greater global and national problems.? The purpose [of the panel discussion] is to think about what scholars of South Asia can and should be doing to educate people about incidents like this to help make sense of why they happen,? Davis said.
Travel trinkets have enduring appeal
San Francisco Chronicle
Quoted: There may be more rationality behind my “impulse finds” than meets the eye. According to Professor Beverly Gordon of the University of Wisconsin?s design studies program, souvenirs “make concrete that which is ephemeral. There?s a drive, a compulsion, for humans to bring home something physical from these experiences.”
Homeowners who got burned the first time they put their homes on the market are taking another leap of faith
Times of Northwest Indiana
Quoted: ?In recent years, as prices fell in many markets… many were faced with the prospect of selling for less than they paid,? says Justin Sydnor, assistant professor in the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Bad news boosts stress
Canadian Press
Quoted: Joanne Cantor, a professor emerita in communication science at the University of Wisconsin, called the study “really interesting,” in part because the researchers used an objective measure – cortisol – to compare gender-based reactions to bad news.
Maitake: Chicken of the tree
Washington Post
Noted: Sauteed in butter on a skillet, hen of the woods tastes like . . . well . . . chicken. Packed with vitamins and minerals, the mushroom can also be crumbled and eaten raw in salads. Dried, it?s added to soups or steeped for tea, which is described by Tom Volk, a University of Wisconsin mycologist, as “quasi-delicious.”
Feed cost will cut into milk output
Bloomberg News
Quoted: ?Farmers can?t afford to buy as much grain and protein, and that affects milk production,? said Bob Cropp, an economist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who has been following the industry since 1966. ?In California, there?ve been some foreclosures and some sell-off of cows quite heavily. You?re going to see that in other parts of the country.?
Alumni return to campus to advise undergraduates in diversity forum
Daily Cardinal
The Office of the Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer Damon Williams sponsored an evening dinner featuring a six-person panel of University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni Thursday, to kick off the 2012 Diversity Forum. The forum, entitled ?An Evening of Alumni and Student Conversations on Leadership,? aimed to showcase young, diverse UW-Madison alumni who now work as professionals and to advise current undergraduates about making the most of their college experience.
Seely on Science: Historic comet may be in store for 2013
Wisconsin State Journal
Of all the astronomical events that open eyes here on Earth, few generate more excitement ? and sometimes, as history has proven, strangeness ? than the arrival of a comet in our neighborhood. So, get out your calendars. Astronomers tell us that the year 2013 will see the passage of a comet that could be historic.
Ken Nordsieck, a UW-Madison astronomer who has studied his share of comets, used a wonderful phrase to describe these bright comets as Hale-Bopp passed in 1997, bright enough to glimpsed with the naked eye. He called it “a great driveway comet.” And Nordsieck, studying the data on 2012 S1, said the approaching comet has the potential to be “quite spectacular” from Madison and other North American locations.
Bad news boosts women?s stress response
The Province, Canada
Quoted: Joanne Cantor, a professor emerita in communication science at the University of Wisconsin, called the study ?really interesting,? in part because the researchers used an objective measure ? cortisol ? to compare gender-based reactions to bad news.
Inside the minds of tomorrow?s voters
Boston Globe
Quoted: In a forthcoming book, ?Teenage Citizens: The Political Theories of the Young,? University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Connie Flanagan argues that Americans under 18 unfairly get the ?Summertime Blues? treatment from political scientists and other researchers: ?I?d like to help you, son, but you?re too young to vote.?
AP exec: We ‘fell short’ with photo of Romney bending over
Fox News
Quoted: Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the photo by itself was not too offensive but noted it could be exploited.Â
Hispanic immigrants help rural county stave off population dip
Green Bay Press Gazette
Quoted: ?Overall, there?s an important effect and important contribution of the Hispanic population,? says Katherine Curtis, assistant professor of community and environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
When unions lose, it’s not always ‘game over’
Sacramento Bee
Quoted: “As a general rule, the campaign finance environment is very dynamic,” said Ken Mayer, a University of Wisconsin, Madison, professor who studies campaign finance. “Affected groups don?t just sit there and say, ?Game over.? They always adapt and continue exercising influence.”
Stem Cells Show Early Promise for Rare Brain Disorder
Wired.com
Quoted: Although he?s concerned that myelination seen in mouse models might not ?scale up? to a disease as severe as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher in humans, Ian Duncan, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, describes the study as setting a precedent for translating animal research in stem cells to humans. If you could improve quality of life by targeting key areas of the brain with these cells, he says, ?that would be a huge advance.?
UW threat assessment team monitors campus happenings
Badger Herald
Unbeknownst to most students, a team of staff members exists that is dedicated to ensuring the safety of the University of Wisconsin?s student population through observations and intervention.
U.S. Supreme Court hears affirmative action case
WKOW-TV 27
Affirmative action has been an issue for decades, but this week a controversial case comes before the U.S. Supreme Court that could change college admissions processes.
Paul Ryan hasn?t delivered Wisconsin to GOP ticket
McClatchy Newspapers
Quoted: Steven Deller, an economist, and Charles Franklin, a political scientist, both of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
AP publishes unflattering pic of Romney bending over
FoxNews.com
Quoted: Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Networks Like Split-Screens in Debates, Even if Candidates Don?t
New York Times
Quoted: Dietram A. Scheufele, a communications professor at Wisconsin.
Freshman enrollment reaches historic level
Daily Cardinal
Official enrollment data released by the University of Wisconsin-Madison revealed an increase in overall enrollment, making the 2012-2013 freshman class the largest in the school?s history. The data showed there were large increases in out-of-state as well as in-state residents. UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca said the overall increase could be attributed to the university?s worldwide reputation for high quality education and student experience on campus.
Campus Connection: Too many non-residents enrolled at UW-Madison?
Capital Times
According to preliminary UW-Madison fall enrollment figures, 25.8 percent of all students on campus are non-residents, a total that tops the 25 percent out-of-state limit set by the UW System?s Board of Regents. “Keep in mind that enrolling a class of 6,000 to 7,000 people with the appropriate in-state and out-of-state residency requirements is a fine art,” says UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca.”There is a great deal of uncertainty associated with that process and we try to hit our numbers as precisely as we can.”
Can animal rights advocates, researchers ever find middle ground?
Capital Times
When it comes to debating the merits of animal research taking place on the UW-Madison campus, there may well be middle ground on which the masses can agree. But like so many political issues these days, it?s the folks who are most heavily invested in a topic that tend to dominate the discussion.
Walker subpoenaed in former staffer’s trial
Wisconsin State Journal
Gov. Scott Walker has been subpoenaed to testify next week in the misconduct trial involving one of his former aides in Milwaukee County.
….”Some states have statutes that grant immunity to governors so that they cannot be called to testify in legal proceedings ? Indiana, for example. But most do not,” said Karl Shoemaker, UW-Madison associate professor of history and law. “Any witness retains, of course, the right to refuse to answer questions on grounds recognized under existing law ? for example, if testimony is covered by attorney-client privilege, or the 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination.”
Scrapbook: Student honors, scholarships, class reunions
Wisconsin State Journal
Mary Rouse, former director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service, UW-Madison assistant chancellor for academic affairs and a longtime dean of students, received the 2012 Freedom Fund Award as an Unsung Heroine at the annual NAACP local branch dinner, held Friday. The award recognized Rouse?s work coordinating blood drives for those dealing with sickle cell disease.
Reversing the slide: Iron County communities try to curb exodus of residents
Wisconsin State Journal
Until recently, a diverse constellation of industries ? farming, manufacturing, mining and tourism ? sustained these communities. But in many of them today, the population is aging, fewer babies are born, and fewer workers are left to support those left behind.
“When we think about the needs of the community and the tax base that?s required to support a community and all of its services, this is where it really starts to matter, not only for the current well-being of the community but for the future well-being for the community,” said Katherine Curtis, a UW-Madison assistant professor of community and environmental sociology.
Curiosities: What are those tall, corn-like plants at Library Mall and in front of Bascom Hall?
Wisconsin State Journal
A: They are broomcorn, a plant still used to make straw brooms, says Mohammad Fayyaz, head of the botany garden at UW-Madison. The plant was reportedly imported to the American colonies by Benjamin Franklin after 1700. Scientifically known as Sorghum vulgaris var technicum, broomcorn is closely related to sorghum, a grain crop grown in drier parts of the Midwest. Sorghum and corn are closely related.
Chris Rickert: Focus funds on manure, not milk
Wisconsin State Journal
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Madison for the World Dairy Expo last week when he raised the specter of $6-a-gallon milk should Congress fail to renew the federal farm bill.
….After all, America hasn’t “got milk” in quite a while, as milk consumption has been dropping since at least 1975, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Brian Gould, an agriculture economist at UW-Madison, says a variety of factors are to blame for the change, including the advent of bottled water and other beverages, an aging population that drinks less milk, and changes in taste and preference. “It’s a structural problem,” he said. “It’s something that’s not short-term.”
Ask the Weather Guys: What are cooling degree days?
Wisconsin State Journal
A: A degree day is a measure of heating or cooling. A degree day is defined as a departure of the mean daily temperature from a given standard: one degree day for each degree of departure above (or below) the base temperature during one day. The degree day is related to the outside temperature and is not related to time.
Curiosities: What are those tall, corn-like plants at Library Mall and in front of Bascom Hall?
A: They are broomcorn, a plant still used to make straw brooms, says Mohammad Fayyaz, head of the botany garden at UW-Madison. The plant was reportedly imported to the American colonies by Benjamin Franklin after 1700. Scientifically known as Sorghum vulgaris var technicum, broomcorn is closely related to sorghum, a grain crop grown in drier parts of the Midwest.
Paralyzed bank manager terminally ill with brain cancer fights for her right to die
New York Daily News
Quoted: Alta Charo, professor of law and medical ethics at the University of Wisconsin Law School
Post-debate stop for Obama: a battleground leaning his way
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Political scientist Barry Burden of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Political science professor questions ethics of campaign stop on campus
Badger Herald
Despite the excitement it has caused on campus, President Obama?s sudden visit to campus on Thursday has raised some concerns from faculty and staff.
UW-Madison launches sexual assault prevention program
WKOW-TV 27
The National Institute of Justice reports as many as 95 percent of sexual assaults on college campuses go unreported.
Professors concerned about Obama rally registration
WISC-TV 3
Three University of Wisconsin-Madison professors say students shouldn?t have to register with the Obama presidential campaign to attend Thursday?s rally.
Obama visit sparks outcry from faculty
Daily Cardinal
President Barack Obama?s visit to Bascom Hill on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus Thursday has elicited support from those who hope the event brings good publicity to the university, excitement from Obama supporters and joy from throngs of students whose classes have been cancelled. But the day before the speech, some are questioning the role the University, a public institution, is playing in what is a clearly partisan campaign event.
Hot, dry year means box elder bug boom
Wisconsin State Journal
BARABOO ? The southern faces of buildings and other warm areas will have even larger hordes of box elder insects crawling across them this fall due to an early spring followed by a hot and dry summer, experts say. ?Swarms of the bugs always come out this time of year, but the dry weather has them even more active,? said Ron Mack, owner of Premier Pest Elimination in Sauk City. UW-Madison entomologist Phil Pellitteri said 2012 has been one of the worst years for box elder bugs since 1988 when Wisconsin endured drought-like conditions during the spring and summer months.
Enduring images: Exhibit features slides from South Pole trek
Wisconsin State Journal
Roald Amundsen?s ?We?ve Been to the South Pole? tour is back, probably with the same glass lantern slides he showed lecture attendees here in 1913, when ?the eyes of the civilized world were in a sense turned on Madison.? Peggy Hager, senior lecturer in Norwegian at UW-Madison, said the university was offered the exhibit by the Norwegian embassy, which has placed the posters and accompanying large photos and text at Scandinavian cultural centers across the Midwest and Northwest. To accompany the exhibit, Hager arranged four lectures, ?Exploration from a Norwegian Perspective,? on explorer Fridtjof Nansen, the Vikings, the Sami, and Ice Cube, UW-Madison?s research station at the South Pole.
Three UW professors irked at some details of Obama’s rally
Wisconsin State Journal
A trio of high-profile UW-Madison professors went public Wednesday with concerns about President Barack Obama?s planned Thursday campaign rally, saying students who want to attend are unfairly being required to supply a phone number and email address to the campaign, even having to click “I?m In” to get a free ticket at the campaign?s website.
Early voting has little effect
Badger Herald
A recent study conducted by the University of Wisconsin suggests despite voters? ability to turn their ballots in early, the practice does not facilitate a greater election turnout.
Fall foliage puts on brilliant fireworks display of color
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Brent McCown, emeritus professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Student Artwork: Soul-Soothing Art By The Next Generation
Huffington Post
Quoted: Jeremy Mendoza, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Debating Real Value of Health Benefits in Poverty Calculations
New York Times
Quoted: Timothy Smeeding, the director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Company at Dairy Expo helps farmers turn manure into cash cow
Wisconsin State Journal
A Wisconsin company plying its wares in Madison this week at the World Dairy Expo is offering farmers a way to turn one of the dairy industry?s messiest problems ? manure ? into cash. With an assist from a team of UW-Madison scientists, Braun Electric Inc. of St. Nazianz makes equipment for the Trident “nutrient management system,” which processes manure that might otherwise pollute lakes and the air into animal bedding, dry fertilizer, mulch and biofuels that can be sold for profit.
….”Farmers will make more money off of manure than milk,” said Aicardo Roa, a chemist from Soil Net, a company which has operations in Madison, Belleville and China. He worked with a team from UW-Madison led by biochemistry professor John Markley to help Braun land a $7.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to make the system available to the public. “We are the first people to understand that manure is a resource. That water, protein, it’s all a resource,” Roa said.