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Category: UW Experts in the News

You can try beer, and a dessert, made with cicadas at Lake Geneva’s ‘Cicadapalooza’

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Insect Diagnostics Lab PJ Liesch received the first reports of Brood XIII cicadas in Wisconsin this year out of the Lake Geneva area just over a week ago. With some of the best-documented historical cicada activity in the state, Lake Geneva could very well be Wisconsin’s “bug central” this summer. Residents have already shared photos of cicadas covering tree trunks, sidewalks and other surfaces.

UW survey finds inflation, gun violence and health care top issues for Wisconsin residents

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Main Street Agenda is a project designed to focus on the issues Wisconsinites rank as most important heading into the 2024 election. The topics come from a survey of nearly 4,000 residents conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Survey Center in partnership with the La Follette School of Public Affairs.

Periodical cicadas won’t be coming to Madison — here’s why

The Capital Times

Still, this is a unique phenomenon that people in the Badger State won’t experience again until 2041. Known on social media as the “Wisconsin Bug Guy” P.J. Liesch is particularly excited about the swarms of cicadas that have already started to pop up and make noise here.

“I turn 40 years old next year, and I have not seen these yet with my own eyes,” said Liesch, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab.

Washington Post said it had the Alito flag story 3 years ago and chose not to publish

The Hill

Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin, said it was a bad call. And, she added, if she were at the Post she would have argued for the paper to be more forthcoming. While Martha-Ann Alito has the right to her own opinions, a flag like that shouldn’t be on display outside the home of a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Culver said. “It’s a flag that flies in the face of the neutrality that the Supreme Court is supposed to be observing,” she said.

Opinion: I’m a millennial mom. Why are you looking at me to fix the birth-rate problem?

MarketWatch

“In order to make childbearing seem like an easy option, having more kids an easy option, you’d have to go even further than many of the states that have strong social-safety-net systems,” said Jessica Calarco, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin and the author of the forthcoming “Holding it Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net.”

DACA immigrants in the Madison area live with fear and uncertainty

The Capital Times

Dreamers live under a microscope; any mistake could jeopardize their status, said Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

“Someone who has DACA is already incredibly accomplished and has had no errors in their ways for their entire life because they basically have been forced to have a perfect life — in academics and employment and with their character — in order to qualify for DACA,” Barbato said.

Act 10 is back in court. Here are the stakes for Wisconsin unions

The Capital Times

“I think you can show what has happened to real wages for teachers in Wisconsin when they’re not allowed to bargain over wages,” said Michael Childers, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who researches organized labor issues. “And what does that do to every other aspect in terms of teacher turnover and the ability to recruit and retain people to come to the profession. We’re 10 years in, there’s enough data.”

What to know from the latest inspection of Wisconsin’s only ICE detention center

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gita Connolly, who works with people detained at Dodge through the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Immigrant Justice Clinic, said these documents are extremely important for people to proceed with their immigration cases. Even those who have chosen to leave the U.S. voluntarily cannot leave without their identity documents.

 

Abortion a risky campaign topic for GOP candidates, experts say

The Capital Times

These are the voters whom Republican candidates risk losing if they take a strong stance on abortion bans, according to Mariel Barnes, a political scientist at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“This presents a problem for the Republican Party and Republican candidates,” Barnes told the Cap Times. “Because they’re trying to satisfy this more extreme wing in the party that wants to restrict abortion under almost all circumstances, when it is actually very unpopular with the center of the party, and you need the center of the party to get elected.”

Bird flu, raw milk debate converge

The Hill

“These claims — I’m a chemist by trade — just make no sense whatsoever on any kind of science or chemistry basis,” University of Wisconsin–Madison food science professor John Lucey told The Hill. “I’ve been doing research on dairy products and milk for 20-plus years,” Lucey added. “In my field, nobody gives credence to these fantastic claims.”

Can Dogs Really Get Seasonal Allergies? These Bizarre Behaviors Could Be A Sign

Inverse

Like humans, dogs can be allergic to pollens, dust mites, and mold spores, which typically shouldn’t pose a threat to the body. “You can think of allergy as an overactive immune system,” says Douglas DeBoer, a veterinarian and professor of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. “Your immune system normally is supposed to be protecting you from foreign things like bacteria and viruses. In some cases, your immune system becomes overactive and it starts responding to things in the environment that it shouldn’t be responding to.” He adds that allergies often develop in a dog’s first three years of life.

The Problem With Nudging People to Make a Better Choice

Wall Street Journal

In the end, though, the main takeaway from our research is that nudges may be a great first step. But that’s all they are: a first step. Much of the hard work is what comes next.

-Evan Polman is an associate professor of marketing and Kuechenmeister-Bascom professor in business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sam J. Maglio is a professor of marketing at the University of Toronto.

How China Pulled So Far Ahead on Industrial Policy

The New York Times

“There’s enormous economies of scale by going big as China did,” Gregory Nemet, a professor of public policy at the University of Wisconsin who has studied the global solar industry. When the investments resulted in overcapacity, suppressing the profitability of China’s companies, Beijing was willing to ride out the losses.

Damages From PFAS Lawsuits Could Surpass Asbestos, Industry Lawyers Warn

The New York Times

One challenge facing medical research lies in the sheer number of different PFAS chemicals that have now entered the environment, each of which can have slightly different health effects, said Steph Tai, associate dean at the University of Wisconsin’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and an expert in the use of science in environmental protection and litigation.

One of a kind meat training program brings people from across the country to Madison

Madison Commons

UW–Madison is home to a two-year training program, known as the Master Meat Crafter Program, that offers members of the meat industry new skills and knowledge to take their careers to the next level. Created in 2010 by Jeff Sindelar, Ph.D., a professor and extension meat specialist in Animal & Dairy Sciences, it is a one-of-a-kind program that brings people from across the country and abroad to Madison to earn the “Master Meat Crafter” distinction upon graduation.

Why Race Matters — discussing COVID-19

PBS Wisconsin

UW–Madison’s Kevin Lawrence Henry Jr., an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, has been working to improve educational outcomes for underserved students and shares his experiences and recommendations.

“Studies have shown that students who were engaged in longer periods of distance learning or virtual learning fared far worse than some of their counterparts,” he explains. “And that particularly hurt Black and brown students in the state of Wisconsin.”

Wisconsin is in the minority of states shielding police data. We’re suing to change that.

Wisconsin Examiner

Access to police employment data could also help groups like the Wisconsin Innocence Project, said Christopher Lau, a co-director of the project and law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Being able to use data to get background on officers in support of the cases of their clients, which often involve allegations of police misconduct, “would make our litigation much stronger,” he said.

Rocket Lab to launch satellite to monitor Earth’s polar regions

RNZ

The mission, called PREFIRE, short for Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, includes two shoebox-sized satellites or ‘cubesats’ to find out how much heat Earth’s polar regions radiate out to space and how that influences our climate. University of Wisconsin professor, and principal investigator for the mission, Tristan L’Ecuyer spoke to Corin Dann.

Financial aid for college, History of divestment protests, Country music by Black artists

Wisconsin Public Radio
In echoes from the past, college students across the country have recently been calling for their academic institutions to divest from Israel over the war in Gaza. We talk with several people involved in protesting apartheid South Africa decades ago, in Madison and around the country.

Can Medicare money protect doctors from abortion crimes? It worked before, desegregating hospitals

ABC News

As Medicare prepared to begin paying for the care of elderly patients in July 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson used the offer of massive federal spending as a tool to finally end the most glaring racial discrimination in hospitals nationwide. It remains “one the most prominent and powerful cases of linking federal funding to other policy goals,” said University of Wisconsin professor Tom Oliver, an expert on health care policy changes.

Moving the needle: Wisconsin students calling for divestment from Israel echo past protests

Wisconsin Public Radio

A few weeks ago, on a University of Wisconsin-Madison campus sidewalk, a message in chalk read “DIVEST from Militarism.” It was final exams week, students and older adults alike lounged, studied and conversed alongside tents pitched illegally in protest, while a dainty melody on solo clarinet could be heard playing.

Cicadas have re-emerged in Wisconsin for the first time in 17 years. Why that isn’t all bad news.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Once every 17 years, the species emerges as adults to breed. However, the species’ adult life only lasts about four to six weeks. This means their stint as an annoyance to humans and ample food source for wildlife will be over by the beginning of July, said PJ Liesch, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Insect Diagnostics Lab.

“When folks look at the cicadas and wonder, ‘Are they good or bad?,’ in my mind, the good far outweighs any bad because these insects are really going to serve as a huge benefit for our local wildlife population,” he said.

Why Gen Z College Students Are Seeking Tech and Finance Jobs

The New York Times

Sara Lazenby, an institutional policy analyst for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that might be why students and their parents were much more focused on professional outcomes than they used to be. “In the past few years,” she said, “I’ve seen a higher level of interest in this first-destination data” — stats on what jobs graduates are getting out of college.

Opinion | The Gender Pay Gap Is a Culture Problem

New York Times

In an email, Jessica Calarco, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of “Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net,” said: I asked 2,000 parents from across the U.S., “Do you think children are better off if their mother is home and doesn’t hold a job, or are children just as well off if their mother works for pay?” Fifty-two percent of dads and 47 percent of moms said it’s better for kids if their moms aren’t working for pay.

Some immigrants can’t get Wisconsin driver’s licenses, but some want that to change

Wisconsin Public Radio

Erin Barbato, who directs the Immigrant Justice Law Center at the University of Wisconsin Law School, says it takes time for asylum seekers to get a work permit needed for a driver’s license. After entering the country, asylum seekers generally have one year to fill out an application proving they should be granted asylum status to remain in the U.S. because they fear persecution in their home countries.

“Even if someone comes here and is seeking asylum, they won’t be eligible for a work permit for about six months,” she said. “And in order to get that work permit, it’s going to take six months to a year.”

‘Focus on personal protection’: Ticks came out early this year, keep yourself safe this summer

WKOW-TV 27

“With the mild El Niño winter we had this last year we started seeing some activity back in months like February,” UW Extension Entomologist PJ Liesch said. “I always like to remind folks that technically, you could bump into ticks in Wisconsin any month of the year as long as it’s warm enough. It generally has to be free of snow on the ground and about 40 degrees and above.”

No credit check loans guide

WalletHub

“These loans can be appealing to those with poor or limited credit histories, yet they carry inherent risks,” says Anita Mukherjee, a professor at the Wisconsin School of Business. “Specifically, they often come with significantly higher interest rates and fees due to the increased risk lenders assume by not checking credit. The allure of accessibility should be carefully weighed against these loans’ short repayment terms, which can make monthly payments more challenging.”

‘Climate Trackers: Superpowered by Ecometeorology’ shows the power of combinations and collaborations

PBS Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences professor Ankur Desai and his lab conduct ecometeorological research, a cross-pollination of meteorology and ecology. At Seven Seeds Farm, they investigate how cattle farming on silvopastures impacts climate.

Workers discover cannabis plants amid the tulips outside the state Capitol

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Shelby Ellison, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at UW-Madison, said the plants looked purposefully planted in the flower beds that contained mostly tulips but that it was unclear whether the plants could be used as marijuana without further testing.

“It is impossible to determine if they were hemp or marijuana without testing for THC content. I do think they were likely intentionally planted just because there were so many of them,” she said.

Kendi, a Milwaukee County Zoo giraffe, required surgery for a unique breeding injury

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Ultimately, a team of specialists came together to help Kendi, from the zoo’s animal care staff to veterinary professionals from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, the Kettle Moraine Equine Hospital and Regional Equine Dental Center and the Henry Vilas Zoo. Also, the zoo’s grounds, forestry and maintenance departments modified the giraffe barn with extra padding to set it up for the procedure.

We know Trump will be the RNC nominee, but here’s why conventions are still important

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Conventions as we know them today — major events held in large cities attended by party insiders — began in the early- to mid-1800s. State parties needed to coordinate their activities and nominate someone who would appear on the ballot across the country, explained University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden.

“All that changed 50 years ago, when the parties changed their nomination systems to emphasize primaries and caucuses as the ways that delegates would be selected,” Burden said.