Tag College of Letters & Science
Study: Second cochlear implant can restore two important facets of binaural hearing
Cochlear implants are electronic devices that stimulate auditory nerves directly, bypassing damage in the inner ear, and thus restoring some hearing. Although cochlear implants have revolutionized the treatment of deafness, many users have trouble understanding speech, particularly in crowds. Read More
Property tax increases drive few elderly to move out of their homes
Few elderly homeowners are forced to move from their homes because of property tax increases, according to a new study from a University of Wisconsin–Madison public affairs researcher and economists at the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Read More
Research: One in 20 Milwaukee renter-occupied households evicted each year
Eviction is such a common occurrence in the lives of Milwaukee's urban poor that one renter-occupied household in every 20 is evicted each year, according to research based on an analysis of court records and a year's worth of sociology fieldwork from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Read More
Depression saps endurance of the brain’s reward circuitry
A new study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison suggests that depressed patients are unable to sustain activity in brain areas related to positive emotion. Read More
Stellar mosh pit, complete with crashing stars, resolves a mystery
For almost 50 years, astronomers have puzzled over the youthful appearance of stars known as blue stragglers. Read More
Dental delight! Tooth of sea urchin shows formation of biominerals
Some of the most common minerals in biology, including those in bones and shells, have a mysterious structure: Their crystals are positioned in the same orientation, making them behave as one giant crystal, even though they do not look like a faceted crystal. Read More
Interactive animations give science students a boost
For a generation of students raised and nurtured at the computer keyboard, it seems like a no-brainer that computer-assisted learning would have a prominent role in the college science classroom. Read More
Stage fright is not an issue for Shakhashiri
On Dec. 6, Shakashiri wrapped up the 40th year of his wildly popular Christmas lecture with two packed performances of “Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the Lab of Shakhashiri.” Read More
Project helps seniors put lives on paper
A UW–Madison graduate student leads a workshop that will ultimately help participants at the Madison Senior Center write their own life stories. Read More
Greenhouse gas carbon dioxide ramps up aspen growth
The rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be fueling more than climate change. It could also be making some trees grow like crazy. Read More
UW-Madison graduate wins Marshall Scholarship
A UW–Madison alumna has been named one of 35 Marshall Scholars. Read More
Rocks, crystals, fossils headline sale at Geology Museum
Unique gifts for people fascinated by the beauty of nature will be on sale at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Geology Museum for one day only, Friday, Dec. 4. Read More
Giant collider back in gear, sets record for collision intensity
On Nov. 30, the world's largest scientific instrument, the Large Hadron Collider, set a record when it smashed one stream of protons against another and then accelerated the beams to 1.18 trillion electron volts, exceeding the record held by Fermilab in Illinois since 2001. Read More
NACLO competition introduces students to computational linguistics
The University of Wisconsin–Madison's Department of Computer Sciences will host local high-school and middle-school participants in the 2010 North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) open competition. Read More
Latest Badger Poll results to be released
The results of the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Badger Poll will be released this week. Read More
Exhibit explores state of science at time of Darwin’s book
“Science Circa 1859: On the Eve of Darwin’s Origin of Species,” opening Monday, Nov. 23, in the Department of Special Collections at Memorial Library, explores the state of science before Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking book arrived on the scene 150 years ago. Read More
Like humans, ants use bacteria to make their gardens grow
Leaf-cutter ants, which cultivate fungus for food, have many remarkable qualities. Read More
Sweet corn story begins in UW–Madison lab
This week, scientists are revealing the genetic instructions inside corn, one of the big three cereal crops. Corn, or maize, has one of the most complex sequences of DNA ever analyzed, says University of Wisconsin–Madison genomicist David Schwartz, who was one of more than 100 authors in the article in the journal Science. Read More
After mastodons and mammoths, a transformed landscape
Roughly 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, North America's vast assemblage of large animals - including such iconic creatures as mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses, ground sloths and giant beavers - began their precipitous slide to extinction. Read More
Evolution institute named for pioneering UW–Madison geneticist
A few days before the 150th anniversary of the "Origin of Species," Charles Darwin's epochal book on evolution, plans for a new evolution institute moved closer to final approval at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Read More