UW In The News

UW Alzheimer’s doctor, researcher inspired by father’s diagnosis with the disease

Monarch butterflies have been declared endangered. What can we do to save them?

OBERHAUSER: If you see it, you report it. So in the United States, you can report it to a program called Journey North, which is something that we run out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. And the final thing that people can do now that you’ve heard this interview, you are an expert on monarchs, so you can spread the word.

RASCOE: That’s Karen Oberhauser. She directs the arboretum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is the founder and director of the Monarch Lava Monitoring Project. Thank you so much for talking with us.

Unless we act soon, this heatwave is just a taste of things to come

Written by Andrea Dutton, an international expert on climate change and sea level rise who is a MacArthur Fellow and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ohio rape shows how a story can spread faster than facts

A named source like Bernard is a good start, said Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin. If the Star had other sources, it may not have wanted to provide them at the risk of identifying the victim, she said.

Doctors worry that online misinformation will push abortion-seekers toward ineffective, dangerous methods

Even before the Supreme Court decision, there was evidence that some people tried to self-manage abortions with things like herbs, physical trauma and uterine trauma, said Jenny Higgins, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

The BA.5 Wave Is What COVID Normal Looks Like

Ajay Sethi, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, still works at home, and avoids eating with strangers indoors. He masks in crowded places, but at home, as contractors remodel his bathrooms, he has decided not to—a pivot from last year. His chances of suffering from the virus haven’t changed much; what has is “probably more my own fatigue,” he told me, “and my willingness to accept more risk than before.”

First Full-Color Image From NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Unveiled by Biden

“They’re not just going to be pretty pictures necessarily,” said Dr. Michael Maseda, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There’s going to be scientific information that is probably fundamentally new.”

Epilepsy patients turn to unregulated CBD market for treatment

“I’m not anti-CBD,” said Barry Gidal, a professor of pharmacy and neurology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who co-wrote the study and worked as a consultant for the Epidiolex manufacturer. “There needs to be oversight so that patients know what they are getting.”

On Conservative Radio, Misleading Message Is Clear: ‘Democrats Cheat’

“Liberals or even most moderates never listen to it, they don’t pay attention to it, they don’t see it, they don’t hear it,” said Lewis A. Friedland, a professor who studies radio at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “So you don’t know it exists, you don’t know how widespread and how powerful it really is.” In Wisconsin, he said, local radio stations play “extreme right-wing propaganda” five or six hours a day.

AOC Slams Lindsey Graham Over Filibuster Ousting: ‘You Sound Insecure’

“In 1801-1802 the Federalists are on their way out,” Joshua Braver, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, told Newsweek. “They lose in the revolution of 1800 and the election to Jefferson, and they’re really afraid of Jefferson.”

Wisconsin Court Validates a Republican Strategy to Preserve Power

“These are really hardball tactics,” said Barry C. Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies elections and democracy issues. “It’s not unlike the United States Senate refusing to confirm Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court to hold open a seat for Republicans.

As July 4 nears, this Bill of Rights blueprint could sell for $5 million

Each of the original 13 states was tasked with ratifying the proposed constitution. By virtue of its prominent place among those original states, Virginia was critical to the process, said John Kaminski, director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin.

Can Democrats Expand the Supreme Court and How Likely Is it?

Newsweek asked two experts —retired judge Nancy Gertner and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School Joshua Braver—to explain whether adding more justices to the Supreme Court is possible at all, how likely such a move is to succeed and why some Democrats are asking for it to happen, while others oppose it.

Century-Old State Laws Could Determine Where Abortion Is Legal

“I hadn’t heard much about the ban until quite recently,” said Jenny Higgins, a professor of gender and women’s studies and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “Folks didn’t really believe that overturning Roe was possible, or palatable, until recently.”

‘Trigger Law’ States Are Flying Blind Without Biden’s Guidance

“It would be surprising for guidance to be issued before the court hands down the Dobbs opinion,” said Miriam Seifter, a professor of administrative law, constitutional, and state and local government law at the University of Wisconsin.

What Does a Smart Toilet Do and Is It Worth It?

Turning more attention to the bowl is a boom in microbiome research that “has made it apparent just how important the organisms living in our gut really are,” says Joshua J. Coon, Ph.D., a professor of biomolecular chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Video games that teach empathy

Research provides some support for this idea. In one small study, researchers at the University of Wisconsin created a game based on Jamal Davis, an imaginary Black male science student who experiences discrimination in his PhD program. Players took the role of Jamal Davis and experienced what he experiences because of his skin color. When questioned afterward, the players said they understood how he felt and could take on his perspective, indications that they felt empathy.

Fathers feed babies too — so why are they so scarce in media coverage of the formula shortage?

Co-authored by Tova Walsh, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network and Alvin Thomas, an assistant professor of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network.

F.D.A. Authorizes Moderna and Pfizer Covid Vaccines for Youngest Children

Dr. James Conway, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. said it was hard to pinpoint how much protection either vaccine might provide given that newer, more contagious versions of the virus are now circulating. “You’re kind of playing Whac-a-Mole,” he said.

Drones Being Used to Bring Defibrillators to Patients in Emergencies

“Time is really of the essence here,” said Justin Boutilier, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “Survival from cardiac arrest decreases by between 7 to 15% for every minute that you go without treatment.”

Boutilier describes obstacles to emergency response —such as traffic or difficult-to-reach rural locations — as “the perfect storm.” He has been designing a prototype drone that takes off as soon as someone calls 911.

A Hotter, Poorer, and Less Free America

Or the world could simply leave the United States and its kludgy economy behind. Gregory Nemet, a public-affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin and the author of How Solar Energy Became Cheap, argues that the world is now on track to transition no matter what the United States does. “There’s so much momentum right now in this clean-energy transition. It will still happen, but it will happen more slowly” if no bill passes, he told me.

Virginia Lottery’s Bank a Million draw yields surprising winning numbers

“Is it very unlikely that the numbers would show up 13 to 19? Yes,” said Jordan Ellenberg, a math professor at University of Wisconsin at Madison who wrote about the lottery in his book “How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking.”But any other set of numbers is “equally unlikely,” Ellenberg quickly added, speaking by phone from his front porch in Madison. “On the one hand, it’s very striking. On the other hand, a very improbable thing happens every time the lottery numbers are drawn. Every particular outcome is very unlikely. Otherwise people would win too much.”

The SOARS ocean simulator debuts at UC San Diego

Timothy Bertram, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Wisconsin, is one of many scientists who are eager to both see SOARS in action and contribute to its upcoming investigation of the sea-air boundary.

Calls to boost natural gas can’t ignore fuel combustion’s deadly impacts

Then in mid-May, a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison found that eliminating pollution from fossil fuel combustion in power plants could avoid as many as 11,600 premature deaths in the U.S. every year, with an annual value of $132 billion. The researchers looked at five additional sectors: industrial fuel use; residential and commercial fuel use; on-road vehicles; non-road vehicles; as well as oil and gas production and refining. They found that exposure to the small particulates emitted by combustion in these six sectors combined resulted in 205,000 deaths in one year. And, due to the disparities in the siting of power plants and other facilities, the victims of this pollution are far more often low-income and people of color.

Blue Is Probably Your Favorite Color. Here’s Why, According to Science

From Crayola polls to legitimate peer-reviewed studies, the BBC investigated the science of how we perceive color and found that not only do we adore blue, but our perceptions of color are shaped by our experiences. Highlighting research from University of Rhode Island associate professor Lauren Labrecque and University of Wisconsin psychology professor Karen Schloss, the BBC reports that our preference for blue is longstanding, and that we start to give meaning to colors as we age.

Are Iowa’s Democratic Days Gone for Good?

“Individual people’s politics is so much more about who they think they are in the world as opposed to policy stances,” Kathy Cramer, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me. “It’s about ‘Am I being heard? Am I being respected?’” To have any hope of clawing back their former terrain, Democrats need to make voters feel like the answer is yes.

Why the global soil shortage threatens food, medicine and the climate

“There are places that have already lost all of their topsoil,” Jo Handelsman, author of “A World Without Soil,” and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told CNBC.

Glyphosate weedkiller damages wild bee colonies, study reveals

“Bumblebees are a vitally important group of pollinators [and] the new findings are especially important given the widespread global use of glyphosate,” said Prof James Crall, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, who was not part of the study team. “[Current] environmental safety testing is insufficient for identifying often unpredictable effects on behaviour, physiology, or reproduction that occur at sublethal exposures.”

Coal prices, demand are up but unlikely to spark a resurgence

Fossil fuel spikes could well accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels in favor of wind and solar, according to Greg Nemet at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

How Could Life Evolve From Cyanide?

Joining me now is Betül Kaçar. She’s an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the department of bacteriology. She’s also the principal investigator of Project MUSE, a major NASA-funded astrobiology research initiative. Betül Kaçar, thanks very much for being here.Betül Kaçar

Betül Kaçar (18:33): Thanks for having me.