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Category Science & Technology

Curiosities: Why do cats hate water?

July 27, 2009

Because we teach them to hate it. There are plenty of cats that love water, according to Sandi Sawchuk, a clinical instructor at the… Read More

Curiosities: Why do onions make us cry when we cut them?

July 27, 2009

Chopping onions unleashes a “chemical defense that onion plants have to protect themselves against insects and microbes,” says UW–Madison horticulture professor Irwin Goldman. We’re… Read More

Curiosities: Are there more geese in Wisconsin than there used to be?

July 27, 2009

The number of Canada geese in Wisconsin is very much on the rise, increasing exponentially since standardized bird counts began in 1966, according to… Read More

Faculty aim to strengthen technology, science education by blending them

July 24, 2009

A group of UW–Madison researchers and Thermo Fisher Scientific scientists will bring together high school students and teachers to build and use diagnostic equipment that would not be out of place in university research labs. Read More

UW-Madison symposium addresses science’s holiest grail: building life from scratch

July 23, 2009

While at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, biochemist Har Gobind Khorana helped crack the genetic code, completing a set of experiments that garnered him a Nobel Prize in 1968. Read More

Software tool helps Web developers identify seizure-causing content

July 22, 2009

In 1997, an episode of the popular Pok�mon cartoon gained worldwide attention when more than 800 Japanese children with photosensitive seizure conditions were admitted to the hospital after viewing the cartoon or the subsequent news coverage of it. Read More

Do Chicago’s suburbs hold the key to understanding West Nile virus?

July 22, 2009

For a group of UW–Madison epidemiologists, the Chicago suburbs near Oak Lawn are proving to be the perfect laboratory for prying loose the secrets of West Nile virus, a pathogen carried by mosquitoes and birds that infects and sickens thousands of people each summer. Read More

Slide show: Blooming limnologists

July 20, 2009

The limnology “major”, one of 18 offered at this year’s Grandparents University, takes grandparents and their grandchildren on to Lake Mendota to collect samples and test the water for oxygen and temperature while aboard Limnos, a 28-foot research boat. Read More

‘Motion picture’ of past warming paves way for snapshots of future climate change

July 16, 2009

By accurately modeling Earth's last major global warming - and answering pressing questions about its causes - scientists led by University of Wisconsin–Madison and National Center for Atmospheric Research climatologists are unraveling the intricacies of the kind of abrupt climate shifts that may occur in the future. Read More

Study suggests H1N1 virus more dangerous than suspected

July 13, 2009

A new, highly detailed study of the H1N1 flu virus shows that the pathogen is more virulent than previously thought. Read More

UW-Madison researcher wins White House science award

July 9, 2009

A University of Wisconsin–Madison bacteriologist and evolutionary biologist is one of the country's brightest young scientific minds, according to the White House. Read More

Reduced diet thwarts aging, disease in monkeys

July 9, 2009

The bottom-line message from a decades-long study of monkeys on a restricted diet is simple: Consuming fewer calories leads to a longer, healthier life. Read More

Registration now open for Wisconsin Science and Technology Symposium

July 2, 2009

The second annual Wisconsin Science and Technology Symposium, to be held July 23 and 24, will bring together science and technology researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors from across the state to help them share ideas and spark new collaborations. Read More

Five big ideas to fill out Wisconsin Institute for Discovery portfolio

June 30, 2009

Capping an intensely competitive process, five proposals from University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty have been selected to form the intellectual heart of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID). Read More

Recent sightings: The science of fireworks

June 29, 2009

Chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri ignites a gas-filled balloon during a free demonstration about the science of fireworks held at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Memorial… Read More

New MRI technique could mean fewer breast biopsies in high-risk women

June 29, 2009

A University of Wisconsin–Madison biomedical engineer and colleagues have developed a method that, applied in MRI scans of the breast, could spare some women with increased breast cancer risk the pain and stress of having to endure a biopsy of a questionable lump or lesion. Read More

Sequencing effort to chart ants and their ecosystem

June 26, 2009

Nestled within the twisting fungus gardens of leaf-cutter ants exists a complex symbiotic web that has evolved over millions of years. Now, with the help of a major genomic sequencing grant from Roche Applied Science, scientists at UW–Madison will be able to analyze these interactions at the molecular scale. Read More

Major study links malaria mosquitoes to Amazon deforestation

June 25, 2009

In one of the most field-intensive efforts to explore the connection between malaria and tropical deforestation, a team led by Jonathan Patz, a specialist in the link between environment and health at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW–Madison, has established a strong correlation between the extent of forest destruction and the incidence of the Amazon's most dangerous malaria vector, the mosquito Anopheles darlingi. Read More

Students help New Orleans wetlands

June 25, 2009

A project led by students at UW–Madison and designed to restore New Orleans wetlands damaged by Hurricane Katrina recently took a major step forward. Read More

Experts: Big Tobacco dead by 2047, possibly sooner

June 25, 2009

President Barack Obama's signature on a bill this week to grant the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco was historic, and represents a step in the march to eliminate tobacco use in this country by 2047, two national tobacco experts said today (June 25). Read More