UW In The News

Wisconsin’s tiniest livestock — honeybees — are threatened by mites, pesticides and lack of food

“Honeybees are like livestock,” Hannah Gaines Day, a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who studies how pollinators interact with the environment and agricultural operations, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “They’re like little, tiny livestock that the beekeeper is taking care of, and so they have someone looking out for them and feeding them and giving them medicine if they need it if they’re sick. But the wild pollinators don’t have that.”

Can a pandemic movie be an engine for empathy?

Can filmmakers make a good pandemic film five years after the globe-changing year of 2020?  The recently released “Eddington” makes an attempt, but focuses on a hyper local experience with a fictional small town in New Mexico. On the Buzz to talk about the movie is Jeff Smith, a professor specializing in cinema studies in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Is it OK to write songs with AI? UW-Madison expert says it depends

“I think it is always hard to come down on the side of ‘no, this technology should not be used in this space,’” said Jeremy Morris, a professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I think the more interesting question is ‘how do we use it and how does that come to define the things we listen to?’”

Teens come up with trigonometry proof for Pythagorean Theorem, a problem that stumped math world for centuries

Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has studied how best to teach African American students. She told us an encouraging teacher can change a life.

“Many of our young people have their ceilings lowered, that somewhere around fourth or fifth grade, their thoughts are, ‘I’m not going to be anything special.’ What I think is probably happening at St. Mary’s is young women come in as, perhaps, ninth graders and are told, ‘Here’s what we expect to happen. And here’s how we’re going to help you get there.'”

Longtime Wisconsin donors get family name on Badgers’ new indoor practice facility

Earth-size stars and alien oceans – an astronomer explains the case for life around white dwarfs

Written by Juliette Becker, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hip-hop’s role in today’s classrooms

“The reason why it resonated with students … is because it felt like an opportunity for them to be met on their own ground and to have a kind of shared ground with which to meet instructors or meet ideas,” says Nate Marshall, award-winning poet and assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Ultimately, like, the role of an educator is to connect the students in order to serve the students. So, if that’s not your way to connect with them, that’s cool. You find other ways.”

UW-Madison researchers find automation apps can enable dating abuse

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that automation apps, like iPhone’s ‘shortcuts’, can be a vehicle potential abusers use to control their partner’s activities on their mobile device.

Rahul Chatterjee, an assistant professor of computer science at UW and founder of the Madison Tech Clinic, said Madison Tech Clinic helps individuals who have been virtually stalked or harassed by their partners.

Wisconsin scientists are leaders in testing psilocybin treatments for mental health

“A lot of the participants in our trials have tried one or more different types of either behavioral treatments or pharmacological treatments,” Christopher Nicholas said. “They’re looking for another option.”

He’s optimistic psychedelics paired with therapy will give patients a new tool. He worked on a 2023 study that found participants’ depression scores improved about six weeks after a single dose of psilocybin.

Here’s the corporate strategy behind switching from merit increases to flat raises

“The labor market has cooled and so companies now are starting to feel they have more leeway, more leverage with their employees,” said Barry Gerhart, a professor of management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Golden oyster mushrooms escaped captivity. Now, they’re spreading across Wisconsin.

A new report published by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers in the journal Current Biology may hold clues to an unfolding mushroom mystery: the origins and possible consequences of the invasive golden oyster mushroom.

In ancient teeth, clues of human evolution — and perhaps a new species

John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the work, said the find is exciting because it opens a window into a critical and mysterious period of human evolution between 2.5 million and 3 million years ago. He said he’s eager to see the work published but noted that such finds raise as many questions as they answer.

US has slashed global vaccine funding – if philanthropy fills the gap, there could be some trade-offs

Written by Amy E. Stambach, a professor of cultural anthropology and international studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A homegrown food trend has turned into an invasive species crisis

“Invasive golden oyster mushrooms, a wood decay fungus, can threaten forests’ fungal biodiversity and harm the health of ecosystems that are already vulnerable to climate change and habitat destruction,” said Aishwarya Veerabahu, a mycologist and graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who recently co-authored a study on the species.

We tracked illegal fishing in marine protected areas – satellites and AI show most bans are respected, and could help enforce future ones

Written by Jennifer Raynor, an assistant professor of natural resource economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW-Madison research drives startups. Federal science cuts stall our mission.

Written by Jordan Ellenberg, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The golden oyster mushroom craze unleashed an invasive species – and a worrying new study shows it’s harming native fungi

Written by Aishwarya Veerabahu, a Ph.D. candidate in botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Y’all, we need to talk about ‘y’all’

“It feels like home when I hear it,” says Kelly Elizabeth Wright, an assistant professor of language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who grew up in Tennessee. “It’s from where I was raised. But it makes me feel included and welcome. And I think that’s part of why people are embracing it, because it has this capacity to make others feel included and welcome.”

Bad Bunny makes a ‘political statement’ as Puerto Rico residency begins

“The theme and the ethos of this record is sort of affirming that Puerto Rican culture in the face of cultural and physical displacement of Puerto Ricans,” said Meléndez-Badillo, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is attending one of the concerts this weekend.

Just how harmful is vaping? More evidence is emerging

Data on the long-term health effects is limited, because vapes are relatively new and constantly evolving. Many people who use them are in their teens or 20s; it might take a while before further effects become apparent.

Even so, “common sense tells you — your mom would tell you — that a superheated chemical inhaling right into your lungs isn’t going to be good,” said Dr. James H. Stein, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Increasingly, research is pointing to the reality that while vapes do not contain the same dangerous chemicals as cigarettes, they come with their own harms.

Why it’s so hard to warn people about flash floods

The shape of a cloud, where water accumulates in the cloud, and how dry the air is between the cloud and the ground in different locations, are all factors that might influence how much rain hits the ground in a certain location, according to Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist and manager of the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Getting those very precise measurements at those very precise locations is something that we’re still working on, improving that science,” Vagasky says. Progress hinges on more advanced computer modeling and a better understanding of how precipitation forms in clouds.

UW-Madison’s Black Males in Engineering Video Series wins prestigious Telly Award

The Black Males in Engineering (BME) video series, led by UW-Madison School of Education faculty member Dr. Brian Burt, recently received a Silver Telly Award in the Campaign – Education & Training category. The honor recognizes non-broadcast video campaigns created for general educational purposes and underscores the series’ impact on addressing critical gaps in STEM education support.

More explosive volcanoes expected as glaciers melt

Pablo Moreno-Yaeger from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is presenting the research at the conference, said in a statement: “Our study suggests this phenomenon isn’t limited to Iceland, where increased volcanicity has been observed, but could also occur in Antarctica. Other continental regions, like parts of North America, New Zealand and Russia, also now warrant closer scientific attention.”

Hurricane forecasters are losing 3 key satellites ahead of peak storm season − a meteorologist explains why it matters

Written by Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist and research program manager at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

How does the job market determine whether or not there’s inflation?

Slower wage growth has an outsized impact on the cost of services, said Menzie Chinn, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Because services are provided, you know, the main input is going to be labor,” he said.

But Chinn said there are factors that could actually lead to higher wages in the service sector. For instance, employees might ask for higher wages to help them cover the cost of tariffs.

Sea spiders lack a key body part and a missing gene could explain why

Biologists interested in reconstructing the family trees of spiders and their relatives have long sought a complete sea spider genome, said Prashant Sharma of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is an author of the new paper. Because sea spiders are members of a group that are siblings of arachnids on land, characteristics they share with modern land spiders could be traced to a common ancestor.

Musk vows to start a third party. Funding’s no issue, but there are others.

“A new party is going to benefit most from Musk if they can draw on his resources but keep him in the background,” said Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Elections Research Center. “And if he can portray himself as an innovator and a tech entrepreneur — and somebody who is really contributing to the American economy and funding this new operation without being its front person — I think that’s probably going to lead to the most success.”

The hidden cost of convenience: How your data pulls in hundreds of billions of dollars for app and social media companies

Written by Kassem Fawaz, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Jack West, a doctoral student in computer science, both a the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Scandinavia has its own dark history of assimilating Indigenous people, and churches played a role – but are apologizing

Written by Thomas A. DuBois, a professor of Scandinavian Studies, Folklore, and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

From injured pups to promising careers, UW Veterinary School gives aspiring techs a real shot

UW’s newly expanded $174 million facility offers plenty of high-tech tools and advanced care options—but it’s the heart behind the work that stands out.

“Across the nation, there’s a shortage of veterinary technicians and staff in the veterinary profession,” said Dr. Chris Snyder, hospital director. “Giving an opportunity to welcome them in and to see what cutting-edge veterinary care can look like—and what a career working in a teaching hospital can be—and how rewarding that is to be able to train others.”