Category Science & Technology
WARF announces annual grant figures and Innovation Award winners
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has invested $61.9 million in UW–Madison research for the 2017-18 academic year, and provided $19 million in grants to the Morgridge Institute for Research.
UW-Madison launches data science initiative
“The pace of change in the data science field is extremely rapid, and we think the data science initiative is one very good way to keep UW–Madison research on pace with those changes,” says Associate Vice Chancellor Steve Ackerman.
Fish respond to predator attack by doubling growth rate
“In water, the surviving perch grow twice as fast, because they are smelling something that signals the presence of predators,” says researcher Terence Barry.
New technique could slash energy use in making silicon
A chemistry professor has come up with a more sustainable way to make silicon at much lower temperatures for the kind of advanced batteries used in electronics such as phones, cameras and laptop computers.
UW researchers discover an evolutionary stepping stone to beet-red beets
The new findings can aid beet breeding programs and provide tools and information for scientists studying how to turn tyrosine into its many useful derivatives, which include morphine and vitamin E.
Renowned biochemical engineer Edwin N. Lightfoot passes away
Edwin Lightfoot, Hilldale Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, passed away Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, at age 92.
UW awarded $12.5 million to study astrophysical plasma here on Earth
The new Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory, or WiPPL, will research fundamental properties of plasma in order to better understand our universe, where the hot gas is abundant.
Major NSF-sponsored materials research collaboration receives $15.6M grant
The grant provides six years of funding for the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, where researchers investigate fundamental, large-scale and complex questions in materials science.
UW System researchers played role in Nobel-winning gravitational wave discovery
Today’s announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded to researchers Rainer Weiss of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Kip Thorne and Barry Barish of the California Institute of Technology, bears University of Wisconsin System connections.
UW wins $7 million grant to wean crops from nitrogen fertilizers
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Florida will use a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study how some plants partner with bacteria to create usable nitrogen and to transfer this ability to the bioenergy crop poplar.
From moon rocks to flash talks, explore 100+ Wisconsin Science Festival events
Now in its seventh year, the festival continues to engage communities in the enterprise of science and discovery and aims to communicate the power of knowledge and creativity, promote innovation and cultivate the next generation of global citizens.
Office of Naval Research awards UW–Madison $6.1 million for computer security research
The result of the project will be better performance, easier management of software, and — perhaps most importantly — enhanced security.
Marmoset babies get a boost from attentive fathers
A researcher expects better human dads have similar good effects on their kids, and she wonders whether — for both the marmoset and the people — good fathers produce offspring who grow up to make good parents.
Having cows put proteins into milk, not waste, is researcher’s goal
“On average, only about a quarter of the crude protein in a dairy ration goes to milk,” says Professor Sebastian I Arriola Apelo.
Team builds flexible new platform for high-performance electronics
An advance by UW–Madison engineers could enable manufacturers to add “smart,” wireless capabilities to any number of large or small products or objects — like wearable sensors and computers for people and animals — that curve, bend, stretch and move.
Undergraduates pursue dream projects with WISCIENCE Summer Research Scholarship
The 34 students were excited to find research projects directly related to their field of study, and also to do good for the world.
Wisconsin Undergraduate Journal Association brings together on-campus publications that showcase student scholarship
Its publishers are big believers in the power of sharing knowledge through the printed word. WUJA encourages students to consider submitting class papers they are especially proud of to a journal.
WRI Researchers track groundwater usage by trees in key Wisconsin regions
UW-Madison researchers are trying to address the question of how much groundwater is being used by trees — and how the changing levels of available groundwater may be affecting the trees’ growth over time.
The Atlantic’s Ed Yong visits UW as fall science writer in residence
You might think having his first book land on Mark Zuckerberg’s bedside table would be recognition enough for a career science writer, but impressing Facebook’s founder is just one of his many accomplishments.
UW lab in Stoughton has equipped complex scientific projects for 50 years
“Without PSL, I would be a lonely theorist writing papers,” says Francis Halzen, UW–Madison physics professor and longtime principal investigator for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole.