Category Science & Technology
$100 million Foxconn gift launches major new partnership with UW–Madison
The agreements formalize the UW’s commitment to research efforts at FIRST and Foxconn’s commitment to research, recruiting, creating opportunities for internships and hands-on work in campus labs. Read More
Martens recolonized Isle Royale in the ’90s, showing island’s dynamism
The results of a new study provide much-needed context about the natural history of an island long considered an unspoiled wilderness, but one with a long history of ecological disruptions and recoveries. Read More
Kids connect with robot reading partners
Researchers have built a robot to serve as a reading buddy to middle school kids. Its new friends grew more excited about books and more attached to the robot over two weeks of reading together. Read More
Greenhouses contend with the climate to keep plants growing
The university's greenhouses, which include plants from all over the world, provide study material for botany and horticulture courses and the precisely controlled climates required for research experiments. Read More
Manipulating how yeast cells work could lead to new medical treatments
Megan McClean, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, studies cellular signaling pathways, the biological networks that transform external signals into internal decisions such as whether to grow or die. Read More
Exact Sciences groundbreaking at University Research Park paves path to 21st century research landscape
Today’s groundbreaking of a 130,000 square-foot, five-story headquarters for Exact Sciences at University Research Park reflects the acknowledgement that high-technology workers show an increasing interest in denser, more urban surroundings. Read More
Competition attracts future grants, jump starts research and student careers
Recipients of Fall Research Competition awards are thankful for the funding to help them acquire the resources they need, but perhaps most important, they say, is the student support they are able to provide. Read More
Want to fight cyberthreats? Start with clean code
Barton Miller has a surprise for his University of Wisconsin–Madison class of 250 software programming undergraduates this fall: No code assignment is complete until it’s declared weakness-free by a suite of software analysis tools. Read More
Is fire the new normal in the American West?
In a video, Professor Monica Turner and her research team and colleagues explore how the patterns of fire and recovery are changing, particularly as the climate warms and drought becomes more common. Read More
Researchers discover how to protect yeast from damage in biofuel production
The researchers found a strain of yeast with outstanding tolerance to ionic liquids, and identified a gene that makes a protein that works as a pump to remove toxins. Read More
Corn that acquires its own nitrogen identified, reducing need for fertilizer
The corn secretes copious globs of mucus-like gel harboring bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form, answering a longtime quest of scientists. Read More
Combining on and off switches, one protein can control flowering in plants
With Wisconsin's short growing seasons, reducing a plant’s life cycle and completing the season earlier "could be very important for many crops.” Read More
Elementary and middle-school-aged girls show off their AI skills
A summer-term course for 4th- to 6th-grade girls taught them the basics of programming and AI, and even more importantly, taught them they belong in the STEM world. Read More
Nanoparticles improve tumor treatment in mice
In mouse models of human lung cancer, the improved drug inhibited tumor growth more effectively than the standard drug. “Ultimately, our goal is to get this into human beings,” says pharmacy professor Glen Kwon. Read More
Strong showing from Badgerloop at SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition
The UW–Madison Badgerloop team was among the top teams at the 2018 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, reaching the final four. Read More
National Atmospheric Deposition Program moves to hygiene lab
The NADP monitors North America’s precipitation and atmosphere for a range of chemicals, and uses the data to determine trends in where pollution is concentrated and over what period of time. Read More
Meditation affects brain networks differently in long-term meditators and novices
UW-Madison researchers examined brain activity in non-meditators, new meditators, and long-term meditators, and they discovered differences in emotion networks of the brain among these groups. Read More
Eagle-eyed machine learning algorithm outdoes human experts
UW–Madison's Dane Morgan and collaborators used machine learning to make artificial intelligence better than experienced humans at analyzing damage to potential nuclear reactor materials. Read More
Can plants and trees change the weather?
An array of towers, aircraft and researchers will keep watch over the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin, focusing on an area from a region of the country sensitive to changes in climate. Read More
Data Science Initiative supports faculty research
Ten highly innovative projects, addressing such diverse topics as the microbiome, climate change, limnology, Alzheimer's disease, genomics and math, have been chosen to receive funding. Read More