The Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison has renovated its Library Reading Room.The seven-month, $2.9 million project has restored historic details missing or obscured since a 1955 renovation, including a replicated stained-glass skylight in the roomâ??s 30-foot-high ceiling.
Category: UW Experts in the News
Study aims to increase rural asthma awareness (Columbia, Mo. Daily Tribune)
Quoted: David Van Sickle, a fellow the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and study director at Reciprocal Sciences, a Wisconsin-based company that provides products and services for public health agencies, said that historically, asthma has been thought of as an urban affliction. Global studies have shown increased incidences of asthma associated with industrialization.
A sports fan’s dilemma (The News Journal, Delaware)
Quoted: Services like this provide a lot more content than a customer actually wants, said Barry Orton, professor of telecommunications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The cable industry has based its entire business plan on selling bundles, Orton said. If customers were allowed to pick and choose the stations they wanted to buy, “weâ??d buy and watch a whole lot less, and I
Chicago News Cooperative: How Much Do You Know About Transportation?
Quoted: â??Use crisis to test peopleâ??s desire to pay money if they can see a clear plan that will reduce their cost of living,â? said Joel Rogers, a speaker at the event and a professor of law, political science and sociology at the University of Wisconsin who runs the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a policy center. â??Of course, it may destroy you politically,â? he said, drawing guffaws from attendees, and for good reason.
Secrets of Sleep (National Geographic Magazine)
Noted: Studies suggest that memory consolidation may be one function of sleep. Giulio Tononi, a noted sleep researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, published an interesting twist on this theory a few years ago: His study showed that the sleeping brain seems to weed out redundant or unnecessary synapses or connections. So the purpose of sleep may be to help us remember whatâ??s important, by letting us forget whatâ??s not.
Motorcycle Season Off To Dangerous Start
Quoted: “If I find out that they didnâ??t find a helmet than my concern for them is even greater because the likelihood of them having severe head and facial injuries higher also,” said University of Wisconsin Hospital trauma surgeon Dr. Lee Faucher.
New religion of environmentalism (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Quoted: Americaâ??s leading environmental historian, William Cronon of the University of Wisconsin, calls environmentalism a new religion because it offers â??a complex series of moral imperatives for ethical action, and judges human conduct accordingly.â?
Madison Man Develops Chemical-Free Way To Target Weeds
Quoted: University of Wisconsin turf grass pathologist Jim Kerns said it can work if the conditions are right.
Footnote: Proposed ordinance would let Madison prosecute over online prostitution ads
Walter Dickey, a UW-Madison Law School professor who specializes in criminal law, agreed that the city is probably on stable legal ground.
Why religion could affect Obama’s court nomination
Quoted: “People think itâ??s especially wrong to talk about religion,” said Ann Althouse, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “Religion is a private matter.”
Assembly votes to censure Rep. Wood
Quoted: UW-Madison history professor Jeremi Suri said censure is a powerful, symbolic statement by a legislative body.  “What a legislature is doing when they censure one of their own is basically they are saying one of their colleagues has gone so far out of line, the person needs to be condemned above and beyond the normal course of debate.”Suri said censure amounts to other lawmakers formally distancing themselves from Wood.
UW-Madison political science professor Jon Pevehouse told WKOW27 News while lawmaker votes on Woodâ??s fate would be considered by voters come November, issues such as positions on health care could dwarf any stance on Woodâ??s punishment.
Legislators Will Again Rush Until the End (WUWM-FM)
Quoted: UW-Madison Political Scientist David Canon says itâ??s typical for legislatures to put off making certain big decisions until the very end. One reason is strategic: to gain bargaining power.Â
It’s a garden party at Shorewood Hills home
Isadore Fine shakes his head at the sight of some weeds. â??Oh my God, two dandelions. Iâ??ve got to get my spade,â? Fine exclaims in the garden outside his Shorewood Hills home, where visitors are welcome and the brilliant tulips are peaking this week. The garden attracted about 100 people on Sunday, said Fine, a 91-year-old professor emeritus of business at UW-Madison.
Charles J. Czuprynski: Science shows no benefit in raw milk
Perhaps legalizing the sale of raw milk is a bad idea whose time has come. But I believe itâ??s a mistake from a food safety and public health perspective at a time when Wisconsin is moving assertively in other directions to protect and promote the health of its citizens. â?? Charles J. Czuprynski, director, Food Research Institute, and professor, UW-Madison Department of Pathobiological Sciences
Canada Geese Are Feathered Foe At Dane County Airport
Quoted: Visitors to Warner Park on Monday asked why the geese couldnâ??t simply be relocated. Scott Craven, a University of Wisconsin professor of wildlife ecology said that idea wasnâ??t practical.
Economic Changes, Former PM Spur Thai Divisions (Voice of America)
Quoted: Thongchai Winichakul is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. He says while Mr. Thaksin challenged the elites with his popularity, it was the yellow shirts and their supporters who brought the red shirts to the streets. Â
Bill would deregulate Wis. landline phone service (AP)
Quoted: But Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications professor, said the deregulation would hurt elderly citizens who want to keep their landlines and some rural customers who have only one option for phone service. They wonâ??t have other options if their rates increase or their quality of service is poor, he said
Will Bison Roam Europe’s Mountains?
Quoted: “Thatâ??s not a large number, but itâ??s still a major success story in terms of conservation of wild animals,” said Tobias Kuemmerle of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who led the new study.
The Bankersâ?? Latest Scam (The Progressive)
Quoted: The Committee for Truth in Politics ads are a classic example of â??muddying the waters,â? says Ken Goldstein, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project. But there are more ads of this type than ever, he says. â??Itâ??s very early, and itâ??s already very noisy and toxic.â?
As Earth Day marks its 40th anniversary, an organizer of the first event looks back
Understanding the first Earth Day, said professor William Cronon, who studies American environmental history at UW-Madison, requires understanding that change â?? radical change â?? was in the air.
Bill would deregulate Wis. landline phone service
Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications professor, said the deregulation would hurt elderly citizens who want to keep their landlines and some rural customers who have only one option for phone service.
UW researchers study meteor fragment
UW-Madison researchers are currently studying what they believe to be a fragment of the meteor that passed over the Midwest last week.
The Estrogen Dilemma
Quoted: With about 730 participants, Keeps is relatively small; hormone research has been tough to finance in the post-W.H.I. years, and every scientist and physician Iâ??ve spoken to said there will never again be another hormone trial as costly and ambitious as the W.H.I. A second study, based in Los Angeles, called the Early Versus Late Intervention Trial With Estradiol, is following more than 600 women â?? comparing a group that has been post-menopausal for an average of 15 years and that is on estradiol or on a placebo with a second, younger group that is an average of three years post-menopausal. â??This is the age when we should really study estrogen,â? says Sanjay Asthana, a University of Wisconsin medical professor who is a designer of the cognition component of Keeps. â??People like me are really waiting to see what this data looks like. Either way. We need to know.â?
Social mobility and inequality: Upper bound (The Economist)
Quoted: The recession, meanwhile, may have exacerbated trends in inequality. The capital markets, points out Timothy Smeeding of the University of Wisconsin, have recovered more quickly than the housing or labour markets. This is troubling for the poor and the middle class, since homes represent a greater share of their wealth. Unemployment has been concentrated in Americaâ??s lower ranks. As the rich recover, poor and middle-class people may lag behind. Young workers may fare badly, too. Those who graduate in recessions have lower incomes in the long term, according to Lisa Kahn of Yale University.
Ask the weather guys: Does humidity affect the flight of a batted baseball?
Quoted: Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin. As the baseball season dawns and summer is on the horizon, it seems a good time to examine the age-old baseball belief that a batted ball will not travel as far on a humid day as it does on a “drier” day.
5 Ways Parents Can Prevent Teenage Drinking
“Tenacious parents who will not leave the examination room” are cited as a major barrier to routine screening for alcohol and drug use by pediatricians in the new teen alcohol screening policy. And what 13-year-old would want to tell Mom she pounded five Vodka Cruisers at a party? “We want to keep families involved,” Patricia Kokotailo, director of adolescent medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health told me, “but some things are very difficult for teenagers to express if itâ??s not confidential.”
Soaring meteor lights up skies across the Midwest
As large as the halo seems, history suggests the object might only be the size of a softball or basketball, said James Lattis, the director of the University of Wisconsin Space Place in Madison.
Wisconsin Republicans without front-runner in U.S. Senate race against Russ Feingold (AP)
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a professor of political science at UW-Madison, said Thompsonâ??s decision helps the other GOP candidates who have until now been handicapped by the specter of his campaign run.
Thompson to announce Senate campaign decision Thursday
Charles Franklin, professor of political science at UW-Madison and a co-founder of Pollster.com, said it would be odd to show up at a rally to announce heâ??s â??taken his last bow in Wisconsin politics.
Three added to Wisconsin’s Conservation Hall of Fame
Mentions Emily Earley, 93, who worked 15 years as a program coordinator and editor of technical publications at the University of Wisconsinâ??s Institute for Environmental Studies, and her colleague Stephen Born, a professor of environmental studies at UW.
Youth served before and during turkey season
Scott Lutz, a University of Wisconsin wildlife ecologist researching habitats Wisconsinâ??s turkeys prefer.
‘Brilliant fireball’ lit up sky and 911 phone lines across Midwest
Quoted: UW-Madison Assistant Professor Ankur Desai from the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Services and UW Space Place Director James Lattis.
‘Brilliant fireball’ lit up sky and 911 phone lines across Midwest
An apparent meteor â?? or possibly a piece of space junk â?? shot through and illuminated the night sky Wednesday, spurring dozens of people to flood the Dane County 911 Center with calls.
The object was first reported to the center about 10:15 p.m., and calls continued for more than an hour after that. Calls came from residents in at least five Midwestern states as the object tracked from west to east.
Quoted: Ankur Desai, an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and Jim Lattis, director of Space Place
Possible Meteor Reported Over Southern Wisconsin
Noted: Officials at the University of Wisconsin AOSS building said that they captured images of the incident on their rooftop Web cam. Those series of black-and-white images are available here.
Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control shows how Iran continues to evade sanctions
Gary Milhollin, a UW-Madison law professor emeritus and founder of the Wisconsin Project, a non-profit nuclear tracking project, based since 1989 in Washington.
Falk, Cieslewicz are walking, biking, taking transit in Europe
After flying to Europe, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and 19 other civic and business leaders this week are touring bicycle-friendly cities in Germany and the Netherlands solely by foot, bike and mass transit to learn how to improve the regionâ??s transportation systems. Al Fish, associate chancellor for facilities at UW-Madison, is also on the trip.
Help fight booze battle locally
The Dane County Coalition to Reduce Alcohol Abuse is hosting two more forums this month on ways to change Wisconsinâ??s culture of heavy drinking. The public is welcome this Thursday and next Thursday at 6 p.m. at CUNA Mutual, 5910 Mineral Point Rd., Madison, in the round building. On Thursday, UW-Madison’s Flo Hilliard will address women and alcohol.
New DNR study hopes to settle debate surrounding deer predators
Noted: researchers Tim Van Deelen of UW-Madison, who has analyzed field data from 1998 to 2008.
Bill would reduce regulation on landline phone providers
Quoted: Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications professor.
Ratings reveal strengths and weaknesses of southern Wisconsin banks
“Itâ??s fun to look at the ratings, but there is a lot of noise in those numbers,” said UW-Madison School of Business professor Jim Johannes, director of the Puelicher Center for Banking Education.
Ask the weather guys: What are the plant hardy zones and how do they relate to climate?
Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
What’s covered? Understanding health insurance can be an expensive nightmare
“We have not necessarily simplified health care,” said Meg Gaines, director of the Center for Patient Partnerships at UW-Madison. “That was abandoned in favor of getting access for folks.”
Curiosities: What happens to the rubber that comes off tires as they are driven?
According to an estimate from the 1990s, tires spew 350,000 to 650,000 metric tons of particles into the air nationwide, says Anders Andren, a professor of environmental chemistry and technology at UW-Madison.
New questions about Kissinger role in 1970s Latin death plot
Quoted: “I think the document reinforces what we already know — that Kissinger wanted to downplay Condor,” said Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of a 2007 book on Kissinger. “His primary concern was to maintain good and … productive relationships with Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Condor was seen as an irritant.”
Underground cash economy thrives in Sacramento
Quoted: As much as $2 trillion in income went unreported nationally in 2008 â?? about 24 percent of total adjusted gross income in the United States, said Edgar Feige, a University of Wisconsin economist and authority on the topic. Thatâ??s the highest level since World War II, he said.
How Tackling Allergies Can Ease Asthma Suffering
Quoted: “For the vast majority of children with asthma, allergies are a very important, if not the most important factor in causing symptoms and determining risk for hospitalizations and emergency room visits,” says asthma expert Dr. William Busse of the University of Wisconsin.
What Kids Know: McDonald’s, Toyota, Disney
Quoted: “Young children are ready learners and are learning about their brand environment just about everywhere,” said T. Bettina Cornwell, a professor of marketing and sports management at the University of Michigan. Cornwell and Anna R. McAlister, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, published their study “Childrenâ??s Brand Symbolism Understanding” in the journal Psychology and Marketing last month.
Swine-flu stricken pigs troubled feds worried about setting precedent: docs (Canadian Press)
Quoted: Dr. Christopher Olsen, a swine-flu expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the government didnâ??t know what it had on its hands last spring.”Itâ??s quite easy to look back in retrospect,” he said.
Future tasks of incoming appellate judges
Quoted: UW-Madison Law Professor Keith Findley says for most citizens the appellate court is probably their final chance as the supreme court takes few cases, â??The court of appeals describes itself as a high volume, error correcting court and for most people thatâ??s the end of the game,â? says Findley.
Hoping for a boost in milk prices
Quoted: UW Ag agent David Fischer says an increase in milk prices would be a big help for farmers.
69 Wisconsin doctors show up on Pfizer payroll
Sixty-nine Wisconsin doctors were on the payroll of the worldâ??s largest drug company, Pfizer, during the last six months of 2009, working as speakers, consultants and researchers and pulling in more than $200,000 combined, according to a list made public by the company.
Madison police offer ‘vehicle report cards’ in an effort to stop thefts
Quoted: Michael Scott, director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing at UW-Madison, said the more targeted such initiatives are, the more successful they are, especially when combined with efforts to catch thieves and to address environmental factors, such as lighting and security.
Wis. farmers struggling to get loans
Wisconsin farmers are having a tough time getting loans needed for spring planting. The University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates net farm income dropped 56 percent in Wisconsin last year to about $1 billion – the lowest level since 2002.
Judge OKs ‘final’ delay in $3.4B Indian lawsuit (AP)
Quoted: Richard Monette, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin and former chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, said at a public hearing last month that, if enacted, the proposed Cobell settlement “will itself be a breach of trust.”
Voter turnout may have been lowest in a decade
Voter turnout in Tuesdayâ??s spring election may have been the lowest of the past decade, raising the question: What happened to voter angst about the recession?
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professors Barry Burden and Ken Goldstein
Vulnerable Democrats are tiptoeing on health care
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Voter turnout may have been lowest in a decade
Lack of a major statewide race and nonpartisan elections were some of the key reasons for low turnout, said UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden.
Amid emotional testimony, bill targets workplace bullying
Quoted: Corliss Olson, associate professor at the UW-Extensionâ??s School for Workers.
Thailand declares state of emergency amid protests
Quoted: The government has blinked in the protracted standoff, said Thongchai Winichakul, a professor at the University of Wisconsinâ??s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
A Tentative Contract Deal for Washington Teachers
Quoted: â??Just modestly innovativeâ? was the way Allan R. Odden, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin who followed the talks closely, described the settlement. He said it would leave intact both teacher tenure and the traditional teacher salary structure, based on years of experience and educational attainment. â??Itâ??s a compromise,â? Dr. Odden said.