Category Science & Technology
Long collaboration with sewer district helps city, university
The passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 ushered in a revolution in sewage treatment. Faced with tightening restrictions on the water and solids it must release after treatment, the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) turned to experts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for advice. Read More
By design, camps for students with disabilities take anxiety out of step to college
"I know what you're all thinking, 'What the heck?'" says 16-year-old Adam Proue, waving his hands and holding up his own presentation. "But this is going to make sense eventually." Read More
Curiosities: Is it safe to reuse plastic knives and forks?
Single-use kitchen plastics — such things as plastic eating utensils, cups and containers from cottage cheese, sour cream, chip dip, margarine, and milk — are… Read More
UW-Madison biochemist Henry Lardy dies at age 92
Henry A. Lardy, a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, passed away on Aug. 4 at the age of 92. Read More
Native pollinators: Key to sustainable fruit production?
As a group of students ogles wild flowers on a sunny day at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, the blooming dotted mint, iron weed and black-eyed susans are certainly glorious. But these adult students are not concentrating on the flowers. Instead, they are focusing on the insects busily pollinating those blooms. Read More
H1N1 flu virus used new biochemical trick to cause pandemic
The influenza virus, scientists well know, is a crafty, shape-shifting organism, constantly changing form to evade host immune systems and jump from one species, like birds, to another, mammals. Read More
Study details autism’s heavy toll beyond childhood on marriages
The parents of grown children with autism are more likely to divorce than couples with typically developing children, according to new data from a large longitudinal study of families of adolescents and adults with autism. Read More
Curiosities: Is it true that cell phone use can cause health problems?
The major concern with the electromagnetic radiation from cell phones is brain cancer, but most studies find “nothing definitive,” says Bruce Thomadsen, a professor… Read More
Students size up seismic sensor sites
University of Wisconsin–Madison students Matthew Kogle and Kelly Hoehn logged thousands of miles this summer driving rural Wisconsin roads, scanning the landscape. When they found a promising spot, they knocked on the door of the nearest farmhouse and tried to interest the owners in their cause. Read More
IceCube spies unexplained pattern of cosmic rays
Though still under construction, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole is already delivering scientific results - including an early finding about a phenomenon the telescope was not even designed to study. Read More
Curiosities: What’s the difference between dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent and dish soap? Why aren’t they interchangeable?
All detergents — whether intended for hands, hair, clothes or dishes — work on the same principles: Break up oils and dirt and wash them… Read More
Curiosities: Why do people sometimes develop late in life an allergy that never bothered them before?
Most allergies — especially to airborne allergens associated with runny noses and itchy eyes — come on in the teenage years or early twenties, according… Read More
Global grassroots lake science network has roots in Wisconsin
Inspired and led by freshwater scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, researchers eager to understand global ecosystems from end to end are now monitoring a series of buoys in lakes on every continent except Africa. Each buoy carries instruments to measure fundamental data on the weather above the water and the temperature and chemistry below it. Read More
‘Condor’ brings genome assembly down to Earth
Borrowing computing power from idle sources will help geneticists sidestep the multimillion-dollar cost of reconstituting the flood of data produced by next-generation genome-sequencing machines. Read More
Screen yields drugs that could help treat fatal brain disorder
Using novel screens to sort through libraries of drugs already approved for use in human patients, a team of Wisconsin researchers has identified several compounds that could be used to treat a rare and deadly neurological disorder. Read More
Monkey generosity: No strings attached
Among monkeys that split child care responsibilities, sharing extends to dinnertime, but grudges do not, according to research published July 14 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Read More
Hormone study finds monkeys in long-term relationship look strangely human
Monkeys in enduring relationships show a surprising correspondence in their levels of oxytocin, a key behavioral hormone, according to research published online June 28 in the journal Hormones and Behavior. Read More
The audience laughs and applauds as the performers on stage pull trick after trick from their sleeves: suspending a ball in midair, defying gravity, turning water into ice right before people's eyes. Read More
Canine influenza vaccine found effective against secondary infections
Recent research by Ron Schultz, professor and chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, has shown the newly approved Canine Influenza Virus (CIV) vaccine to be effective not only in reducing length, severity and spread of the virus, but also in protecting against secondary infections. Read More
Ecological restoration on lakeshore working on historic ground
The ongoing ecological restoration along the shoreline of the University of Wisconsin–Madison has reached a hillside near Eagle Heights that was once the summer home to hundreds of graduate students. The goal in the Tent Colony Woods, which is cut by gullies and invaded by exotic trees and shrubs, is to create a sustainable and ecologically diverse tract of sloping lakeshore forest. Read More