Category Science & Technology
Ned Kalin – revealing disorders of the brain
Dr. Ned Kalin, chair of the Department of Psychiatry, is an accomplished biological psychiatrist whose research focuses on anxiety. Through imaging studies and understanding the genetic and environmental components of mental illness, his lab is working toward discoveries that can form the basis of early interventions to treat children who are at risk of developing long-term anxiety and related psychiatric disorders.
$18 million to study deadly secrets of flu, Ebola, West Nile viruses
In an effort to sort out why some viruses such as influenza, Ebola and West Nile are so lethal, a team of U.S. researchers plans a comprehensive effort to model how humans respond to these viral pathogens.
Innovative solar cell structure stores and supplies energy simultaneously
The potential energy available via solar power might seem limitless on a sunny summer day, but all that energy has to be stored for it to be truly useful. If you see a solar panel on a rooftop, in a large-scale array, or even on a parking meter, a bulky battery or supercapacitor is hidden just out of sight, receiving energy from the panel through power lines.
RFID advance to improve safety of nation’s blood supply
A six-year collaboration between industry and the University of Wisconsin–Madison RFID Lab has achieved a major milestone with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearing the first RFID-enabled solution to improve the safety and efficiency of the nation's blood supply.
A virtual elephant from a marriage of biology, engineering, and art
The solid aluminum cast of an elephant on Warren Porter's desk has been waiting for 25 years.
Colleagues remember Rader for technical skills, human touch
Computing can be a complex and difficult topic for those without technical experience. Stephen Rader’s easy-going manner made his colleagues in the Physics Department feel at-ease with technology and helped support their research successes.
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.