Category Science & Technology

West Nile’s ‘super spreader:’ How about the American robin?

August 23, 2012

The 2012 outbreak of West Nile virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, promises to be the largest since the disease was first detected in the United States 13 years ago.

Morgridge Institute’s Velten named a top young innovator

August 22, 2012

Andreas Velten, an associate scientist with the Morgridge Institute for Research, has been recognized by MIT’s Technology Review as a TR35 honoree for 2012.

Compounds shown to thwart stubborn pathogen’s social propensity

August 21, 2012

Acinetobacter baumanni, a pathogenic bacterium that is a poster child of deadly hospital acquired infections, is one tough customer.

Industrial and systems engineering professor Ben-Tzion “Bentzi” Karsh dies

August 21, 2012

Ben-Tzion “Bentzi” Karsh, a professor of industrial and systems engineering who also earned three degrees from UW–Madison, died Aug. 18 after an 18-month battle with cancer.

Engineering moving classroom into digital age

August 16, 2012

The Internet has profoundly affected the lives of those born into an information-saturated world, the “digital natives.” It has shaped nearly all of their expectations of the world, including what they expect from an institution of higher learning.

Sunflowers inspire more efficient solar power system

August 15, 2012

A field of young sunflowers will slowly rotate from east to west during the course of a sunny day, each leaf seeking out as much sunlight as possible as the sun moves across the sky through an adaptation called heliotropism.

Research shows how computation can predict group conflict

August 13, 2012

When conflict breaks out in social groups, individuals make strategic decisions about how to behave based on their understanding of alliances and feuds in the group.

AhR Pharma and WARF sign exclusive license for cancer-fighting hormone

August 13, 2012

AhR Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) have signed an exclusive license agreement for ITE, a natural hormone discovered by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers with properties helpful in treating cancer, obesity and immune system disorders.

Wisconsin Science Festival seeks partners to expand celebration statewide Sept. 27-30

August 10, 2012

After a rousing debut last fall in Madison, the Wisconsin Science Festival is encouraging supporters of learning and science from around the state to help expand the festival during its second year by staging local events this Sept. 27-30.

Million-dollar Keck Foundation grant funds UW–Madison genome research

August 8, 2012

An interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has received a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to fund research into creating synthetic genome "foundries."

Forget blizzards and hurricanes, heat waves are deadliest

August 1, 2012

In the pantheon of deadly weather events, heat waves rule.

High-tech silver dressings ward off infection in wounds

July 31, 2012

Applied onto the business end of artificial skin, nanofilms that release antibacterial silver over time can eradicate bacteria in full-thickness skin wounds in mice.

Collaborative computing, pioneered at UW–Madison, helped drive LHC analysis

July 31, 2012

When scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe announced the appearance of a new particle among the pieces of smashed protons, Miron Livny saw a huge scientific success.

Mathematical ecologist wins prestigious award

July 30, 2012

University of Wisconsin–Madison ecologist Anthony Ives is being recognized with the prestigious Robert H. MacArthur Award from the Ecological Society of America (ESA).

Science and law connect in campus collaboration

July 25, 2012

Have you ever wondered how scientists decide which problems to work on or what inventions to develop?

Oral drops for dog allergies pass another hurdle

July 24, 2012

A study reported today at the World Congress of Veterinary Dermatology in Vancouver, British Columbia, shows that placing allergy drops under a dog's tongue can be as effective as allergy injections for controlling skin allergies.

Printed photonic crystal mirrors shrink on-chip lasers down to size

July 22, 2012

Electrical engineers at The University of Texas at Arlington and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have devised a new laser for on-chip optical connections that could give computers a huge boost in speed and energy efficiency.

Lake algae: What you don’t see can really hurt you

July 17, 2012

The strikingly blue algae that afflicted the Madison lakes last week hardly needs a danger sign to warn of its toxicity.

Northern Wisconsin high schoolers learn with stem cells, UW researchers

July 17, 2012

Eighteen top science students from northern Wisconsin high schools have earned the opportunity to hone their laboratory skills and work alongside leading researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison at a summer science camp focused on stem cells.

A Hubble Space Telescope original returns to Wisconsin

July 17, 2012

After a journey of some 535 million space miles, give or take, and years languishing in a cavernous government warehouse, one of the original scientific instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope has splashed down in Wisconsin.