“Relative to China’s consumer market, China has a surplus of about 100 million laborers. In the past, China relied on exports to ensure employment. But now, due to the economic downturn and the “de-risk” policy of the West, China’s exports are falling and unemployment pressure is rising,” University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Yi Fuxian told Newsweek.
For other animals, an eclipse-induced Purkinje effect may be even more intense, says Freya Mowat, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. Birds have a fourth cone that lets them see ultraviolet light. It’s difficult to say exactly how the sudden light change during a solar eclipse would affect avian vision, Mowat, says but it’s possible that the shades of purple would be extra vivid and disorienting
The year Baseball in the Garden of Eden was published, Selig tapped Thorn as MLB’s second official historian. “John Thorn has been brilliant,” says Selig, who now teaches baseball history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Arizona State.
“From Community Benefits, to Collective Bargaining, and Back” was written by researchers Pablo Aquiles-Sanchez and Laura Dresser of the High Road Strategy Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The center describes itself as a “think-and-do tank” promoting solutions to social problems that focus on shared growth and opportunity, environmental sustainability and resilient democratic institutions as “necessary and achievable complements in human development.”
“The thing is, overall, nationwide we have a dire need for infrastructure, infrastructure renewal. And the matter is that this takes a lot of investment, and it has to prioritize based on risk assessment,” says Habib Tabatabi, Director of the Structural Engineering Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“The need for sheep shearers is at an all-time high around the country and globally,” said Todd Taylor, a manager of the sheep research unit for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Taylor said the physical demands of the job, mixed with experienced shearers retiring, is contributing to the shortage.
“The colder it is during the winter, the more cold hardy they’re going to get and the more heat they’re going to need in the spring to be able to wake up,” said Amaya Atucha, a fruit crop specialist with University of Wisconsin Extension.
David O’Conner, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, told me that COVID initially increased the collaborations between researchers and public health officials. He worries that in our supposedly post-COVID world, we’re returning to a baseline with public health and academics working with “less overlap than during the early [SARS-CoV-2] pandemic.”
The mixed recommendations are confusing, acknowledged Dr. Mai Elezaby, associate professor and breast imaging section chief at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and medical director of breast imaging at UW Health, during a recent appearance on “The Larry Meiller Show.”
The Weather Guys, Steve Ackerman and Jon Martin from UW-Madison, are back to tell us why spring is often the season with the most dramatic weather. Plus, they’ll share their predictions for this summer’s heat and explain visibility ratings.
For a behind-the-scenes look at the series, PBS Wisconsin Education spoke with education producer Ian Glodich along with host Kacie Lucchini Butcher, who is director of the Center for Campus History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The official U.S. Census is only taken every 10 years, so estimates like these are “ballpark figures” determined by “symptomatic indicators of population change,” including births, deaths, and domestic and international migration, said David Egan-Robertson, a demographer with the University of Wisconsin’s Applied Population Laboratory. Still, they’re likely to closely reflect reality.
The new estimates reveal that, in the 2020s, some Wisconsin counties have seen significant population growth while others have seen steep declines.
Menzie Chinn, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said even if the economy slows down this year, a recession is unlikely. “At least there’s strength in the economy, probably enough so that you’re not going to go into actual negative growth,” he said.
“The decoupling of seller agent and buyer agent fees allows for a lot more flexibility and novelty in how agents are going to get paid,” said Max Besbris, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The possibilities are more open now than ever before. We’re really going to see, generally, a lot more transparency.”
“People think they are doing fine, so they don’t need the medicine,” said Corrine Voils, a social psychologist at the University of Wisconsin who studies medicine compliance. “But the medicine is what is keeping them well.”
The next step in fully understanding hot Jupiters is to use these discoveries to establish the relative likelihoods of the three possible migration mechanisms in order to determine which systems formed which way. Jupiter-sized planets are the rulers of their planetary system because of their dominant gravitational influence and the way their migration pathway sculpts the architectures of their system. Understanding these worlds is the first step to constructing a unified theory of planet formation that scientists have been seeking for centuries.
-JULIETTE BECKER is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is also a founding member of the new Wisconsin Center for Origins Research (WiCOR).
“To reconstruct the [long-term] Earth–Moon history, we need to see how those periods change,” said Margriet Lantink, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “Milankovitch-based reconstructions are more robust” at showing that change than other current methods, especially for the older part of the geological record, she said.
Without a competitive Republican primary spurring conservative voters to the polls, “turnout will be lower and more balanced between the parties,” predicted UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden.
James Lattis, director of the UW Space Place, said a partial eclipse is a rare site. They are an opportunity for scientific discovery. Lattis said people can watch the progression by facing away from the sun and looking at the image of the sun made by a pinhole, leaves on a tree or holes in a kitchen colander.
“You see the distant shadow of the moon rushing up on you,” Lattis said. “The crescent of sunlight that’s left is getting gradually thinner and thinner. You start seeing lighting effects in the environment around you.”
With two questions on the April 2 ballot asking whether to amend the Wisconsin Constitution, University of Wisconsin Law School professor Robert Yablon explains what they’re asking.
There’s a disconnect in how we respond to older people struggling with their mental health, said Dr. Sarah Endicott, a clinical professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison focused on geriatrics. Some of that, she suspects, may be chalked up to ageism, which the World Health Organization defines as the stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination toward others based on age.
“I don’t think it’s intentional, but the lower value we place on older adults in general, especially when it comes to end-of-life, I’m guessing that’s part of the cause,” said Endicott, who also works as a geriatric psychiatrist at Stoughton Hospital in Dane County.
Written by Ross Milton ,an assistant professor with the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. His research focuses on the political economy and public finance of state and local taxes and includes studies of tax limitation policies and the effects of local taxes on alternative revenue sources.
“His most influential insights, in my view, can be divided into three areas,” says Strier. The first was that
“nonhuman primates are more thoughtful than we thought, in both their cognitive abilities and in their empathy
and morality,” he says, spurring more ethical treatment of primates. The second: Frans’ “fine-grained observations
of individuals in social groups, powerful experimental and analytical designs, and informative comparisons among
closely-related species” showed the scientific community that a tremendous amount can be observed and
concluded about primates through non-invasive techniques. The third, Streir says, is that “through his work we
have gained new perspectives” on the evolution of our own behavior as humans.
“There’s some evidence that they’re picking up some traction,” said Michael Wagner, a professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
During a strangely warm winter that made maple trees ready to share their sap earlier than usual, a Wisconsin forestry outreach specialist found a constant: The state still has a lot of trees ripe for tapping.
While Wisconsin trails Vermont, New York and Massachusetts for maple syrup production, Wisconsin has more untapped maple trees than any other state, according to Tony Johnson, a natural resources educator for the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
“There is a lot of room for growth,” Johnson said recently on WPR’s “Central Time.”
A UW-Madison student tells us about his podcast on changing technology. Then, a Washington Post columnist and a member of the Milwaukee Fire Department talk about America’s hardest jobs. Then, we explore new research on daddy longlegs. Then, we discuss efforts to make national parks along Lake Superior carbon neutral.
Written by Benny Witkovsky, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. His dissertation examines nonpartisan politics and polarization in small cities in Wisconsin.
Numerous unanswered questions remain, such as what sorts of planets tend to be consumed and how to know with certainty whether any given star has wholly abstained from devouring members of its brood. Even so, “this work is super compelling,” says Melinda Soares-Furtado, an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “I’m excited about what we’re starting to find.”
If you want to peacefully coexist with technology, you need to get a handle on those impulses. Start by noticing when you have an urge to lift your phone or open social media on your browser window, said Richard J. Davidson, the founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“This is a huge step in the right direction to break down barriers to access contraceptives,” Dr. Abigail Cutler, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Public Health said.
As automation and artificial intelligence become bigger parts of the workplace, employees will be relied on more for their “soft skills” like time management and interpersonal communication. We talk to Matthew Hora, an education professor at UW-Madison, about where and how we teach and learn those skills and how we can improve them.
Johnson “has become an influential voice in his party because of his outspoken nature and eagerness to weigh in on issues even when his position is unpopular,” said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor and the director of the Elections Research Centerthere, in an email.
“But Johnson is unlikely to become party leader because he has not developed a network of trusting relationships with his colleagues,” Burden continued. “Although fellow Republicans often appreciate his bold critiques of Democrats and other authority figures, Johnson has not shown himself to be a coalition builder who carefully attends to the concerns of his Senate colleagues. He tends to oppose measures that are moving forward rather than finding ways to bring them to fruition.”
To see what other scientists thought of this petunia, I emailed Simon Gilroy, a botanist who leads a lab at the University of Wisconsin at Madison that uses green fluorescent proteins to study how a plant sends signals through its body. But the fluorescence of those proteins—originally synthesized from a jellyfish—is visible only with specialized lights, unlike the petunia now in my house, which glowed on its own. When I visited Gilroy’s lab in 2022, he showed me a tiny plant beneath a microscope lens, handed me a pair of tweezers, and instructed me to pinch it. I watched as a green luminance moved through the entire plant body: The experience permanently changed my view of plant life. Here was a lively, dynamic creature that absolutely knew I was touching it. Gilroy quickly wrote back: “I actually have 2 of those luminescent petunias on pre-order.”
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into education, both students and faculty are grappling with the question ‘How can AI support learning?’
UW’s generative AI policies vary from classroom to classroom, depending on instructor preference, and students are responsible for getting permission ahead of time if they are unsure of classroom expectations. But, students are always required to cite paraphrasing and word for word text created through instructor-approved AI usage.
There’s also reason to believe that using cellphones in class is bad for learning. Studies on doctors, nurses, and others have shown that “multitasking during learning interferes with the long-term processing and retention of what you learn,” said Megan Moreno, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Some research suggests that curbing smartphone use in the classroom could help students stay focused on their lessons.
“Computing was going to be a big deal,” says Charles Isbell, a former dean of Georgia Tech’s college of computing and now the provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Emancipating the field from its prior home within the college of engineering gave it room to grow, he told me.
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have spent years trying to unravel the details of Down syndrome: What happens inside the womb, how the genetic disorder alters the formation of neurons, and what specific processes affect brain development. The work can’t proceed without studying fetal tissue. Anita Bhattacharyya, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology, said her lab’s findings so far are significant, having identified a layer of late-developing neurons that are reduced in the brains of fetuses with Down syndrome. If she were to start her career again, however, she isn’t sure she would follow the same path. “It seems too risky,” she said.
“It’s not a death knell,” said Charles Lee Isbell Jr., who studied at MIT’s AI Lab and recently became provost at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Isbell is pushing for classroom emphasis on AI data-driven simulations and so-called deep learning, which uses multiple layers of what are called “artificial neural networks” — complex algorithms designed to mimic the human brain to generate new data.
Supporters of the amendment argue outside money can “create undue influence on elections and the work of election officials,” said Emily Lau, a staff attorney with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s State Democracy Research Initiative. Lau said that can hamper trust in elections.
Those opposed to the amendment say election work is underfunded, which sows distrust as well.
“There are concerns that bans on private funding without accompanying guarantees of adequate and sufficient public funding could impede the work of election officials,” said Lau.
Zach Feiner is a research scientist at the state Department of Natural Resources and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology. On WPR’s “The Morning Show,” Feiner said the state hopes lowering the number of fish caught can help walleye recover.
Ion Meyn, an associate professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and former supervising attorney at the Wisconsin Innocence Project, said his experience representing incarcerated people showed him that correctional staff frequently ignore written policy.
“It’s just shocking — the kind of neglect and disregard that occurs in prison on a daily basis, regardless of whatever is written,” Meyn said. “Guards don’t follow it. They don’t.”
“For the staff here, it’s tracking these events over time, and seeing how they differ between different years,” said UW-Madison Arboretum ecologist Brad Herrick.
He’s worked there for 17 years, so he’s able to compare each season. He said this year is a weird one.
“We’ve had really sharp temperature swings from February on,” he said.
“This is the money that private give to city clerks to spend for the purposes of helping people get to the polls and cast votes,” Howard Schweber, a political science professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, said.
It’s quiet as a group of eight people stand bent at the waist, intently staring at a pizza sitting on a gleaming stainless-steel counter.
It’s an early March Wednesday morning, and they are in the Hilmar Cheese Dairy Applications Lab of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Dairy Research.
It might seem like the National Association of Realtors, which in the past few years has been the target of antitrust lawsuits and whose former president resigned in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal, is in crisis. Last year, a federal jury in Missouri found that the NAR, along with private brokerages, had colluded to keep broker fees artificially high and awarded nearly $1.8 billion to hundreds of thousands of home sellers. And on Friday, the NAR announced that instead of appealing it would settle the lawsuit. (Max Besbris is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the author of “Upsold: Real Estate Agents, Prices, and Neighborhood Inequality.” )
Barry Burden, the founding director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center, outlined several other reasons why votes were counted faster in the primaries than in the 2020 general election.
That may sound like a more expensive arrangement for homebuyers. But economist Abdullah Yavas at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business said under the traditional arrangement, sellers only technically pay for buyer’s agents. In reality, buyers were still footing the bill.
“It shows the economic strength of the region,” said Kurt Paulsen, a professor of urban planning at UW-Madison. “I think it also means we really have to go and update our long-term forecasts. They’ll probably be significantly higher.”
It is not yet clear whether the bill that passed the House will get a vote in the Senate. President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill if it passes.
Even if that happens, there would surely be legal challenges, said University of Wisconsin-Madison law school professor Anuj Desai.
“I suspect the government’s first defense, so to speak, is this is not a ban on TikTok,” Desai said. “It is an attempt to get ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company.”
A vote for uninstructed delegation is a voter telling delegates to vote for whoever they think is best at August’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, including Biden, said Derek Clinger, a senior staff attorney with the University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative — provided that enough voters cast their ballots for the uncommitted option.
The route, and really the entire trajectory that people take when they migrate from South America to North America, is controlled by criminal organizations that make millions, if not billions of dollars, annually in the human migration economy.
Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Nebraska and Maine long ago discarded the electoral college’s winner-take-all approach to allow split ballots if a candidate wins the popular vote in a congressional district. (Featuring quote from Barry Burden.)
Many people are disparaging or dismissive when talking about people who believe misinformation, but it can happen to anyone, said Sedona Chinn, an assistant professor in the life sciences communication department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The ruling is part of a suite of attacks in recent years aiming to chip away at section 2, said Daniel Tokaji, an election law expert who is dean of the law school at the University of Wisconsin. “These are judges who are not terribly friendly to the voting rights and in particular to protections that racial minority groups have long had to wait for,” he said.
“This will be a really fundamental shift in how Americans buy, search for, and purchase and sell their housing. It will absolutely transform the real estate industry,” said Max Besbris, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of “Upsold,” a book exploring the link between housing prices and the real estate business.
To Kurt Paulsen, a professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, there’s no question the city faces a critical shortage of housing to meet the needs. Paulsen’s research focuses on housing and land use.
“It absolutely is accurate to call it a crisis,” he said. “It’s the basic facts: Jobs are growing really quickly. Lots of young people are moving here. All those things mean housing demand is off the charts.”
Includes interviews with Jeb Barzen, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture and Jessica Hua, an associate professor in forest and wildlife ecology, both at UW-Madison.
Dave Schroeder, a national security strategist and cybersecurity expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Americans may be vulnerable because China has an app on millions of cell phones.
The content that can be pushed on TikTok is also a problem, he said, even if most of it is benign.
“There’s a concern there that the messages or the narratives that might be subtly pushed on TikTok are going to be those that are supported by the Chinese government,” he said.
“This is a sort of $2 million question,” Till Wagner, an atmospheric and ocean scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says. “Can this actually happen? And if so, when?”
Steve Vavrus, director of the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, said this winter was a “whopping” 2 degrees warmer than the previous record of 26.1 degrees set back in the winter of 2001-2002. He noted previous records were closer in the rankings.
