Category Science & Technology
Clean sweep for UW–Madison snowmobile team
Two University of Wisconsin–Madison student-built snowmobiles swept the 2009 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Clean Snowmobile Challenge, winning both competition divisions: the National Science Foundation Award for the best sled in the zero-emissions division and the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association Award for first place in the internal-combustion division. Read More
Optimum running speed is stride toward understanding human body form
Runners, listen up: If your body is telling you that your pace feels a little too fast or a little too slow, it may be right. Read More
Teeth of Columbus’s crew flesh out tale of new world discovery
The adage that dead men tell no tales has long been disproved by archaeology. Read More
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center joins second annual NanoDays
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Nanostructured Interfaces presents NanoDays 2009, part of the second annual nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science and engineering and its potential impact on the future. Read More
Arthur D. Code, pioneering space astronomer, dies
Arthur D. Code, whose lifelong love of the stars and the night sky led to a meteoric career in astrophysics, died in Madison, Wis., on March 11 after a long illness. He was 85. Read More
Evolution, ecosystems may buffer some species against climate change
Although ecologists expect many species will be harmed by climate change, some species could be buffered by their potential to evolve or by changes in their surrounding ecosystems. Read More
Top regional high school students to participate in international science fair
Two Madison high school students earned top honors in the third annual Capital Science and Engineering Fair, held Feb. 28 on the University of Wisconsin–Madison engineering campus. Read More
Going green, one moped at a time
Sixteen UW–Madison engineering students spent last fall figuring out how to make the Vespa scooter more green. Read More
Models present new view of nanoscale friction
To understand friction on a very small scale, a team of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers had to think big. Read More
IceCube building goals exceeded at South Pole
As the 2008-09 Antarctic drilling season concludes, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is on track to be finished as planned in 2011. Read More
UW-Madison narrows field of potential WID research themes
The research direction of the rising Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) is coming into sharper focus as UW–Madison this week (Feb. 20) announced the list of successful pre-proposals for the public half of the new public-private institute. Read More
Genetic information personalizes warfarin prescribing
Warfarin, one of the world's most widely used drugs, is also one of the trickiest to prescribe. Half of those who take it are at risk of serious problems when given the standard starting dose. Read More
Engineered bacterium churns out two new key antibiotics
In recent years, scientists have isolated two potent natural antibiotics - platensimycin and platencin - that are highly effective against bacterial infection, including those caused by the most dreaded drug-resistant microbes. Read More
Course builds community of biomedical entrepreneurs
A new multidisciplinary course at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is preparing entrepreneurial graduate students to bring biomedical innovations to the patients who need them. Read More
iPhone sleep improvement application wins at innovation competition
A software application for the iPhone and the iPod touch that will help people sleep and wake up more effectively won the $10,000 top prize in the Schoofs Prize for Creativity, an annual University of Wisconsin–Madison invention competition that rewards innovative and marketable ideas. Read More
How do you mend a broken heart? Maybe someday with stem cells made from your skin
A little more than a year after University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists showed they could turn skin cells back into stem cells, they have pulsating proof that these "induced" stem cells can indeed form the specialized cells that make up heart muscle. Read More
Psychoactive compound activates mysterious receptor
A hallucinogenic compound found in a plant indigenous to South America and used in shamanic rituals regulates a mysterious protein that is abundant throughout the body, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have discovered. Read More
Sequences capture the code of the common cold
In an effort to confront our most familiar malady, scientists have deciphered the instruction manual for the common cold. Read More
Intrepid explorers and the search for the origin of species
A UW–Madison professor of genetics will give the plenary lecture at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Friday, Feb. 13. Read More
Mouse study reveals genetic component of empathy
The ability to empathize with others is partially determined by genes, according to new research on mice from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). Read More