Tag Research
As Amazon’s tree line recedes, malaria-wielding mosquitoes buzz in
Scientists have long known that chronic deforestation can spawn a jungle of environmental woes. But now, a study confirms that vanishing forests inflict more than environmental damage: they may cause human diseases, too. Read More
Wisconsin scientists grow two new stem cell lines in animal cell-free culture
Scientists working at the WiCell Research Institute, a private laboratory affiliated with UW–Madison, have developed a precisely defined stem cell culture system free of animal cells and used it to derived two new human embryonic stem cell lines. Read More
Advance points way to noninvasive brain cancer treatment
With an equal rate of incidence and mortality-the number of those who get the disease and those who die from it-Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is a brain cancer death sentence. Scientists at UW–Madison are working on a new radiotherapy technique for fighting GBM with the element gadolinium — an approach that might lead to less invasive treatments that offer greater quality of life for patients. Read More
Research strides kept UW–Madison in national spotlight in 2005
The university community gets reminded - and reminded again - of how difficult and challenging 2005 was on many fronts. But the year also delivered some tremendous gains where it matters most and is recognized the least - in the classrooms and laboratories. Read More
Cooperatives providing an economic lifeline
Come January, UW–Madison Professor Ann Hoyt will once more head to the nation of Ghana in Sub-Saharan Africa, to continue her work of documenting consumer cooperatives around the globe. Read More
Radiation studies key to nuclear reactor life, recycling spent fuel
Two UW–Madison projects to study advanced materials and fuels for current and future nuclear reactors received roughly $1 million this month under the Department of Energy Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI). Read More
New study shows animal family tree looking bushy in places
A team of UW–Madison scientists suggests that a branch-by-branch account of animal relationships over a vast expanse of time is difficult to reconstruct because early animal evolution occurred in bunches. Read More
Illuminating Alzheimer’s: Research sheds light on creatine’s presence in brain
A team of Canadian and American scientists working at the UW–Madison Synchrotron Radiation Center reports the first-ever finding of elevated levels of creatine — the newly discovered agent of Alzheimer's disease - in brain tissue. Read More
Transplanted stem cells show promise for mending broken hearts
Working with heart attack-stricken mice, a team of UW–Madison scientists has shown that embryonic stem cells may one day live up to their clinical promise. Read More
Engineered stem cells show promise for sneaking drugs into the brain
One of the great challenges for treating Parkinson's diseases and other neurodegenerative disorders is getting medicine to the right place in the brain. UW–Madison neuroscientist Clive Svendsen and his colleagues show how engineered human brain cells, transplanted into the brains of rats and monkeys, can integrate into the brain and deliver medicine where it is needed. Read More
UW scientists team up to battle food-borne illnesses
On its journey to your dinner plate, food is vulnerable to contamination along the way. Usually, it arrives at its final destination without picking up dangerous microbial hitchhikers—but not always. Read More
New technologies target food-borne illnesses
On its journey to your dinner plate, food is vulnerable to contamination along the way. In 2000, UW–Madison made a commitment to help tackle this complex problem by hiring an interdisciplinary group of researchers with expertise in food safety. Read More
Study suggests treatment for fatal nervous system disorder
Working with mice, University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have developed the basis for a therapeutic strategy that could provide hope for children afflicted with Krabbe's disease, a fatal nervous system disorder. Read More
Dancing bacteria? Engineers explore microbial choreography
Birds fly together in flocks. Fish swim together in schools. Everyone has seen the beautiful, seemingly choreographed motions these collections of organisms can exhibit. But surely bacteria, which have no eyes or brain, cannot behave in such a coordinated way. In fact, they do, and researchers are beginning to learn how. Read More
Tracking a case study for avian flu preparedness
As public health experts discuss how best to prevent an avian flu epidemic in the United States, La Follette School of Public Affairs assistant professor Donald P. Moynihan says a recent avian disease outreak offers important clues. Read More
Hummingbirds get some energy the easy way: passively
When it comes to energy metabolism, hummingbirds are the heavyweight champions of vertebrates. Pound for pound, the thumb-sized birds have higher energy demands than elephants. Read More
Study: Job satisfaction varies between independent and organization-hired doctors
Wisconsin family physicians employed by large health care organizations are less happy on the job and more likely to want to leave than those in independent practice, according to a study published in the Dec. 6, 2005 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine. Read More
New maps reveal the human footprint on Earth
As global populations swell, farmers are cultivating more and more land in a desperate bid to keep pace with the ever-intensifying needs of humans. As a result, agricultural activity now dominates more than a third of the Earth's landscape and has emerged as one of the central forces of global environmental change, say scientists at the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. Read More
Scientists seek clear-sky definition of clouds
Atmospheric scientists - Earth's professional cloud-gazers - have learned a great deal about clouds over the decades, particularly with the advent of satellites during the 1960s and 70s. But despite years of research and the emergence of increasingly sophisticated tools, scientists are still at odds over one of the most basic issues of all: how to define a cloud. Read More
The cold truth about climate change and snow
What would the Earth be like if one fine day all the snow melted away? For one, global temperatures would likely spike by about eight-tenths of a degree Celsius — an increase that represents as much as a third of the warming that climate change experts have predicted. Read More