Skip to main content

UW In The News

  • What the United States Can Learn From Brazil About Asylum

    Mother Jones | September 29, 2023

    But not all asylum seekers in Brazil are treated equally. In a new book published this month titled The Color of Asylum: The Racial Politics of Safe Haven in Brazil, Katherine Jensen, an assistant professor of sociology and international studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, offers a more complicated look at how different groups of asylum seekers, namely Congolese and Syrians, navigate the asylum process in South America’s largest nation.

  • Paul Ryan Predicts Exactly When And How Trump’s 2024 Run Could Be Doomed

    HuffPost Latest News | September 27, 2023

    Ryan, speaking at the University of Wisconsin, expressed hope that Republican rivals to front-runner Trump would by then consolidate behind the one showing the most momentum — and deprive Trump of the nomination.

  • College personal essays: How schools could end this nightmare.

    Slate | September 26, 2023

    olleges might think that essays help open up opportunities for students, but the opposite could be true. A new study by Taylor K. Odle, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Preston Magouirk, a data scientist at the District of Columbia College Access Program, looked at the nearly 300,000 students who started but never submitted an application through the Common App.

  • Ukraine Finds Defects in More Than Half of Tanks Sent by Ally

    Newsweek | September 25, 2023

    Mikhail Troitskiy, a professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek that recent military developments are not “insurmountable” for Ukraine and could simply be a byproduct of different governmental systems not properly repairing equipment.

  • The New Face of Nuclear Energy Is Miss America

    WSJ | September 25, 2023

    “Why isn’t this being shouted from the rooftops?” asked Stanke, a 21-year-old nuclear engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is too Wisconsin-nice to shout, but in more than 20 states so far she has touted clean energy and nuclear medicine at schools, nursing homes, a state legislature and once on a water-skiing podcast.

  • We carry DNA from extinct cousins like Neanderthals. Science is now revealing their genetic legacy

    The Washington Post | September 25, 2023

    Human evolution was not about “survival of the fittest and extinction,” said John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It’s about “interaction and mixture.”

  • Meet the Climate-Defying Fruits and Vegetables in Your Future

    The New York Times | September 25, 2023

    Phil Simon, a horticulture professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has spent more than a decade trying to breed a carrot whose seeds can germinate even when the soil is salty, hot and dry.

  • AOC? Romney? If voters don’t want Biden or Trump, who’s their pick?

    USA Today | September 25, 2023

    For Biden, one of voters’ biggest concerns appears to center around age. Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, previously argued that, even if Biden’s age has not affected his ability to do the job, “some members of the public may nonetheless believe he is not mentally sharp enough or that he lacks the necessary physical stamina.”

  • Healthcare workers worried about potential masking changes in hospitals

    Popular Science | September 19, 2023

    “It’s shocking to suggest that we need more studies to know whether N95 respirators are effective against an airborne pathogen,” said Kaitlin Sundling, a physician and pathologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in a comment following the June meeting. “The science of N95 respirators is well established and based on physical properties, engineered filtered materials, and our scientific understanding of how airborne transmission works.”

  • Five things to know as Wisconsin Republicans weigh impeaching Supreme Court justice

    The Hill | September 18, 2023

    “The U.S. Supreme Court has said that judges have a First Amendment right on the campaign trail [to speak] about disputed legal and policy questions,” said Robert Yablon, an associate professor of law and faculty co-director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at University of Wisconsin Law School.

  • How are Gen Zers buying homes already?

    Marketplace | September 15, 2023

    Members of Gen Z still face difficulties in home buying born out of the housing crisis, but they also benefited from entering the workforce at a time of record-low interest rates, said Max Besbris, an associate sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  • DHS warns about 2024’s cyberthreats

    The Washington Post | September 15, 2023

    The uncertainty of not having a nonpartisan elections leader in a paramount state is worrying, experts said. “The elections commission is training clerks around the state and issuing guidance, so to have uncertainty about who the top administrator is going into this crucial election season, I think is a real problem,” said Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and director of its Elections Research Center.

  • Wisconsin Weighs Ousting Elections Official as Control of Voting Gets Partisan

    WSJ | September 14, 2023

    “It’s a serious problem to not have seasoned trusted leadership in place well before the election gets under way,” said Barry Burden, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who added that the nation will be watching the state in the 2024 presidential contest. “It’s a battleground state. It’s maybe the battleground state.”

  • US poverty rate 2022: Levels jumped, breaking a three-year streak

    USA Today | September 13, 2023

    “Child poverty took a big jump,” said Timothy Smeeding, a leading expert on the poverty line and professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  • Opinion | America Already Knows How to Make Childbirth Safer

    The New York Times | September 12, 2023

    Dr. Tiffany Green, a professor at the school of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said she believes the effort to reduce maternal mortality should focus not only on care received in hospitals, but on the social and economic conditions faced in general by Black women. The United States should consider using federal civil rights law in cases where racial bias severely hurt the care a patient received. “If you think bias is a fundamental driver of these iniquities then you have to hold providers accountable,” Dr. Green said.

  • An inverted yield curve signals recession. Is it wrong this time?

    Marketplace | September 8, 2023

    Parts of the yield curve started inverting in July 2022, yet the economy is still humming along. It’s too early to start calling the bond market a liar, said Menzie Chinn, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  • School mask mandates are back. So are the political divisions they deepened.

    The Washington Post | September 7, 2023

    “Some school districts are rightfully going to want to protect vulnerable students,” said Tiffany Green, an associate professor in the department of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “Why would we not want to be proactive in protecting students, protecting teachers, protecting staff?”

  • A few schools mandated masks. Conservatives hit back hard.

    Washington Post | September 7, 2023

    “Some school districts are rightfully going to want to protect vulnerable students,” said Tiffany Green, an associate professor in the department of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “Why would we not want to be proactive in protecting students, protecting teachers, protecting staff?”

  • How hospitals can help patients prep for appointments

    STAT | September 5, 2023

    Working on question lists does not require a trained coach, however. A family member or friend can be a helpful guide to preparing for a visit, as the process of making a question list can decrease worry and increase a patient’s sense of control. In fact, there are various methods to brainstorm, clarify, and organize a question list, and anyone can find frameworks to navigate their medical decisions, including the Ottawa decision guides, the University of Wisconsin Surgery’s Best Case/Worst Case framework, or our own pre-appointment question list.

  • NASA’s New Air Pollution Satellite Will Give Hourly Updates

    The New York Times | August 25, 2023

    “The data from these field campaigns acts like a decoder ring” for the satellite instrument, said Tracey Holloway, a professor of energy analysis and policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies air quality but is not involved in this project.

  • Is Raw Milk Safe? The Risks of Unpasteurized Dairy, Explained

    SELF | August 24, 2023

    In 1987, the FDA mandated that milk sold in the US must get heat treated, John Lucey, PhD, the director of the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells SELF. That means that the products you see on grocery store shelves have been pasteurized, so they’re less likely to get you sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  • Tennis champion Althea Gibson’s greatness captured in two new bios

    The Washington Post | August 24, 2023

    In “Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson,” Ashley Brown, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, describes the scene on the grounds, which should be among the most well-known trailblazing moments in American sports: “One of the world’s leading symbols of white supremacy and White womanhood had presented a sterling silver salver to a Black woman, a descendant of slaves, while a stadium filled with colonizers cheered. These were role reversals for the ages.”

  • Wagner Plane Crash Sparks Flood of Theories About Prigozhin’s Death

    Newsweek | August 24, 2023

    Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek via email that he believes the crash was no accident and the plane “was likely deliberately destroyed.”

  • California caught in crosshairs of weather extremes in a warming world

    The Hill | August 23, 2023

    “Right out of the gate, we have the potential for stronger storms, and we also have the potential for storms that strengthen very, very quickly,” James Kossin, an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and consultant for the climate risk nonprofit First Street Foundation, told The Hill.

  • Some Surprising Places Are at Risk of Devastating Urban Wildfires like Maui’s

    Scientific American | August 23, 2023

    That combination is ominous for extreme fire, says Jason Otkin, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Because flash droughts occur abruptly in places where they are least expected, they pose unique challenges. “People have little to no time to prepare for their adverse effects,” Otkin says.

  • He Needed a Liver Transplant. But Did the Risks Outweigh the Reward?

    ProPublica | August 22, 2023

    Dr. Michael Lucey, professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Wisconsin’s medical school, said those resources are an “integral part” of performing more comprehensive psychosocial evaluations.

  • Biden administration targets 10 drugs for Medicare cost negotiations

    Washington Post | August 18, 2023

    Americans on private insurance as well. But the greatest beneficiaries may be the poorest seniors: Studying Medicare claims data, researchers at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health and the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics projected that patients had filled 50,000 more insulin prescriptions for $35 each month between January and April — and about 20,000 of them might never have been filled without the law. Rebecca Myerson, a professor who helped write the study, said the data suggest the IRA is providing some financial relief to patients who would have “otherwise gone without” insulin.

  • Uncured bacon isn’t any healthier. Here’s why.

    Consumer Reports | August 15, 2023

    Without these compounds, meat would spoil. “Nitrite is especially important because it has inhibitory action against microorganisms and specifically against spores of Clostridium botulinum [which cause botulism], should they be present,” says Jeff J. Sindelar, a meat science professor and extension meat specialist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

  • Lawsuit Targets Wisconsin’s Swiss Cheese-Like Districts

    HuffPost Latest News | August 14, 2023

    “It could be that this gives the court a completely neutral basis for deciding the maps are no good,” said Kenneth R. Mayer, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.

  • The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think

    The New York Times | August 14, 2023

    “The world has produced nearly three billion solar panels at this point, and every one of those has been an opportunity for people to try to improve the process,” said Gregory Nemet, a solar power expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And all of those incremental improvements add up to something very dramatic.”

Featured Experts

Nicholas Hillman: Student loan payments to resume

Student loan payments are set to resume after a pandemic-era break. Nicholas Hillman, professor of educational leadership & policy analysis… More

Menzie Chinn: Economic impact of a potential government shutdown

Menzie Chinn, a professor of economics in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and an expert on government debt and… More

Michael Childers: Labor movement: Writers Guild reaches deal and UAW continues strike

The Labor Movement has had an active fall. The Writers Guild reached a tentative deal with studios, while a SAG-AFTRA… More

Adam Stevenson: Illinois becomes first state to end cash bail as condition of pretrial release

Illinois recently passed the Pretail Fairness Act which removes cash bail as a condition of pretrial release, making it the… More

Bassam Shakhashiri: The science of leaves changing color

Chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri is available ot discuss the science of leaf color change in the fall. For more on… More

Daniel Williford: Morocco earthquake

Experts from UW–Madison are available to discuss the earthquake in Morocco and its aftermath. Daniel Williford is an assistant professor… More

Experts Guide