A: Sand from Wisconsin and other parts of the country is now in high demand as it is essential to the process of hydraulic fracturing or ?fracking,? a technique that splits rock so it is easier to access certain natural gas deposits.
The embattled Syrian president held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday.
A. We have continued to enjoy temperatures well above normal through most of February 2012, making this year?s Dec. 1?Feb. 20 the fifth-warmest on record with an average temperature of 28.3F in Madison. Barring an exceptionally warm last week of the month (which does not appear likely), that is where we will end up ? the fifth-warmest winter (defined as December, January, February) of all time in Madison.
Some might celebrate with a shindy and others might hold a whindig or a wingding, but Joan Houston Hall just breathed a sigh of relief. After five decades, UW-Madison?s ambitious project to document the idiosyncrasies of American English reached both the zenith and ?z? this month, said Hall, the editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). Volume Sl to Z is now for sale from Harvard University Press. From aa (rough lava in Hawaii) to zydeco (dance music in Louisiana Creole culture), the dictionary spans five volumes and 60,000 words.
The State Journal editorial board is right to express outrage over our continuing DUI epidemic. But when our lawmakers do react, let?s make sure their actions are effective. Clearly Wisconsin needs stronger DUI penalties, but that alone won?t help. Ample research has shown that increasing penalties doesn?t change behavior unless people think they might get caught. Toward that end, we need sobriety checkpoints.
The trial went into the evening Thursday in federal court, and testimony centered around Ken Mayer, a UW-Madison political scientiest. Mayer argues the new maps drawn by Republicans moves 50 people for every one person that should be moved to balance the districts. He also says the new Wisconsin maps disenfranchise about 299,000 people, by making them wait longer to vote in Senate elections.
Kenneth Mayer, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the maps move far more people than is necessary. For example, he said one Assembly district was under-populated by 379 people. The mapmakers? proposal added a net of 217 people, but they did so by moving 29,936 people into the district and moving 29,719 out. That means nearly 60,000 were shifted when only 400 needed to be.
Noted: The study “is pioneering in delving into the behavior of crop raiders,” adds Lisa Naughton, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who focuses on interactions between human societies and animals.
Noted: The release of the individual rankings has even been controversial among the scientists who designed them. Douglas N. Harris, an economist at the University of Wisconsin, where the city?s rankings were developed, said the reports could be useful if combined with other information about teacher performance. But because value-added research is so new, he said, ?we know very little about it.? Releasing the data to the public at this point, Dr. Harris added, ?strikes me as at best unwise, at worst, absurd.?
Quoted: ?The New York model is arguably one of the best in the country in terms of attention to detail. The model is comprehensive, The completeness is a plus,? said Rob Meyer, director of the University of Wisconsin?s Center for Education Research, who helped design the city?s teacher-data report.
Noted: Among the many word magicians at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 10 and 11 are the alchemists who transform complexity into readable prose ? the science writers. Deborah Blum, for example, likes to trick people into loving chemistry.
Quoted: Jonathan Gray, a professor of media and culture at the University of Wisconsin.
UW-Madison political science professor Ken Mayer testified in the ongoing redistricting lawsuit Thursday that the Latino vote would be significantly diminished under the new state election maps drawn by Republicans.
Despite changes approved by the Legislature last year to curtail the power of unions to collectively bargain for benefits, a majority of Wisconsin unions have voted to go through recertification in the past year, a process some officials characterized as lengthy and costly for little tangible benefit.
In what is already shaping up to be a heated national race, President Barack Obama leads all Republican candidates currently competing in the Republican National Convention primary, according to two polls released over the past two days that focus on Wisconsin?s possible role as a battleground state.
Some people want to go from “A” to “B”, but Joan Houston Hall has been trying to reach “Z” for the last 30 years.
Quoted: Mark Berres, an assistant professor of avian biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Sandra Adell, professor of literature for the department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Quoted: Prominent Wisconsin pollster, and UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Just over four months after the Center for Equal Opportunity claimed UW-Madison?s admission policies unfairly advantage African Americans and Latinos, UW philosophy professor Dan Hausman told hundreds of members of the UW community affirmative action creates ?equal opportunity? for African Americans.
The one-word bit of career advice, “plastics,” made to Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 movie “The Graduate,” has been followed for years at UW-Madison, and will soon be the credo of students at a new university in India. The Polymer Engineering Center at UW-Madison is joining with the University of Massachusetts-Lowell to develop the curriculum at the new PlastIndia International University in Vapi, India. Plastics expert Tim Osswald, a professor in mechanical engineering at UW-Madison, said the agreement with the PlastIndia Foundation includes an exchange program for faculty and students.
“A really important aspect of our education here is to create graduates who can think globally,” Osswald said in the release. “That’s going to be beneficial to our industry and our economy.”
Dear Editor: Many informed readers are aware that the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, has been the idea center for Gov. Scott Walker and several of the Republicans in our Legislature, like Robin Vos and Scott Fitzgerald. ?A smart ALEC threatens public education? shines a critical light on how ALEC supplies word for word legislative documents to our governor and these legislators. The article?s authors are Julie Underwood, UW-Madison School of Education dean, and Julie F. Mead, professor and chair of the UW?s department of education leadership and policy analysis. Their research will be dismissed by many as ?so what!?
UW-Madison?s Richard Davidson remains on the cutting edge of brain research that sheds light on understanding our emotions. The Feb. 27 issue of Newsweek features excerpts of Davidson?s new book, “The Emotional Life of Your Brain.” The work is co-authored by Sharon Begley, the former Newsweek science writer.
Quoted: “It was a gentle introduction for the new voter ID law,” says Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political scientist.
Quoted: Jonathan Gray, a professor of media and culture at the University of Wisconsin, said he had a measure of cynicism that ?a study by Comedy Central found that comedy matters.? But whenever he teaches a course on television and comedy, he said, it is ?filled within a matter of minutes,? and his students regularly name ?South Park,? ?The Daily Show? and ?The Colbert Report? as shows they like. All are from Comedy Central.
A Supreme Court decision in October could forbid or significantly alter race as a consideration in college admissions when the court hears an appeal from a white student in Texas who hopes to end “racial preferences” in admissions.
A new treatment program for post-traumatic stress disorder is under way at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that doesn?t involve drugs or traditional therapy.
State Journal reporter Ron Seely?s coverage of the Joint Finance Committee hearings on the mining bill has been outstanding. The proposed iron mine is near the triple-divide between the watersheds of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi. It will use a great deal of water and will be deep enough to be far below the lake level of Lake Superior. This can not help but affect Lake Superior.
– Martin David, Middleton, emeritus professor, UW-Madison and Nelson Institute
Quoted: Another nationally known expert on test cheating, Jim Wollack, director of University of Wisconsin Testing & Evaluation Services, says the Taft situation struck him as ?odd.?
UW-Madison has strengthened its once lacking oversight of biological research, such as the bird flu study by Yoshihiro Kawaoka entangled in an international debate over biosafety and bioterrorism. But the university could face more rules recommended nationally for experiments such as Kawaoka?s that are deemed to have potential for good or bad. Campus officials already are guarding information about biological research more closely.
Two studies showing how scientists created a bird flu virus that?s easily transmissible between mammals should be fully published — but only after a panel of experts fully assesses the risks — the World Health Organization WHO announced last week. Some tasked with keeping tabs on potential biosecurity threats to the United States are not happy with the decision.
Quoted: “It?s an FDA approved medication so many people perceive it as safe. Whether it is or not for them to take is another issue,” said Dr. Eric Heiligenstein, head of psychiatry for the University of Wisconsin health services.
Armed with its status as a sovereign nation and powerful treaties with the federal government, the Bad River Chippewa tribe has the legal muscle to do what Democratic opponents of an iron mine proposed for northern Wisconsin have so far been unable to do: halt or delay the project.
Those powers, say experts on Native American law, appear to have been both underestimated and misunderstood by proponents of the mine, including Republican legislators who have been criticized for failing to consult with tribal members as they work on a bill to streamline permitting for the mine.
“All of us are going to get an education in federal Indian law,” said Larry Nesper, a UW-Madison scholar in Great Lakes Indian law and politics.
Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist, is probably the first scientist to propose that burning of fossil fuels could modify our global temperatures. In 1896, Arrhenius recognized that carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning carbon substances such as natural gas, gasoline and oil, would act like a greenhouse gas.
A: It depends on the plants, but probably not, said Laura Jull, associate professor of horticulture at UW?Madison.”I?m confident that trees and shrubs will be OK,” Jull said. “But I?m seeing in my own yard daffodils and tulips coming up, and that?s not good.”
University of Wisconsin-Madison professors Julie Underwood and Julie Mead are expressing concern over the growing corporate influence on public education in an article published Monday. In particular, they are highly critical of the American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC, which connects conservative state legislators with like-minded think tanks, corporations and foundations to develop “model legislation” that can be enacted at the state level.
Researchers with the state Department of Natural Resources and the UW-Madison Sea Grant Institute have confirmed in recent studies that the enormous sturgeon in the Fox and Wolf River basins communicate in deep and rumbling sounds that are so low they usually can?t be heard by the human ear….The subsonic sounds made by the fish, which can reach weights of more than 200 pounds, are being studied by the DNR’s Ron Bruch and Sea Grant’s Chris Bocast.
“Ossuary,” Laurie Beth Clark?s multi-faceted work at the Chazen Museum of Art, has excellent bone structure. Each of the 113 art pieces in the installation was inspired by or built from bones. Artists used chicken bones, skulls, skeletons and claws as subjects, inspiration and material. The origins of “Ossuary” came out of Clark?s extensive research on trauma tourism.
Quoted: Broadband has moved from being a luxury to a necessity, and Comcast has been able to capitalize on that, said Barry Orton, professor of telecommunications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With NBCUniversal in the fold, the company has depth in programming and distribution, he said.
In the upcoming year, University of Wisconsin researchers will potentially join other scientists in declaring a groundbreaking discovery from research that looks to confirm the existence of a particle known as the ?God Particle.?
A newly formed unit of the Wisconsin National Guard soon will deliver Dairy State know-how to war-torn Afghanistan. Team members received a 40-hour crash course from UW-Madison instructors in topics ranging from beekeeping to fish farming to water management to the ins and outs of growing corn, pomegranates and poultry.
?They are not going to be experts by any means, but at least they won?t be clueless,? said Karen Nielsen, director of the Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research. The institute does a lot of international education, but this curriculum was unique, Nielsen said. ?We haven?t had to train at this level before because most of those we?ve worked with have electricity and machinery, but the people in Afghanistan don?t,? Nielsen said. The institute plans to bring in Amish farmers to help train the next group, Nielsen said.
Shortly before Thanksgiving science reporters and bloggers began buzzing about a newly created, genetically modified version of the deadly bird flu that could easily be transmitted between ferrets, which closely mimic the human response to flu.
….”It’s interesting that this research became a concern, because from my perspective I’m not worried about it,” Paul Umbeck, the director of UW-Madison’s environment, health and safety department, says after outlining for a reporter a lengthy list of federal and institutional regulations and safeguards in place to help oversee such potentially dangerous experiments. “But cutting-edge is always going to be somewhat controversial to somebody.” Or, in this case, seemingly to most everybody.
Quoted: “The last two centuries have seen dramatic changes in wildfire across the American West, with a peak in wildfires in the 1800s giving way to much less burning over the past 100 years,” said lead author Jennifer R. Marlon, now a National Science Foundation Earth Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “The decline was mostly caused by the influx of explorers and settlers and by their subsequent suppression of wildfires, both intentionally and accidentally.”
Quoted: “They have to proceed with caution and tread lightly,” said Shubha Ghosh, a professor at University of Wisconsin Law School who specializes in antitrust law and intellectual property, with regards to Google.
Sometime this year, physicists could very well announce they have confirmed the existence of a particle so important it has been dubbed the “God Particle.” Its discovery would fill in a crucial missing piece of a model that, despite a few quirks, has been used for decades to explain the fundamental structure of the universe and all that it contains, including us. Standing with the scientists making that announcement will be some familiar faces to many here in our corner of the universe: researchers from UW-Madison.
“We have a long history,” said Francis Halzen, the physicist who leads another groundbreaking UW-Madison effort to build a neutrino detector in the Antarctic ice. “And I think a distinguished history.” But the word “distinguished” hardly captures the fizz and pop, the headines and the historical reach of some of the physics that has gone on here.
Quoted: “I?m dismayed, but not surprised,” says Raymond Fonck, a fusion physicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Gov. Scott Walker said last week he would not push for another budget repair bill to help balance the state?s budget after the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released its most recent report Thursday, revealing a shortfall of approximately $214 million.
Two University of Wisconsin engineers have received national honors from the National Academy of Engineering for their work in the areas of environmental engineering and nuclear reactor design.
A: Concrete generally is crushed into “recycled concrete aggregate,” or RCA, said Craig Benson, a distinguished professor of geological engineering and co-director of the Office of Sustainability at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Once steel is removed, old concrete can be crushed and used to replace aggregate (the mix of sand and gravel) in new concrete. Crushed concrete can also be used to replace gravel as fill or base layer in construction.
A: This winter began much warmer than normal, but where does this year?s mildness rank all-time? You might be surprised to learn that although we are in the top 10 warmest starts to winter, we are not really close to the top. In fact, we are experiencing only the sixth warmest Dec. 1-Feb. 8 in Madison history with an average temperature of 28.3 degrees Fahrenheit during that stretch.
Quoted: Scott Rankin, an associate professor of food science at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Similarly, UW-Madison Professor Morris Davis, academic director of the university?s Graaskamp Center for Real Estate, said he didn?t believe the settlement would help most people who are ?deeply underwater? on their mortgages avoid foreclosure.
Quoted: Farmers are typically compensated according to the land?s agricultural value, not the amount developers pay. As property values climb and financial stakes increase, land rights disputes are growing ?increasingly public and angry,? said Mark Sidel, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin who consults on legal reform in Vietnam.
UW-Madison transportation safety expert David Noyce traces the roundabout?s bad rap back to Chevy Chase in the 1985 comedy “European Vacation.” Chase?s character, Clark Griswold, drives his family in an English rental car into the inner lane of a roundabout near London?s Lambeth Bridge. “They got stuck in the circle and couldn?t get out,” Noyce recalled Thursday. “So people had a negative view.” And a lot of motorists in Wisconsin still do.
Dane County advocates for struggling homeowners this week generally welcomed the national $25 billion settlement with five of the nation?s biggest mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses like robo-signing….UW-Madison Professor Morris Davis, academic director of the university’s Graaskamp Center for Real Estate, said he didn’t believe the settlement would help most people who are “deeply underwater” on their mortgages avoid foreclosure.
“But (the aid) could encourage some families that are only marginally underwater to postpone the foreclosure process as long as possible,” he said.
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Noted: Fortunately, cast copies were taken but the original fossils contain extra details that could settle long-standing debates. For example, was Zhoukoudian fraught with cannibalism? “In later years, the consensus shifted toward the idea that hyenas formed the site, with the humans as victims,” says John Hawks from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “The original fossils would allow a forensic investigation.”
Members of the University of Wisconsin community gathered Wednesday evening to gain insight on a UW professor?s research into the impact social classes have on children during their youngest years.
Shares of Roundy?s stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday and ended the day up 50 cents, at $9 a share. The Milwaukee grocery company offered 19.2 million shares of common stock in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol RNDY. Shares were priced at $8.50, which was below the $10 to $12 price projected in a company document filed with federal regulators in January. That signifies “tepid response from the marketplace” to the offering, said Jim Seward, associate professor at the UW-Madison School of Business and faculty director of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking.
Quoted: But the ethical landscape was evolving rapidly at the time. The standards of the 1940s were ?a lot murkier? than those of today, says Susan Lederer, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin?Madison. ?The idea that it was so clear in 1946 to me doesn?t ring true.?
Noted: Researchers led by Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin?Madison recently experimentally tested the variance signal by adding more and more largemouth bass to a lake over a three-year period. The researchers took measurements of the light spectra of chlorophyll in the lake every five minutes (and in a control lake where they were not adding fish). Fifteen months before the food web of the whole lake shifted, the variance signal appeared in the chlorophyll measurements, Carpenter and his colleagues reported in Science last May.
