UW-Madison is hosting an in-depth discussion Thursday (Feb. 10) about the leak of classified documents by the non-profit media website WikiLeaks. The event is open to the public and begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
Noted: But the vote also shows that some tea-party Republicans are willing to buck GOP orthodoxy to stand up for principles ? even if those principles happen to be shared by the likes of liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) of Ohio, says political scientist Charles Franklin at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Mr. Kucinich called specifically on the Tea Party Caucus in the House to vote down the Patriot Act measures. As it was, 44 of 52 members of the Tea Party Caucus voted to extend the act?s domestic spying provisions.
Quoted: Because the wireless industry is not subject to the same level of government oversight as the landline business, people who experience cell-phone problems should complain to their legislators, said Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – particularly because cell phones have become such important tools for business as well as personal use.
Stem cell research is a field that seems to fly under the radar for years until the next scientific breakthrough. Embryonic stem cells are able to generate any cell type in the body. Many believe that this potential provides enormous promise for individuals suffering from a wide variety of diseases and injuries.
Recent findings from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and University of Wisconsin researchers suggests the effects of climate change have been accelerating over the past 60 years and could drastically transform the state?s idyllic landscape in the future.
A University of Wisconsin researcher won a National Academy of Sciences award for innovative young researchers for an invention that could one day lead to finding a cure for type 2 diabetes.
Quoted: John Witte, UW-Madison professor of public affairs and political science.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison expert on political polling.
Quoted: Catalina Toma, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin believes passive Facebook consumption (such as monitoring your friends? newsfeeds) can leave people feeling lonelier than before they logged on.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the Republican focus on abortion could present a political danger for the party, which scored big gains in the midterm elections due partly to independent voters who were attracted to the GOP?s platform of economic issues. Franklin said Republicans must take care that bottled-up demand among social conservatives for more restrictive abortion laws does not come to define the party.Continued…
Gov. Scott Walker teamed up with 20 other Republican governors Monday to send a letter to the federal health department expressing their concern with health care reform and submitted a list of changes to be made before they would want to implement reform in their respective states.
College freshmen are experiencing increasing declines in emotional health, according to a new survey. After five, Ben Merens and his guest discuss how students? mental health has been impacted by the recession and concerns about their futures, and why women are faring less well than men. Guests: Linda DeAngelo, Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles Danielle R. Oakley, Director of Counseling & Consultation Services, University Health Services, UW-Madison. (Audio.)
Like roller coaster rides? Strap yourself in ? stem cells may be your scientific ticket. A flurry of stomach-dropping up and down moments all week befell one of the brightest, new attractions in science, induced pluripotent stem cells.
Mentions Jamie Thomson.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.
Quoted: Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
Quoted: “The advance of technology has really changed this conversation,” said Shawn F. Peters, a religious-studies professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law.” “I think people are educating themselves, and that?s often a good thing, but they?re also being exposed to crackpots.”
Quoted: “We are not obligated to react to every bit of student speech online,” said Anne E. Bilder, senior legal counsel for the University of Wisconsin system.
Noted: “I seldom watch a sporting event without my laptop and following along on Facebook and what other people are posting on Twitter,” said Dietram Scheufele, a science communication professor. Chancellor Biddy Martin got in on the action today, tweeting a picture of her assistant in Green Bay gear.
Two studies conducted in part by UW-Madison researchers, revealed new information about the nature of cancer cells and stem cells.
Those proclaiming there is no need to continue research using human embryonic stem cells because reprogrammed adult cells are identical were dealt a setback this week.
Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are adult cells that are converted to an embryonic-like state, retain a distinct ?memory? of their past, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature.
Quoted: Tim Kamp, director of UW-Madison?s Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center
Quoted: Scott Craven, a UW Extension wildlife specialist.
Shawn Francis Peters quoted in a Polish publication. “Rocznie dowiadujemy si? o dziesi?ciu ? 20 podobnych przypadkach. W rzeczywisto?ci jest ich du?o wi?cej, nigdy si? o nich nie dowiemy, bo te spo?eczno?ci s? bardzo zamkni?te ? mówi ?Rz? profesor Shawn Francis Peters z Uniwersytetu w Wisconsin, autor ksi??ki o wierze w wyleczenie dzi?ki modlitwom.”
Quoted: You can?t get HBO and Showtime, and their original series, without subscribing, noted Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of telecommunications. That might be OK if you don?t care about the shows, but a phenomenon like “The Sopranos” can be hard to resist, he said.
Quoted: The dictionary?s chief editor, Dr. Joan Hall, says regionalized call centers probably are a good public relations move, because, “People feel at home with people who speak the way they do.” Hall cites dictionary examples of terms that would be unfamiliar to most outside their own regions.
Noted: Center for Film and Theater Research, which is administered jointly by the Communication Arts department at UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS).
Quoted: In order to be fair, we followed the standards that food price experts, like UW Professor Kyle Stiegert, recommend. Use only brand name items, sold in every store.
A professor at UW Madison is among those closely watching events in Egypt. Jennifer Lowenstein is a faculty associate in Middle Eastern Studies at UW. She thinks it?s unlikely President Hosni Mubarak can remain in office until September when ? he?s said ? he won?t seek reelection.
Quoted: For many, the assertions against Sang conjure up memories of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines and its role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Political scientist Scott Straus of the US? University of Wisconsin worries that the media is singled out in violence cases due to the RTLM precedent. ?My experience with these media cases is that prosecutors choose them because it?s something that audiences around the world can easily understand because of RTLM.?
Quoted: Stanley Payne, now professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, uses a lot of historiography and a bit of autobiography to consider Spain?s fate, which has long been held hostage to evocative, distorting myths. Spain may be unique, suggests Mr. Payne, but not for the reasons we think.
Quoted: “He keeps his options alive,” said Charles Franklin, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I wouldn?t take it as an indication that he?s definitely in the race.”
A UW-Madison researcher has found that the venom dispensed by scorpions may hold as much promise for healing as it does for pain and poisoning. Dr. Hector Valdivia, with the UW-School of Medicine and Public Health, has long been fascinated by scorpions. He?s been studying their venom since the mid-1980s.
Quoted: Jane Allyn Piliavin, professor of sociology emeritus from UW-Madison.
After a conference last May where UW-Madison students said they felt minorities are represented negatively on campus, Vice Provost of Diversity and Climate Damon Williams will hold a town hall-style meeting Thursday for students to discuss campus climate and answered questions ahead of the meeting Monday night.
Quoted: Brian Hellmer, director of the applied securities analysis program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Column by political science professor David T. Canon and public affairs professor Donald P. Moynihan.
Quoted: Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
Homeowners who have been served with a foreclosure suit might consider a free offering. Known as Foreclosure Answer Clinics, the walk-in legal clinics are held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Room 354 of Madison?s City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Staffed by volunteer lawyers and UW-Madison law students, the clinics provide homeowners in foreclosure with basic legal information.
Quoted: In this case, however, the steers died from consuming moldy sweet potatoes that were mixed in with their food, Peter Vanderloo, associate director at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the Star.
Almost a month after taking office, Governor Scott Walker will deliver his first State of the State Address tonight to lawmakers at the Capitol. UW-Madison Political Scientist Charles Franklin says the speech gives Walker an excellent opportunity to further outline and restate his goals, although he says it?s rare that a governor provides any concrete plans during the annual speech.
Associate Director of UW-Madison?s La Follette School of Public Affairs Donald Moynihan has been elected to the Policy Council of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
The new governor and Legislature have fast-tracked a bill requiring a photo ID to vote in Wisconsin. Opponents say the law would do little to prevent alleged fraud at the polls, while supporters say it is necessary to protect the integrity of the system. Some version of this bill is almost certainly going to be signed into law. If photo ID is going to be implemented, it needs to be done right.
(By UW-Madison professor of political science David Canon and associate professor of public affairs Donald Moynihan. Also mentioned are political science professors Barry Burden and Ken Mayer.)
Recent University of Wisconsin research results may disappoint residents looking for signs of the apocalypse in the deaths of 200 cows in central Wisconsin earlier this month.
Noted: “It seems like a pretty good link that more sexual activity, particularly oral sex, is associated with increased HPV infection,” said Dr. Greg Hartig, professor of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
Quoted: The evidence, however, is controversial — and is invariably tied to history professor Alfred W. McCoy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Seasonal affective disorder is a kind of depression probably caused by a lack of sunlight, said Dr. Claudia Reardon, a University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health psychiatrist and assistant professor. Exercise can help fight the problem.
Quoted: “Class-size reduction policies came into effect because of an economic boom,” says Beth Graue, a professor of early childhood education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It was in the ?90s and we had money to spend, and it was invested in reducing pupil-teacher ratios.”
The emotional health of freshmen entering college in the fall of 2010 tumbled to a record low, according to an annual survey of incoming students attending four-year institutions across the country. The report, titled “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010,” indicates that just over half 51.9 percent of the students surveyed this past fall self-reported their emotional health was in the “highest 10 percent” or “above average.” In 1985, the first year the question was asked in this survey, 63.6 percent placed themselves in those categories.
Quoted: Danielle Oakley, director of counseling and consultation services for University Health Services, and Amanda Ngola of UHS.
University of Wisconsin astronomy professor Kenneth Nordsieck said the Challenger disaster changed the way many Americans viewed space flight.
It was with pronounced eye-rolling that I read the latest study by the UW-Madison Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center. Funded in part by the state Tobacco Prevention and Control Program and Smoke Free Wisconsin, the study?s author, David Ahrens, looked at antismoking ordinances in seven Wisconsin cities and found they did not eliminate hospitality industry jobs or cause bars and restaurants to close. Of course they didn?t. To find otherwise would be like a tobacco industry study finding its products kill you.
A seven-course dinner inspired by the papacy in Avignon, in medieval France, will be held Feb. 3, at 6 p.m. at Steenbock?s on Orchard, 330 N. Orchard St., in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. The dinner will be prepared by chef Michael Pruett, and each course will be paired with a wine from the Rhone region. The featured speaker on the dual papacy will be William Courtenay, a medieval history professor emeritus at UW-Madison.
Quoted: Diane Sheehan, a UW-Madison professor and textile art expert.
Quoted: Pao Wang, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison.
A state lab says the 200 steers that died this month in Portage County were done in by tainted potatoes. Peter Vanderloo is an associate director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, which is run on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He says the cows tested positive for a toxin that?s found in moldy sweet potatoes.
Quoted: UW-Madison professor Tom Oliver, the director of the school?s master of public health program.
Quoted: Ben Kempinen, a UW-Madison law professor.
The late Hmong military leader Vang Pao was revered among his people for leading guerrilla forces against the Communists in Vietnam. When he died Jan. 6 from pneumonia in Clovis, Calif., at age 81, the loss was keenly felt in Madison, where many Hmong resettled after the war. Noted: Madison dropped a plan in 2002 to name a park in honor of Vang Pao after UW-Madison history professor Alfred McCoy cited published sources alleging Vang Pao had ordered executions of his own followers, enemy prisoners of war and his political enemies.
A seven-course dinner inspired by the papacy in Avignon, in medieval France, will be held Feb. 3, at 6 p.m. at Steenbock?s on Orchard, 330 N. Orchard St., in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. The dinner will be prepared by chef Michael Pruett, and each course will be paired with a wine from the Rhone region. The featured speaker on the dual papacy will be William Courtenay, a medieval history professor emeritus at UW-Madison.
Quoted: ?If we?re going to take these enzymes and use them on an industrial level, we need to be able to mass produce them. To do that, you actually need the gene that produces the enzyme,? said Garret Suen, professor of bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
While the plan builds on voter ID bills of years past, David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says this one is different.
“This version?is more restrictive than any bill we’ve had in the past. Indeed, if this bill passes, it would be the most restrictive in the United States.”
