Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: “He brought that sense of legitimacy and the idea that informercials are not necessarily hucksterism, they are meeting the legitimate needs of legitimate consumers,” says Thomas C. Oâ??Guinn, a University of Wisconsin marketing professor. “He made it OK to buy stuff from informercials. He kind of added a little class to it.”

Quoted: These days, kettlebells might be the trendy thing in the weight room, said Dave Knight, an athletic performance coordinator in the department of sports medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in Madison.

Quoted: Dr. Timothy Kamp, professor of medicine and stem cell researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in this research, said itâ??s a big leap forward that researchers were able to show that fat cells can be turned into cells that have the potential to become any tissue in the body. “This is another proof of principle … another way to get stem cells,” Kamp said.

Quoted: His latest moves appear designed to appeal to bedrock Republican supporters, said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.

Noted: I presented the facts to three ethicists: Kelly McBride at the Poynter Institute, a journalism training center in Florida; Bob Steele, a professor at DePauw University and a scholar at Poynter; and Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. All agreed that Pogue and The Times were facing a clear conflict of interest.

They didnâ??t necessarily agree on how to resolve it. McBride said the paper should not deprive readers of Pogueâ??s expertise, but she and Ward said there should be rigorous oversight and full disclosure to readers about his interests. Steele said disclosure doesnâ??t make the problem go away, and it would be better if Pogue did not review products for which he has written manuals.

Quoted: â??These little low-power stations are really, really local in an age when not much else is,â? said Michele Hilmes, a professor of media and cultural studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who has written widely about radio history.

Quoted: “You have a duty as a reporter to disclose to the person the purposes of your interview,” said Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at UW-Madison. “You should be open about all your affiliations in advance.”

Quoted: “The employment will take a long time to come back,” said Joel Rogers, who founded COWS in 1992 and is its director. “Itâ??s an uncertain environment. Youâ??ve lost a year, two years of growth and thatâ??s a big loss.”

Q: Why is it that often foods with the least nutritional content taste the best to people?

A: It depends on how you define nutrition, says Franco Milani, an assistant professor of food science at UW-Madison. The word “nutritious” may mean a food full of anti-oxidants and fiber, heavy on vitamins and protein, but light on calories.

Quoted: Many things influence why embrace or reject particular brands, says Aric Rindfleisch, a marketing professor with Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our relationships with brands can be deeply psychological and rooted in our personal experience with a company.

Quoted: Dr. Thongchai Winichakul, a Thai historian who lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agrees. An insistence on unity, he points out, leaves little room for dissent.

Quoted: “In my mind, the benefits of the vaccine strongly outweigh any possible risk of the vaccine,” said Dr. Ellen Wald, a pediatric infectious disease expert with UW Health.

A review of Moore’s new book. Since 1984, Moore has taught creative writing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Quoted: Laura Jull, a professor at University of Wisconsin at Madison

Quoted: The overall plan to combine tax increases, debt refinancing, and cuts to contingency funds “does seem eminently reasonable to me in tough times,” said Andrew Reschovsky, a UW-Madison economist and tax policy expert.

Quoted: Limnologist Dick Lathrop of UW-Madison.

Quoted: Timothy Smeeding, who heads the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Poor Kids in a Rich Country: Americaâ??s Children in Comparative Perspective, said Americaâ??s troubles stem from a flawed mix of government spending and not enough help for the working poor.

Quoted: “Psychopaths are often big trouble for those around them,” said clinical psychologist Joseph Newman at the University of Wisconsin. “If we can find out what underlies their problems, we might be able to identify what kinds of interventions might be able to work for them.”

Quoted: Ann Hoyt, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor, points out significant distinctions between nonprofit co-ops and companies such as Intermountain.

Quoted: “If you believe in democratic participation, with citizens coming out and speaking their minds, I donâ??t see how you can really object to town halls,” said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor. “Ultimately, you canâ??t deny the people the right to speak.”

Quoted: Timothy Allen, professor of botany and environmental studies at UW-Madison and an expert on renewable energy, said any health effects are likely self-induced and psychological.

Q. Can people actually speed-read?

A. Yes, but speed-reading has drawbacks, says Mitchell Nathan, a professor of educational psychology at UW-Madison.

Quoted: But the move to test, said Dr. Norm Fost, a University of Wisconsin pediatrician and bioethicist, is based on â??mass hysteria and phenomenal hyperbole.â?

Quoted: “Like a lot of good things, more and more people began to recognize that these are useful tools,” said Katy Culver, a UW-Madison journalism professor. “These are useful in lives; theyâ??re useful at work, and so more and more people began to adopt them. Also, I think the technology really changed.”

Noted: Potato blight was confirmed this week in a Dane County home garden, the third place the disease was found in potatoes in Wisconsin, a state official said Tuesday.

The Dane County case was found near Oregon in a garden that also had diseased tomatoes. The home is near an organic tomato operation that had been infected, UW-Madison plant pathologist Amanda Gevens said.

Tim Flood thinks oakleaf hydrangeas are wonderful plants. He has seen them thrive in parts of Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison, and heâ??s tried three times to grow them at his home in Watertown – without success.

“I suppose if I were to plant one on the east side of a nice brick structure with just the right micro-climate, I might get it to survive,” says Flood, a self-described “plant nerd” who has a bachelorâ??s degree in ornamental horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is vice president of the McKay Nursery Co. in Waterloo. “So I am not giving up.”When it comes to growing trees, shrubs and perennials, most experts agree you shouldnâ??t throw in the trowel too quickly.

“Plants can fail for many reasons,” says Ed Lyon, director of UW-Madisonâ??s Allen Centennial Gardens. “And many of those reasons can be avoided.”

Quoted: Dr. Gwen McIntosh, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said most kids experience some degree of homesickness when beginning college, especially if they are leaving their hometown or community.

Quoted: Cooperative efforts between states are difficult and unlikely because of the federalist system, said Dennis Dresang, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor who is an expert on federalism. Each state is unique, and merging laws, programs and regulations is difficult.

Quoted: With a history intertwined with the cityâ??s, the Progressiveâ??s leftist voice is one â??a lot of people in Madison pay attention to,â? said Katy Culver, a journalism teacher at UW-Madison.

Q. I saw some cloud pouches hanging down from another cloud. What are they?

A. There was a nice case of these lumpy lobes of clouds called mammatus about two weeks ago near sunset over Madison.

Quoted: The state hasnâ??t had any outbreaks of late blight since 2002, according to UW-Madison plant pathologist Amanda Gevens.

Q: Are there more food recalls now? Why?

A: 2009 has been a big year for food recalls, largely because salmonella-contaminated dried milk, pistachio nuts and peanut products affected thousands of items in a wide variety of food products, says Kathleen Glass, a microbiologist and associate director of the Food Research Institute at UW-Madison. “If you have a single whole food, from one manufacturing plant or one farm, the contamination event will have a much smaller effect.”

Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin noted that Doyleâ??s approval rating in voter polls hovered at around 45 percent through his first term and reached 55 percent following his 2006 re-election, but is now at 31 percent following last yearâ??s economic meltdown.

The stateâ??s wasp population seems to be down this year, possibly because of the wetter spring and cooler summer.

Phil Pellitteri is a bug expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He says every summer he gets calls about wasp problems from farmerâ??s markets or outdoor restaurants. He says this year he hasnâ??t gotten any complaints.

Quoted: “That story is a great story for any candidate, and theyâ??d love to have that,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.

The state’s wasp population seems to be down this year, possibly because of the wetter spring and cooler summer.

Phil Pellitteri is a bug expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He says every summer he gets calls about wasp problems from farmer’s markets or outdoor restaurants. He says this year he hasn’t gotten any complaints.

Quoted: Nationwide, roughly 30 percent of PhDâ??s in mathematical sciences are awarded to women compared with 5 percent in the 1950â??s, according to Janet Mertz, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and co-author of the June study “Gender, Culture, and Mathematics Performance.”But while that may sound like a success, todayâ??s figure isnâ??t a lot higher than the period between 1890 and World War II, when 15 to 20 percent of top math degrees went to women, Mertz said. After the war women were told to give up their “Rosie the Riveter” jobs doing “menâ??s workâ??”to returning veterans ,and the volume of women continuing in these jobs and pursuing degrees in math plummeted.