UW In The News

We now know how Botox enters neurons and paralyses muscles

“By understanding more about the mechanism of cell entry, we are one step closer to preventing cell entry and preventing botulism,” says Sabine Pellett at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

DNA Suggests Modern Humans Emerged From Several Groups in Africa, Not One | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

“All humans share relatively recent common ancestry, but the story in the deeper past is more complicated than our species evolving in just a single location or in isolation,” says lead author Aaron Ragsdale, a population geneticist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, to Reuters’ Will Dunham.

With Climate Panel as a Beacon, Global Group Takes On Misinformation

Climate change is “hard science,” said Young Mie Kim, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who serves as vice chair of a committee focused on research methodology. “So, relatively speaking, it’s easier to develop some common concepts and tool kits,” Ms. Kim said. “It’s hard to do that in social science or humanities.”

How presidential ambitions shape state education policy

Barry Burden, a professor of political science and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said while both have “general skepticism about whether public universities are serving the state well,” Walker framed his attacks on higher education around the need to improve economic efficiency at state institutions. Walker was also less focused on “meddling in the day-to-day affairs of the university in the way that DeSantis is,” in terms of imposing sweeping change on public colleges.

Durham report spurs false claim about Schiff expulsion

Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told USA TODAY the claim is “completely fabricated.”

Book Review: Brandon Taylor is back with a new campus novel, ‘The Late Americans’

The novel follows the lives and loves of a group of graduate students and townies in Iowa City, home of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where Taylor earned an MFA after getting a master’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

José Andrés, George Washington University team on global food institute

At a typical university, many units can venture into the study of food — starting with, obviously, schools of agriculture. But academic institutes devoted to food have cast a fresh, interdisciplinary spotlight on the subject in recent decades. The University of Wisconsin at Madison has a Food Research Institute focused on food safety.

Bank Runs Trash Long-Held Assumption on Deposits

“The current environment of declining deposits and runs on banks raises questions about whether most deposit amounts are sustainable, especially uninsured deposits, reducing deposit-franchise value,” said Tom Linsmeier, an accounting professor at the University of Wisconsin and a former Financial Accounting Standards Board member.

No Mow May: More Americans are letting their lawns go wild each spring. Join them!

As opposed to turf grass and its related weeds, “our native plants, which are adapted to drought, which are adapted to extreme weather events, they have the ability, with deep roots, to deal with deluges of water,” said Liz Anna Kozik, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Ph.D. student in environment and resources.

UW–Madison chancellor Jennifer Mnookin finishes up her freshman year

Maybe Jennifer Mnookin had never waded in a cranberry bog, held a piglet at a state fair or ate cheese curds before she became chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, but she’s figuring out the Wisconsin Idea in her first year holding the top job on campus.

Harvard-trained psychologist’s simple habit can protect you from burnout

You can also prevent burnout by re-framing how you think about stress, Sorensen notes. She points to a study done by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which found that high levels of stress can increase the risk of premature death by 43% — but only among those who believed stress was very harmful. Those who did not see stress as harmful were no more likely to die.

Activities to Help Fight Depression and Improve Your Mood

“The idea is that just like physical exercise builds muscle, we can build our mental muscles to become more aware and calm in the faces of challenges and stress,” explains Richard Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry and founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In Search of an Antidote for Poisonous Mushrooms

“It’s a spectacularly cool paper,” said Anne Pringle, a mycologist and geneticist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who has studied death caps for 20 years. “They do this amazing amount of work and end with this hypothesis that they’ve found an antidote.”

Does Therapy Really Work? Let’s Unpack That.

“I think the evidence is fairly clear that psychotherapy is remarkably effective,” says Bruce Wampold, a prominent researcher in the field who is an emeritus professor of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Is AI the Answer to Moms’ Mental Overload?

Research by Allison Daminger, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has found through extensive interviews with couples that men and women tend to share responsibility for research and decision-making, while women do more noticing (this will need doing soon) and monitoring (is anyone actually doing this?). And women tend to have more household responsibilities overall. As a result, women do more cognitive labor.

UW-Madison graduates largest class in its history with 7,826 degrees conferred

How Putin’s Victory Parade Speech Changed Drastically From Last Year

Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek that Putin’s Victory Day speech last year “did not meet the expectations” of pro-Ukraine War supporters who desired an immediate escalation, mobilization of civilians, and a rhetorical shift to an all-out “war” from a “special military operation.”

Emergence: What is it and how could it help solve consciousness?

“Ultimately, we want to explain under which circumstances we will see novel properties,” says Larissa Albantakis, a computational neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Scientists use cheese to study fungal antibiotics

Wolfe and his team began by investigating a cheesemaker’s problem with mold spreading on the surface of the cheeses and disrupting the normal development of the rind. This causes the cheese to look like the rinds were disappearing as the mold invaded their cheese cave. They collaborated with microbiologist Nancy Keller’s lab at the University of Wisconsin to find out what this mold was doing to the rind microbes and what chemicals the mold may be producing that disrupted the rind.

As Covid Emergency Ends, Surveillance Shifts to the Sewers

“Wastewater has to get better,” said David O’Connor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And we have to get a bit more savvy about interpreting what the wastewater data is telling us

COVID emergency not over for travelers with disabilities. Here’s why.

“This puts a lot of lower-income people at a greater disadvantage,” said Amy Gaeta, a disability rights activist and postdoctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies disability and technology and has nerve damage in one leg as well as invisible disabilities. “This is especially concerning given that so many disabled people are low-income, especially if they’re on disability welfare benefits.”

UW-Madison launches first American Sign Language program

The language sciences department will offer a semester-long introductory ASL course starting this summer and fall. Next spring, the department will also add a second level ASL course.

NASA Images Show Smoke and Scorched Earth from Wildfires

These blazes have produced huge blossoming smoke chimneys. According to NASA Earth Observatory, researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, found that the smoke pillars may have reached up to 39,000 feet tall, as far as the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.

Productivity fell while output increased in Q1. Why?

Meanwhile, output that’s the amount of stuff we’re making is not keeping up, said Menzie Chinn, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin. “Production had jumped in the wake of the pandemic. And so what you have is the growth rate of production, which is largely determined by demand, is slowing a lot,” he said.

The Most Important Sci-Fi Movie of the Century Gets One Thing Right About Nuclear Fusion

“I don’t think we will see people with arc reactor-powered suits,” Stephanie Diem tells Inverse. “However, I see fusion in our future.” Diem is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who researches experimental plasma physics for fusion energy development.

‘We can’t stand still:’ UW-Madison dedicates its first permanent Ho-Chunk monument

Hormone therapy after breast cancer can be safely paused for pregnancy

“I think this data will have an immediate impact,” said Heather Neuman, a breast surgical oncologist and health services researcher at the University of Wisconsin. She was not involved in the study. “This is an extremely important question for young cancer survivors, as family planning is a critical life event.”

Why black bears love dumpster diving

Certain places like Mr Marsh’s home state of West Virginia, as well as New Jersey and Tennessee, may be more ripe for bear encounters as they have growing populations of the mammals, said David Drake, a professor and extension wildlife specialist at the University of Wisconsin.

McCarthy Shuts Down Russian Reporter On Ukraine Aid

Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek via email that the position of the GOP leadership has “evolved” over the last several months.

How Construction Tax Subsidies For Amazon Increase Employment (Hint, Not Much)

That is the background. Researchers Ike Brannon at the Jack Kemp Foundation and Russell Kashian and Matthew Winden, both professors of economics at the University of Wisconsin, said that ultimately subsidies didn’t seem to deliver what they promised.