Tag Research
Wisconsin cautious about Obama health care plan; Milwaukee poised for reform
More Wisconsinites oppose President Barack Obama's health care plan than support it, according to a new poll that also shows a majority of Milwaukee County residents favor a mayoral takeover of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Read More
Poll covers economy, state’s direction, 2010 election
Tom Barrett and Scott Walker have the early edge in hypothetical primary matchups in the 2010 governor's race, according to a new poll in which Wisconsinites also give high levels of support to President Barack Obama but express concern about the direction of state government. Read More
Federal grants power research on computer games and learning
A research team at the University of Wisconsin–Madison recently won $4.5 million in federal grants to study computer games and learning. Read More
Was mighty T. rex ‘Sue’ felled by a lowly parasite?
A new study, published today (Sept. 29) in the online journal Public Library of Science One, provides evidence that ‘Sue,’ the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex whose fossilized remains are a star attraction of the Field Museum in Chicago, was felled by a lowly parasite that still afflicts modern birds. Read More
New Wisconsin Center of Excellence in Genomics Science established
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health today (Sept. 28) announced an $8 million, three-year grant to establish a Wisconsin Center of Excellence in Genomics Science. Read More
Capturing tomorrow’s satellite data with today’s instruments
A satellite that won't be launched into orbit until 2015 is already paying dividends for an advanced weather research project. Read More
Smaller isn’t always better: Catalyst simulations could lower fuel cell cost
Imagine a car that runs on hydrogen from solar power and produces water instead of carbon emissions. While vehicles like this won't be on the market anytime soon, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers are making incremental but important strides in the fuel cell technology that could make clean cars a reality. Read More
UW-Madison undergraduates make unwelcome discovery in Lake Mendota
On Sept. 11, a standard cruise on Lake Mendota's University Bay began for students in University of Wisconsin–Madison's Zoology 315, a course that introduces them to the study of lakes. With the sampling craft Limnos anchored about one-quarter mile offshore on a clear sunny day, four students pulled up a small net and began poking through its contents. Read More
UW-Madison entomologist helps farmers deal with tricky crop pest
Historically, crop rotation has worked to keep the western corn rootworm in check in Wisconsin. Read More
Study reveals dynamic Wisconsin climate, past and future
If the future scenarios being churned out by the world's most sophisticated computer climate models are on the mark, big changes are in store for Wisconsin's weather during the next century. Read More
Research aims to cool runoff to protect coldwater streams
The ocean of stormwater that flows off of the sun-baked urban landscape is packing heat, and trout are starting to feel it. Read More
Potato blight reveals some secrets as genome is decoded
Late blight caused the 19th century famine that sparked a wave of emigration from Ireland to the United States, but the disease has also infected tomatoes and potatoes this year. Potatoes, the world's fourth-largest food crop, were raised on 65,500 acres in Wisconsin in 2007. If a potato field is not treated with pesticide, late blight can destroy the crop in a few days. Read More
Science and media disconnect? Maybe not, says a new study
The prevailing wisdom among many scientists and scientific organizations is that, as a rule, scientists are press shy, and those who aren't are mavericks. Read More
Late blight won’t affect availability or quality of Wisconsin’s potato crop
News about late blight has raised concerns among retailers, processors and other users about the availability and quality of stored potatoes in Wisconsin this winter, reports A.J. Bussan, University of Wisconsin–Madison extension vegetable specialist. But Bussan doesn't think that either quality or quantity will be a problem. Read More
Monkeys get a groove on, but only to monkey music
Music is one of the surest ways to influence human emotions; most people unconsciously recognize and respond to music that is happy, sad, fearful or mellow. But psychologists who have tried to trace the evolutionary roots of these responses usually hit a dead end. Nonhuman primates scarcely respond to human music, and instead prefer silence. Read More
UW-Madison’s ‘good ideas’ get lift from stimulus funds
The university has drawn more than $38 million in funding for more than 120 research projects and programs from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The work is spread across the range of academic disciplines, including public health, computer science, psychology, economics and engineering. Funding comes from agencies such as NSF, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy and the National Endowment for the Arts. Read More
Snaring bigger bugs gave flytraps evolutionary edge
Carnivorous plants defy our expectations of how plants should behave, with Venus flytraps employing nerve-like reflexes and powerful digestive enzymes to capture and consume fresh meat. The evolutionary history of these botanical oddities is now a bit clearer, thanks to new work. Read More
Wisconsin team grows retina cells from skin-derived stem cells
A team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health has successfully grown multiple types of retina cells from two types of stem cells - suggesting a future in which damaged retinas could be repaired by cells grown from the patient's own skin. Read More
A new ‘bent’ on fusion
Success in cellular fusion - as occurs at the moment of conception and when nerve cells exchange neurotransmitters - requires that a membrane be bent before the merging process can begin, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have shown. Read More
New approach to wound healing may be easy on skin, but hard on bacteria
In a presentation today (Aug. 19) to the American Chemical Society meeting, Ankit Agarwal, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, described an experimental approach to wound healing that could take advantage of silver's anti-bacterial properties, while sidestepping the damage silver can cause to cells needed for healing. Read More