Tag Research
To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs
Aiming to thwart persistent bacterial infections and better control group behaviors of certain microorganisms, scientists are creating artificial chemicals that infiltrate and sabotage bacterial "mobs."
Project builds in weather data to predict road safety
David Noyce hopes to help drivers predict the future - by warning them of weather-related driving conditions ahead.
Study: Post-9/11 news drove liberals toward a harder line
Liberals who gleaned most of their news from television in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks increased their support for expanded police powers, bringing them closer in line with the opinions of conservatives, a study by a UW–Madison researcher shows.
Small molecule may help pinpoint some cancers
Writing in the March 8 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, groups led by Medical School Professor James Dahlberg and his collaborator Wayne Tam, at the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, report that elevated cellular levels of a particular microRNA, known as miR-155, may be diagnostic of some human cancers, notably lymphomas.
Book Smart
The Complete Idiots’ Guide to Simple Home Improvement (Penguin-Putnam, 2005) David Tenenbaum, staff writer, The Why Files science education Web…
Study finds two brain systems regulate how people call for help
The willingness to call out in distress to get help from others appears to be regulated by two brain systems with very different responsibilities, according to a study by researchers at UW–Madison.
No-stick cholesterol test offered
Findings by researchers at the Medical School support the validity of a new, non-invasive skin cholesterol test to help identify patients at increased risk for heart disease.
Study: Eye contact triggers threat signals in autistic children’s brains
Brain tests at UW–Madison suggest that autistic children shy from eye contact because they perceive even the most familiar face as an uncomfortable threat. The work deepens understanding of an autistic brain's function and may one day inform new treatment approaches and augment how teachers interact with their autistic students.
Fermilab experiment to beam neutrinos through Dairyland
In an effort to pin down the elusive nature and qualities of one of nature's most intriguing subatomic particles - the neutrino - scientists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, in Illinois will soon send a beam of the ghostlike particles coursing through subterranean Wisconsin to a detector deep in a mine in northern Minnesota.
Book Smart
"Parameter Estimation and Inverse Problems," Cliff Thurber, professor of geology and geophysics (Elsevier/Academic Press, 2005)
Climate change to bring a wave of new health risks
Climate change will not only bring about a warmer world, it is also very likely to set the stage for an unhealthier one.
The stuff of dreams
How does one visualize thought? Well, by pressing the open tip of an electrolyte-filled glass pipette much thinner than a human hair against the membrane of an individual brain cell, researchers can isolate a patch and identify the current flowing through individual ion channels on a cell's membrane.
Scientists rid stem cell culture of key animal cells
Tackling a pressing and controversial technical barrier in stem cell biology, scientists at the WiCell Research Institute and UW–Madison have crafted a recipe that allows researchers to grow human embryonic stem cells in the absence of mouse-derived "feeder" cells, long thought to be a source of potential contamination for the therapeutically promising cells.
First critical parts of giant neutrino telescope in place
Working under harsh Antarctic conditions, an international team of scientists, engineers and technicians has set in place the first critical elements of a massive neutrino telescope at the South Pole.
Book Smart
"Parameter Estimation and Inverse Problems," Cliff Thurber, professor of geology and geophysics (Elsevier/Academic Press, 2005)
Team receives $1.25 million grant for stem cell research
A multidisciplinary team led by James Thomson has received a $1.25 million grant for stem cell research from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles.
Scientists find portal to how animals evolve
New work by the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute adds to the accumulating understanding of how evolution works at the most fundamental level.
Scientists grow critical nerve cells
After years of trial and error, scientists have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to become spinal motor neurons, critical nervous system pathways that relay messages from the brain to the rest of the body.
Scientific heart of giant telescope comes together
In the spring of 2005, when the new Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) trains its huge eye on the southern sky for the first time, the starlight it gathers will be parsed and analyzed by an instrument more befitting a space-based telescope than a ground-based monster.
Lambs at rest hint at origin of growth spurts, pains
It has been evident to parents since time immemorial: Children, during their active growth years, gain stature in spurts, often overnight.