Category Science & Technology
Eclipse throws shade, delighting campus
Hundreds crowded Library Mall Monday afternoon to peer up at a rare solar eclipse, as the UW–Madison Astronomy Club hosted a live viewing event from noon to 3:30 p.m.
UW–Madison researchers develop better way to make painkiller from trees
The process is primarily water based, relies on green solvents, and is continuous rather than a batch reaction, which makes it ideal for industrial applications.
Exceptional meteorite, plowed up from a Dane County field, finds new home in UW Geology Museum
The hunk of iron weighs in at nearly 110 pounds, is Wisconsin's 15th classified meteorite, and is the first ever recorded in Dane County.
Researchers reveal evolutionary path of important proteins
New research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison decodes the evolutionary pathway of regulatory proteins, the molecules that help control gene expression.
New tool provides researchers with improved understanding of stem cell aging in the brain
By identifying and decoding these autofluorescence signatures, the researchers have developed a tool that can aid in studying adult neurological diseases and aging, but potentially also expand beyond neuroscience.
UW unveils intellectual property models to build industry partnerships
With the Badger IP Industry Advantage program, companies interested in conducting research through the university can avoid some of the speed bumps that have slowed the transfer of technology from research to product.
All creatures great and small: Sequencing the blue whale and Etruscan shrew genomes
Size doesn’t matter when it comes to genome sequencing in the animal kingdom, as a team of researchers at the Morgridge Institute for Research recently illustrated when assembling the sequences for two new reference genomes — one from the world’s largest mammal and one from one of the smallest.
Some lymphomas become resistant to treatment. Gene discovery may offer path to overcome it.
Researchers have been trying to understand why and how certain lymphoma treatments often stop being effective. Lixin Rui and his team believe they've found the reason — and a potential alternative treatment.
UW–Madison launches Sustainability Research Hub
The hub aims to bring significant interdisciplinary sustainability research funding to campus by connecting researchers across departments and targeting major federal research grants.
Q&A with Prof. Steffi Diem, a UW–Madison fusion scientist and 2024 U.S. Science Envoy
Diem, a fusion energy expert, specializes in heating the ultra-hot fuel for fusion and confining it within efficient and compact magnetic bottles. Her selection as one of four new U.S. Science Envoys highlights growing recognition of fusion's role in building a clean and renewable energy future.
Engineering building, reciprocity changes receive final approval
The new building will permit the enrollment of around 1,000 additional undergraduates in engineering at a time when Wisconsin employers urgently need more engineers. The facility will also provide a state-of-the-art space to continue to attract and support exceptional faculty.
The eyes are a gateway to evolution… of daddy longlegs at least.
While some people may first associate daddy longlegs with well, their legs, researchers from the Department of Integrative Biology have been especially focused on the arachnids’ eyes and what they can tell us about their evolution.
Walleye struggle with changes to timing of spring thaw
Newly-hatched walleye are hungry fish, dependent on meals of tiny zooplankton during the spring. As Midwestern lakes thaw unusually early or late, these prized fish can miss the dinner bell.
New toolkit helps scientists study natural cell death
Taking advantage of the unique biochemical properties of protein fragments, their tool uses less expensive, more efficient, off-the-shelf chemical compounds to help identify sites where proteins were cut.
Programming cells to organize their molecules may open the door to new treatments
Biochemists at UW–Madison have developed a tool to control how certain proteins move in mammalian cells, a discovery that has multiple potential uses for treating or studying diseases by engineering specific cellular activities or studying cellular activity in a living organism.
RISE Initiative to focus on strategic faculty hiring to solve grand challenges
The new Wisconsin Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Initiative is designed to help address significant, complex challenges of particular importance to Wisconsin and the world, through accelerated and strategic faculty hiring, research infrastructure enhancement, interdisciplinary collaboration and increased student and educational opportunities.
UW–Madison researchers first to 3D-print functional human brain tissue
It’s an achievement with important implications for scientists studying the brain and working on treatments for a broad range of neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
These tomatoes are out of this world… or they will be soon
By sending tomato plants to the International Space Station, UW researchers hope to better understand how plants grow without gravity and whether there are ways to help plants cope with the stressors involved with growing in space flight.
Chats with AI shift attitudes on climate change, Black Lives Matter
Researchers studying AI wanted to understand how one complex large language model, GPT-3, would perform across a culturally diverse group of users in complex discussions.
Study identifies promising target for treating inflammatory bowel disease and colitis-induced colorectal cancers
Researchers uncovered a previously unknown function of a protein that is central to gut health and implicated in the development of colitis, a severe and chronic form of IBD.