UW In The News

Discovery sheds light on mystery of ancient Native American city’s downfall

“When we see correlations with climate, some archaeologists don’t think climate has anything to do with it, but it’s difficult to sustain that argument when the evidence of significant changes in the climate show people are facing new challenges,” said Professor Sissel Schroeder, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Climate Change May Have Caused Collapse of Cahokia, America’s First City

“Cultures can be very resilient in face of climate change but resilience doesn’t necessarily mean there is no change,” said study co-author Sissel Schroeder, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in a statement. “There can be cultural reorganization or decisions to relocate or migrate. We may see similar pressures today but fewer options to move.”

Fish poisoned by World War Two bombs could be saved by BACTERIA

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sequenced the genes of two Pseudomonas bacteria to get the flavoprotein enzymes to break down TNT.

Poop helps show climate change contributed to fall of Cahokia

Last year, White and a team of collaborators — including his former advisor Lora Stevens, professor of paleoclimatology and paleolimnology at California State University, Long Beach, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Anthropology Sissel Schroeder — showed they could detect signatures of human poop in lake core sediments collected from Horseshoe Lake, not far from Cahokia’s famous mounds.

The CRISPR-baby scandal: what’s next for human gene-editing

Quoted: Alta Charo, who specializes in law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, agrees that it was unclear how any of these individuals could have effectively blown the whistle.

Trump stays silent on media-hating Coast Guard officer

Quoted: “I think it’s very difficult to draw a bright line between what comes out of the president’s mouth or his Twitter account and action from other individuals,” said Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “But that doesn’t mean we should accept a normalization of this rhetoric.”

Stephen Miller’s claim that ‘thousands of Americans die year after year’ from illegal immigration

Noted: A 2018 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Criminology, led by Michael Light, a criminologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, examined whether places with higher percentages of undocumented immigrants have higher rates of violent crime such as murder or rape.

Why changing how you think about stress could help you be less affected by it

A large study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison bears this out.Researchers asked almost 29,000 people to rate their levels of stress as well as how much they believed this stress influenced their health.

The Vanishing Flights of the Monarch Butterfly

Quoted: “We should celebrate the fact that we go up to this six-hectare number, and people who are living in areas where monarchs breed really noticed them this summer,” Karen Oberhauser, the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, who researches monarchs, told me. “It illustrates the fact that they have this incredible potential.”

Advocate: Opioid Crackdown Had ‘Chilling’ Effect On Those With Chronic Pain

Dr. Alaa Abd-Elsayed, medical director for pain services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, agrees that opioid prescribing went from one extreme to the other.

New Squid Genome Shines Light on Symbiotic Evolution

“The squid system is exquisite for being able to actually watch the bacteria enter the host,” said Mark Mandel, a microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies microbial symbiosis in bobtail squids as an analogue for other systems and was not involved in this study.

One number determines who gets an organ transplant. And it’s horribly unfair.

We have a liver selection meeting every Wednesday to consider which patients will get transplants. Each patient is listed by name, age, weight, diagnosis and MELD score — a number, based entirely on lab values, that predicts how bad their liver is and correlates with how likely they are to die waiting for a transplant.

‘I know what intolerance looks like’: Ilhan Omar takes her turn in the spotlight

Quoted: Patrick Iber, an assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, said it was “entirely appropriate” to press Abrams on his work in the Reagan years.

Oversupply Of Milk Continues To Erode Farmers’ Bottom Line

Mark Stephenson is director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said the 7 cent jump in the average hauling charges likely had a big impact on farms, especially given the continued low price for milk.

UW Freshman from Door County Praises Bucky’s Tuition Promise

University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman Mackenzie Straub told the UW System Board of Regents on Friday, Feb. 8, that the new Bucky’s Tuition Promise program has made a big difference for her.

Defective Mitochondria Could Explain Neurological Impairment in Fragile X

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison had shown previously  that FMRP plays an important role in neuron development (maturation).

Northern lake ice loss threatens water, economies, culture

John Magnuson, a University of Wisconsin-Madison aquatic ecologist and limnologist, said warming temperatures take away an important piece of culture for people in the north.

What Happens If Russia Cuts Itself Off From the Internet

Quoted: “I’m absolutely sure that’s the case. It may not break from the perspective of their major infrastructure grinding to a halt, but that’s a risk that they’re taking,” says Paul Barford, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who studies computer networking.

Financial Well-Being Is In Your Reach, Adviser Says

Quoted: Look at your previous month’s spending record, said Olive, a financial capability specialist who holds a joint appointment with the School of Human Ecology Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Extension.

This spud’s for you: A breeding revolution could unleash the potential of potato

Potato breeders doubted the approach was possible for tubers. “I was trained to believe that potatoes can’t be inbred,” says Shelley Jansky, a potato breeder with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Madison.

Valentine’s Day: Why the heart icon looks nothing like a human organ

The heart shape was also used in images to illustrate the Sacred heart in association with nuns’ spirituality, according to Thomas Dale, medieval studies expert and professor of art history at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This Scary Map Shows How Climate Change Will Transform Your City

Quoted: “Framing results in a digestible manner for the public sector, to inform policy, and for the scientific community, is notoriously difficult,” says University of Wisconsin–Madison climate scientist Kevin Burke, who wasn’t involved in the study.

A ‘Fountain Of Youth’ Pill? Sure, If You’re A Mouse.

Quoted: “A lot of what goes on here is really, really careful phrasing for what you say the thing is for,” said Charo, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Trump Trade War Helps Push Farmers Into Record Number Of Bankruptcies

Quoted: “The problem is that both nations have stubborn leaders,” Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said at an agricultural forum last week in Madison.

The Milky Way is warped, but astronomers still aren’t sure why

And while the warping of the galaxy isn’t a new revelation, Elena D’Onghia, an astronomer at the University of Wisconsin who was not involved with the study, thinks it’s interesting how the team took advantage of the Cepheids in creating the new galactic map that can characterize the warp at a rather high accuracy.

Hot but not bothered: Warm soils favor microbes with small genomes

Quoted: Microbial evolution to a more streamlined state is often suggested as a route to small genomes, says Jo Handelsman, a soil microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the new study.

Video games in Wisconsin classrooms

A new video game created at UW-Madison is helping teachers in Wisconsin generate excitement in the classroom.

Artist Spotlight: Lynda Barry

Indeed, Barry’s works are staples of comics studies courses and fixtures in my own personal comic library. With flamboyantly chaotic artwork that quickly destabilizes reader’s expectations, Barry continues to revolutionize how we think about comics as a medium for self-expression. The University of Wisconsin-Madison professor uses comics as a tool for discovery.

Artificial Intelligence Finds Ancient ‘Ghosts’ in Modern DNA

Quoted: The technique “is powerful because of its simplicity, but it leaves a lot on the table in terms of understanding evolution,” said John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

1919: Hollywood’s Boom Year

The First World War radically changed the landscape of moviemaking. Before 1914, Europeans had dominated the booming industry — France, Italy, Germany and even Denmark had sent films across the globe.

Mr. Bordwell is a professor emeritus of film studies at the University of Wisconsin.