Category Science & Technology
Moving fast to study nitrate in the Mississippi, algae in Mendota
The Mississippi River has long had its explorers. From de Soto to Marquette, Lewis and Clark to Clemens, the fourth largest river in the world has for centuries inspired enchantment. Read More
Minuscule, flexible compound lenses magnify large fields of view
Drawing inspiration from an insect's multi-faceted eye, University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have created miniature lenses with vast range of vision. Read More
Radiolab’s Soren Wheeler to be fall Science Writer in Residence
Soren Wheeler, an author and senior editor at Radiolab, has been named UW–Madison’s fall 2015 Science Writer in Residence. Read More
UW–Madison engineers reveal record-setting flexible phototransistor
Inspired by mammals' eyes, University of Wisconsin–Madison electrical engineers have created the fastest, most responsive flexible silicon phototransistor ever made. Read More
Divorce rate doesn’t go up as families of children with disabilities grow
Couples raising a child with developmental disabilities do not face a higher risk of divorce if they have larger families, according to a new study by researchers from the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Read More
Sprouting a new future for Wisconsin’s red and white
At a family farm where over 2 percent of the world’s cranberries are grown, Wisconsin’s state fruit sat in two bowls available to guests. Read More
Scientists: Harnessing microbes could help solve hunger, health, chemical and energy problems
Tim Donohue, a UW–Madison bacteriology professor and director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, joined 17 other scientists from around the world and representing a wide range of disciplines today (Oct. 28, 2015) to lay out a case for an organized approach to harnessing the power of microbes to tackle many of the world’s most pressing problems. Read More
150 respond to call for innovative research proposals
UW–Madison’s latest research initiative — UW2020: WARF Discovery Initiative — has received an overwhelming response from researchers eager to jump-start their innovative projects. Read More
Researchers embrace and reap benefits of Electronic Lab Notebooks
In the fall of 2014, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers gained a new option for storing and organizing experimental data, notes and procedures: the campus Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) system. Since then, nearly 100 labs across campus have begun to use it. Read More
Mycologist says our close relatives break the bounds of biology
The mushroom nicknamed "death cap" made headlines this summer when it poisoned Syrian refugees fleeing through Eastern Europe. Read More
Mother-of-pearl’s genesis identified in mineral’s transformation
How nature makes its biominerals - things like teeth, bone and seashells - is a playbook scientists have long been trying to read. Read More
Study questions dates for cataclysms on early moon, Earth
Phenomenally durable crystals called zircons are used to date some of the earliest and most dramatic cataclysms of the solar system. One is the super-duty collision that ejected material from Earth to form the moon roughly 50 million years after Earth formed. Another is the late heavy bombardment, a wave of impacts that may have created hellish surface conditions on the young Earth, about 4 billion years ago. Read More
WARF Innovation Award winners take on colon cancer detection, tomorrow’s plastic
A blood test that could save lives and a sun-powered scheme to turn biomass into valuable compounds have won Innovation Awards from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Read More
Embrace the chaos: Predictable ecosystems may be more fragile
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says managing our environment for predictable outcomes is risky. In fact, more often than not, it backfires. Read More
WARF draws top inventors, entrepreneurs for fall discussion series
To cap its 90th anniversary celebration, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is hosting a four-part discussion series exploring the cycle of innovation. Read More
Ancestors of land plants were wired to make the leap to shore
When the algal ancestor of modern land plants made the transition from aquatic environments to an inhospitable shore 450 million years ago, it changed the world by dramatically altering climate and setting the stage for the vast array of terrestrial life. Read More
Nobel Recipient Campbell Earned Master’s, Doctorate at UW–Madison
William C. Campbell, a master's and doctoral graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, was awarded a share of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, it was announced today. Read More
Tickets available Oct. 1 for Shakhashiri’s science show
There’s only one place that you can find Bucky Badger, Mike Leckrone, and Santa Claus himself doing science experiments – in Professor Bassam Shakhashiri’s lab. Shakhashiri, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, will host his 46th annual holiday science presentation – “Once Upon a Christmas Cheery, In the Lab of Shakhashiri” – on Dec. 5 and 6. Read More
‘Garage Physics’ is a makerspace for undergraduate brainstorms
To physics professor Duncan Carlsmith, a student's proposal to make a four-rotor helicopter drone was fine fodder for what he calls "garage physics." But why stop at a quadcopter, he told the University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduate. Make one that is mind-controlled, so a person with severe movement impairment could think: "Go open the fridge and show me what's inside," and that would actually happen. Read More
Designed defects in liquid crystals can guide construction of nanomaterials
Imperfections running through liquid crystals can be used as miniscule tubing, channeling molecules into specific positions to form new materials and nanoscale structures, according to engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The discovery could have applications in fields as diverse as electronics and medicine. Read More