Category Science & Technology
Engineered stem cell advance points toward treatment for ALS
MADISON, Wis. — Transplantation of human stem cells in an experiment conducted at the University of Wisconsin–Madison improved survival and muscle function in rats used to model ALS, a nerve disease that destroys nerve control of muscles, causing death by respiratory failure.
Down syndrome neurons grown from stem cells show signature problems
In new research published this week, Anita Bhattacharyya, a neuroscientist at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, reports on brain cells that were grown from skin cells of individuals with Down syndrome.
Two researchers named Shaw scientists
The Greater Milwaukee Foundation has chosen two University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers for 2013 Shaw Scientist Awards.
‘Audio field trip’ to celebrate campus wetland and remember campus zoologist
An "audio field trip" on Memorial Day will explore a restored marsh on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus - a part of the university's Lakeshore Nature Preserve. The marsh, near the western end of campus, is a remnant of a much larger wetland that was drained for other uses such as growing corn.
Understanding the past and predicting the future by looking across space and time
Studying complex systems like ecosystems can get messy, especially when trying to predict how they interact with other big unknowns like climate change.
Symposium will focus on developmental biology
When former University of Wisconsin–Madison genetics professor Oliver Smithies won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, he dedicated a portion of his prize money to start a symposium to bring top biologists to campus as a resource for students, faculty, and staff.
Software Assurance Marketplace to host exposition
Top software analysis tool providers from around the world are being invited to run their latest assessment tools at the Morgridge Institute for Research on the UW–Madison campus in a months-long series of tests to improve the quality and security of software assurance tools and open-source software.
Thinking ‘big’ may not be best approach to saving large-river fish
Large-river specialist fishes - from giant species like paddlefish and blue catfish, to tiny crystal darters and silver chub - are in danger, but researchers say there is greater hope to save them if major tributaries identified in a University of Wisconsin–Madison study become a focus of conservation efforts.
Brain can be trained in compassion, study shows
Until now, little was scientifically known about the human potential to cultivate compassion - the emotional state of caring for people who are suffering in a way that motivates altruistic behavior.
IceCube Neutrino Observatory reports first evidence for extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos
A massive telescope in the Antarctic ice reports the detection of 28 extremely high-energy neutrinos that might have their origin in cosmic sources. Two of these reached energies greater than 1 petaelectronvolt (PeV), an energy level thousands of times higher than the highest energy neutrino yet produced in a manmade accelerator.
Documentary film portrays UW–Madison mindfulness research
MADISON – Groundbreaking research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is the focus of the new documentary film, “Free the Mind,” which debuts in Madison tomorrow, May 15.
Early career award funds study of messenger RNA stability
In an effort to improve microorganisms that can sustainably produce fuels and chemicals, a University of Wisconsin–Madison engineer is using a U.S. Department of Energy award to study what - if anything - gets lost in the translation of genetic information.
Shakhashiri receives prestigious award for public education
Bassam Shakhashiri, a chemistry professor and William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has received the 2013 Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science.
Unique engineering shop looks to another challenge of 21st century physics
Sequestered in the farmland near Stoughton, an unusual University of Wisconsin–Madison facility - part machine shop, part design lab, part physics outpost - continues to make machines, equipment and detectors for the world's most advanced experiments.
Adult cells transformed into early-stage nerve cells, bypassing the pluripotent stem cell stage
A University of Wisconsin–Madison research group has converted skin cells from people and monkeys into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells - without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC.
With heart cells, middle schoolers learn the hard lessons of science
The drug trial is not off to an auspicious start. The cells are not cooperating.
UW flu expert elected to National Academy of Sciences
Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor of pathobiological sciences in the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and leading expert on influenza, has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
UW to offer new virtual internships to enhance women’s interest in engineering
The College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison will offer for the first time a course entirely based on digital learning simulations in the fall of 2013.
Vaterite: Crystal within a crystal helps resolve an old puzzle
With the help of a solitary sea squirt, scientists have resolved the longstanding puzzle of the crystal structure of vaterite, an enigmatic geologic mineral and biomineral.