Category Science & Technology
Geography professor honored with lifetime achievement award
Longtime University of Wisconsin–Madison geographer Waltraud Brinkmann has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Climate Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers.
Nanoscale packaging could aid delivery of cancer-fighting drugs
A University of Wisconsin–Madison pharmacy professor aims to improve the delivery of cancer-fighting drugs by targeting them more selectively to tumors and boosting their solubility in water.
Hidden gems: New composites are stiffer than diamond
Using a unique combination of barium titanate and tin, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have made the first known material that's stiffer than diamond.
Researcher seeks ‘missing piece’ in climate change models
To most people, soil is just dirt. But to microbiologists, it is a veritable zoo of bacteria, fungi and nematodes. It's also a vast carbon dioxide factory. As these microorganisms consume carbon-based materials found in soil, they release carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere as a normal part of their metabolism.
IceCube telescope construction exceeds season goals
As the austral summer wanes, so does the highly successful 2006-07 work season at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, which draws to a close Thursday, Feb. 15.
Single-handed fishing kit reels in first place in invention competition
The Adaptive Fishing Kit, a kit that converts a standard fishing rod and reel so people can use it with only one arm, took the top prize and $10,000 in the 2007 Schoofs Prize for Creativity during the Innovation Days idea and invention competition at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Nanotechnology meets biology and DNA finds its groove
UW-Madison scientists have developed a quick, inexpensive and efficient method to extract single DNA molecules and position them in nanoscale troughs or "slits," where they can be easily analyzed and sequenced. The technique, which according to its developers is simple and scalable, could lead to faster and vastly more efficient sequencing technology in the lab, and may one day help underpin the ability of clinicians to obtain customized DNA profiles of patients.
Study profiles rate of autism in Wisconsin
A Wisconsin autism surveillance project reported today (Feb. 8) that approximately five out of every 1,000 Wisconsin children born in 1994 display symptoms indicative of autism.
Nobelist MacDiarmid was UW–Madison graduate
Nobel laureate chemist Alan G. MacDiarmid, who died Wednesday at the age of 79, was a two-degree graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was slated to receive an honorary degree from UW–Madison at the spring 2007 commencement.
Second annual Darwin Day coming Saturday
The 198th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth will be celebrated on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007 on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus.
CALS Dean Molly Jahn: Biosciences can transform state economy
Few people have a better firsthand take on the value of university-industry collaboration than Molly Jahn, the University of Wisconsin–Madison's new dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Satellite leftovers to fuel weather, climate research
A spool of 1,600 gold threads, each thinner than one uncooked spaghetti noodle, formed the insides of the beer can-sized component in a space-bound refrigerator. The University of Wisconsin–Madison center responsible for this unit recently sold the leftover gold to fund remote-sensing research.
Physicists find way to ‘see’ extra dimensions
Peering backward in time to an instant after the big bang, physicists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have devised an approach that may help unlock the hidden shapes of alternate dimensions of the universe.
Undergraduate invention competitions slated for Feb 8-9
Ski bindings, a reclining wheelchair, digital window-front advertising, a page-turning machine and an online community are rarely found in the same context. But they and 15 other inventions, all conceived and built by University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduate students, will be the center of attention at the annual UW–Madison Innovation Days competitions, to be held Feb. 8-9 in the Mechanical Engineering Building on the College of Engineering campus.
Finding may unshackle the potential of composite materials
In an advance that could lead to composite materials with virtually limitless performance capabilities, a University of Wisconsin–Madison scientist has dispelled a 50-year-old theoretical notion that composite materials must be made only of "stable" individual materials to be stable overall.
McKenna selected to head veterinary diagnostic lab
Thomas McKenna, an animal disease expert with 12 years experience dealing with the implications of livestock diseases at the national and international level, has been chosen to head the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Nutrition researchers provide the skinny on trans fats
This past holiday season, University of Wisconsin–Madison nutritionist Sherry Tanumihardjo made brownies with butter, not margarine. Like a lot of us, she wanted to avoid artificial trans fats.
Enzyme plays dual role in cancer spread
Before cancer cells can migrate, or metastasize, to other parts of the body, they first have to disconnect from their neighbors in the tumor. A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison and Canadian scientists has made a surprising discovery: The same enzyme that controls the ability of cancer cells to move also governs a process that binds them tightly in place.
Silicon medicines may be effective in humans
University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists have shown that silicon — the stuff of computer chips, glass and pottery — may have extraordinary therapeutic value for treating human disease.
Campus plan aims to remove ash trees, head off emerald ash borer
Staying one step ahead of an aggressive, wood-boring beetle that is threatening ash trees in several states is the aim of a plan that will gradually remove many ash trees at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.