New battery technology helps stimulate nerves
With the help of new silicon-based compounds, scientists - and patients - are getting a significant new charge out of the tiny lithium batteries used in implantable devices to help treat nervous system and other disorders. Read More
WiCell receives $16 million NIH grant to create national stem cell bank
The WiCell Research Institute has been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the federal government's first and only National Stem Cell Bank (NSCB), it was announced today at a news conference in Madison. Read More
Night time is the right time for art
Hot glass, fake grass and combat class will come together for a night of eclectic, artistic adventure at UW–Madison's "Arts Night Out!" on Saturday, Oct. 8. Artists, performers and organizations from across campus invite people to experience the arts, from traditional to cutting edge, and at no charge. Read More
Finding rewrites the evolutionary history of the origin of potatoes
Humans have cultivated potatoes for millennia, but there has been great controversy about the ubiquitous vegetable's origins. This week, writing in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, a team led by a USDA potato taxonomist stationed at UW–Madison has for the first time demonstrated a single origin in southern Peru for the cultivated potato. Read More
Scientist uses form to explain building blocks of life
UW-Madison biochemists have developed an approach that allows them to measure with unprecedented accuracy the strengths of hydrogen bonds in a protein. The scientists were then able to predict the function of different versions of the protein based on structural information, a novel outcome that was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read More
Nanoscale research receives big boost
The National Science Foundation has awarded the UW–Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) nearly $14.8 million over the next six years to continue its leading-edge research on the interfaces of materials at the nanoscale. Read More
Brittingham Viking Organization offers study-abroad scholarships
The Brittingham Viking Organization (BVO), a group that sponsors study-abroad programs in Scandinavia, is accepting scholarship applications for 2006 and 2007. Scholarship programs provide all-expenses-paid study-abroad opportunities to UW–Madison undergraduate and graduate students in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Read More
School of Veterinary Medicine gets first full-tuition endowed scholarship
The UW–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine will announce its first-ever full-tuition endowed scholarship winner later this year, thanks to an anonymous donor who established the E.A. Neufeld Family Scholarship Fund. Read More
UW-Madison, Medical College of Wisconsin to lead $16 million children’s health initiative
A consortium of community organizations and academic institutions in Wisconsin will participate in the largest long-term study of the environment's effects on human health and development ever conducted in the United States. The goal of the long-term study is to improve the health and well-being of children. Read More
Prestigious award for scientist exploring consciousness and sleep
A psychiatrist at UW–Madison is one of 13 scientists nationwide to receive the prestigious Pioneer Award, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today. Read More
Researchers: Deep sleep short-circuits brain’s grid of connectivity
In the human brain, cells talk to one another through the routine exchange of electrical signals. But when people fall into a deep sleep, the higher regions of the brain - regions that during waking hours are a bustling grid of neural dialogue - apparently lose their ability to communicate effectively, causing consciousness to fade. Read More
Exploring the ‘social ecology of productive classrooms’
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of human ecology, has devoted his research to discovering why Read More
Research identifies cost-effective delinquency prevention programs
A new report released by UW–Madison and the UW Extension synthesizes the latest research on what works in preventing and reducing juvenile delinquency. Read More
Pulitzer winner Leonard Pitts, Jr. to give Nafziger Lecture
Syndicated Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr., winner of the '2004 Pulitzer Prize' for commentary, will deliver the Ralph O. and Monona H. Nafziger Lecture at UW–Madison on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Read More
UW-Madison students of color to connect with alumni
UW-Madison alumni will share their real-world experiences with current students of color at a special Career Links reception on Thursday, Oct. 6. Read More
Grant establishes institute for lifelong learning
Taking a wide variety of lifelong learning classes just got easier for Madison-area residents ages 50 and over. The Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) at UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA) were recently awarded a grant to establish a joint UW–Madison Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Read More
Professor introduces Madison to Cajun music
Five years ago, Cajun culture - "Cajun" is a corruption of "Acadian" - grabbed hold of Karen Holden. A professor of consumer science and public affairs at UW–Madison and associate director of its La Follette School of Public Affairs, she is a nationally known expert on Social Security, pensions and their relationship to the timing of retirement. Somehow she also manages to find time to rehearse and perform with the Madison band Cajun Strangers. Read More
Community events to focus on Vietnam War
The Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Public Television and the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs are joining to present a series of community events next week centering around a new PBS American Experience documentary film, Two Days in October. Read More
Statement from Chancellor John Wiley on Assembly Bill 499
The failure of the Wisconsin State Senate to amend Assembly Bill 499, which effectively criminalizes a promising area of biomedical research, sends a frightening message to Wisconsin's research community. Scientists in many fields view this with alarm. Read More