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Category: UW Experts in the News

Outdoors: Large-scale effort needed to save grassland birds

Capital Times

WISCONSIN DELLS — Of all of the birds that spend part of their lives in Wisconsin, the group that needs the most help are grassland birds. Their populations, along with their habitat, are in decline.

That is one of the reasons why the Department of Natural Resources held a statewide Grassland Bird Symposium last week, bringing together state and federal wildlife managers and researchers, and land managers from (non-governmental conservation organizations.

UW-Madison wildlife ecology research associate Kevin Ellison and the UW Arboretum are mentioned.)

The Return of National Advertising

Washington Post

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies campaign advertising, said the purchases “make a lot of sense” considering the cost and demands of trying to buy advertising in so many different media markets.

Doyle: Martin Luther King a model for next U.S. president

Wausau Daily Herald

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it is normal for elected officials to make broader theme connections between an iconic figure such as King and modern policies.

The tribute’s main guest speaker, Gloria Ladson-Billings, also discussed a general attitude of perseverance. She called King more than a dreamer — alluding to his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Rather he was a doer, she said

Moon real estate (Salon)

Quoted: Gerald Kulcinski, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Fusion Technology Institute, thinks helium-3 could potentially power future long-distance space travel, though it could take decades before a commercial helium-3 reactor becomes available.

Debate addresses whether sports should allow performance-enhancing drugs (AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Just hours after baseball assured Congress it’s working to address the sport’s doping problem, scholars debated whether performance-enhancing drugs should even be banned.

Intelligence Squared, an organization that holds Oxford-style debates on such topics as global warming and illegal immigration, hosted a doping debate that included two-time National League MVP Dale Murphy and former World Anti-Doping, Agency chief Dick Pound.

“More people died playing baseball than died of steroid use,” declared Dr. Norman Fost, a professor of pediatrics and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin who supports allowing the drugs.

The man making the case for steroids

Chicago Tribune

MADISON, Wis. — How can the accomplishments of Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and others of the “steroid era” of baseball be compared to those of Aaron or Ruth? Can Major League Baseball and the National Football League and the others ever get drugs out of their systems? Will the athletes named as users in the Mitchell report face futures threatened by cancer, heart attack, stroke? What will come of the House committee hearings, now postponed until February? Is there any tarnish remover strong enough to put the shine back on sports in America?

As the controversy over use of anabolic steroids by athletes swirls like a wind-whipped snowstorm, Norman Fost, professor of pediatric medicine and director of the Program in Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, is a center of calm and certainty. He says, as he has for many years and virtually alone, that the maelstrom is nothing more than “the hypocrisy, bad facts, inconsistency and moral incoherence of anti-drug hysteria.”

Doyle tax plan bares party rift

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Mark Bugher, head of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s research park and a former state revenue secretary for Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, praised the package as exactly what the state’s economy needs.

Fewer homes built in 2007

Wisconsin State Journal

The results are not surprising, said Morris Davis, assistant professor of real estate and urban land economics at the UW-Madison School of Business.

“There’s no reason to expect that what’s going on in Madison would be any different from what’s going on around the country,” Davis said.

Firm says it can get stem cells with no harm to embryos

Boston Globe

In findings that some analysts described as being of more political than scientific significance, Massachusetts researchers said yesterday that they have dramatically improved a technique for producing human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos.

Quoted: R. Alta Charo, professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin.

CVA exhibit celebrates color of winter

Wausau Daily Herald

If you think winter is monochromatic, take a look at the Center for the Visual Arts newest exhibit, then think again.

The 18th annual Midwest Winter Exhibit opens Friday at the downtown Wausau art gallery, and the work represents a wide variety of what artists from throughout the region believe the coldest season has to offer. The pieces in the exhibit were chosen by Tom Loeser, an art professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Frozen at the Podium

Inside Higher Education

Quoted: Stephen Lucas, a professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said faculty can put students at ease by, before posing a question to class, letting students talk over the material before calling on a few of them to explain their positions. Anxious students are most on edge when theyâ??re put on the spot, Lucas said

Maneuvering over a statewide smoking ban

Wisconsin Radio Network

The Legislature’s first vote on a statewide smoking ban is scheduled for next week, and apparently there’s enough support on the Senate Health Committee to pass the measure.

Doctor Pat Remington of the UW Population Health Institute is urging lawmakers to ignore opposition from the Tavern League. He says this is an example where leadership in the state needs to the interests of the public, not the interests of the industry.

Iowa caucuses finished, but the race isn’t over yet

Wisconsin Radio Network

The Iowa caucuses ended Thursday with Mike Huckabee in the lead for Republicans and Barack Obama ahead of fellow Democrats, but UW-Madison professor David Canon says the presidential race is far from over. Canon says several candidates were close on the heels of both candidates, and that could stretch out into other states in the coming weeks. If that happens, Wisconsin could play a pivotal role in deciding who eventually wins the primary race.

Iowa’s Over; Don’t Discount the Dairy State

WKOW-TV 27

With Iowa done, New Hampshire next week and Super Tuesday coming up, Wisconsin will have to follow some very big events before the February 19th primary.

Local political analysts say that doesn’t mean the Dairy State’s primary is a mere side-show. In fact, UW Professor David Canon says there’s a 50/50 chance our state could play a pivotal role in the selection of candidates.

Eyes Adjust So We Can See In Different Conditions

Wisconsin State Journal

Q. Why do our eyes expand and shrink according to the light?

Submitted by Nikki Lee, eighth grade, Cherokee Middle School

A. We encounter a huge range of light levels, from dark moonless nights to the glaring noon sun. But our eyes only work within a limited range – too much light and the light-sensitive cells in our eyes are overwhelmed; too little light and the cells are not stimulated.

State may still carry primary weight

Capital Times

Thursday’s strong showings by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mike Huckabee could breathe new life into Wisconsin’s Feb. 19 presidential primary.

“It’s still a longshot” that the nominations will still be in play by then, “but last night was probably the optimal outcome for us,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political science Professor Charles Franklin said this morning.

Is forgiveness divine for body? (Baltimore Sun)

Close your eyes and think of someone who has hurt you. Let all the anger, hurt and resentment you feel for that wrongdoer bubble to the surface. Seethe, shout, savor it. Feel your heart pounding, your blood boiling, your stomach churning and your thoughts racing in dark directions.

OK, stop. Now, forgive your offender. Don’t just shed the bitterness and drop the recrimination, but empathize with his plight, wish him well and move on – whether he’s sorry or not.

University of Wisconsin psychologist Robert D. Enright, the guru of what many are calling a new science of forgiveness, calls this final step “making a gesture of goodness” to a wrongdoer. It’s the culmination of a process that, he says, “you’ve got to be able to see through to the end.”

This Bird Sings When Looking For Love

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison zoology professor Lauren Riters knows why the starling sings.

“He’s trying to attract a female. And he wants to keep contact with the group,” Riters said. “Also, it’s because there’s a convergence of appropriate environmental stimuli – the days are longer, there are no predators around, he’s feeling well fed.

Huckabee Shows Negative Spot After Pulling It From Television

New York Times

Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, said the episode might backfire on Mr. Huckabee because it showed him as not ready for prime time. He has been falling in the polls since he stumbled a few days ago in talking about Pakistan, and he began unleashing a torrent of harsh words against Mr. Romney, whose once-sagging candidacy has appeared revived.

State has deer in its headlights (Superior Daily Telegram)

Superior Telegram

Quoted: Thatâ??s just what happened to Scott Craven, head of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on opening day of this yearâ??s deer gun season. At about 5:45 a.m. on Nov. 17, Craven was cruising at 65 mph in Iowa County when he noticed a doe standing on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 151. The deer stepped into his lane, leaving him no time to hit the brakes. His Chevy Silverado hit the animal and sent it hurtling to the shoulder.

â??I may have taken the earliest deer of the entire Wisconsin deer hunt,â? joked Craven, 59, of Oregon, in Dane County. â??I remember the deer head like a hood ornament on an old Packard.â?

Women play greater role in running farms

Chicago Daily Herald

Quoted: Michael Bell, a rural sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences said there were 1,311 women enrolled last fall and 1,005 men, compared with 796 men and only 353 women during the 1977-1978 school year.

Great Lakes in better shape than 15 years ago

Capital Times

Low water levels. Invasive species. Global warming.

Faced with those kinds of challenges, you’d figure the Great Lakes are in trouble, big trouble. But scientists say the lakes are actually in pretty good shape and have been improving since 1969….

(Quoted: Phil Keillor, a coastal engineer with the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute)

A crumbling Pakistan is ‘very touchy’

Wisconsin State Journal

The assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Thursday shows how fragile Pakistani democracy is, experts say.

“The country is terribly shaky, ” said Robert Frykenberg, an emeritus history professor at the UW-Madison. “No country will benefit from a crumbling Pakistan. It is a very, very touchy situation. “