UW In The News

As Politics Evolved, Wisconsin’s Train Was Along For The Ride

Weyrich’s death happened around the same time as the rise of the Tea Party, when conservatives were growing increasingly angry with government. And this anger was reshaping the GOP all across the country.University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Kathy Cramer saw firsthand how it was influencing politics in Wisconsin.

How to Fight Back Against Injustice in Your School Cafeteria

We need to organize a youth-led movement for school food justice. Universal free, healthy, tasty, eco-friendly, culturally appropriate school lunches could be a reality in the United States, but only if students, cafeteria workers (over 90% of whom are women), and communities join together in solidarity to fight for real food and real jobs in K-12 schools.

Brenda Gonzalez acts as a bilingual bridge by removing barriers, helping underserved populations

When Brenda Gonzalez joined the board of directors of Access Community Health Centers in 2017, she wasn’t looking to shake things up.

CRISPR: the movie

Quoted: Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, also dismisses certain fears, pointing out, for example, that characteristics such as intelligence are controlled by multiple genes and by the environment. But she concedes that there is a risk to editing, and therefore it shouldn’t be used frivolously.

Aide To US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Americans Avoiding Medications Due To Cost

“Between 2008 and 2015, the prices for the most commonly used drugs increased 164 percent,” he said during a talk Friday at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty. “I think this leads to unsustainable spending.”

Did apes first walk upright on two legs in Europe, not Africa?

Quoted: Others are more positive. “This is really cool,” says John Hawks at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He notes that D. guggenmosi’s shin bone looks a lot like that of a hominin. But he is unconvinced that bipedality, or hominins, began in Europe. He says that, around 11 million years ago, apes were expanding and diversifying, so finding a fossil in one place isn’t proof that it originated there.

Another Round Of Snow Blankets Wisconsin

Quoted: Jordan Gerth, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said some parts of the state have already seen 20 percent of their normal annual snowfall, which is unusual when compared to a normal November.

Wait a Minute. How Can They Afford That When I Can’t?

Quoted: And theoretically, there’s a correlation between getting more because you work harder, said Evan Polman, a professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin at Madison School of Business. “Inheritance is a violation of that correlation.”

With so much emphasis on the cost of higher education, UW students are graduating faster than ever

New data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows students at the state’s flagship campus are getting out faster than ever, in light of mounting national concerns and conversations about the rising cost of college.

Lynda Barry’s “Making Comics” is one of the best, most practical books ever written about creativity

For many years, Barry has served as an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison art department and at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, using her method to teach both adults and children to get in touch with a creative impulse that is simultaneously deep, mysterious and irrational and trainable, biddable and reliable (with practice).

Fact-checking Pete Buttigieg on the success of Democratic presidential nominees in last 50 years

Quoted: “Setting aside instances where an incumbent president is running for re-election, Democrats in the modern era have fared better when nominating new faces rather than Washington insiders,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Giving your time to help others, rather than your money, may help you live longer

They followed members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, a periodic survey of a sample of the state’s high school graduates that began in 1957. From 2004, the survey included data on whether participants had given money to charity or others, volunteered, cared for someone other than a spouse or given substantial time and energy in support of family or friends.

‘Who built this beautiful place?’ Despite Trump’s visits to his properties, some of his businesses show new signs of financial decline.

Quoted: “A night or two? Not so much,” said Mark Eppli, a University of Wisconsin business professor who reviewed financial data on Trump’s hotel in Chicago at the request of The Post. “It’s one night out of 365.”

Study: Despite Reductions In Mercury Emissions, Concentrations In Lake Trout Persist

Newly published data from University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers show that despite reductions in mercury emissions in the United States, levels of the toxin found in Great Lakes trout have not declined at the same rate.

A Brutal Murder, a Wearable Witness, and an Unlikely Suspect

Quoted: “Nobody has come out and said these are extremely accurate,” says Lisa Cadmus-Bertram, one of the researchers on the heart rate study. Still, such variations from real measurements don’t matter much for its typical use.

Fake News? No Jobs? Prospective Journalists Soldier On

Quoted: “When I look at local news and see what’s happening, I’m pessimistic,” said Kathleen Culver, journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “When I look at 18- and 20-year-olds and see what they want to do, I’m optimistic.”

Eagle Talon Jewelry Suggests Neanderthals Were Capable of Human-Like Thought

Quoted: “We’re looking at evidence of traditions that have to do with social identification,” says John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who wasn’t involved in the study. “Why do you wear ornaments? Why do you go through this trouble? Because you notice something interesting, you want to associate yourself with it, [and] you want it to mark yourself for other people to recognize.”

Book Review: ‘On The Backs Tf Tortoises’ Challenges Us To Consider How Everything Is Intertwined

Nominally an environmental and social history of the Galápagos Islands, Prof. Elizabeth Hennessy lays bare the many intertwined issues that confront us as we attempt conservation efforts in complex situations, while faced with a sweeping ecological crisis.

Governor Declares Energy Emergency As Farms, Rural Residents Create High Demand For Propane

Joe Lauer, agronomist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he started advising farmers to start buying propane over the summer after wet weather caused major planting delays across the state.

A controversial new study claims Botswana may be the origin of modern humanity

Quoted: It’s a compelling story, but the paper has already generated controversy. “The idea that we’re looking for a single origin [of anatomically modern humans] is out of fashion,” says John Hawks, a University of Wisconsin-Madison paleoanthropologist.

After Katie Hill, media grapples with possible onslaught of nude photos

Quoted: Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, warned that “every newsroom should be having discussions in advance about how they will handle all kinds of issues involving personal privacy and leaked information. This certainly isn’t the last time we’re going to see this kind of question.”

Opinion | It’s the End of California as We Know It

Our de facto solution to housing affordability has been forcing people to move farther and farther away from cities, so they commute longer, make traffic worse and increase the population of fire-prone areas. (Volker Radloff research.)

Want to Be More Creative? A MacArthur Genius Shows You How

Semipermanent Tattoos: Why Millennials Love Them

Amy Niu, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin who’s currently conducting a study on selfie taking and self-perception among college-aged women in the United States and China, isn’t as worried. “In the U.S. sample, I found there’s no correlation between selfie taking and satisfaction with physical appearance,” Niu says.

Twitter reveals growing global public anxiety about Crispr gene-editing

Quoted: Dietram Scheufele, a social scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, says that this work can help researchers get a handle of on what worries people about new technologies, but shouldn’t replace other ways of assessing public sentiment.

Done In By A Deadline

Quoted: “In the old days, states could say that they needed to have earlier deadlines because it was a more difficult process to manage,” says Barry Burden, a political science professor who heads up the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “But other states have proven that they don’t need 30 days.”

Controversial New Study Pinpoints Where All Modern Humans Arose |

Quoted: Today’s southern African populations harbour a deep mitochondrial genetic line. But the details of what the latest analysis revealed remain unclear, says John Hawks, a palaeoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Frustrated Democratic governors find ways to sidestep GOP

Quoted: Turning to executive orders “is a rational reaction by an executive who finds their agenda gummed up by a state Legislature,” said University of Wisconsin political science professor Barry Burden. To be able to show voters what they’ve accomplished, governors “start to look at things they can do unilaterally,” he said.

Facebook removes pro-Trump ads it said violated its policies

Quoted: Young Mie Kim, a professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said the paid posts were the “best examples” she has seen of ads that “bypass transparency measures by appearing as a public education type of message when in fact the main purpose seems to be data collection.”

Meet Two MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Climate Scientists

Featured: We meet two scientists working on opposite sides of the world, both thinking creatively about rising sea levels and our changing oceans. Andrea Dutton, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Stacy Jupiter, a marine biologist and Melanesia Director with the Wildlife Conservation Society, were awarded MacArthur Fellowships this fall.