Category Science & Technology

Poll shows Wisconsin residents support wetlands protection

December 2, 2008

Wisconsin residents are concerned about the destruction of the state's remaining wetlands but don't know much about the wetland types that are most threatened, according to a recent statewide poll.

Glass Lab to host open house

December 1, 2008

The UW–Madison Glass Lab will host an open house with glass-blowing demonstrations and a student glass sale Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 6-7.

Organization helps save lives through organ donation

November 28, 2008

The slogan "Got your dot?" has quickly worked to raise the rates at which Wisconsinites place an orange donor dot on their driver's license and say "yes" to donation.

Fast molecular rearrangements hold key to plastic’s toughness

November 27, 2008

Plastics are everywhere in our modern world, largely due to properties that render the materials tough and durable, but lightweight and easily workable. One of their most useful qualities, however - the ability to bend rather than break when put under stress - is also one of the most puzzling.

UW tackles neglected realm of training for science professors in training

November 27, 2008

U.S. science and engineering students emerge from graduate school exquisitely trained to carry out research. Yet when it comes to the other major activity they'll engage in as professors — teaching — they're usually left to their own devices. That's now beginning to change, thanks to work at UW–Madison.

Curiosities: What food was served at the original Thanksgiving celebration?

November 26, 2008

Plucked from his own time in the autumn of 1621 and deposited at a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner today, a Plymouth, Mass. Pilgrim would have gawked…

Kramer honored for research in end-of-life care

November 20, 2008

Research done by University of Wisconsin–Madison social work professor Betty Kramer on end-of-life care has won her the Distinguished Researcher Award from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

Curiosities: How do birds migrate?

November 20, 2008

The essential skills of bird migration are orientation — knowing north from south, and east from west — and navigation, having some sort of “map”…

Survey will help officials understand, control Lyme disease

November 19, 2008

This Saturday, as hunters seek white-tailed deer in Wisconsin's forested areas, a research team led by University of Wisconsin–Madison entomologist Susan Paskewitz will be conducting a hunt of its own.

Wiscontrepreneur scholarship winner profiles

November 19, 2008

Brian Benford is a social work major with a strong commitment to social entrepreneurship. Originally from Milwaukee, Brian has served as Program Director at the…

Students rewarded for entrepreneurial instincts

November 19, 2008

What do a youth sport officiating agency, a club dedicated to microfinance, a student-run bus company, a Chinese economic forum, and a Silver eBay PowerSeller business have to do with entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison?

Physical Sciences Lab is a one-stop shop

November 19, 2008

As full-time caretaker for Wisc-SIMS, one of the geology department’s most intricate scientific instruments, Jim Kern is no stranger to trouble-shooting problems and making repairs. Still, when the machine, called an ion microprobe, sprang a leak in its detector this summer, the technician soon realized he’d need help from the instrument’s French manufacturer to fix it.

PET scans may help in leukemia care

November 19, 2008

Is the chemotherapy working? Is the radiation therapy shrinking the tumor? The sooner doctors know the answers to those questions, the better they can tailor cancer treatment. Now a UW–Madison research team is finding that non-invasive PET scans may provide the answers early during treatment — in contrast to the current long wait needed to determine clinical outcome.

‘Once Upon a Christmas Cheery’ to be broadcast in December

November 19, 2008

All tickets for the 39th annual “Once Upon a Christmas Cheery in the Lab of Shakhashiri” have been distributed, but the program will be broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television.

Climate solutions worth $50,000 in prizes for students

November 19, 2008

Organizers of a new Climate Leadership Challenge at UW–Madison are seeking the best and brightest ideas from the student body to promote an environmentally sustainable future. They hope the contest will unleash a burst of youthful brainstorming and entrepreneurship across campus.

UW-Madison students bring geography awareness to local schools

November 17, 2008

In celebration of Geography Awareness Week (through Nov. 22), geography and education students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have teamed up to teach geography lessons to K-5 classes in the Madison area.

Certificate program to enhance engineers’ liberal arts education

November 13, 2008

Next fall, a few UW–Madison professors hope to show engineering students that they have a bigger place in the non-engineering parts of campus.

Stealth drug idea snags Gates Foundation support

November 12, 2008

A proposal to create a stealth drug, one that remains cloaked inside a cell until activated by a pathogen, has snared a high-profile $100,000 award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

A decade celebrating stem cells: Changing the face of medicine

November 12, 2008

The Wisconsin Academy, along with the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), will host a free, two-day event on Nov. 18-19 to highlight the accomplishments of stem cell research in the state and to examine future stem cell issues.

Ancient mounds make UW–Madison a unique landscape

November 10, 2008

The UW–Madison campus includes 38 effigy and burial mounds in six groupings.