Quoted: Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin
Category: UW Experts in the News
Group files FCC petition protesting local TV coverage of election (AP)
Quoted: Dhavan Shah, a professor of journalism and mass communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Xavier University reels from Katrina
Xavier University of Louisiana, one of the colleges hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina two months ago, will dismiss over half of its faculty and staff on unpaid leave in preparation for the spring semester.
State senators pledge full scrutiny of new nominee (AP)
Quoted: Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Gang-raped Pakistani woman brings her fight to the U.S. against the system that allowed it (AP)
Quoted: Dr. Amna Buttar, a University of Wisconsin physician
Bush base will like Alito, says UW prof (Wisconsin Radio Network)
Quoted: UW Madison Law professor, Ann Althouse
Science maps the geography of human variation
When Celera Genomics first sequenced the entire human genome in 2000, the scientific community and the world at large met the news with unbridled enthusiasmââ?¬â?and with good reason. Sequencing the three billion base pairs in human DNA in a little over a year was a staggering achievement.
Repairing nerves, receiving grants
A multidisciplinary team of UW-Madison researchers recently received a five-year, $3.4 million grant to develop techniques for using stem cells to repair nerve damage in victims of diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, and to improve imaging technology to view the lesions and repairs at the cellular level.
PSC to rule on cap on phone bills
Quoted: UW-Madison telecommunications professor Barry Orton.
The truth about the gray wolf
Studies by researchers such as the UW-Madison’s Don Waller have shown that deer are decimating the understory of Wisconsin’s northern forests, especially cedar swamps. So studies are under way, Wydeven said, to understand the relationship between wolf predation and plant growth in Wisconsin’s forests.
With real-life horrors on 24/7, people harder to scare (Dallas Morning News)
Quoted: Dr. Joanne Cantor, professor emeritus of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Grower Invents Cranberry-Harvest Device (AP)
Quoted: Teryl Roper, a fruits crop specialist and professor of horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Are organized athletics taking away from kids’ childhoods?
Quoted: Greg Landry, a professor of pediatrics and sports medicine at UW-Madison
Treating the flu (Malaysia Star)
Quoted: Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine who holds a joint appointment at the University of Tokyo.
Guidelines Aim to Ease Accounting Costs for Small Companies
A committee of accounting experts published new guidance yesterday that it hopes will reduce the cost for small companies to document that their internal financial controls are adequate.
“It was important for us to demonstrate how smaller public companies can implement effective internal control in a different manner than do their larger counterparts,” said Larry E. Rittenberg, the chairman of the group, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and an accounting professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Bones of contention
Quoted: Edward Bersu, an anatomy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Our first consensus lives in Constitution’s words
Quoted: Ann Althouse, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tax code changes face tough road ahead
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, professor of public affairs and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Jon S. Davis, a professor of tax and accounting at UW-Madison.
‘Lost’ finds deeper reality online (CNET News)
Quoted: Kurt Squire, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies games
Capital idea (The MSU State News)
Quoted: Sandy Wilcox, president of the University of Wisconsin Foundation.
You drink, they drive (Pioneer Press)
Quoted: Michael Rothschild, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin business school who helped shape the program in 2002.
Getting out of the red (MJS)
Quoted: Ed Jesse, professor and extension agriculture policy specialist for the Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Analysis: Dark days at the White House
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor.
Confederate flags spur speech debate
Louisiana State University finds itself at the center of a First Amendment debate this week. A group of over 100 protesters has made its opposition clear to the prevalence of purple and gold Confederate flags at Tiger football games.
The Spookiest Places (Forbes)
Quoted: Joanne Cantor, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Grocery chain banishes ‘Seventeen’ for ‘Vagina 101’ story (AP)
Quoted: Scott Spear, a University of Wisconsin professor of pediatrics who chairs Planned Parenthood’s national medical committee.
City wants best deal when cable contract renewed (Fond du Lac Reporter)
Quoted: Barry Orton, a professor of telecommunications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Government Flu Preparedness in Doubt (WPR)
(MADISON) A national survey shows doctors believe the federal government is very unprepared to deal with an avian bird flu pandemic that has killed more than 60 people worldwide. A researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison thinks the U.S. is ready, but adds that no country may be able to cope if the outbreak is widespread and resists treatment.
Student survives drug overdose
A University of Wisconsin student suffered from heroin overdose early Sunday morning on North Frances Street, the Madison Police Department released Tuesday.
Frightening experience (South Bend, Ind. Tribune)
Quoted: Joanne Cantor, a University of Wisconsin communications professor emerita who has studied the effects of mass media on children for 25 years.
Need a study boost? Try an espresso (The Daily Northwestern)
Quoted: Eric Heiligstein, director of clinical psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin.
JS Online: Analysis finds high risks in new drug
Quoted: James Stein, an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison.
Is the Endangered species act endangered?
David Wilcove, keynote speaker for the Madison Ecology Group�s fall Ecology Symposium, came to campus last month to speak about America�s endangered species and the struggle to save them from extinction.
A-maize-ing evolution: seven millennia in the making
The development of genetically modified plants has allowed people to change certain traits in crops, but humans have been influencing the genetic makeup of crops for thousands of years. Maize took more than 7,000 years to descend from a tropical, small-eared plant to the modern crop grown on farms today.
Dubious diagnoses for the legends of folklore
Every now and again, the insatiable desire to explain the supernatural turns science and the paranormal into strange bedfellows. Modern medicine allows doctors and scientists to play the game of pin-the-condition-on-the-monster but since vampire and werewolf test subjects are hard to come by, their speculation is solely based on finding parallel symptoms between folklore legends and modern disease definitions.
Sexes reside on same mental page
Men and women may be from the same planet after all, according to recent findings by UW-Madison professor of psychology Janet Hyde.
The recent study conducted by Hyde confirmed that men and women are fundamentally identical psychologically and that gender differences, such as math ability and self-esteem levels, have been greatly overestimated.
Some business and IT majors in high demand (Minnesota Daily)
Quoted: Judy Symon Hanson, assistant director of international programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, said business majors are becoming more attentive to the fact that business itself in increasingly global.
Engaging the Public (Inside Higher Ed)
Quoted: Sean Carroll, a genetics professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison,
Bare-minimum diet: Is long life the payoff?
Khurram Hashmi has drastically cut the calories he consumes ââ?¬â? eating mostly salads and raw vegetables ââ?¬â? in the hopes of living a longer, better life. But he’s hungry almost all the time.
ââ?¬Å?That’s something for me that has never gone away, but it is easier to accept now,ââ?¬Â says Hashmi, 37. He says he used to cheat, but not anymore. The hunger tells him that the diet’s working, he says.
ââ?¬Å?It is the only nutritional regimen thought to retard aging,ââ?¬Â says Richard Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His studies have suggested that middle-aged mice can start the diet and still get the longevity benefit.
Centenarians increase in age and numbers
Quoted: Richard Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
After tornado, Wis. counties take new hit (The Boston Globe)
QUoted: Ken Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
South Korean teachers, Howard-Suamico students learn from each other (Green Bay Press-Gazette)
Sixteen-year-old Carly Terral giggles as she wraps the hand-embroidered scarlet skirt around her. Her classmates shout supportive suggestions ââ?¬â? ââ?¬Å?tie it around the frontââ?¬Â ââ?¬â? as she struggles to knot the long dangling ribbons of the outfit, known in South Korea as ââ?¬Å?hanbok.ââ?¬Â
Quoted: Sandra Arfa, the director of the English as a Second Language program at UW-Madison.
Nicotine on the brain
Quoted: Timothy Baker, associate director of UW-Madison’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention
State keeps an eye out for Asian bird flu
If Asian avian flu shows up in Wisconsin, it will probably be in a backyard flock owned by someone who is not looking for the disease.
UW-Madison professor of animal science Mark Cook and professor of medicine Dr. Dennis Maki, head of the infectious disease section at UW Hospital, are quoted.
Gestures can mean a lot
Quoted: Martha Alibali, a professor of psychology and educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A Free And Easy Way To Learn Science
Samuel Gellman, a UW-Madison chemist, considers it one of the scariest — but maybe among the most interesting – experiments he’s ever conducted.
On Sunday, Gellman, a tall and soft-spoken fellow who studies proteins, will attempt to talk with ordinary people about the science that he does for a living. He is the first scientist — the lab rat, so to speak — to participate in an experiment in communication called “Science Cafe.”
Beetles Appear To Be Taking Over
Quoted: Phil Pellitteri, a UW-Madison entomologist
Scientists Are Missing The Whole Point
For a guy who has dedicated his life to peace and compassion and tranquility, the Dalai Lama sure finds ways to upset establishments.
This time, those upset are scientists who are outraged that the Tibetan spiritual leader has been invited to speak at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience next month in Washington, D.C.
He is scheduled to speak about research he has done with UW-Madison professor Richard Davidson that purports to show monks who meditate produce very strong concentrations of gamma brain waves, as measured by an electronic scanner.
We could be ‘Saudi Arabia of ethanol’
Richard Shaten sees both sides. Though ethanol carries its own problems, burning ethanol blends releases less soot and carbon monoxide into the air than gasoline, said Shaten, a faculty associate who teaches energy economics at UW-Madison’s Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
“I believe that every gallon of gasoline that is displaced by a gallon of ethanol lets us all breathe easier,” he said.
Local researcher stands by Dalai Lama
A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher (psychology professor Richard Davidson) is defending a speaking invitation extended to the Dalai Lama to a convention of neuroscientists.
Pet owners shelling out big bucks for their beloveds.
Quoted: Sandra Sawchuk, a clinical instructor at UW-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
Podcasting: It’s more than just tunes
One locally produced podcast that is gaining popularity is Earthwatch Radio, which is distributed to 120 commercial radio stations and other media outlets across North America. Since 1972, the program produced by the staff and students of the Sea Grant Institute and the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW- Madison has provided news and information on advances in science and environmental protection. Earthwatch Radio’s podcast is helping it build an international audience, Web producer Richard Hoops said.
Downs speaks on free speech
University of Wisconsin political science professor Donald Downs spoke at the Memorial Union Thursday to explain the message behind his recently published book, ââ?¬Å?Restoring Free Speech and Liberty to Campus.ââ?¬Â
FBI trying to repair image on college campuses (AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The idea of academics collaborating with the FBI might once have aroused loud complaints on some campuses where agents had spied on student protesters and government institutions were viewed with mistrust.
Quoted: John Wiley, the University of Wisconsin’s chancellor.
Warwick’s decision disrupts Singapore’s plans (Financial Times)
Quoted: Kris Olds, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Residents lack political faith
Wisconsin residents feel they are taking a backseat to special interests and personal agendas in state and local governments, a new study revealed Tuesday.
Where are your wireless manners?
Quoted: Lew Friedland, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Medical advances not science fiction (CNN)
Quoted: Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin.
Scientists Bridle at Lecture Plan for Dalai Lama
In one widely reported 2003 study, Dr. Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison led a team of researchers that found that 25 employees of a biotechnology company showed increased levels of neural activity in the left anterior temporal region of their brains after taking a course in meditation.
ââ?¬Ë?Technical virginity’ becomes part of teens’ equation
Ten years after Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky’s relationship made oral sex a mainstream topic, there’s still plenty of debate over whether oral sex is really sex.
Quoted: John DeLamater, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin and editor of the Journal of Sex Research, a scholarly journal published by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.