UW In The News

James Thomson, renowned UW scientist who brought the world human embryonic stem cells, to retire in July

James Thomson, the University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist who first isolated and grew human embryonic stem cells, inspiring a generation of researchers, and igniting a furious ethical debate that he would later help resolve, will be retiring in July after more than 30 years with the school.

Return to pre-pandemic normalcy not yet on the horizon for many immunocompromised Americans

“I see the devastating effects of this viral infection every day as it leads to death and disability of my patients who were previously leading healthy, active lives,” Dr. Jeannina Smith, medical director of the transplant and immunocompromised host service at the University of Wisconsin, told ABC News. “Omicron was not mild for our patients.”

From Birds on Venus to Swimming Robots, NASA Unveils Mind-Blowing Projects

Elena D’Onghia and her University of Wisconsin, Madison, team’s project focuses on protecting astronauts from harmful cosmic rays and solar radiation. Just as Earth’s magnetic field does that for life on our planet, this project, CREW HaT, involves magnetic coils that can be carried by a crew producing an external magnetic field to divert harmful charged particles.

What Impact Do Video Games Have on Strategic Military Advantages?

“Anyone who is in a position where they would benefit from greater than normal cognitive control, top-down attention, peripheral visual processing would benefit from playing action games, which are primarily first- and third-person shooter games,” Dr. C Shawn Green, a professor of psychology at University of Wisconsin-Madison wrote in the article. “That’s obviously a huge set of individuals, from those involved in combat, to people like surgeons or pilots.”

Fact check: Japanese agency data confirm warming on Hachijojima

Elizabeth Maroon, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told USA TODAY this is because temperature patterns are informed by both natural variability and the influence of accumulating greenhouse gases.

State of the Union Preview

Allison Prasch, an assistant professor of rhetoric, politics and culture at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, previewed President Biden’s first State of the Union address, and talked about historic examples of presidents addressing the nation in the midst of threats to economic and political stability both at home and abroad.

Gravel Institute Deleted Tweets Reveal a Progressive Group’s Ukraine Meltdown

But most galling to Professor Yoshiko Herrera of the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia, was the video’s failure to explore Moscow’s interventions into Ukrainian affairs since independence. She described the video as “naive” and an example of the kind of “whataboutism” Putin promotes: pointing out questionable parties and pieces of legislation in other countries, and thereby reducing scrutiny on far worse abuses on the part of Russian authorities.

‘Will never give up’: Ukrainians in Wisconsin express shock, resolve at Russian invasion

Quoted: Putin’s regime has increasingly been willing to use violence to maintain his power, the result of which has played out over the last week, said Yoshiko Herrera, an expert in Russian-U.S. relations and a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“He is very threatened by the fact that Ukraine has had two successful revolutions kicking out Russia in 2004 and 2014,” she said. “It’s an example to his regime of the people rising up and getting rid of a dictator.”

Despite longstanding disagreements over the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, that debate is a bit of a distraction now, she said.

“Everything changed last week,” she said. “States have disagreements with other states, (but) it’s a complete different matter to invade your neighbor. It takes the discussion of historical grievances and it puts that aside and says, ‘We’re dealing with a state now that is willing to invade another country.'”

Joke’s on them: how Democrats gave up on rural America

The wealthy voted for Trump, and Trump rewarded them with tax cuts. But rural political conservatism relates to rural economic conditions in other, more complicated ways. During the Great Recession, Katherine Cramer, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, spent several years conducting ethnographic studies on rural, often white, Wisconsinites. She found a persistent sense that rural areas and the people who live there are mistreated, creating a recognizable “rural consciousness”. People felt not only that they had been abandoned by the government, but that cities and cultural elites hoarded power and prestige at the expense of rural areas.

Pilgrim’s Pride Ex-CEOs Face Felony Trial Over Alleged Price-Fixing In Chicken

“Cartels make a lot of money, even after you deduct what they have to pay out for damages,” says Peter Carstensen, a professor of law emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “If the government can’t win a criminal conviction here, it will significantly decrease the probability of more criminal cases.”

Updating Dating Helps Tackle Deep-Time Quandaries

This long-term process set the stage for the evolution of eukaryotes—organisms that encase DNA within their cellular nuclei—which eventually began to breathe oxygen and grow into bigger organisms, said Annie Bauer, an assistant professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Whether this happened roughly simultaneously across the globe or in geographically isolated pockets at different times is still being studied. By comparing the timing of oxygenation from place to place, she said, scientists can determine whether these first whiffs arose together as a globally synchronous exhalation or as discrete puffs.

White House Isn’t Rushing to Copy Democratic Governors’ New ‘COVID-Normal’

“The White House and CDC are in a no-win position,” said David O’Connor, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Wisconsin. “Not only is there not a one-size-fits-all solution that they can recommend to the entire country, but there are a spectrum of reasonable options given a receding Omicron surge in late winter.”

GOP redistricting battles in Alabama and other states raise concerns about voter suppression

David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who focuses on redistricting, told CNN, “It’ll be harder for states to follow what we thought was settled law when it comes to creating minority-majority districts or even influence districts.”

Scientists Forecast U.S. Sea Levels Could Rise a Foot by 2050

“This is a red-flag warning, like, we can see this freight train coming from a mile away,” said Andrea Dutton, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the relationship between melting ice sheets and sea-level changes, who wasn’t involved with the report.

Most U.S. wolves are listed as endangered—again. Here’s why.

“It’s a good day for science, for wolves, for ecosystems, and for the people who value wolves,” says Adrian Treves, a wolf researcher and professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin.

Tributaries play key role in feeding ‘forever chemicals’ into Great Lakes: study

“Our study is bringing some much-needed answers to not only the people who live around the bay of Green Bay, but also to all of the Great Lakes communities because it’s an interconnected water system,” Christy Remucal, a University of Wisconsin – Madison professor of civil and environmental engineering, said in a statement.

Ethanol Less Green Than Gas, Study Funded by Biofuel Critics Says

A U.S. program requiring the use of corn-based ethanol in the nation’s gasoline supply hasn’t curbed greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison published Monday.

How pandemic isolation is affecting young kids’ developing minds

Unless there are deficits in care or a stressful family environment, extra time at home may have benefitted the very young. For babies, caregivers are their whole world, and their greatest need is responsive, sensitive care. “There’s really no indication that their social development is going to be impacted at all,” says Seth Pollak, a psychologist and brain scientist who studies child development at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Netflix ‘Tinder Swindler’ Simon Leviev isn’t the only dating app scammer

A trio of professors from Michigan State University, Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison collected data from 37 online daters and found that describing yourself in profiles can be “ambiguous” because of lack of self-awareness, conscious efforts to disguise the self and the technical limitations of the online platform’s choices.

F.D.A. Delays Review of Pfizer’s Covid Vaccine for Children Under 5

“I honestly let out a woo-hoo of elation that reason and science had prevailed, and that they actually really did do the right thing,” said Dr. James Conway, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

UW-Madison chancellor calls political divide the greatest threat to public universities

Scientists Hail ‘Big Moment’ for Future of Nuclear Fusion

Stephanie Diem of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said the technology used by JET to achieve the result, using magnets to control ultra-hot plasma, show that harnessing fusion — a process that occurs naturally in the stars — is physically feasible.

NASA has big plans for space farms

“It’s just so expensive and so hard to constantly provide food and oxygen and all the things that you need to keep people alive,” Simon Gilroy, professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved with the research. Space is a “weird” place for biology to exist in, says Gilroy, and that’s one of the reasons it’s a great opportunity to study plants and humans’ evolutionary record.

‘Loophole’ allowing for deforestation on soya farms in Brazil’s Amazon

Holly Gibbs, professor of geography and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, said: “At the same time that soy farmers comply with the moratorium, they continue to deforest illegally for other purposes.”

UW-Madison keeps alive its 20-year streak in international computer competition

Why outdated rainfall records are blocking cities’ climate change preparations

“Throughout most of the country, big storms are happening more often,” says Daniel Wright, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There’s every reason to expect that rainfall will continue to intensify in the future.”

Opinion | A judge should not have rejected Ahmaud Arbery’s killers’ plea deal

Steven Wright, a clinical associate professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, teaches criminal appellate law and creative writing.The fate of Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers, whose federal hate-crimes trial began on Monday, took an unexpectedly dark turn last week when a federal judge rejected a plea deal reached with prosecutors. Under the deal, two of Arbery’s three killers were to accept responsibility for federal hate crimes; at least one had confirmed he would publicly admit race had motivated the murder. In exchange, the two men would serve the next 30 years in federal custody. The plea deal fell apart largely because the Arbery family objected.

Sleeping eight hours a night could help with weight loss: study says

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that by increasing sleep duration to 8.5 hours per night people reduced the number of calories consumed in a day and the long-term potential to gain weight.

Mentoring Doesn’t Need To Be A Trial And Error Practice

Dr. Angela Byars-Winston is a professor in the UW-Madison Department of Medicine and a leading thinker on the science of mentoring.

Has the Pandemic Pushed Universities to the Brink?

As the University of Wisconsin philosophy professor Harry Brighouse points out:

Instructional quality is the most neglected—and perhaps the most serious—equity issue in higher education. Good instruction benefits everyone, but it benefits students who attended lower-quality high schools, whose parents cannot pay for compensatory tutors, who lack the time to use tutors because they have to work, and who are less comfortable seeking help more than it benefits other students.