Category Science & Technology

Madison Community Foundation funds K-12 science programs at Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

July 12, 2012

During the next year, kids and their families will be able to enjoy six new ways to experience hands-on science at the Town Center of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

Down on the cacao farm: Sloths thrive at chocolate source

July 11, 2012

Like many Neotropical fauna, sloths are running out of room to maneuver.

$3 million grant to train new scientists to collaborate on conservation challenges

July 5, 2012

A new type of forest is taking root in Puerto Rico's abandoned sugar cane fields. The new stands are full of invasive trees, but they harbor large numbers of endangered native bird species. From the perspective of conservation science, are these forest parcels good or bad? And how should they be managed?

UW scientists play key role in discovery of a new particle consistent with Higgs boson

July 4, 2012

Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), aided by scientists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, have narrowed the search for the elusive Higgs boson, discovering a new particle with a mass in the region of 125 GeV.

Social media helps doctoral candidate reach out on research

July 3, 2012

For researchers, describing complex science to folks outside their discipline can be a tricky or even unpleasant experience.

Four UW–Madison students attending prestigious Nobel conference

July 2, 2012

Four UW–Madison students will meet with more than 30 Nobel laureates and 580 young researchers from around the world July 1-6 at the 62nd annual…

Designing microbes that make energy-dense biofuels without sugar

June 27, 2012

With metabolically engineered microorganisms hungry for levulinic acid, rather than sugar, a University of Wisconsin–Madison chemical and biological engineer aims to create more sustainable, cost-effective processes for converting biomass into high-energy-density hydrocarbon fuels.

Mission deliscious: A look at Babcock Hall ice cream

June 26, 2012

What makes Babcock ice cream so good to eat—and so good for science, students and industry?

Greenland ice may exaggerate magnitude of 13,000-year-old deep freeze

June 25, 2012

Ice samples pulled from nearly a mile below the surface of Greenland glaciers have long served as a historical thermometer, adding temperature data to studies of the local conditions up to the Northern Hemisphere’s climate. But the method — comparing the ratio of oxygen isotopes buried as snow fell over millennia — may not be such a straightforward indicator of air temperature.

Blood-brain barrier building blocks forged from human stem cells

June 25, 2012

The blood-brain barrier -- the filter that governs what can and cannot come into contact with the mammalian brain -- is a marvel of nature. It effectively separates circulating blood from the fluid that bathes the brain, and it keeps out bacteria, viruses and other agents that could damage it.

National network innovation program builds on UW–Madison success

June 14, 2012

Suman Banerjee's work finds plenty of happy users every day, but it's not every day the University of Wisconsin–Madison computer sciences professor helps inspire a national program supporting technical innovation.

Fragile X gene’s prevalence suggests broader health risk

June 14, 2012

The first U.S. population prevalence study of mutations in the gene that causes fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability, suggests the mutation in the gene - and its associated health risks - may be more common than previously believed.

Learn about science in Spanish at Explorando las Ciencias

June 13, 2012

Explorando las Ciencias, a popular Spanish-language science outreach event, will take place from 2 to 10 p.m. on Friday, June 22, at Warner Park in the Community Recreation Center and shelter at Warner Park, 1625 Northport Drive, and with the help of “Amigos en Azul,” a Madison police organization aimed at building partnerships in the city’s Hispanic community.

Probe seeking life on Saturn’s moon earns student team a spot at international space conference

June 13, 2012

Somewhere beneath as much as 30 miles of ice on the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, extraterrestrial life could be waiting to be discovered under a subglacial ocean. And a team of University of Wisconsin–Madison engineering mechanics and astronautics students want to be the people who find it. For their senior design course, Alex Gonring, Capri Pearson, Samantha Robinson, Jake Rohrig and Tyler Van Fossen designed a mission that would take a probe from Earth to deep below Enceladus’ icy surface, where an array of science instruments would look for carbon-based life.

Category Science & Technology

Madison Community Foundation funds K-12 science programs at Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

Down on the cacao farm: Sloths thrive at chocolate source

$3 million grant to train new scientists to collaborate on conservation challenges

UW scientists play key role in discovery of a new particle consistent with Higgs boson

Social media helps doctoral candidate reach out on research

Four UW–Madison students attending prestigious Nobel conference

Designing microbes that make energy-dense biofuels without sugar

Mission deliscious: A look at Babcock Hall ice cream

Greenland ice may exaggerate magnitude of 13,000-year-old deep freeze

Blood-brain barrier building blocks forged from human stem cells

National network innovation program builds on UW–Madison success

Fragile X gene’s prevalence suggests broader health risk

Learn about science in Spanish at Explorando las Ciencias

Probe seeking life on Saturn’s moon earns student team a spot at international space conference

“Science is Fun Summer Extravaganza” scheduled with noted science educator

Red-tailed hawks go from egg to flight

Stress may delay brain development in early years

Wisconsin team reveals way to treat drug-resistant brain tumor cells

Morgridge Institute presents panel on H5N1 influenza research

New stem cell technique promises abundance of key heart cells