Consider the stories a bowling pin from Antigo’s Vulcan Corporation might have to tell. While the average person might think in terms of the confines of a single bowling alley, another might consider its role in Wisconsin’s lumber industry, Milwaukee’s former title as “The Bowling Capital of America,” and Japan’s mid-20th century bowling boom.
Tag: featured
UW-Madison grad called hero after saving man from New York’s East River
A UW-Madison graduate is one of three people being called a hero after jumping into New York’s East River to save a man.
Hacker Lexicon: What Is Fuzzing?
Fuzzing’s method of using random data tweaks to dig up bugs was itself an accident. In 1987, University of Wisconsin at Madison professor Barton Miller was trying to use the desktop VAX computer in his office via a terminal in his home. But he was connecting to that UNIX machine over a phone line using an old-fashioned modem without error correction, and a thunderstorm kept introducing noise into the commands he was typing.
Medical Student Says Her Mental Health Issues Will Make Her A Better Doctor
At first Giselle wasn’t sure what to put on her medical school application. She wanted to be a doctor, but she also wanted people to know about her own health: years of depression, anxiety and a suicide attempt. (We’re using only her first name in this story, out of concern for her future career.)
The simple math that helped mathematicians solve a vexing problem in the kids’ card game “Set”
Noted: “The fact that the cap set problem finally yielded to such a simple technique is humbling,” Jordan Ellenberg, a mathematician at the University of Wisconsin, Madison told Quanta Magazine. “It makes you wonder what else is actually easy.”
Professor talks about science to traveling, airport lines
Believe it or not, there is a science to airport lines and some logistics that can help travelers. Laura Albert Mclay, an associate professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, talks about it on Live at Four.
Crystal clear: Winners emerge in crystal-growing contest
A high school student from Fond du Lac and a team of middle school students from Berlin grew the best overall crystals in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s third annual crystal-growing contest.
This ‘Smart Skin’ Can Monitor Your Health Or Even Control Your Home
world’s fastest stretchable, wearable circuit that could become the foundation for the next generation of wearable gadgets.This ‘smart skin’ could do everything from monitor your vitals, control your music, track your runs or even let you control your own home – all wirelessly.
Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism
Quoted: “It seems to me in developed and semideveloped countries there is emerging a new kind of politics for which maybe the best taxonomic category would be right-wing populist nationalism,” said Stanley Payne, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We are seeing a new kind of phenomenon which is different from what you had” in the 20th century.
UW-Madison Professor Says School’s Faculty Should Stay
Despite the budget cuts, weakened tenure protections and the general acrimony between state lawmakers and University of Wisconsin System staff, a UW-Madison professor is making the case for why faculty should stay at the school.
UW-Madison Professor: Why I’m Staying
Amid budget cuts, weakened tenure protections, and a chilly atmosphere between UW faculty and staff and Governor Walker, some of the UW System’s faculty have been looking for jobs elsewhere or receiving offers from other universities. We hear from a professor and department chair who makes the case for staying at the UW.
Doctors Test Tools to Predict Your Odds of a Disease
Noted: Some resistance to using the predictive model stems from “click fatigue” as doctors deal with a wealth of electronic information, such as best-practice recommendations for treatment, that increasingly pops up on their computer screens, says David Feldstein, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
New Wearable Tech Can Make Hospital Visits More Comfortable
In the age of the Internet, you can do almost anything wirelessly. This is especially intriguing in the health care field where professionals can monitor the data of patients without having to be in the room.
Joe Pavelski leads Sharks to Cup Final
PITTSBURGH — The decision to affix the “C” on Joe Pavelski’s jersey was an easy one.
Johnson Controls expands battery research partnership with UW-Madison
Expanding its research collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, Johnson Controls Inc. is funding projects in Madison that will research improving fuel efficiency for both start-stop and battery-electric vehicles.
Goldwater Foundation awards 252 scholarships to STEM undergrads
In addition to Maryland, the only other universities receiving the maximum of four Goldwater awards are Cornell University, Stanford University, the University of North Texas, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
People dump AI advisors that give bad advice, while they forgive humans for doing the same
We accept that to err is human. Not so with machines. When our electronic counterparts fail us—whether its baggage screening software or the latest artificial intelligence—we are quick to shun their advice in the future. That has big implications as machines infiltrate the workplace, offering services once provided by human colleagues.University of Wisconsin researchers recently sought to test how we might get along with our future AI coworkers.
Hoosier speller among 10 best in nation
Since winning his regional bee in March, Jashun has been studying with Jeff Kirsch, a Spanish professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
How UW System Contributes To State Economic Development
Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still explains how budget cuts will continue to affect the University of Wisconsin System’s ability to contribute to economic growth in Wisconsin. Still says a bipartisan effort is necessary in order for both the state economy and UW System to thrive.
The problem of pain
Noted: But paltry prices can work against developing countries, says James Cleary, a palliative-care specialist at the University of Wisconsin: they mean drug firms have little incentive to bring them to new markets. Tariffs, import licences and high costs for small-scale local production mean that morphine can cost twice as much in poor places as rich ones. Some countries, such as Jamaica, subsidise opioid painkillers. Many others do not.
Infections resist ‘last antibiotic’ in US
Noted: Commenting on the reports Dr Nasia Safdar, from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said: “The results are very concerning.
Spring Comes Earlier to Urban Environments
Spring comes earlier to dense cities, and while that might be great for city gardeners and outdoorsy types, it might be bad for native birds and insects.
UW-Madison Professor: Why I’m Staying
Amid budget cuts, weakened tenure protections, and a chilly atmosphere between UW faculty and staff and Governor Walker, some of the UW System’s faculty have been looking for jobs elsewhere or receiving offers from other universities. We hear from a professor and department chair who makes the case for staying at the UW.
Badgers’ Nigel Hayes stops by Boys & Girls Club the day after big decision
A day after announcing his return to the University of Wisconsin, Nigel Hayes is giving back in a big way.
Laura Schwendinger pens an opera about a neglected female painter
“Official” artistic canons have historically recorded a greater number of men than women among their ranks. But that discrepancy is shifting in both the present and the past, as female artists in the modern era stake their claims and female artists from the past are honored by research and scholarship.
Lending in China Is So Risky That Cows Are Now Collateralized
Quoted: “The environment just isn’t right for the practice with low interest rates, balance sheets generally in good shape, plenty of heifers and milk prices are low,” said Mark Stephenson, director of Dairy Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin, who said it was more common in the 1990s. “Why would anyone want to lease what they could own?”
Turfing lawn for lettuce, micro-clover or even polypropylene greens
Noted: “Suddenly people were homeowners like never before … so these landscapes and suburbanization just mushroomed,” said Paul Robbins, author of Lawn People: How Grass, Weeds and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are.
NASA and Wisconsin are covering the state with wildlife cameras
NASA’s next search for life is headed somewhere close to home: into the woods of Wisconsin, where the space agency is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to create “one of the richest and most comprehensive caches of wildlife data for any spot on our planet.”
Stem cell scientist says industry poised to boom
Twenty years after UW-Madison scientist Jamie Thomson began work to isolate human embryonic stems, research has advanced so far that the field is now poised to boom and create Wisconsin companies that could rival Epic, the Verona-based electronic healthcare records company with more than 9,000 employees.
Meet the expert witnesses testifying in Wisconsin’s federal voter ID trial
Noted: Witnesses include Barry Burden, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Director, UW Elections Research Center.
Stem cell scientist says industry poised to boom
Twenty years after UW-Madison scientist Jamie Thomson began work to isolate human embryonic stems, research has advanced so far that the field is now poised to boom and create Wisconsin companies that could rival Epic, the Verona-based electronic healthcare records company with more than 9,000 employees.That was the optimistic forecast by three panelists who spoke Tuesday at a Wisconsin Innovation Network luncheon in Madison.
Alvarez helped create winning culture at Wisconsin
When Barry Alvarez was extended an offer to become the football coach at the University of Wisconsin in 1990, he approached some of his friends and mentors for advice before accepting.
Billions at Stake in University Patent Fights
A powerful and inexpensive technique for rewriting snippets of DNA — known as CRISPR-Cas9 — has two research institutions locked in a bitter patent battle. On one side is UC Berkeley, where faculty first reported using the gene-editing technology in 2012, on the other, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where faculty won a special expedited patent for the technique in 2014.
Atucha: How Wisconsin Fruits Were Hit By A Late Spring Frost
Every year as spring unfolds, fruit growers around Wisconsin start feeling anxious, wondering whether a late frost will harm their crop. Overall, temperatures are warming across the state amidst global climate change, but this pattern is accompanied by unseasonable cold weather events, such as the late spring frost much of the state experienced earlier this month.
‘Use your turn signal’: Six of the best celebrity commencement speeches of 2016
Recognize: Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s speech at UW-Madison
Poverty linked to epigenetic changes and mental illness
Noted: Seth Pollak, a child psychologist at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, says that it is unclear whether poverty harms cognition and mental health, or whether a person’s intrinsic biology increases the likelihood that he or she will be poor as adults. But epigenetic research, such as the new study, shows that genetic differences are not the only important factors. “You might have a particular gene — but depending on the experience you have or don’t have, the gene might never be turned on,” Pollak says.
1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility
Noted: But all these factors are exacerbated by common forces, says Judith Kimble, a developmental biologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison: competition for grants and positions, and a growing burden of bureaucracy that takes away from time spent doing and designing research. “Everyone is stretched thinner these days,” she says. And the cost extends beyond any particular research project. If graduate students train in labs where senior members have little time for their juniors, they may go on to establish their own labs without having a model of how training and mentoring should work. “They will go off and make it worse,” Kimble says.
Nigel Hayes will return to UW for senior season
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard has reeled in a key recruit for the 2016-’17 season.
UW-Madison scientist says flu virus mapping could improve vaccine
The development by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka follows research he did last year suggesting another way to improve flu shots: manufacturing them with dog or monkey cells instead of the current, lengthy process using chicken eggs.
Neurological therapy: Can stimulating the tongue help stimulate the brain?
A new experimental therapy is trying to determine if stimulating the tongue can retrain the brain and offer some relief to those with neurological issues.
China’s Coming Demographic Crash
Quoted: “It’s already too late,” says Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a critic of Chinese population policies. “China’s population is aging quickly and will start to shrink soon.”
Thousands more trail cameras coming to Wisconsin
Wisconsin scientists have launched an ambitious new project that uses trail cameras to inventory wildlife and tamp down simmering questions about how many deer really roam the state.
Madison ranked No. 1 college football town
The Bleacher Report put out a list of the top 15 college football towns in the country based on the town’s relationship to its college program, passion in terms of fan support, traditions, culture and entertainment options on football weekends.
UW researches why obesity is breast cancer risk factor
Studies show that being overweight or obese is associated with a higher risk of cancer. One woman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is trying to figure out why that is, specifically in cases of breast cancer.
Madison ranked No. 1 college football town
The Bleacher Report put out a list of the top 15 college football towns in the country based on the town’s relationship to its college program, passion in terms of fan support, traditions, culture and entertainment options on football weekends.
Thousands more trail cameras coming to Wisconsin
MADISON — Wisconsin scientists have launched an ambitious new plan to catalog wild animals using thousands of trail cameras, a project that could help answer just how many deer and other creatures roam the state.
How the Other Fifth Lives
Noted: Timothy Smeeding, a professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin, has explored how the top quintile is pulling away from the rest of society. In an essay published earlier this year, “Gates, Gaps, and Intergenerational Mobility: The Importance of an Even Start,” Smeeding finds that the gap between the average income of households with children in the top quintile and households with children in the middle quintile has grown, in inflation-adjusted dollars, from $68,600 to $169,300 — that’s 147 percent.
Teaching today’s students is more taxing
Gloria Ladson-Billings posed a question to point out a troubling trend in education: “How can we develop culturally competent students if our teachers are culturally incompetent?” Ladson-Billings asked at her “Urban Education and Community Forum” lecture at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Health officials work with UW to track Zika-prone mosquitoes
Health officials are collaborating with the a state university after learning that a Wisconsin woman contracted the Zika virus.
The Opening Bell 05-18-16: GMO + TSA = BAD!
On the May 18, 2016 episode of The Opening Bell, Steve Grzanich talked with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Life Science Communication department chair, Dominique Brossard. The two discussed the recent details of a genetically engineered crop study and how it effects the market. Rick Seaney, airline industry expert, stopped by as well to share some more perspective on the TSA line madness.
Our view: Wisconsin’s higher education will drive our economy
Tommy Thompson still knows how to work a room. The former Wisconsin governor thanked faculty members during a graduation ceremony last week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, calling them “some of the greatest professors in the United States of America.”
Taking a ‘snapshot’ of Wisconsin wildlife
Wisconsin is home to numerous species of wild animals, although getting a handle on just how many can often prove quite difficult. A joint effort between University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and the state Department of Natural Resources could take some of the guesswork out of that process, with members of the public also lending a hand.
Wisconsin Fruit Crop Is Still Strong Despite Recent Frosts, Expert Says
Noted: But recent damage isn’t the end of this year’s crop, according to Dr. Amaya Atucha, a University of Wisconsin-Extension fruit specialist and assistant professor of horticulture at UW-Madison. She said the impacts of the frost varied greatly across the state.
DNR, UW-Madison researchers launch crowdsourced wildlife tracking project
Anyone with computer access can now take part in conducting wildlife research in Wisconsin.Snapshot Wisconsin, a collaboration between UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is recruiting the public to help track the state’s wildlife population.
5 books Bill Gates says you should read this summer
Listed: “On the surface it’s about math, but it’s really about how much math plays into our daily lives without our even knowing it,” Gates wrote in his review of How Not to Be Wrong.
Cold snap damages wine grape crops in Midwest
Noted: Temperatures dipped below freezing in much of those areas late Saturday and early Sunday, wiping out grape shoots that had emerged early due to a warm spring. The cold turned the water in the shoots cells to ice, killing the tissue, said Amaya Atucha, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant horticulture professor.
Report: Genetically modified foods safe but not curing hunger
“To some extent we know more about some genetically engineered food than we do about other food,” committee member Dominique Brossard of UW-Madison said. “There are limits to what can be known about any food. That’s something we’re not used to hearing as consumers.”
Tech Council report warns of continuing higher ed cuts
A new Wisconsin Technology Council report warns further state budget cuts to higher education “will prove costly over time.”
Farms That Rise to the Challenge
Quoted: “There are situations in dense urban areas where space is highly limited that growing food with artificial lights, stacked vertically, makes sense, especially highly perishable products like sprouts or salad greens where there is an immediate market for them,” said Stephen J. Ventura, a professor of environmental studies and soil science at the University of Wisconsin.
Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson Delivers University of Wisconsin Commencement Speech
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was back at Camp Randall Stadium Saturday, the place where he helped lead the Wisconsin Badgers to a Big Ten Championship in 2011. This time, however, Wilson wasn’t in Madison to deliver passes, but rather the commencement speech to the 2016 graduates of the University of Wisconsin.