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Category: UW Experts in the News

The Forgiveness of Nations (Here and Now, NPR)

The study of forgiveness is now one of the most popular fields of research among clinical psychologists in the U.S., with more than one-thousand studies published in the past five years. Bob Enright, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin, discusses the process of forgiveness. (Audio.)

Science Picks Sides In Evolution Debate

Wisconsin State Journal

Column by John Hawks, assistant professor of anthropology:

Last week, President Bush said this about presenting “intelligent design” alongside evolution in science classrooms: “That decision ought to be made by local school districts, but I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught.”

National organizations of scientists immediately condemned his view. The American Geophysical Union released a statement saying Bush’s position “puts America’s schoolchildren at risk.”

Oxygen therapy offered in Fitchburg

Wisconsin State Journal

Dr. Christina Iyama, an associate professor of pediatrics at UW-Madison, said she is angered that the Fitchburg center purports to help children with autism and other developmental disabilities.

“There is no reason to think that a supplemental dose of oxygen would fix autism,” she said. “It’s not even theoretically useful.”

“You can’t go around recommending things to other people on no scientific basis,” she said. “To prey upon people who aren’t able to cure their children is an outrage.”

Dr. Carl Stafstrom, chief of pediatric neurology at UW Hospital in Madison, said people should be very skeptical of hyperbaric therapy as a treatment for neurological disorders.

Wisconsin plays key role in new books for the young

Wisconsin State Journal

Merri Lindgren and Megan Schliesman are librarians at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a noncirculating library of the School of Education at UW- Madison. The CCBC is a library for adults with an academic, professional or career interest in children’s or young adult literature. Look for the books mentioned here in your local public library or bookstore.

What I do: Hurricane tracker

Wisconsin State Journal

EDITOR’S NOTE: Today is the debut of What I Do, a feature in which people tell what they do to make a living. It will run on Tuesdays in the Business section. Contact Kramer.News@gmail.com to suggest someone to feature.
Name: Chris Velden

Age: 49

Job: Senior Research Scientist at the UW-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center; one of the world’s foremost authorities on applications of weather satellites

Campus Briefs (Campus Technology)

A VIRTUAL LOCKER? Higher ed IT pioneer and University of Wisconsin-Madison CIO Annie Stunden is seeing her visions become realities at UW-M: Everyone should have a Web space for file storage, sharing, and collaboration. This fall, as a new crop of freshmen enter the university, along with their My UW-Madison Web portal they’ll have better- than-ever access and storage for digital files. My WebSpace, a system for Web-accessible file storage, retrieval, and sharing, debuted last

Frist breaks with Bush on stem cells

Wisconsin State Journal

The announcement was met with praise at UW- Madison, a leader in research on human embryonic stem cells, by stem-cell researcher James Thomson.

“Recent advancements in the field . . . really demand that we now go beyond the president’s compromise,” Thomson said. “I personally believe that if we don’t get beyond that compromise soon, people will suffer and die needlessly. Given the current political realities of his party, Senator Frist’s announcement was courageous, and I commend it.”

Rains worth millions

Wisconsin State Journal

Soybean agronomist Roger Borges agreed. The UW- Madison professor said soybeans could still have a strong showing around the state, though he expected they had already lost 10 percent or more of their potential yields.

Boomers heard too much boom

Wisconsin State Journal

Exposure to loud sounds is the single biggest reason for adult hearing loss, said Michael Chial, an audiology professor at UW-Madison. While federal and state laws limit workplace noise, “none of that applies to motorcycles and snowmobiles and power tools and entertainment systems,” he said.

Anti-religion lawsuit stands

Capital Times

After being sued by the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, the University of Minnesota has withdrawn from a consortium that promotes health through spirituality.

But the foundation will proceed with its lawsuit because the university is continuing to collaborate with the Minnesota Faith Health Consortium in sponsoring an upcoming “Faith/Health Clinical Leadership” program, foundation officials said Thursday.

Lawmaker seeks Barrows probe

Capital Times

A state lawmaker wants to conduct his own investigation – complete with subpoena powers – of personnel policies at the University of Wisconsin. In a letter to Assembly Speaker John Gard released Wednesday, Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, asked that the Assembly Labor Committee he chairs be given the go-ahead for such a probe.

Nass cited Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager’s decision this week not to undertake a similar investigation and said it would be “imprudent” for the Legislature to accept the results of an internal UW review.

Coffee With… Norman Fost (Coreweekly)

When former MVP-turned-tattle-tale Jose Canseco released his book of sensational steroid stories involving some of baseballââ?¬â?¢s biggest names, Congress, seizing the chance to prove ââ?¬Å?ethicsââ?¬Â was still in its lexicon, acted quickly to admonish the accused.

County gets Alzheimer’s grant (Watertown Daily Times)

JEFFERSON – The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services announced today it is awarding a $59,959 grant to Jefferson County for a project that will promote early identification of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Memory Care Connections projects are operating in partnership with the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute at the University of Wisconsin Medical School

Veeramani: The key to finding RFID’s ROI

Wisconsin Technology Network

Companies that are trying to justify RFID investment wholly on the basis of anticipated savings in labor, operational efficiencies, and shrinkage in their supply chain are merely deluding themselves. In fact, if a company does find significant opportunities in these areas, it means that gross inefficiencies exist in its operations, and that the company can achieve major improvements even without applying RFID.

UW to introduce innovative project to find natural cancer remedies

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison researchers will be leading a five-year effort to coax new cancer treatments from the natural world.
The program, funded by a $5.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, will draw on the university’s traditional strengths in chemistry and biology but leverage them in an unprecedented way, said Ben Shen, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry and pharmaceutical science who will lead the group.