Category: UW Experts in the News

Noted: At first, controllers back on Earth lost contact with the probe and got modulating signals indicating that spaceship may be wobbling a bit, said Sanjay Limaye, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who is one of five American scientists on the Akatsuki research team.

There?s something for everyone ? almost ? in President Obama?s tax deal. UW political scientist Barry Burden says the deal the president cut with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts sends a pretty clear signal that he?s willing to work with the new Republican majority in the House. ?This is really him working quite directly with the Republican leadership and in some ways stepping on his own party,? said Burden. ?It?s hard to know whether this strategy in the end benefits the Democratic Party, or maybe just him in 2012.?

Noted: Karen Tuerk of UW-Madison?s geology department.

Quoted: Experts such as Thomas R. Oliver, professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, hope that understanding of the 2,500-page law will improve as time goes on.

Quoted: Perhaps a dozen children from faith-healing churches die without receiving medical care each year in the United States, but no one really knows the true number, said Shawn Francis Peters, who wrote the 2007 book “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law.”

Quoted: Michael Scott, director of the UW-Madison Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.

Quoted: John Schaffer, director of the UW-Madison School of Music.

Quoted: Dr. Megan Moreno, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, was among researchers who conducted a 2009 study relating risky behavior among adolescents, such as underage drinking and smoking, and posting about it on social media websites such as Facebook or YouTube. 

Quoted: That huge range of temperatures means the new material could be used in everything from spacecraft to car shock absorbers, said Roderic Lakes, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin who studies viscoelastic materials. Spacecraft equipped with this material could withstand the intense cold of Jupiter?s largest moon, Titan, said Gogotsi, or the heat of the sun in space, said Lakes.

Quoted: “If this holds, we will find ourselves at the higher end of [temperature] predictions,” says team member Ralf Bennartz of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: “What I?ve heard from folks running for office is that they don?t want a ?Pants on Fire,?” says Ken Goldstein, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in political advertising. “Pants on Fire” is the worst rating doled out by PolitiFact, reserved for assertions that make a ridiculous claim and are clearly false. Goldstein admits being surprised that some politicians have even changed the wording of statements in response to criticism from a fact-checker. “If you had asked me before, I would have been dismissive about the impact of these,” Goldstein says. “But I have been hearing some anecdotal evidence that some politicians know that it?s in place and are reacting.”

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Quoted: UW-Madison School of Business assistant professor Kersi Antia.

Noted: Dave Schroeder, a systems engineer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, penned an open letter to Jobs a few weeks ago and posted it online, asking this very thing. As much of a hassle as it is for a lot of people, if Apple has to cancel Xserve, could Apple please allow virtualization, he asked.

Quoted: “I think that?s pretty standard,” Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications expert, said about the new approach. “In cities where they don?t meter water, for example, you can use as much water as your family needs — and New York City is a classic example. But if you start a brewery in your apartment, and you start carting our millions of gallons of beer that you?ve made from free city water, the city?s going come back and say, ?No, that?s a commercial operation.?”

Quoted: Primates have traits that may help shield them from seasonal ups and downs, Karen Strier, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said.

Quoted: “It?s a mixed bag,” said Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in evaluating the potential clout of the new delegation. “Losing Obey obviously is a case of clout lost. But you?re gaining Paul Ryan on the budget committee. He?s certainly in a position to be influential.”

Quoted: Dave Riley, professor of human development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said whatever was bothering Hengel likely was related to his peers or family members or possibly biological mental health problems.

Noted: None of this means it?s easy in America for someone from a lower economic class to find and marry someone from a higher class. “Assortative mating”?the human urge to pair up with someone who is similar to you?is on the increase in the U.S., according to research by sociologists Robert Mare of UCLA and Christine Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They found that those with college degrees are marrying people with college degrees at higher rates than at any time in the last half-century.

The University of Colorado?s Leaf Van Boven has shown that experiences make us happier than material items, since they can?t be compared to anyone else?s experiences and form the positive memories that tell us we like our lives. Thomas DeLeire, at the University of Wisconsin, found that only one of the nine categories of consumption he measured was linked to an increase in happiness: leisure purchases. Recreation is so good at “re-creating” mindsets that there is a whole field of health devoted to it: recreation therapy, which builds self-worth and positive mood for people with disabilities, through activities such as horseback riding or wheelchair basketball.

(This article first appeared in the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal.)

She opened at a scream.

“Pull a gun on me and it?s the last (expletive) thing you?ll do!”

Defense lawyer Jessa Nicholson stood inches from jurors as she quoted the man her client killed, trying to convey the fear and chaos that led to the shooting, which also injured the man?s brother.

Quoted: UW law professor Michele Lavigne

Quoted: People who want to refuse life-sustaining treatment have years of legal precedent behind them, Norm Fost, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said.

Noted: So what?s the best way to stave off that weight gain? Chad Cook and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin have done research suggesting that it might not be exercise. Their study of 443 adults ages 40 to 60, presented at a recent meeting of the Obesity Society, found that even those people who habitually burn more daily calories than predicted for their age and body weight are not protected against holiday weight gain. Cook notes that 75 percent of participants gained at least some weight and nearly a fifth put on 4.4 pounds or more.

It will be a year-round middle school. And an urban farm. And a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating. And a neighborhood center. And an office space. And a home for small business.

Planners of the Resilience Research Center development have firmed up their vision and timeline for the nearly 4-acre parcel planned to start taking shape in January on the South Side, near the intersection of East Badger and Rimrock roads.

….The school would emphasize “culturally relevant” teaching, designed to bridge the achievement gap between white and minority students by helping teachers better understand their students’ home culture. The concept is promoted by UW-Madison education professor Gloria Ladson-Billings, who along with other university faculty is working on developing the charter school.

Another free legal clinic for struggling homeowners will be held Thursday, as part of the resources offered by the Dane County Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce. The answer clinics are an effort of the taskforce, the Dane County Bar Association and the UW Law Foundation, with grant funding provided by the State Bar of Wisconsin, plus county support.

Quoted: Jim Johannes, UW-Madison School of Business professor and director of the Puelicher Center for Banking Education.

Quoted: Jim Steele, a UW-Madison professor of food science and an expert on food fermentations.

Noted: UW-Madison education professor Gloria Ladson-Billings.

Kathleen Horning is having a few close friends over for the holidays, some of the same characters who might show up in anyone?s home over the next four weeks. They include Truman Capote, an angel or three, a donkey, a carpenter, a couple of guys on skis and some freezing soldiers, even a snow lady. Horning directs the Cooperative Children?s Book Center located on the fourth floor of the Helen C. White building on the UW-Madison campus. It is a treasury of lore, content and advice effusively doled out to the state?s and the nation?s librarians, teachers, parents and anyone else interested in all that touches children literature. She was asked about unheralded or forgotten children?s books about the holidays, the sort of books that a family keeps together in one place and might bring out just for the season, the sort that make good gift books that are opened time and again, that might be read starting Dec. 1 a chapter per night, book in hand, child in lap.

Quoted: Joan Houston Hall, chief editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English at UW-Madison.

Noted: The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, which collaborates with its partners, including the UW-Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication.

Noted: Bob Norton, professor emeritus from the University of Wisconsin and author of “The Hunter: Developmental Stages and Ethics.”

Over the six-and-a-half years she?s been teaching at UW-Madison, Amy Barber has developed a following for her classes on gender and women?s studies. In the past year-and-a-half, Barber, 31, has amassed another following as a Thursday night DJ for the 18-and- over crowd at Madison?s Plan B nightclub, where she?s known as Professor Shame.

Noted: Holidays don?t cause domestic violence, but family gatherings and increased financial problems can lead to abusers feeling like they?ve lost control, said Darald Hanusa, who has a Ph.D. in clinical social work, is employed at the Midwest Domestic Violence Resource Center in Madison and lectures part time at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Inflammation, which produces that good kind of soreness weekend warriors are familiar with, ?also damages a lot of healthy tissue around it,? notes Li Li Ji, an exercise physiologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. ?That?s why I usually discourage older people from being too ambitious.?

Quoted: What you touch: Signs encouraging customers to touch the merchandise are far less common in stores than signs imploring them not to. But research shows that retailers may be missing a rather lucrative boat. “There are three ways that touching an object can make you willing to pay more for it,” says Joann Peck, an associate professor of marketing at the Wisconsin School of Business in Madison who has conducted a number of studies analyzing the role of touch in shopping behaviors.

Quoted: There is such a thing as holiday sales fatigue, said Cynthia Jasper, a professor of consumer science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Quoted: Deborah Mitchell, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, said this latest marketing tactic is catching on, and more stores are opting to open their doors when they?re traditionally closed for business. The point is to drive customers in during this very important time of year when there?s minimal competition.

Interest in sustainable foods continues to increase and some Wisconsinites will be filling Thanksgiving tables with them. Sean Cash, a professor of Consumer Science at UW-Madison, says some shoppers like to support local farmers and producers. Others look to these alternatives believing the food is healthier or the animals used are treated more humane.

Quoted: By making followers and friends feel they?re getting a deal that?s not widely available, stores increase the likelihood that customers will bite, says Deborah Mitchell, executive director of the Center for Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ?This time of year, it?s almost a sport to brag about the deals you got,? she says. ?They?re playing on that feeling.?

Quoted: Alphonso Morales, professor of  urban and regional planning at UW-Madison.

It?s last call for Timothy Allen, professor of UW-Madison?s “beer course.” Allen ? flamboyant, colorful, and beloved by students ? is retiring when this semester ends after 40 years of teaching at the university. The course that made him a legend is technically called Botany 240: Plants and Man, but it?s known as the “beer course” because one of the optional assignments is to brew beer.

Isthmus editor Bill Lueders made a splash the other day first by quoting famous UW-Madison political scientists Charles Franklin as saying the election proves that voters are ?pretty damn stupid.?

It got noticed nationally, as well it might: Franklin often gets quoted by national media, and now his known contempt for you can usefully attenuate whatever credence the country might lend him.