Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: Promotional prices can vary widely, but in two or three years they’ll even out, said Barry Orton, professor of telecommunications at the University of WIsconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Michael Scott, a University of Wisconsin law professor who co-authored a 1992 book on police shootings, said the “vast majority” of officers never fire their weapon in their career.

Quoted: James Stein, a CIMT expert at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said the crush of Democratic candidates reflect anti-Republican sentiment and the number of open seats.

JANESVILLE â?? It’s not easy being a small animal veterinarian.

A sweet kitty can become a hissing, screaming furball requiring two leather-gloved doctors to give it a vaccination.

But what if the patient is 10 times the size of the doctor with four hooves and a dirty tail made for clubbing?

The number of graduates entering the large animal and general practice veterinarian fields in Wisconsin has declined, said Dr. Nigel Cook, head of the Food Animal Production Medicine group at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine.

Quoted: Laura Dresser, a labor economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Beets have been a hot topic on the Well blog this week as readers debate the merits of this improbable superfood.

Beets are loaded with nutrients and phytochemicals. Some readers love them, while others have said â??yuck.’â?? I confess that I have never cooked, shredded or otherwise prepared a beet in my home, but I now wonder if Iâ??m missing out. I asked one of the countryâ??s leading experts in beets, Irwin L. Goldman, professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, why beets get no respect.

Quoted: UW Foundation President Sandy Wilcox, who keeps a model of the Swift boat he skippered on the credenza in his office in Wisconsin.

Quoted: Dr. Frank Greer of the University of Wisconsin, co-author of the guidelines report, which appears in the July edition of Pediatrics, the group’s medical journal.

Quoted: Phil Pellitteri, an entomologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Paul Moberg, a senior scientist at the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Moberg co-authored a 2007 study on Wisconsinâ??s alcohol- and drug-use patterns.

Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.

Quoted: Tim Van Deelen, a former DNR researcher currently an assistant professor of wildlife ecology at UW-Madison.

To a mosquito, exercise makes you far more appealing than a couch potato.

According to Susan Paskewitz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison entomology professor, mosquitoes bite the people who are easiest to find.

Researchers Kristen Harrison of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Joanne Cantor, from University of Wisconsin, Madison, looked at the long-term effects of getting scared from a horror film or television show. They interviewed 150 college students and found that 26% had residual anxiety. Their research also showed that the images which produced the most anxiety were those that involved blood, injections or injury. Disturbing sounds were the second highest.

Cites research by Philipp Simon, food science, UW-Madison.

Column by Shawn Francis Peters, UW instructor and author of “When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law.”

Quoted: Shanan Peters, an assistant geology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mentions a key study by University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Sara McLanahan and Julia Adams, conducted some 20 years ago, found that parenthood was perceived as significantly more stressful in the 1970s than in the 1950s; the researchers attribute part of that change to major shifts in employment patterns.

Quoted: Howard Schweber, a professor of law and political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin, suggests that you find out whether the recruiters, doctors and nurses involved in the study are “likely to be influenced in their judgments by money or professional connections to the study sponsor.”

Quoted: Shanan Peters, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of geology and geophysics and leader of the study. “There have also been studies of volcanism, and some eruptions correspond to extinction, but many do not.”

Quoted: Shanan Peters, an assistant geology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says the rate of rainfall was more than a spillway near a dam could handle, though neither failed. What probably happened, he says, is that excess water flowed to a low point in the lakebed and saturated sandy soil beneath the road until it gave way.

Quoted: Morris Davis, a former senior economist with the Federal Reserve and now a real estate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Business.

Quoted: Dr. Mark Moss of the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

MADISON (WKOW) — Mosquito season has officially begun in Wisconsin, and this past month’s flooding hasn’t helped keep the bugs at bay.

Flood water is a mosquito’s paradise, and entomologists say right now, you can stand outside and get bitten 40 to 50 times in under a minute. They say the heavy rain we got two weeks ago caused a massive mosquito hatch. And, the standing flood water that remains doesn’t help.

But, entomologists say record flooding does not necessarily mean record mosquitos. In fact, UW entomologist Dr. Phillip Pellitteri says there were actually fewer mosquitoes in the past three or four years.

Are some farming practices making floods worse? UW Madison Geography professor Jim Knox says there were several factors contributing to this month’s massive floods, including high corn prices. “With the economic situation, and the move towards ethanol production from corn, prices are higher,” notes Knox.

The heavy rains and flooding earlier this month mean mosquito season is hitting Wisconsin hard.

The air is buzzing heavily with the blood sucking insects and UW-Madison entomologist Phil Pellitteri says it’s not hard to figure out why. He says all the rain and flooding in recent weeks has provided ample breeding areas for mosquitoes.

Quoted: Robert Pearce, who chairs the anesthesiology department at the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison

Quoted: Monica Turner, professor of Wildland Ecology at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: John Karl Scholz, a visiting scholar at Brookings and a University of Wisconsin-Madison economist.

Quoted: Sociologist Sara Goldrick-Rab of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, meanwhile, has found that students from lower-status socio-economic backgrounds are more likely than their well-off peers to transfer in ways that reduce their odds of earning a degree.

Quoted: Menzie David Chinn, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who worked at the White House Council of Economic Advisers in 2000 and 2001.

MADISON, Wis. – State officials are re-evaluating whether infrastructure is being built and maintained to strict enough standards to handle severe weather.

Engineering professor Ken Potter of the University of Wisconsin-Madison says some design standards reflect rainfall data that’s 40 years old. But since storms have been increasing in frequency and severity over the last few years, bridges might too low and sewer pipes too small.

MADISON, Wis. — Many residents are still working to rid themselves of this season’s floodwaters, but all that standing water could be inviting to some unwanted visitors.

The recent rains and flooding means more mosquitoes could be moving into the area this summer, according to Phil Pellitteri, a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s entomology department.

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a University of Wisconsin political scientist who specializes in campaign advertising. “If we see this sort of buy in September or October, we’ll know the race is over.”

An immunization expert says the Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) vaccine would work on males too. Dr. John Temte, an immunization advisor for the Centers for Disease Control, considers Gardasil to be very effective in females for preventing HPV, which leads to the majority of cases of cervical cancer. As an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at UW Madison, he says the biology of HPV is “basically the same for men and women.”

Earwigs are making a return in a big way, in parts of Wisconsin. UW bug expert Phil Pellitteri says they like the wet weather we’ve had across much of the state, and if your flower garden is under attack it’s probably from earwigs.

Quoted: Botanist Ken Cameron of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who says that other work has shown interesting chromosomal traits in vanilla.

Quoted: Environmental health professor Jonathan Patz at the University of Wisconsin.

One concern from flooding is combined sewer overflows, said environmental health professor Jonathan Patz at the University of Wisconsin. That’s when drainage systems designed to collect rainwater runoff and domestic sewage in the same pipe overflow, sending untreated human sewage and industrial waste into rivers and other waters. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Iowa has 19 of these types of overflow systems and Illinois has about 100.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison agronomist Joe Lauer says itâ??s too late to replant corn except for livestock feed and Sheboygan County ag agent Mike Ballweg says crop insurance wonâ??t be enough to cover the losses.

Quoted: Kenneth Potter, a civil and environmental engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says many scientists agree that climate change is likely to increase the occurrence and severity of storms as well as droughts, and thus increase the likelihood of flooding.