Category Science & Technology
New analysis links tree height to climate
What limits the height of trees? Is it the fraction of their photosynthetic energy they devote to productive new leaves? Or is it their ability to hoist water hundreds of feet into the air, supplying the green, solar-powered sugar factories in those leaves?
Climate conundrum: Conflicting indicators on what preceded human-driven warming
When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently requested a figure for its annual report, to show global temperature trends over the last 10,000 years, the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Zhengyu Liu knew that was going to be a problem. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science today, Liu and colleagues describe a consistent global warming trend over the course of the Holocene, our current geological epoch, counter to a study published last year that described a period of global cooling before human influence.
Science in the Northwoods: Trout Lake Station open house
The first of August was a gorgeous day in northern Wisconsin: temperatures were in the mid-70s, the waters of Trout Lake were remarkably calm and clear, and the mosquitoes, for the first time this summer, were nowhere to be found. It was the perfect day for Trout Lake Station's 4th annual open house.
Water’s reaction with metal oxides opens doors for researchers
A multi-institutional team has resolved a long-unanswered question about how two of the world’s most common substances interact. In a paper published recently in the journal Nature Communications, Manos Mavrikakis, professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his collaborators report fundamental discoveries about how water reacts with metal oxides
Fundamental plant chemicals trace back to bacteria
A fundamental chemical pathway that all plants use to create an essential amino acid needed by all animals to make proteins has now been traced to two groups of ancient bacteria. The pathway is also known for making hundreds of chemicals, including a compound that makes wood strong and the pigments that make red wine red.
Mining bacterial blueprints yields novel process for creation of fuel and chemical compounds
A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has identified the genes and enzymes that create a promising compound — the 19 carbon furan-containing fatty acid (19Fu-FA). The compound has a variety of potential uses as a biological alternative for compounds currently derived from fossil fuels.
Research team warns against overlooking Great Lakes’ currents
The history of the Great Lakes is one of people who underestimate their destructive power, often with tragic results. From two massive waves that smashed into Chicago’s harbors in 1954 to a rip current that drowned a young swimmer in Port Washington, Wisconsin, in 2012, Lake Michigan and its neighbors have a track record of catching people off guard with dangerous currents.
Pre-college programs open doors for leadership roles
Whether their connections were social, academic or professional, former participants in UW–Madison's summer residence programs through University Housing say the camps were essential for creating future opportunities.
Tricking plants to see the light may control the most important twitch on Earth
Copious corn growing in tiny backyard plots? Roses blooming in December? Thanks to technology that the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Richard Vierstra has been developing for years, these things may soon be possible. And now, new findings out of the genetics professor’s lab promise to advance that technology even further.
New imaging agent provides better picture of the gut
A multi-institutional team of researchers has developed a new nanoscale agent for imaging the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This safe, noninvasive method for assessing the function and properties of the GI tract in real time could lead to better diagnosis and treatment of gut diseases.
Wisconsin plastics industry has roots in modest, multitalented UW–Madison professor
“The Graduate” is a running joke in the plastics industry. In that 1967 Dustin Hoffman movie, a character famously — and accurately — summarized the future in one word: “Plastics.” The movie may have been influential, but Tom Mohs, founder of the Madison plastics manufacturer Placon, says he owes nothing to it. “I was already buying my second thermoforming machine when the movie came out,” says Mohs. “No, I owe it to Ron Daggett.”
Town meets gown to explore Wisconsin’s Trempealeau mounds
Why did migrants from Cahokia, the large mound city near St. Louis, move to the present-day village of Trempealeau in western Wisconsin to build flat-topped mounds about 1,000 years ago? That question has intrigued Danielle Benden, senior curator in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Anthropology, for more than a decade.
The Wonders of Physics to hold special event Aug. 15
The Wonders of Physics, a long-running science outreach effort at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, will host a special preview of its new presentation, “The Physics of Plasma,” as part of a fundraising event Aug. 15.
UW researchers create safe, resistant material to store waste
Storing industrial waste has never been a pretty job, and it's getting harder.
Olver to lead University Research Park
Aaron Olver, a former secretary of the state Department of Commerce and head of Madison’s economic development division, has been hired as managing director of University Research Park (URP).
Hungry, invasive ‘crazy worm’ makes first appearance in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's newest invasive species has done its best to stay underground, but the voracious, numerous and mysterious Asian crazy worm has emerged for the first time in the state on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Best-ever efficiency points to clean, green gas-diesel engine
The one-cylinder test engine in the basement of a University of Wisconsin–Madison lab is connected to a life-support system of pipes, tubes, ducts and cables. You might think that the engine resembles a patient in intensive care, but in this case, the patient is not sick. Instead, the elaborate monitoring system shows that the engine can convert 59.5 percent of the chemical energy in its fuel into motion — significantly better than the 52 percent maximum in modern diesel truck engines.
Wisconsin scientists find genetic recipe to turn stem cells to blood
The ability to reliably and safely make in the laboratory all of the different types of cells in human blood is one key step closer to reality. Writing today (July 14, 2014) in the journal Nature Communications, a group led by University of Wisconsin–Madison stem cell researcher Igor Slukvin reports the discovery of two genetic programs responsible for taking blank-slate stem cells and turning them into both red and the array of white cells that make up human blood.
Madison-based SWAMP, Secure Decisions partner to enhance software security
Secure Decisions, a leading provider of assessment tools to enhance software security, is partnering with the Software Assurance Marketplace (SWAMP) to build a powerful and publicly accessible resource to improve the software that drives everyday life.
Aviation offers a way forward in biofuels research
Biofuels researchers are increasingly thinking about how the energy market is changing, which challenges them to balance the basic science of new fuels with a more holistic view of the most commercially viable ways to produce them. So when a group of University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers began looking at how to make jet fuel from biomass, they also strived to create a "techno-economic" framework that would illuminate the entire biofuels field.