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Mother-of-pearl’s genesis identified in mineral’s transformation

October 20, 2015

How nature makes its biominerals - things like teeth, bone and seashells - is a playbook scientists have long been trying to read. Read More

Study questions dates for cataclysms on early moon, Earth

October 16, 2015

Phenomenally durable crystals called zircons are used to date some of the earliest and most dramatic cataclysms of the solar system. One is the super-duty collision that ejected material from Earth to form the moon roughly 50 million years after Earth formed. Another is the late heavy bombardment, a wave of impacts that may have created hellish surface conditions on the young Earth, about 4 billion years ago. Read More

WARF Innovation Award winners take on colon cancer detection, tomorrow’s plastic

October 13, 2015

A blood test that could save lives and a sun-powered scheme to turn biomass into valuable compounds have won Innovation Awards from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Read More

Boundless Together, Part 2

October 7, 2015

A new commercial for UW–Madison will premiere this weekend during the Badger football game. Learn more about the people and projects highlighted in the spot. Read More

Embrace the chaos: Predictable ecosystems may be more fragile

October 6, 2015

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says managing our environment for predictable outcomes is risky. In fact, more often than not, it backfires. Read More

WARF draws top inventors, entrepreneurs for fall discussion series

October 6, 2015

To cap its 90th anniversary celebration, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is hosting a four-part discussion series exploring the cycle of innovation. Read More

Ancestors of land plants were wired to make the leap to shore

October 5, 2015

When the algal ancestor of modern land plants made the transition from aquatic environments to an inhospitable shore 450 million years ago, it changed the world by dramatically altering climate and setting the stage for the vast array of terrestrial life. Read More

Nobel Recipient Campbell Earned Master’s, Doctorate at UW–Madison

October 5, 2015

William C. Campbell, a master's and doctoral graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, was awarded a share of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, it was announced today. Read More

‘Garage Physics’ is a makerspace for undergraduate brainstorms

September 25, 2015

To physics professor Duncan Carlsmith, a student's proposal to make a four-rotor helicopter drone was fine fodder for what he calls "garage physics." But why stop at a quadcopter, he told the University of Wisconsin–Madison undergraduate. Make one that is mind-controlled, so a person with severe movement impairment could think: "Go open the fridge and show me what's inside," and that would actually happen. Read More

Designed defects in liquid crystals can guide construction of nanomaterials

September 24, 2015

Imperfections running through liquid crystals can be used as miniscule tubing, channeling molecules into specific positions to form new materials and nanoscale structures, according to engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The discovery could have applications in fields as diverse as electronics and medicine. Read More

Software piggybacks on electronic medical records, saves clinician time

September 24, 2015

Many people assume that electronic medical records would simplify doctoring, helping medical staff retrieve symptoms, diagnoses and prescriptions at computer speed. But Jonathan Baran, a Madison entrepreneur who began developing medical automation software while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says providers often don't see the promised efficiencies. Read More

UW-Madison to legislators: Don’t ban important fetal tissue research

September 24, 2015

Proposed legislation in Wisconsin will have a devastating impact on the ability of researchers to create lifesaving treatments for patients, Robert Golden, dean of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, told members of a Wisconsin Senate committee in a public hearing Tuesday, Sept. 22. Read More

Heavy-duty neutron accelerators paint promising future for UW–Madison spinoff

September 23, 2015

A Madison manufacturer of the world's most powerful commercial neutron generators is awaiting final regulatory approval for its first sale outside the research market. The device will be used to calibrate safety detectors at nuclear reactors in the United Kingdom. Read More

WARF board speaks out on proposed fetal tissue ban

September 22, 2015

The Board of Trustees of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) today announced unanimous opposition to a state legislative proposal to ban the use of fetal tissue in scientific research. Read More

Stem cell-derived ‘organoids’ help predict neural toxicity

September 21, 2015

A new system developed by scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research and the University of Wisconsin–Madison may provide a faster, cheaper and more biologically relevant way to screen drugs and chemicals that could harm the developing brain. Read More

Souped-up software reduces guesswork, tedium in computer-aided engineering

September 16, 2015

A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers recently released a new computer-aided engineering software program, and its users are already calling it a "gift from heaven." Read More

Weather-tech jobs remain in Madison even after company is sold

September 14, 2015

His demo tape as a TV weatherman was adjudged "pretty awful," yet it got University of Wisconsin–Madison grad Terry Kelly started "doing the weather" on WKOW Channel 27 in Madison in 1974. To improve on the paper drawings he was using to show storms and fronts, Kelly started Weather Central and built it into America's premier computer weather graphics and weather modeling business. Read More