UW In The News

Hunt for Ebola’s wild hideout takes off as epidemic wanes

Quoted: Tony Goldberg, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is one such advocate. He no longer subscribes to the view that “we have to blanket the continent of Africa with field-deployable DNA sequencers and sample everything that crawls, flies or swims and eventually we’ll come across it. I used to think that way,” he says, “but I’m cooling off to that approach.”

The Trouble With Talking Toys

Quoted: “Personally, I think it’s quite problematic,” Heather Kirkorian says of the potentially misleading claims by toymakers. She studies child development at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and thinks Sosa has put her finger on a troubling trend.

Biosecurity board grapples with how to rein in risky flu studies

BETHESDA, MARYLAND—Fuzzy definitions, deep disagreement about risks and benefits, and an unfortunate acronym: All bedeviled an expert panel as it met here last week to examine whether the United States should fund certain risky pathogen experiments. Researchers largely praised a massive, recently released risk assessment of so-called gain-of-function (GOF) research, and a draft plan for reviewing the riskiest studies. Many had concerns about the details, however, and the meeting provided little clarity on one key issue: if and when the U.S. government will decide whether to lift a now 15-month-old moratorium on a handful of U.S.-funded virology experiments.

Blue Sky Science: Can stem cells be used to repair brain damage…

Q – Can stem cells be used to repair brain damage or help someone with Alzheimer’s, dementia or Parkinson’s?— Kate Krueger, 47, Madison

A – The simple answer to the question is yes. It is possible to regenerate parts of the brain with stem cells, just like we can in other organs.

Badgers legend Krumrie elected to College Football Hall of Fame

Tim Krumrie’s long wait is finally over. Some 24 years after becoming eligible for the game’s highest honor, the man who set the standard for defensive players at the University of Wisconsin is set to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Krumrie’s election became official Friday with the National Football Foundation’s announcement of the 16 members — 14 players and two coaches — that comprise the College Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016.

Debut novel questions whether soldiers ever truly come home

Late in “A Hard and Heavy Thing,” University of Wisconsin-Madison law student Matthew J. Hefti’s debut novel, Levi Hartwig is drinking with his dad in a bar, more than a year after returning from stints as a soldier in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Start-up companies are fueling new jobs in Wisconsin, according to new study

Companies less than a year old accounted for all of Wisconsin’s net new job creation in 2012, according to a new study conducted by two University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.

Is filing a patent worthwhile?

Quoted: File your patent early or opt for secrecy. Martin Ganco, associate professor of management and human resources at the Wisconsin School of Business, advises, “A small-business owner should consider filing a patent as early as they have a patentable technology. It can be in the early stages. It is a common mistake to think that a fully functioning prototype is needed to apply for a patent. In rare cases, if the patent provides weak protection, it may be better to opt for not patenting and opt instead for secrecy.”

2015: The Year in Visual Stories and Graphics

Top story – Japan’s New Satellite Captures an Image of Earth Every 10 Minutes – features imagery from Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies.

UW involved in large study on the genetics of blindness

An international study involving 26 centers around the world has produced a more detailed picture of the genetic factors involved in age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. The University of Wisconsin-Madison was one of the 26 centers involved in the study which was just published in the journal Nature Genetics.

After state budget cut, energy research hub awarded $3.5 million grant

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation will provide $3.5 million to fill a budget hole and help a hub for energy research keep operating at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Funding for the Wisconsin Energy Institute had been cut in the state budget lawmakers approved this summer. Gov. Scott Walker removed the funding as part of a proposal to cut back state support for the university system and give it more autonomy.

The Importance Of Reading Fiction In School

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson speaks with University of Wisconsin-Madison education professor Gay Ivey about the importance of teaching fiction to kids, and what they learn from it that they can’t get elsewhere.

Wisconsin Lifts Ill Baby Crane Back to Health

University of Wisconsin veterinary staff have bid farewell to a young sandhill crane they saved from possible death.The crane, then a sick baby, was spotted in late July in Cherokee Marsh, a wetland in Dane County, Wis. The bird walked with difficulty, drawing the attention of an observer and a team from the Humane Society’s Four Lakes Wildlife Center.

UW Researcher’s Study Says Arrival Of Humans Disrupted Plants, Animals

A study co-authored by a Wisconsin researcher says that when humans showed up on Earth, changes came to a plant-animal association that had lasted 300 million years.

Back to school for the public good

From Jeffrey Russell, Dean of Continuing Studies: A democracy requires government to function effectively, and public employees are the ones who make that happen.It’s easy to take government services for granted. Most of us don’t think twice about the clean water that comes from our faucets, the trash that’s picked up on schedule or the effort that goes into caring for our most vulnerable citizens.One key to doing these jobs well is lifelong learning. In a rapidly changing world, public employees must commit themselves to mastering the latest developments in their fields so that government runs as efficiently as possible.

From homelessness to commencement

Keena Atkinson went from sleeping in her car to graduating from UW-Madison in just six years with the help of the UW Odyssey Project. Brett Bachman reports.

@1403 Aims to Foster Innovation on UW-Madison Campus and Beyond

Since taking office two years ago, University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank has championed the effort to make more resources available to members of the campus community who have ideas for new companies.

On Campus: Student launches site to chronicle ‘Black Voice’ at UW-Madison

Jordan Gaines, a senior from Milwaukee, launched The Black Voice — blackvoicesuw.wordpress.com and @BlackVoicesUW on Twitter — earlier this month as an online media outlet to collect students’ news coverage, opinion writing, art and poetry.

UW doctoral students win 8 Fulbright scholarships, most in the country

Eight UW-Madison doctoral students have won Fulbright scholarships to study overseas, more than any other school in the country.

Native American student applications to UW medical school increase

Since the creation of University of Wisconsin Native American Center for Health Professions, there has been a 250 percent increase in Native student applicants to UW’s medical school.

Created in 2012, Native American Center for Health Professions was designed to improve the health and wellness of Native people, Melissa Metoxen, community and academic support coordinator at the Native American Center for Health Professions, said.

Adding health conscious choices to your holiday cookies

(Video) Thursday morning on Wake Up Wisconsin we discuss those ingredient options and show how to incorporate them into two cookie recipes with Julie Andrews. Andrews is the Program Coordinator and Top Chef for the Learning Kitchen at UW Health at The American Center.

Science, beer pair well at brewery

If you like your lager or ale served with a side of science, you might want to head up to Minocqua in the coming months.

Virtually real

In February 2014, staff from UW-Madison’s Living Environments Laboratory arrived at a Mazomanie residence where a murder had recently been committed.

The Hottest New MBA Is Not an MBA at All

Noted: Discussing the growth of specialized master’s programs as alternatives to an MBA, the article says, “[O]nce you get down into the lower half of the top 50 B-schools, you’ll find a program for just about any career direction, from biotechnology management at the U.C. Irvine Merage School, to global real estate at the Wisconsin School of Business[.]”

The Future Of Gene Editing

Alta Charo interviewed on Central Time about the future of gene editing and the implications it could have for treating disease and much more.

UW professor’s work on Midwest Folksongs gets Grammy nod

The UW-Madison professor of folklore and Scandinavian Studies and Mount Horeb resident was nominated Monday morning in the category of Best Album Notes for one of the annual music awards presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Leary’s project, “Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937-1946” was released by the University of Wisconsin Press and Dust-to-Digital in July. It includes five CDs of folk recordings made decades ago, and his book includes lyrics for all the songs and translations in more than 25 languages.

The truth about fetal tissue research

Every month, Lishan Su receives a small test tube on ice from a company in California. In it is a piece of liver from a human fetus aborted at between 14 and 19 weeks of pregnancy.

A Galaxy Far, Far Away — Right There On The Ceiling

Quoted: “It was the first real shot in the arm here for the Space Race growth of planetariums in the coming decade,” says Jordan D. Marché II, an astronomy lecturer who has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

With Edmund Fitzgerald in mind, scientists confirm rogue waves on Lake Superior

DULUTH, Minn. — Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have confirmed the phenomenon of rogue waves on Lake Superior — waves double the size of others at the same time and which have been named as a potential cause of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Ask Well: The Health Benefits of Meditation

Meditation has long been used to induce calm and physical relaxation. But research on its potential uses for treating medical problems “is still in its very early stages,” and designing trials can be challenging, said Richard J. Davidson, a neuroscientist who founded the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “So it’s not surprising the scientific literature is filled with mixed findings at this point in time.”