UW In The News

Evidence mounts that people with breakthrough infections can spread Delta easily

“We’re the first to demonstrate, as far as I’m aware, that infectious virus can be cultured from the fully vaccinated infections,” says Kasen Riemersma, a virologist at University of Wisconsin who is one of the authors of the study.

As California burns, some ecologists say it’s time to rethink forest management

Yet despite a universal desire to avoid more destruction, experts aren’t always in agreement about what should be done before a blaze ignites. Forest management has long been touted as essential to fighting wildfires, with one new set of studies led by the University of Wisconsin and the U.S. Forest Service concluding that there is strong scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of thinning dense forests and reducing fuels through prescribed burns.

‘You are not a horse’: FDA tells Americans stop taking dewormer for Covid

“It is a far cry from an in-vitro lab replication to helping humans,” Dr Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection prevention at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Hospital, told the Associated Press.

Arizona ‘bracing for impact’ of Trump-driven election report

Other election experts have previously torn into the Arizona review as unprofessionally run, including a report from former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, a Republican, and Barry Burden, the director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“The Cyber Ninjas review suffers from a variety of maladies: uncompetitive contracting, a lack of impartiality and partisan balance, a faulty ballot review process, inconsistency in procedures, an unacceptably high level of error built into the process, and insufficient security,” Grayson and Burden wrote in their June report. “Because it lacks the essential elements of a bona fide post-election analysis, the review currently underway in Maricopa County will not produce findings that should be trusted.”

The Daddy Longlegs Genome Was Sequenced, And Researchers Made A Daddy Shortlegs

“If you watch a daddy longlegs move, it will effectively walk on just three pairs of its legs,” said Guilherme Gainett, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The remaining pair of legs, he adds, wave around in the air, probing the arachnid’s surroundings.

Fight to Vote: Election data reveals the 2020 election was a remarkable success

“It is basically an indicator of the success of the election,” said Barry Burden, the director of the elections research center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Election administrators managed to pull it off and support a record number of voters.”

Tommy Thompson explains why he got vaccinated – and why you should, too

When I had an opportunity to become vaccinated against COVID-19 last spring, I didn’t hesitate. The vaccine clearly was the best way for me to protect myself and the people I care about from death or hospitalization due to COVID. I was also eager to do my part to help our society beat back this insidious disease.

Family of Anthony Huber, killed by Kyle Rittenhouse, files suit against city of Kenosha

Steven Howard Wright, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and co-director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, said the challenge for plaintiffs will be to prove an active conspiracy between the city, law enforcement and White militia members. “They are swinging for the entire community, which will make it a lot harder to sell,” he said. Because there is not a specific “smoking gun” to prove the conspiracy, he said he expects plaintiffs’ attorneys to ask the court “for the widest degree of discovery” to show that both departments had significant race problems long before the Blake incident.

How to Get Smarter: Start With the Brain Itself

“If we can make these things less and less invasive while making sure we are engaging the nerves, we can start to move beyond just doing this for people who have injury or ailments,” says Justin Williams, a Darpa-funded neuro-engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is studying how nerve stimulation can impact learning.

Chris Cuomo’s ethical troubles at CNN highlight rise of ‘info-tainment’

“I am shocked it’s gotten this far without him even receiving a suspension,” said Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

It’s been a brutally hot summer. Experts say this is just a glimpse of the future.

“Climate scientists were predicting exactly these kinds of things, that there would be an enhanced threat of these types of extreme events brought on by increased warming,” said Jonathan Martin, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s very distressing. These are not encouraging signs for our immediate future.

Live Murder Hornet sighted in the US for the first time in 2021

James Crall, assistant professor of entymology at the University of Wisconsin, told the Harvard Gazette last year: “If they do become established, then the honeybees will experience strong evolutionary pressures over the next years as they adapt to this new ecological interaction.”

Metabolism in adulthood does not slow as commonly believed, study finds

In a commentary published with the new study, Timothy Rhoads and Rozalyn Anderson, who work in geriatrics at the University of Wisconsin, said the findings also may have implications for the study of age-related diseases.

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine study for children under 12 starting at UW Health

Bill Gates Pledges $1.5 Billion for Infrastructure Bill’s New Climate Projects

Gregory Nemet, a University of Wisconsin professor who has written a book about recent innovation in solar power, said the policy shift will put pressure on government officials who will have to sort through complex market dynamics while managing demands from companies seeking profits and lawmakers pushing for home-state handouts.

Does mask wearing harm children’s development? Experts weigh in

“There are sensitive periods in early childhood development in which language development and emotional development are really rapidly developing for the first few years of life,” said Ashley Ruba, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Child Emotion Lab.

UW School of Medicine to begin enrolling children ages 6 months to 11 years for Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trial

Vaccinating children as young as 6 months of age against COVID-19 may become the new front in the global pandemic fight, if the vaccines prove to be safe and effective.

One such trial by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna will begin enrolling children 6 months through 11 years old on Friday at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. UW will be one of 75 to 100 sites in the U.S. and Canada for the trial, which has been named the KidCOVE study.

Fact check: 8 million ‘excess’ Biden votes weren’t counted in 2020

“Keshel is promoting a bizarre and unfounded conspiracy about the 2020 election,” Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an email.

Wisconsin to set fall wolf limit after runaway spring hunt

The DNR’s most recent estimate of wolves in Wisconsin, during the winter of 2019-20, put the population at about 1,000. The department’s goal is 350 wolves statewide. But conservationists maintain the February hunt was devastating to the state’s wolf population since it was held during the animal’s mating season. A University of Wisconsin study released last month also estimated another 100 wolves were killed by poachers after the animals lost their endangered species protection.

Delta Forces Hospitals Across U.S. to Ration Scarce ICU Beds

Truly stopping transmission would require about 90% vaccination, impossible to achieve, because children under 12 aren’t eligible for a shot, said Ajay Sethi, an associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin.

Studying poverty through a child’s eyes

Researchers studying how poverty and adversity affect children’s development often track how negative experiences — be they poverty itself or factors such as having an incarcerated parent — affect decision-making, stress levels or aspects of brain function. But Seth Pollak, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says that most of these efforts miss a crucial but long-overlooked component: children’s perceptions of their experiences.

Pollak spoke with Knowable Magazine about the importance of studying individual differences in experience.

UW-Madison will require masks indoors regardless of vaccination status

New Division of the Arts director Chris Walker plans to support art and student activism

If They Say They Know, They Don’t Know: A principle for understanding which experts to trust, including the CDC.

Written by Jordan Ellenberg, a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin and the author of Shape and How Not to Be Wrong.

Farmers markets are growing their role as essential sources of healthy food for rich and poor

Written by Edna Ledesma, Assistant Professor of Planning and Landscape Architecture, and Alfonso Morales, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Planning and Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Madison

A reason to be optimistic about our democracy: Students are flocking to public policy programs

Written by Susan Yackee, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs and a Collins-Bascom Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at UW-Madison.

How Olympians Are Fighting to Put Athletes’ Mental Health First

“Five years ago, mental health among elite athletes was not a very often-discussed topic,” says Dr. Claudia Reardon, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. If there was any focus on athletes’ mental health, it centered around performance and ways to optimize results on the field. “Most of the emphasis when it came to mental health was around sports psychology and performance, and offering resources to help you perform at your highest level,” says Ross. “Occasionally in the health history [questionnaire] there might be some questions about mental health but they were sort of hidden, and weren’t prominent.”

Bill O’Reilly accuser’s appearance on ‘The View’ stopped by order

That’s a potential conflict of interest, raising the question of whether Falzone’s experience with Fox would affect her independence, said Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She said it would be wrong to suggest Falzone can’t write about these issues, but it’s questionable for her to write about them when it concerns Fox.

Small farms vanish every day in America’s dairyland: ‘There ain’t no future in dairy’

Mark Stephenson, the director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the industry definitely has a lot of challenges but is nowhere near extinction.“We’ve produced record amounts of milk in the last year or two. It’s being consumed. Most of it domestically, but increasingly with exports,” said Stephenson.

Hardy Microbes Hint at Possibilities for Extraterrestrial Life

Extremophile research was pioneered by the late Thomas Brock, a microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He found, against all expectations, that certain hardy microbes could thrive in geothermal springs hot enough to poach an egg. The microbiologist’s curiosity led to the isolation of a molecule—from a heat-loving bacterium—that is now used in labs across the world to amplify and sequence DNA. Brock passed away in April, but his legacy lives on.