Category Science & Technology
Software piggybacks on electronic medical records, saves clinician time
Many people assume that electronic medical records would simplify doctoring, helping medical staff retrieve symptoms, diagnoses and prescriptions at computer speed. But Jonathan Baran, a Madison entrepreneur who began developing medical automation software while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says providers often don't see the promised efficiencies. Read More
UW-Madison to legislators: Don’t ban important fetal tissue research
Proposed legislation in Wisconsin will have a devastating impact on the ability of researchers to create lifesaving treatments for patients, Robert Golden, dean of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, told members of a Wisconsin Senate committee in a public hearing Tuesday, Sept. 22. Read More
Heavy-duty neutron accelerators paint promising future for UW–Madison spinoff
A Madison manufacturer of the world's most powerful commercial neutron generators is awaiting final regulatory approval for its first sale outside the research market. The device will be used to calibrate safety detectors at nuclear reactors in the United Kingdom. Read More
WARF board speaks out on proposed fetal tissue ban
The Board of Trustees of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) today announced unanimous opposition to a state legislative proposal to ban the use of fetal tissue in scientific research. Read More
Stem cell-derived ‘organoids’ help predict neural toxicity
A new system developed by scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research and the University of Wisconsin–Madison may provide a faster, cheaper and more biologically relevant way to screen drugs and chemicals that could harm the developing brain. Read More
Major commitment to elevate UW–Madison undergraduate engineering education
A $22 million commitment over four years from The Grainger Foundation of Lake Forest, Illinois, will establish the Grainger Fund for Undergraduate Education in the College of Engineering, providing undergraduate students an unparalleled environment that will position them for success, not only academically, but in their future careers. Read More
Souped-up software reduces guesswork, tedium in computer-aided engineering
A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers recently released a new computer-aided engineering software program, and its users are already calling it a "gift from heaven." Read More
Wisconsin Science Festival embraces ‘Made in Wisconsin’ theme
A robot zoo, carbonated fruit and virtual reality simulations are just a handful of the experiences to be had at the 2015 Wisconsin Science Festival, held this year from Oct. 22 to 25. Read More
Weather-tech jobs remain in Madison even after company is sold
His demo tape as a TV weatherman was adjudged "pretty awful," yet it got University of Wisconsin–Madison grad Terry Kelly started "doing the weather" on WKOW Channel 27 in Madison in 1974. To improve on the paper drawings he was using to show storms and fronts, Kelly started Weather Central and built it into America's premier computer weather graphics and weather modeling business. Read More
Discovery of a highly efficient catalyst eases way to hydrogen economy
Hydrogen could be the ideal fuel: Whether used to make electricity in a fuel cell or burned to make heat, the only byproduct is water; there is no climate-altering carbon dioxide. Read More
The science of stereotyping: Challenging the validity of ‘gaydar’
"Gaydar" - the purported ability to infer whether people are gay or straight based on their appearance - seemed to get a scientific boost from a 2008 study that concluded people could accurately guess someone's sexual orientation based on photographs of their faces. Read More
Josh Medow: Critical care for the brain
At Joshua Medow's first job, in the Neurocritical Intensive Care Unit at UW Hospital and Clinics, he saves lives. His patients have endured strokes, car accidents and shootings. Read More
Family tree for orchids explains their astonishing variability
Orchids, a fantastically complicated and diverse group of flowering plants, have long blended the exotic with the beautiful. Most species live on trees, often in remote, tropical mountains. Their flowers can be strange - one even flowers underground, and many species deceive their pollinators into thinking they are good to eat. Read More
Ned Kalin wins Anna-Monika Prize for neuroscience research
Ned Kalin, chair of psychiatry at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, will receive a major award this week at a conference in Amsterdam for his work in uncovering the signature of anxiety and depression in the brain. Read More
Flu study, on hold, yields new vaccine technology
Vaccines to protect against an avian influenza pandemic as well as seasonal flu may be mass produced more quickly and efficiently using technology described today (Sept. 2) by researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the journal Nature Communications. Read More
UW-Madison researcher selected for national workforce, higher ed board
Angela Byars-Winston describes herself this way: “I’m a social scientist in an M.D. world.” She’s a trained vocational psychologist — someone who studies and practices the psychology behind how people choose and are successful in careers —and an associate professor in the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. Read More
Morgridge Institute selects Pagliarini to lead campus metabolism initiative
Dave Pagliarini, a University of Wisconsin–Madison associate professor whose departmental home put metabolism research on the map worldwide, will help define the future of Wisconsin metabolism science as a lead investigator at the Morgridge Institute for Research. Read More
An ounce of prevention: Research advances on ‘scourge’ of transplant wards
The fungus Cryptococcus causes meningitis, a brain disease that kills about 1 million people each year - mainly those with impaired immune systems due to AIDS, cancer treatment or an organ transplant. It's difficult to treat because fungi are genetically quite similar to humans, so compounds that affect fungi tend to have toxic side effects for patients. Read More
UW-Madison engineers contribute expertise to Oshkosh Corporation
When mechanical engineering Professor Dan Negrut took his first ride in Oshkosh Corporation’s new, highly mobile armored truck in July, he marveled at the vehicle’s capabilities. Read More
Communities have turned to water resources program for 50 years
Lake Marion is a shallow sliver of a lake on the edge of Mazomanie, Wisconsin. Created in the 1850s by a dam that fed a nearby mill, the lake has become a valuable aquatic habitat and a popular bass fishing spot for locals. Read More