UW In The News

Microsoft wants machine teaching to be the next big AI trend

Quoted: Microsoft can’t claim sole ownership of the term. Xiaojin (Jerry) Zhu, a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, has used “machine teaching” to describe a set of approaches to training machine learning algorithms since 2013, though he and Microsoft both agree there’s some overlap in their definitions.

Fight over census citizenship question hits Supreme Court

Quoted: Ryan Owens, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the justices will be wary of how the court looks as it takes up a politically charged case.

‘Time is short’: Why experts warn Russian meddling detailed in Mueller report could happen again

Quoted: The operations seized on social divisions and showed a clear bias toward Trump, said Young Mie Kim, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison whose research analyzed 3,500 Facebook ads bought by Russia and released last year by the House Intelligence Committee.

L.A. quadruples the fine for disabled-placard fraud, but will it help?

Quoted: “It’s this idea that we must be so helpless and dependent, if we’re showing that we’re not those things, our disability can’t be real,” said Ellen Samuels, a disability scholar at the University of Wisconsin at Madison whose book “Fantasies of Identification” explores the issue. “[Fraud] is about people using other people’s permits, yet it leads to this thought that a lot of people are getting permits they don’t really need.”

Dental Dams Are a Safe-Sex Product No One Uses

Quoted: They are also awkward, both to talk about and to use, says Chris Barcelos, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who researches safe sex in queer communities. “People say dental dams take the fun out of oral sex,” Barcelos says.

The ‘uncured’ bacon illusion: It’s actually cured, and it’s not better for you.

Quoted: It’s worthwhile to take a moment to understand the difference between nitrate and nitrite. (Besides, without at least some eye-glazing detail, how would you know it was me?) I asked Jeff Sindelar, professor of meat science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, to explain the process. Nitrate is a molecule consisting of one nitrogen atom with three oxygens.

Yiddish Collection At UW-Madison Named A National Treasure

Along with Neil Diamond’s 1969 “Sweet Caroline” and a speech from Robert F. Kennedy, the earliest known recordings of Yiddish music are now officially considered national treasures.

Claiming ‘Sanctuary’ in a Medieval Church Could Save Your Life—But Lead to Exile

Roman Catholic leaders believed a consecrated church was “protected space,” says Karl Shoemaker, a professor of history and law at the University of Wisconsin and author of Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages, 400-1500. “It would be inappropriate in the extreme to carry weapons into the church or to arrest someone or to exercise force within the church.”

Cartoons, “Catch-22” and hand turkeys

“What if this is what a line looks like when it’s giving you an idea?” she wondered. That may certainly be the case as people easily develop theories, often through haphazard scribbles on any available surface. She recounted students writing on both sides of the glass at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she teaches.

Center for Dairy Research gets grant to create dairy drinks that don’t need refrigeration

The plastic milk jug is familiar to most consumers but its days may be numbered as a newly announced grant will allow experts at UW-Madison’s Center for Dairy Research to begin working on producing dairy beverages that won’t need refrigeration.

Conservation Congress Survey Participants Support Pilot Program To Prevent Spread Of CWD

Mike Samuel, an emeritus professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the previous bounty program was very unpopular with hunters and did little to control spread of the disease.

Uganda: Human Viruses Threaten the Future of Uganda’s Chimpanzees

But our team leader, Dr Tony Goldberg of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tested samples, and we learned that the outbreaks were caused by two different viruses commonly found in humans.

Can Botox and Cosmetic Surgery Chill Our Relationships With Others?

Quoted: “People these days are constantly rearranging their facial appearance in ways that prevent engaging in facial mimicry, having no idea how much we use our faces to coordinate and manage social interactions,” said Paula Niedenthal, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has published several studies on facial mimicry and its emotional and social importance.

Trying to downsize your home? Good luck with that

With the market tight, more elders are remaining homeowners. A Boston College study last year found 8 in 10 people aged 80 to 84 are homeowners — up by nearly one-fifth since 1980. University of Wisconsin professor Michael Collins, who worked on the study, said more older homeowners may feel they can still handle a larger home.

Study identifies predictors of early death among autistic people

“Our goal was to identify factors that service systems, physicians and families could focus in on, as a way of maybe addressing the disparity,” says lead investigator Marsha Mailick, emerita professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin’s Waisman Center in Madison.

How To Share Science In A World Of Fake News

Featured: Dietram Scheufele studies the science of science communication and researches public attitudes and policy dynamics regarding science. He is a professor in science communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reflecting on 30 Years of Forgiveness Science

It was great to be able to share our knowledge on the science of forgiveness, which we began to examine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985, to aid in the advancement of this important area of research.

–Robert Enright, UW–Madison

Astronaut twins, Nepal tornado and malaria vaccine

Quoted: Tornadoes are typically formed by thunderstorms known as supercells, which are not usually found in Nepal, says Leigh Orf, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

‘White Dreams’: Where Do Our Minds Go When We Fall Asleep?

In a 2017 study, Francesca Siclari at Lausanne University Hospital and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin at Madison invited 32 participants to spend a night in the lab while EEG electrodes on the scalp recorded their brain activity as they slept.

Hidden Brain: America’s Changing Attitudes Toward Gay People

Public opinion about gay rights has shifted enormously in the United States over the past few decades. What are some of the factors that have led to this historic change in attitudes?

–Featured: William Cox, assistant scientist, Dept of Sociology

Anesthesia nightmare: what it feels like to wake up during surgery

General anaesthesia, in contrast, aims to do just that, creating an unresponsive drug-induced coma or controlled unconsciousness that is deeper and more detached from reality even than sleep, with no memories of any events during that period. As Robert Sanders, an anaesthetist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, puts it: “We’ve apparently ablated this period of time from that person’s experience.”

UW to open Prevention Research Center

UW-Madison will open Wisconsin’s first Prevention Research Center this fall, thanks to a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nepali scientists record country’s first tornado

Quoted: In countries such as the United States, which is hit by some 1,200 tornadoes every year, these rotating columns of wind are identified using Doppler radar imagery, says Leigh Orf, an atmospheric scientist at University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Americans are having less sex and here’s why it matters

Quoted: “The economic issues are real and significant,” Christine Whelan, director of Money, Relationships and Equality Initiative in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told TODAY. “Increasingly what both men and women are looking for it a good financial prospect.”

New Study Reveals the Dangers of Long Commutes During Pregnancy

In a new study published earlier this year, researchers at Lehigh University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found a link between the distance a woman travels to work every day while pregnant and the health outcomes for her child, including low birth weight, the likelihood of a C-section, and intrauterine growth restriction, or when a baby doesn’t reach a normal size as measured throughout the pregnancy.

Ilhan Omar, Katie Bouman, Commute While Pregnant: Broadsheet April 15

But there’s another link discovered by researchers at Lehigh University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison—between infant health and the distance a woman has to travel to get to her job every day.

UW-Madison band director Mike Leckrone conducts his last concerts this week; here are 5 ways he’s being celebrated

University of Wisconsin Band Director Mike Leckrone has become a Madison icon. Leckrone, 82, took over the band in 1969, when it was what he called “a sleeping giant.”

Making peace in the Golan Heights—between humans and wolves

Meanwhile, not a single study in the U.S. has shown that killing wolves reduces depredation, says Francisco Santiago-Ávila, a Ph.D. student at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Carnivore Coexistence Lab.

Philippine Fossils Add Surprising New Species to Human Family Tree

Quoted: One strange event may be luck; two suggest something more interesting,” asserts John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

New figures for autism prevalence in China point to previous neglect

Quoted: “This approach is much more labor intensive than the CDC’s approach,” says Maureen Durkin, professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who leads the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. “It’s true that the more you look for autism, the more you’ll find.”