Tag Research
Compound found to safely counter deadly bird flu
The specter of a drug-resistant form of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza is a nightmare to keep public-health officials awake at night.
Depression saps endurance of the brain’s reward circuitry
A new study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison suggests that depressed patients are unable to sustain activity in brain areas related to positive emotion.
Stellar mosh pit, complete with crashing stars, resolves a mystery
For almost 50 years, astronomers have puzzled over the youthful appearance of stars known as blue stragglers.
Dental delight! Tooth of sea urchin shows formation of biominerals
Some of the most common minerals in biology, including those in bones and shells, have a mysterious structure: Their crystals are positioned in the same orientation, making them behave as one giant crystal, even though they do not look like a faceted crystal.
Surveying bird biodiversity from space?
A fundamental rule of wildlife ecology says that diverse habitats foster greater biodiversity: The Amazon has far more species than Greenland. But how do habitat and biodiversity relate in a state like Wisconsin, with its range of farms, forests, wetlands, cities, suburbs and highways?
New process leads to smaller estimate for global urban area
Urbanization is one of the most important trends of the 21st century, yet we don't have a good idea of how much land cities occupy.
Fighting the Grinch who stole Wisconsin’s Christmas trees
An entomology research team from UW–Madison aims to squash a grub that plagues as many as one-third of Wisconsin’s approximately 1,100 Christmas tree farms.
Interactive animations give science students a boost
For a generation of students raised and nurtured at the computer keyboard, it seems like a no-brainer that computer-assisted learning would have a prominent role in the college science classroom.
New structure could produce efficient semiconductor laser sources
University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have achieved a nanoscale laser structure they anticipate will produce semiconductor lasers in the next two years that are more than twice as efficient as current continuous-wave lasers emitting in the mid-infrared.
Greenhouse gas carbon dioxide ramps up aspen growth
The rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be fueling more than climate change. It could also be making some trees grow like crazy.
Giant collider back in gear, sets record for collision intensity
On Nov. 30, the world's largest scientific instrument, the Large Hadron Collider, set a record when it smashed one stream of protons against another and then accelerated the beams to 1.18 trillion electron volts, exceeding the record held by Fermilab in Illinois since 2001.
Exhibit explores state of science at time of Darwin’s book
“Science Circa 1859: On the Eve of Darwin’s Origin of Species,” opening Monday, Nov. 23, in the Department of Special Collections at Memorial Library, explores the state of science before Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking book arrived on the scene 150 years ago.
Like humans, ants use bacteria to make their gardens grow
Leaf-cutter ants, which cultivate fungus for food, have many remarkable qualities.
Sweet corn story begins in UW–Madison lab
This week, scientists are revealing the genetic instructions inside corn, one of the big three cereal crops. Corn, or maize, has one of the most complex sequences of DNA ever analyzed, says University of Wisconsin–Madison genomicist David Schwartz, who was one of more than 100 authors in the article in the journal Science.
After mastodons and mammoths, a transformed landscape
Roughly 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, North America's vast assemblage of large animals - including such iconic creatures as mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses, ground sloths and giant beavers - began their precipitous slide to extinction.
Early voting option can decrease turnout, research shows
Although states are moving quickly to put in place election procedures that allow for early voting, allowing people to cast ballots ahead of Election Day often results in lower turnout, according to research from a team of University of Wisconsin–Madison political scientists.