Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: As members of congress make use of their August recess to meet with their constituents, UW-Madison political science professor Ken Mayer says anger at such political forums is nothing new.

Quoted: “Every dollar you give in compensation is a dollar you canâ??t spend on programs and curatorial work,” said Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: “With him out, it actually allows national forces to come play a bigger role,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison political Science professor Charles Franklin.

Video: The race for the next Governor is already on the minds of those in Wisconsin.

Professor Charles Franklin of the UW Political Science Department joined us on 27 news at 6 to put it all in perspective.

Quoted: “It used to be a big deal to see a million dollars a day spent in a presidential campaign, and we wouldnâ??t see that till after Labor Day,” said Ken Goldstein, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin who tracks advertising. To see many millions being spent each day in August, he said, underscores how high the stakes are.

Quoted: Alfonso Morales, an “open air market” specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said more and more people are trying to turn bric-a-brac — miscellaneous small articles collected for sentimental or decorative interest — into cash to cope with the harsh new reality of lost jobs, slashed hours and dwindling incomes.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, professor of political science at University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted that Doyle had struggled with his approval rating, which Franklin said had fallen into the low 30s in the past few months.

“It’s not at all clear anybody could have been a very popular governor given the budget and economic crises he faced in both terms,” said Franklin, a co-developer of pollster.com.

Quoted: Figure out your take-home pay after taxes and budget accordingly, said Michael Collins, a UW-Madison assistant professor of personal finance.

Many people know only their salary â?? an inflated number that gives you a false sense of wealth.

Quoted: UW-Madison political expert Charles Franklin said, with no incumbent, Wisconsinâ??s race for governor will be one of the most closely-watched in the country.

â??Clearly, both sides will be able to raise lots of money for their primaries,â? Franklin said.

Quoted: â??This should be one of (the) three or four (most competitive) races in the country,â? said UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin. â??Itâ??s hard to say itâ??s the top one, but it certainly ought to be on the top of everybodyâ??s list.â?

Q: How big is space?

A: Space is probably infinite, but we can see only the part that contains stars or galaxies whose light has been able to reach us, says Francis Halzen, a professor of physics at UW-Madison. The universe originated about 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang, so light cannot have been traveling for more than 13.7 billion years. “Since we know how old the universe is,” Halzen says, “and the speed of light, we can calculate the size of space we can see.

Noted: “We have a lot of students and staff and faculty who actually ask us how they can keep their laptops safe,” said Brian Rust, with the UW’s information technology group, Do IT.

Rust said security means more than just physicially locking the laptop up.

“You know, about all a cable lock will do is slow somebody down,” said Rust.

Quoted: “Democrats will say â??we did the best we could in tough times and we have a vision for the future.â?? Republicans will say â??we would have done a much better job and hereâ??s our alternative view of the future,â??” said Charles Franklin, UW Political Science professor.

Quoted: Bioethicist Rob Streiffer of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Two murals at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Joliet — “The Agony in the Garden” and “The Ascension” — are getting an old look.

Tony Rajer, art conservator, author and part-time instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, began work on the paintings Aug. 3. Rajer estimates it will take six weeks, thousands of cotton swabs and about $15,000 to restore the murals that had been painted over in the 1970s. When complete, Rajer will apply a preservative coating to the murals.

Quoted: Amanda Gevens, a University of Wisconsin-Madison plant pathologist.

Quoted: According to Joe Elder, a professor of sociology and a specialist on Pakistan at the University of Wisconsin, Mehsud has likely been under extreme surveillance for a long time now, whereas bin Laden has remained a moving target.

“With the assistance of Pakistani intelligence it’s much easier to track down and follow the head of the Pakistani Taliban. Many of them have been residing in the region for a long time,” said Elder. “It’s his home turf, so it’s an easier target.”

Quoted: Dr. Jonathan Temte, a family physician at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a member of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said much of the flu vaccine supply is routinely ordered early in the year, but he thinks large HMOs, university clinics and drugstore chains have been making big orders to get patients in early.

Quoted: “DEET has been used for a very long time with very few bad outcomes,” added Susan Paskewitz, a professor of entomology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “People have killed themselves by drinking it, but you can do that with alcohol or salt. And a few have had neurological symptoms after application for long periods and high doses.”

Quoted: Peter Carstensen, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin and an expert in antitrust laws, says he’s seen troubling developments in the U.S. dairy industry.

“And one of my recurring concerns has been the way in which dairy markets have become concentrated, with mergers that have created the present Dean Foods being a major source of concern,” Carstensen says. “I have expressed repeatedly my concerns that something should be done.”

“The bottom line is that these numbers are interesting,” said Frank Greer of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who served on a panel that recently doubled the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for daily vitamin-D intake. “But I’m not ready to make a great hue and cry until we have more data. I think we should use them for further research to determine their significance.”

Quoted: Richard Slaughter, director of the UW-Madison Geology Museum, said Cave of the Mounds is a â??tour de force,â? in its geological education â?? providing thousands of children each year with their first cave experience.

Quoted: UW-Madison researcher Steve Carpenter says the higher temperature shouldn’t affect walleye and perch.

Q: How many galaxies have humans discovered?

A: “We donâ??t know,” says Ed Churchwell, professor of astronomy at UW-Madison. “We know itâ??s a very large number.”

A new public opinion poll shows President Obama losing support in Wisconsin, more than he has nationally.

UW-Madison polling expert Charles Franklin says the report by Survey USA is in line with what other public opinion samplings have been showing lately, but it is worse in Wisconsin for the president.

Quoted: The spot is bright at ultraviolet wavelengths, which may argue against a meteoroid impact as a cause. That’s because rocky bodies, with the exception of objects very rich in water ice, should cause an impact site to darken at ultraviolet wavelengths as it fills with debris that absorbs such light, says Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the Venus Express team.

Quoted: Asked about the episode, Stephen J. A. Ward, the director at the Center for Journalism Ethics at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Wisconsin, wrote in an e-mail message that he expects it will be a growing problem.

Quoted: Gilles Bousquet is dean of international studies and director of the International Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. A native of France who has spent much of his academic career in the United States, he says that since 1968, universities have cast themselves in the role of the “educational conscience of France,” even though “this is largely a construct that doesn’t work in reality.”

Quoted: Dr. Mark Moss is an allergist with the University of Wisconsin Health Hospital and Clinics. He said Madison probably ranked high because ragweed grows especially well in Wisconsin.

Quoted: A conviction “is not going to be a deterrent,” said Shawn Peters, a University of Wisconsin teacher and an expert on law and religion.

“It’s a kind of martyrdom. It’s a badge of honor. We have individuals who really don’t care about temporal earthly punishment,” said Peters, author of “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children and the Law.”

Quoted: Richard Hartel, the scientist who co-wrote the book on ice cream (Ice Cream, sixth edition), is a food-engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies ice crystals. His current approach involves reexamining an age-old process: how exactly ice crystals form in a typical commercial freezer.

Quoted: “Journalism economics have always altered journalism ethics,” says Stephen J.A. Ward, author of “The Invention of Journalism Ethics: The Path to Objectivity and Beyond” and director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: John Karl Scholz, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: The treatments are not available in the United States because the scientific community hasnâ??t validated the procedures, a prerequisite for federal government approval, said Terry Devitt, director of Research Communications at UW-Madison.

Q: Are there more geese in Wisconsin than there used to be?

A: The number of Canada geese in Wisconsin is very much on the rise, increasing exponentially since standardized bird counts began in 1966, according to Stan Temple, professor of wildlife ecology at UW-Madison.

Quoted: Joe Lauer, a professor and a corn agronomist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, said corn in central Wisconsin is showing signs of stress from the lack of rain. Rain is needed in the next two weeks for the corn to grow properly and save the crop, he said.

Quoted: Jenneman will be one of an estimated 196,000 Wisconsin workers who will benefit when the wage hike takes effect, said Laura Dresser, a labor economist with UW-Madison’s Center on Wisconsin Strategy. That includes 100,000 people who make less than $7.25 an hour and 96,000 who make more than that but are likely to gain indirectly from a positive ripple effect.

Quoted: The raw infusion of cash for infrastructure, challenge grants, and online classes, if averaged out equally over the next decade, represents a 60 percent increase in direct federal spending on community colleges. Sara Goldrick-Rab, a University of Wisconsin education and sociology researcher, said this was stunning since two months ago she co-authored a Brookings blueprint on transforming community colleges that called for a doubling of direct federal spending, from $2 billion a year to $4 billion a year.

Quoted: Jerlando Jackson, an associate professor of higher and postsecondary education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he found the entire incident very troubling â?? and even thought the story wasnâ??t true when he first heard about it. Gatesâ?? arrest highlights, however, the struggles even the most esteemed black professors can have overcoming the perception of black males as criminals, Jackson said. The work of a scholar and teacher is one that requires legitimacy, something black men struggle to attain because others may impose stereotypes upon them, he said.

Noted: “Darwin was fascinated by carnivorous plants in general and the Venus flytrap in particular, I think, partly because they go against type,” says Don Waller, a botanist at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, US.

“In his time and ours, most of us feel that plants are passive, harmless, and can’t move. But the Venus flytrap acts like an animal, it moves fast and eats fresh meat.”

A DNA analysis by Ken Cameron of the University of Wisconsin confirmed that the Venus flytrap and waterwheel are indeed related, and the closest relative of both turns out to be a species called Drosera regia.

Quoted: Walker’s fundraising lead this reporting period isn’t large enough to worry Doyle, especially given that his campaign hasn’t been out in full force, University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said.

Quoted: “It’s an extremely important component of the state’s economy,” said Steven Deller, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.