Quoted: Dr. Ronald Diamond, medical director of the Mental Health Center of Dane County and a tenured professor of psychiatry at the UW-Madison, has been in practice for 37 years, 23 of them at the Mental Health Center. He teaches psychopharmacology to social workers, counselors, nurses, clients and families of individuals with mental illness.
Q: Why do cats hate water?
A: Because we teach them to hate it.
There are plenty of cats that love water, according to Sandi Sawchuk, a clinical instructor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UW-Madison.
Quoted: â??The things that make people apprehensive are not in the FBI Uniform Crime Reports,â? said Michael Scott, who directs the UW-Madison-based Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. â??The things that scare people are kids hanging out, small things stolen from the front yard, loud noise … things that affect our sense of safety and security.â?
A UW-Madison professor of History says there’s much more going on in Mexico that doesn’t get reported on the American side of the border.
“I don’t think that it’s the whole story about what’s going on in Mexico, and I’m often quote perturbed by the fact that there is so much focus on that exclusively in the U.S. media,” says professor Florencia Mallon.
Quoted: Richard Davidson, who heads the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, has found one distinct brain profile for happiness. As Davidsonâ??s laboratory has reported, when we are in distress, the brain shows high activation levels in the right prefrontal area and the amygdala. But when we are in an upbeat mood, the right side quiets and the left prefrontal area stirs. When showing this brain pattern, people report feeling, as Davidson put it to me, â??positively engaged, goal-directed, enthusiastic, and energetic.â?
Seven out of 10 couples say that money causes tension in their relationship, studies show.
Free Press reader Susan from Farmington e-mailed, “My husband lost his job this year, so money is a stressful topic in our marriage right now. We argue a lot about the bills, our debt and not saving enough.”
Although money is not the leading source of conflict for married couples (children and household chores are), financial disagreements can be the most distressing, according to a new study by Dr. Lauren Papp at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Papp found that “money-related conflicts are more intense, last longer, are more likely to persist unresolved, and have greater implications to the relationship than other conflict topics.”
Quoted: Daniel Hausman, a philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose research interests include the allocation of health care resources.
Quoted: Dr. Kurt Sladky, a special species veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said golfers found a 114-pound African Spurred Tortoise.
Quoted: “It looks liek an African Spurred Tortoise or sulcata tortoise which is an North African species commonly kept as pets and this just happens to be a large specimen,” said Dr. Kurt Sladky from UW School of Veterinary Medicine.
Dr. Sladky says an African Spurred Tortoise is the third largest tortoise specimen in the world, but the largest of turtles kept as pets. The doctor estimates this one could be about 20 years old.
A new study finds that the way swine flu multiplies in the respiratory system is more severe than seasonal flu. Tests in monkeys, mice and ferrets show that the swine flu thrives all over the respiratory system, including the lungs, instead of staying in the head like seasonal flu. The findings were released Monday by the journal Nature. The study’s researcher, Yoshishiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, told the Associated Press that he is more concerned about swine flu because of these results.
Quoted: As the economy struggles, more and more departments will probably find it attractive to accept course-specific support from outside donors. That prospect troubles Michael W. Apple, a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Quoted: This phenomenon isnâ??t unusual, said Chinese media expert Pan Zhangdong, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai.
â??When they go abroad, [their] emotional center is in China,â? Pan said.
Quoted: Hearings for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee begin Monday. If confirmed, Judge Sonia Sotomayor will become the first Latina â?? and only the third woman â?? appointed to the Supreme Court.
Distinguished law professors Lani Guinier, Charles Ogletree and UW-Madison’s Linda Greene tells what to expect from this week’s hearings, and how a Sotomayor appointment could shift the ideological profile of the High Court.
Eat less, live longer? It seems to work for monkeys: A 20-year study found cutting calories by almost a third slowed their aging and fended off death. This is not about a quick diet to shed a few pounds. Scientists have long known they could increase the lifespan of mice and more primitive creatures â?? worms, flies â?? with deep, long-term cuts from normal consumption.
“All these pieces put together provide rather convincing evidence in our view that caloric restriction can slow the aging process in a primate species,” said lead researcher Dr. Richard Weindruch, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor heading the NIA-funded study.
Quoted: It’s never too early to start thinking about security issues, said neural engineer Justin Williams of the University of Wisconsin, who was not involved in the research. But he stressed that the kinds of devices available today are not susceptible to attack, and that fear of future risks shouldn’t impede progress in the field. “These kinds of security issues have to proceed in lockstep with the technology,” Williams said.
Quoted: Inertial electrostatic confinement hasn’t gotten a lot of media play or federal research dollars, said Gerald L. Kulcinski, nuclear engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and director of its Fusion Technology Institute.
Q: Does a dark-colored car heat up more in the sun than a light-colored car?
A: The external color does not significantly affect how much the inside of a car heats up in the sun, says Sanford Klein, director of the UW-Madison Solar Energy Laboratory and professor of mechanical engineering.
Quoted: Ann Althouse, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: James Stein, an artery imaging expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In other words, HALTS has gone from a study where a muted result seemed likely to one where a clear and definitive outcome seems assured.
Quoted: Mason Carpenter, a professor at the Wisconsin School of Business and author of “Managing Effectively Through Tough Times,” said too many CEOs, execs and managers panic when times get tough.
Quoted: “There are five metatarsal bones (each related to a toe) and while 1 through 4 most often heal without issue, there is a 30-50 percent non-healing rate for 5th metatarsal fractures,” Dr. Ben Wedro, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin and a consulting onsite physician at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, said when discussing Yao’s injury.
Quoted: UW-Madison entomologist Phil Pellitteri said the earwig, a distant relative to the cockroach, is at the top of almost everyoneâ??s most-hated insects list, just behind the Japanese lady beetle.
Governor Jim Doyle’s not saying if he’ll run for reelection next year…but if he does, he could face a stiff GOP challenge. That from UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Wisconsinites are not feeling good about the economy.
Most of the nearly 600 Wisconsin residents surveyed in a recent UW Badger Poll are not happy about the way things are going in the U-S. Overall, 73% are dissatisfied with the state of our country – only 24% are satisfied. Political Science Professor Katherine Cramer Walsh says people feel a little bit better about Wisconsin’s economy than they do about the nation as a whole.
Quoted: Beetles help by breaking down fallen trees, as well. â??They digest the wood and are valuable in terms of nutrient recycling,â? said Dr. Ken Raffa, an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin who studies the beetles. â??And they introduce micro-organisms that further break down the wood.â?
Hundreds of embryonic stem cell lines, whose use in the United States had effectively been curtailed by the Bush administration, can be used to study disorders and develop cures if researchers can show the cells were derived using ethical procedures, according to new rules issued by the federal government yesterday.
Quoted: “I think it is a huge step forward,” said R. Alta Charo, an ethicist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “They are making it absolutely possible to move this field forward and fund the research in a responsible way.”
Quoted: “From an engineering aspect, there is no justification – unless the winning company said I’m going to (have the contractor) put two more inches of asphalt on,” said Dr. Awad Hanna, chair of Construction Engineering and Management at the University of Wisconsin.
Quoted: Jeremi Suri, E. Gordon Fox Professor of History at UW Madison, says we now know that McNamara had deep misgivings about the conflict. “I would say historians have very mixed view of Robert McNamara.”
Quoted: â??There’s no mosquito that is infamous for the ones that are causing worse reactions. It could be as I said the ones that are messing with people are ones that haven’t seen in awhile,” says Phil Pelletteri, an entomologist at UW-Madison.
Quoted: “The better you make the automation, the more difficult it is to guard against these catastrophic failures in the future, because the automation becomes more and more powerful, and you rely on it more and more,” said John D. Lee, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor, said governors across the country, including Doyle, are seeing their popularity levels fall as they face difficult budgets during the country’s steep recession.
Quoted: Charles H. Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said the stimulus could yet haunt swing district Democrats if unemployment continues to rise well into next year.
Quoted: In a recent paper, Mr. Danziger and Maria Cancian, professor of public affairs and social work at the University of Wisconsin, argued that because of changes in the economy, in the population and in social policy, economic growth per se did less to reduce poverty than it used to. Specific efforts to raise low-end wages, support working parents with child care and tax credits and raise education levels will be vital to reducing poverty, they said.
Q. Does bread stay fresher longer if kept on the counter or in the refrigerator?
A. On the counter, says Brian Burke, a food manager with University Housing at UW-Madison. “We have been operating for a number of years on the principle that bread should be held at room temperature or frozen. Refrigeration will tend to dry it out, and that will happen before the bread would spoil on the counter.”
Quoted: Thomas “Rock” Mackie, an investor in the company who is also co-founder of TomoTherapy Inc. and a professor in the medical physics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “One of the keys to a home that elicits a lot of happiness and positive emotion is that it changes to some extent,” says the University of Wisconsin’s Richard J. Davidson, PhD.
Even an environment that makes our spirits soar — an incredible view, for example — tends, over time, to grow stale. We get used to it. Davidson isn’t suggesting turning your place upside down, but if you get the bug to move things around a bit or play with the lighting, you might find your own interior gets a lift toward the sunnier.
Quoted: John Santarius, a plasma physicist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who has known Roth for two decades says that he always found Roth to be patriotic and careful. â??It is so out of character for him to do something like this on purpose,â? he says, â??My inclination is to believe he made an honest mistake.â?
Quoted: â??Most schools are just really struggling to be able to provide meals that meet these guidelines with the amount of money they have to work with,â? said Susan Nitzke, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “Prices have stabilized a bit now, but after a period of incredible instability,” said Jean-Paul Chavas, professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison. “It has been quite a roller coaster.”
Playing the stock market can be a crap shoot. And the first step is the hardest: when do you actually take the leap and buy stocks?
“Things are cheap, so I should get in there now and buy. The fallacy of that is, we don’t really know where the bottom is and we don’t really know where the top is,” says University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.
Quoted: “We want to be there and ready,” says Dr. Michael Fiore, the Director of the UW’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. “We want to be ready with the quitline. We want to be ready with providing a two-week supply of nicotine medicine.”
The UW CTRI runs the Quitline and other smoking cessation programs. Dr. Fiore is worried their funding will be reduced, because Governor Doyle and the legislature severely cut the Tobacco Control Grants that pay the bills. “The money going back to help smokers to quit has decreased from $15 million to $6.8 million per year. It really to me is a disappointment. In my view we’re not doing enough to help smokers to quit.”
Quoted: Dr. Michael Fiore with the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention says those factors will likely encourage many people to quit for good, so they can save money or don’t have to deal with the inconvenience of not being able to smoke in a tavern.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor, said governors across the country, including Doyle, are seeing their popularity levels fall as they face difficult budgets during the country’s steep recession.
Quoted: You wonder if the mosquito population is worse.
Itâ??s not, according to Phil Pellitteri, UW-Madison entomologist.
â??Most of last year and this year are what I consider normal. I have seen nothing to indicate an outrageous population,â? he said.
Quoted: “You have more capital to invest, and at the same time, you have more to lose,” cautions Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the business school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Allan R. Odden, a professor of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said having a deficit-ridden city and school district is no reason to overlook mayoral control. In Boston, New York and Chicago, mayors analyzed the budget and re-allocated resources to focus on teaching and learning. He argues mayoral control has helped student achievement in places like Chicago.
Quoted: Shawn Peters, a University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer and author of “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children and the Law.”
Quoted: Susan Paskewitz, a UW-Madison entomology professor, has been monitoring mosquito larvae at Warner Park and said the Madison area can expect plenty of adult mosquitoes for the weekend, just in time for the cityâ??s Rhythm & Booms fireworks display, which has been delayed until Sunday, also at Warner Park.
And also: Mosquitoes generally live up to four weeks, and UW-Madison entomologist Phil Pellitteri said future weather will determine whether new generations spring up to take their place.
Noted: An added element to the camp is the Mazomanie Outreach Outpost, recently established in an unused science lab at Mazomanie Elementary School. The outpost will provide an off-campus site that will connect UW-Madison personnel and resources to K-12 teachers, students and community members in southwestern Wisconsin.
Many of the outpostâ??s initiatives will be geared toward increasing the use of inquiry-based science education by public school teachers.
â??The idea is the (outpost) will provide a place where teachers can gather again for workshops, to take additional classes (and) to meet with each other to talk about how theyâ??re going to implement inquiry into their own classroom,â? said Michelle Harris, a biology instructor at UW-Madison and one of the camp organizers.
Q: How does the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) work?
A: The FDIC was started during the Great Depression to restore public confidence in banks â?? and avert runs on banks â?? by insuring deposits, says James Johannes, business professor and director of the Puelicher Center for Banking Education at UW-Madison.
Health experts want to eliminate tobacco use within 40 years.
If people don’t buy cigarettes, that means less revenue for the state and federal governments. Dr. Michael Fiore, Director of the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, says that’s not a problem. He says when people give up their smokes, the high cost of tobacco-related health care will disappear, as will the high cost of lost productivity.
Quoted: A key to making it work is recruiting active support from neighborhood elders, clergy and other leaders to help police persuade parents to permit searches, said Michael Scott, director of the UW-Madison Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.
Quoted: Phil Pellitteri, of the University of Wisconsin-Extension in Madison, predicts this year may be worse than the last few summers, during which the mosquito count was unusually low.
“It’s normal to be chased into your house at dusk in June,” Pellitteri said.
Quoted: “Anyone can go to that Web site and see which transplant centers transplant quicker than others,” said Dr. Anthony Dâ??Alessandro, liver transplant chief at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “When you pull back far enough, you can’t help but be in dismay over the gross inequity and the gross inefficiency of the system,” said Thomas R. Oliver, an associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “Even those of us who have pretty good health-care coverage still find it extremely difficult and confusing to navigate. It’s very, very bad.”
Quoted: “If anything the collection again shows the level of mistrust in that White House,” said Stanley Kutler, a University of Wisconsin professor who sued the federal government for release of all Nixon White House tapes and other presidential documents.
Quoted: But outside experts were skeptical. An antibody test specific enough to identify only the new flu strain â??would take months to develop, at a minimum, and would require considerable R & D expertise and technology,â? said Dr. Christopher W. Olsen, a swine flu expert at the University of Wisconsinâ??s veterinary medical school.
Quoted: In one recent molecular analysis, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin reported that eight genes involved in shaping the human ear appear to have undergone significant changes over the past 40,000 years, some as recently as the dawn of the Roman Empire.
Noted: To do this in the ocean itself is trickyâ??the sea is vast and there are lots of variables to contend with. What is required, then, is a model to aid understanding. Steven Carpenter and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, have found one: lakes. A lake is a good place to study ecological changes because it is small, as ecosystems go, and has clear boundaries. Since mid-2008, therefore, Dr Carpenterâ??s team have been monitoring the health of six lakes in Missouri in order to try to understand how ecosystems suddenly flip from one state to another.
The troubled U.S. economy hit its first turning point in January, when the stock market began to inch back up, but it will be early 2010 before unemployment eases much, Michael Knetter, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, told a conference on Monday.
