Category Science & Technology
New fiber-optic monitoring tools could help industry unlock geothermal energy
University of Wisconsin–Madison geoscientists and engineers are working with industry partners and the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a highly detailed monitoring system for geothermal wells. Read More
Contest seeks another round of amazing science images
To highlight the visual and scientific value of scientific imagery, the fifth annual Cool Science Image Contest is soliciting the best images from students and faculty and staff scientists on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. Read More
Campus push to address crisis in U.S. biomedical research
The growing realization that the American biomedical research enterprise is unsustainable and requires a comprehensive fix will be the subject of a wide-ranging campus conversation to take place over the next few months. Read More
Sidebar: Sessions set to discuss biomedical research crisis
A series of campus-wide discussions to gather feedback and ideas from researchers — faculty, staff scientists, postdocs, and graduate students as well as administrative staff — on what many people believe is a crisis in U.S. biomedical research has been scheduled for March. Read More
Darwin Day celebration focuses on islands, isolation
What do Madagascar and Jurassic Park have in common? Both are island-based evolutionary “experiments” that will be highlighted in this year’s Darwin Day celebrations, sponsored by the J.F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution at UW–Madison and its partners. “Darwin Day 2015: Islands and Isolation” will run all day Thursday, Feb. 12, and focus on the unique opportunity that islands provide to witness evolution and the diversity of life. Read More
2013 research expenditure data show UW–Madison ranks 4th
According to figures released today by the National Science Foundation (NSF), research expenditures at the University of Wisconsin–Madison took a slight dip in 2013, landing Wisconsin’s flagship university in the number four spot among universities nationwide. Read More
UW botanist harnesses the grid to illuminate crop growth
With help from the Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC), botany Professor Edgar Spalding is applying this astronomical sense of scale to our understanding of corn. Spalding uses the HTC capabilities pioneered by Miron Livny, Morgridge Institute for Research chief technology officer, to quantify the incredibly complex process of corn growth from seed to vigorous seedling — not just one at a time, but over thousands of samples. Read More
Carl Djerassi, UW grad who helped create ‘the pill,’ dies at 91
Carl Djerassi Photo: Bryce Richter Carl Djerassi, best known as a co-discoverer of the steroid hormone that became the basis for… Read More
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation near the top of the patent charts for 2013
In 2013, with 160 patents, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) was near the pinnacle of the university patent heap. Read More
New $3M distinguished chair at UW–Madison honors influential alumnus
A newly established professorship will allow the University of Wisconsin–Madison to hire new faculty to build upon its widely recognized leadership in chemical and biological engineering. Supported by a $3 million commitment from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the Ernest Micek Distinguished Chair in Chemical and Biological Engineering will honor a UW–Madison graduate with a long record of service to UW–Madison. Read More
No joke: Chemistry thesis transmuted into comic book
As thesis writing approached, University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate student Veronica Berns faced a conundrum. She knew how hard it was to describe her work to friends and family — indeed, anybody outside the tight clan of structural chemists. And that was particularly true since she concentrated on a category of should-be-impossible structures called “quasicrystals.” However, Berns liked drawing and using “normal, English-language words,” and so about a year before graduation, she opted to accompany her traditional Ph.D. thesis with a comic book version. Read More
Calculating the future of solar-fuel refineries
A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers has developed a new tool to help plot the future of solar fuels. In a paper recently published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, a team led by chemical and biological engineering Professors Christos Maravelias and George Huber outlined a tool to help engineers better gauge the overall yield, efficiency and costs associated with scaling solar-fuel production processes up into large-scale refineries. Read More
Study shows Brazil’s Soy Moratorium still needed to preserve Amazon
Today, fewer chicken nuggets can trace their roots to cleared Amazon rain forest. Read More
Rare neurological disease shines light on health of essential nerve cells
Ian Duncan is a Scotsman with the iron discipline and stamina of a competitive marathoner, triathlete and cross-country skier. As a neuroscientist at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he's applied his tenacity to a rare genetic disorder. Read More
UW computer scientists enhance robotic manufacturing
Some industrial robots are hulking, highly specialized pieces of machinery that are cordoned off by cages from human factory workers. Read More
New research project funded by Department of Defense will enable faster, better coding
Pliny, a new research project for writing more error-free, secure code, is being funded by a four-year, $11 million grant recently announced by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense. UW–Madison computer scientists will collaborate with their counterparts at Rice University in Houston (which will lead the project), the University of Texas at Austin, and the company GrammaTech. Read More
Humanity has exceeded 4 of 9 ‘planetary boundaries,’ according to researchers
An international team of researchers says climate change, the loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change, and altered biogeochemical cycles like phosphorus and nitrogen runoff have all passed beyond levels that put humanity in a “safe operating space.” Civilization has crossed four of nine so-called planetary boundaries as the result of human activity, according to a report published today in Science by the 18-member research team. Among them is Steve Carpenter, director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for Limnology and the only U.S.-based researcher on the study. Read More
UW-Madison scientists find how many cancers may evade treatment
Xiaojun Tan, a graduate student in Richard A. Anderson’s lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, made an unexpected observation while studying the locations inside cells where the epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR, can be found. His subsequent investigation revealed how cancer was evading treatment drugs: by sneaking through the cellular back door. Read More
Chemical dial controls attraction between water-repelling molecules
Abbott, Gellman and a group of University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have provided new insights on hydrophobic interactions within complex systems. In a study published today in the journal Nature, the researchers show how the nearby presence of polar (water-attracted, or hydrophilic) substances can change the way the nonpolar hydrophobic groups want to stick to each other. Read More
Carbon nanotube finding could lead to flexible electronics with longer battery life
University of Wisconsin–Madison materials engineers have made a significant leap toward creating higher-performance electronics with improved battery life — and the ability to flex and stretch. Led by materials science Associate Professor Michael Arnold and Professor Padma Gopalan, the team has reported the highest-performing carbon nanotube transistors ever demonstrated. In addition to paving the way for improved consumer electronics, this technology could also have specific uses in industrial and military applications. Read More