Latest News from: University of Wisconsin–Madison

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28-Jun-2018 11:00 AM EDT
Zika Virus Infection May Multiply Risk of Miscarriage, Stillbirth
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Researchers at six National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) combined results from individual studies to find that 26 percent of pregnancies in 50 monkeys infected with Zika virus during the first trimester of pregnancy ended in miscarriage or stillbirth, dwarfing the nearly 8 percent rate found earlier this year by a study of women infected with Zika early in pregnancy.

25-Jun-2018 5:00 PM EDT
“Ring Around Bathtub” at Giant Volcano Field Shows Movement of Subterranean Magma
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A University of Wisconsin-Madison study examines the geologic changes of the Maule volcanoes, located in a region in Chile that has seen enormous eruptions during the last million years

Released: 25-Jun-2018 3:00 PM EDT
Scientists Take a Journey Into the Lungs of Mice Infected with Influenza
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Using a new tool they call FluVision, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are able to witness influenza infection in a living animal in action. It helps them better understand what happens when a virus infects the lungs and the body responds.

Released: 22-Jun-2018 11:05 AM EDT
‘Stealth’ Material Hides Hot Objects From Infrared Eyes
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Infrared cameras are the heat-sensing eyes that help drones find their targets even in the dead of night or through heavy fog. Hiding from such detectors could become much easier, thanks to a new cloaking material that renders objects — and people — practically invisible.

Released: 22-Jun-2018 11:05 AM EDT
Dynamic Modeling Helps Predict the Behaviors of Gut Microbes
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A new study provides a platform for predicting how microbial gut communities work and represents a first step toward understanding how to manipulate the properties of the gut ecosystem. This could allow scientists to, for example, design a probiotic that persists in the gut or tailor a diet to positively influence human health.

Released: 22-Jun-2018 10:05 AM EDT
‘Flamingo’: High-Powered Microscopy Coming to a Scientist Near You
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A team at the University of Wisconsin has developed a portable, shareable light sheet microscope — an engineering feat that shrinks a tabletop-sized technology down to the weight and dimensions of a suitcase packed for a week’s vacation. The project can be mailed to a lab anywhere in the world, configured remotely by Morgridge Institute for Research engineers, and run one to three months of experiments.

   
Released: 7-Jun-2018 2:05 PM EDT
Hurricanes Are Slowing Down, and That’s Bad News
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Some hurricanes are moving more slowly, spending increased time over land and leading to catastrophic local rainfall and flooding, according to a new study published Wednesday (June 6) in the journal Nature.

31-May-2018 12:00 PM EDT
Thank the Moon for Earth’s Lengthening Day
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A new study that reconstructs the deep history of our planet’s relationship to the moon shows that 1.4 billion years ago, a day on Earth lasted just over 18 hours. This is at least in part because the moon was closer and changed the way the Earth spun around its axis.

Released: 29-May-2018 4:50 PM EDT
Air Force-Backed Center to Make Machine Learning More Independent, Predictable, Secure
University of Wisconsin–Madison

In an effort to build the next generation of machine-learning methods to support its needs, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory have awarded $5 million to establish a university center of excellence devoted to efficient and robust machine learning at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Released: 22-May-2018 4:40 PM EDT
Training Compassion ‘Muscle’ May Boost Brain’s Resilience to Others’ Suffering
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A new study suggests compassion meditation training may reduce the distress a person feels when witnessing another’s suffering. The findings may have implications for professions in which people routinely work with others who are suffering, like doctors, law enforcement officers and first responders.

15-May-2018 3:30 PM EDT
A Hidden World of Communication, Chemical Warfare, Beneath the Soil
University of Wisconsin–Madison

New research shows how some harmful microbes in the soil have to contend not just with a farmer’s chemical attacks, but also with their microscopic neighbors — and themselves turn to chemical warfare to ward off threats.

9-May-2018 11:00 AM EDT
Liquid Crystals Self-Regulate the Release of Drugs in Precise, Repeating Doses with Simple Nudge From Their Environment
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed liquid crystal films and droplets that can hold a wide range of “micro-cargo” until their release is cued by body heat or a beam of light or even the wake of swimming microorganisms. The trick is in exploiting the way liquid crystals can be organized, as UW–Madison chemical and biological engineering professor Nick Abbott and members of his lab describe today in the journal Nature.

Released: 8-May-2018 4:45 PM EDT
Metastasis Enablers: Findings Could Unlock New Ovarian Cancer Treatments
University of Wisconsin–Madison

New research from the lab of Pamela Kreeger, a University of Wisconsin-Madison biomedical engineering professor, has identified one way ovarian cancer cells appear to successfully spread.

Released: 3-May-2018 3:50 PM EDT
CWD Prions Discovered in Soil Near Wisconsin Mineral Licks for the First Time
University of Wisconsin–Madison

New research out of the University of Wisconsin–Madison has, for the first time, detected prions responsible for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in samples taken from sites where deer congregate.

Released: 24-Apr-2018 12:05 PM EDT
Future Wearable Device Could Tell How We Power Human Movement
University of Wisconsin–Madison

For athletes and weekend warriors alike, returning from a tendon injury too soon often ensures a trip right back to physical therapy. However, a new technology developed by University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers could one day help tell whether your tendons are ready for action.

   
Released: 30-Mar-2018 4:05 PM EDT
Is There Life Adrift in the Clouds of Venus?
University of Wisconsin–Madison

In the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists have turned over all sorts of rocks. Mars, for example, has geological features that suggest it once had — and still has — subsurface liquid water, an almost sure prerequisite for life. Scientists have also eyed Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus as well as Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto as possible havens for life in the oceans under their icy crusts. Now, however, scientists are dusting off an old idea that promises a new vista in the hunt for life beyond Earth: the clouds of Venus.

21-Mar-2018 5:00 PM EDT
Spiders and Scorpions Have Co-Opted Leg Genes to Build Their Heads
University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers Emily Setton and Prashant Sharma show that the common house spider and its arachnid relatives have dispensed with a gene involved in creating segmented heads, instead recycling leg genes to accomplish the task.

Released: 23-Mar-2018 10:05 AM EDT
Decades of Research Identify Source of Galaxy-Sized Stream of Gas
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A cloud of gas 300,000 light-years long is arching around the Milky Way, shunted away from two dwarf galaxies orbiting our own. For decades, astronomers have wanted to know which of the two galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, is the source of the gas that has been expelled as the two galaxies gravitationally pull at one another. The answer will help astronomers understand how galaxies form and change over time.

16-Mar-2018 12:05 PM EDT
Liquid-to-Glass Transition Process Gains Clarity
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Paul Voyles, the Beckwith-Bascom Professor in materials science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and collaborators in Madison and at Yale University have made significant experimental strides in understanding how, when and where the constantly moving atoms in molten metal "lock" into place as the material transitions from liquid to solid glass.

14-Mar-2018 11:05 AM EDT
Improved Capture of Cancer Cells in Blood Could Help Track Disease
University of Wisconsin–Madison

New research by University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Pharmacy Seungpyo Hong and his collaborators builds on several years of work in isolating circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, by demonstrating improved methods for their capture on clinical samples for the first time.

1-Mar-2018 1:05 PM EST
Reviewers of NIH Grants Cannot Distinguish the Good From the Great, Study Shows
University of Wisconsin–Madison

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invested more than $27 billion in biomedical research through competitive grants during its 2017 fiscal year. Those grants were awarded based on scores assigned by, and conversation between, expert peer reviewers. This peer review process is a bedrock feature of doling out dollars for scientific projects with careful deliberation. But new findings by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers suggest that reviewers are unable to differentiate the great proposals from the merely good ones.

Released: 1-Mar-2018 3:05 PM EST
They Grin, You Bear It. Research Reveals Physical Impact of a Smile
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Research led by Jared Martin, a psychology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, shows that smiles meant to convey dominance are associated with a physical reaction — a spike in stress hormones — in their targets. On the other hand, smiles intended as a reward, to reinforce behavior, appear to physically buffer recipients against stress.

   
Released: 22-Feb-2018 12:05 PM EST
Pulling Needles Out of Haystacks: With Computation, Researchers Identify Promising Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Materials
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Using advanced computational methods, University of Wisconsin–Madison materials scientists have discovered new materials that could bring widespread commercial use of solid oxide fuel cells closer to reality.

1-Feb-2018 3:30 PM EST
Beyond Silicon: Researchers Solve a Materials Mystery Key to Next-Generation Electronic Devices
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Writing today (Feb. 5, 2018) in the journal Nature Materials, UW-Madison materials scientist Chang-Beom Eom and his collaborators provided evidence of a hole gas coexisting with two-dimensional electron gas.

Released: 2-Feb-2018 11:05 AM EST
Freely Shared Satellite Data Improves Weather Forecasting
University of Wisconsin–Madison

For decades, the world meteorological satellite community has operated under a policy of freely shared data. It represents a philosophy and model of cooperation first promoted by the United States and adopted by global satellite agencies, which endure regardless of political or national persuasion. It's also a legacy and philosophy with roots that trace back decades to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies.

29-Jan-2018 5:05 PM EST
From Fungi to Humans, 'Smart Valves' Assist Communication Within, Between Cells
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Googling "SNARE proteins," neuroscientist Edward Chapman gets a screenful of images showing corkscrew-shaped molecules, intertwined as they seize the outer membranes of two cells. "They did not give us credit at Wikipedia, but we drew that cartoon," he says, with delicious irony. "And now we've proven that this model is wrong," he says. "The textbooks need to be adjusted."

29-Jan-2018 2:05 PM EST
Colorado Potato Beetle Genome Gives Insight Into Major Agricultural Pest
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A team of scientists led by University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist Sean Schoville sequenced the Colorado potato beetle's genome, probing its genes for clues to its surprising adaptability to new environments and insecticides. The new information sheds light on how this insect jumps to new plant hosts and handles toxins, and it will help researchers explore more ways to control the beetle.

Released: 30-Jan-2018 1:05 PM EST
Stellar magnetism: What’s behind the most brilliant lights in the sky?
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Space physicists at University of Wisconsin-Madison have just released unprecedented detail on a bizarre phenomenon that powers the northern lights, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (the biggest explosions in our solar system).

Released: 30-Jan-2018 11:05 AM EST
Urban Foxes and Coyotes Learn to Set Aside Their Differences and Coexist
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Diverging from centuries of established behavioral norms, red fox and coyote have gone against their wild instincts and learned to coexist in the urban environment of Madison and the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, according to a recently published study in the journal PLOS One.

Released: 25-Jan-2018 11:05 AM EST
An Achilles Heel Discovered in Viruses Could Fuel New Antiviral Approaches
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research have discovered a promising new target to fight a class of viruses responsible for health threats such as Zika, polio, dengue, SARS and hepatitis C.

18-Jan-2018 1:05 PM EST
Bio-Renewable Process Could Help ‘Green’ Plastic
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Plastics are often derived from petroleum, contributing to reliance on fossil fuels and driving harmful greenhouse gas emissions. To change that, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) scientists are trying to take the pliable nature of plastic in another direction, developing new and renewable ways of creating plastics from biomass.

Released: 16-Jan-2018 4:05 PM EST
Study Advances Gene Therapy for Glaucoma
University of Wisconsin–Madison

In a study published today in the scientific journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Kaufman and Curtis Brandt, a fellow professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at UW-Madison, showed an improved tactic for delivering new genes into the eye's fluid drain, called the trabecular meshwork. It could lead to a treatment for glaucoma.

4-Jan-2018 12:40 PM EST
Scouting the Eagles: Proof That Protecting Nests Aids Reproduction
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Reproduction among bald eagles in a remote national park in Minnesota was aided when their nests were protected from human disturbance, according to a study published today (Jan. 9, 2018) in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

8-Jan-2018 4:35 PM EST
New Stem Cell Method Sheds Light on a Telltale Sign of Heart Disease
University of Wisconsin–Madison

While refining ways to grow arterial endothelial cells in the lab, a regenerative biology team at the Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison unexpectedly unearthed a powerful new model for studying a hallmark of vascular disease.

4-Jan-2018 1:05 PM EST
Lake Michigan Waterfowl Botulism Deaths Linked to Warm Waters, Algae
University of Wisconsin–Madison

In a USGS program, volunteers tracked bird deaths along Lake Michigan from 2010 to 2013 to discover what conditions lead to large die-offs. The researchers found that warm waters and algae — both of which have become more frequent over the years — tended to precede bird deaths, likely because they promoted the growth of botulism toxin-producing bacteria.

21-Dec-2017 3:05 PM EST
New Hope for Stopping an Understudied Heart Disease in Its Tracks
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Thanks, in part, to pigs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Arlington Agricultural Research Station, scientists now are catching up on understanding the roots of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD).

21-Dec-2017 5:00 PM EST
Breaking Up (Protein Complexes) Is Hard to Do, but New UW Study Shows How
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers identified the structural basis for how tightly bound protein complexes are broken apart to become inactivated.

14-Dec-2017 11:05 AM EST
Oldest Fossils Ever Found Show Life on Earth Began Before 3.5 Billion Years Ago
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Researchers at UCLA and the University of Wisconsin–Madison have confirmed that microscopic fossils discovered in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old piece of rock in Western Australia are the oldest fossils ever found and indeed the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth.

Released: 18-Dec-2017 1:05 PM EST
Zero Gravity Plant Growth Experiments Delivered to Space Station
University of Wisconsin–Madison

The latest resupply mission to the International Space Station delivered hundreds of seeds to the spacefaring research lab Sunday, Dec. 17, to test how plants grow in the stressful environment of zero gravity. This is the fourth plants-in-space experiment for University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor of Botany Simon Gilroy.

Released: 13-Dec-2017 2:05 PM EST
Monkeys Infected by Mosquito Bites Further Zika Virus Research
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Monkeys who catch Zika virus through bites from infected mosquitoes develop infections that look like human Zika cases, and may help researchers understand the many ways Zika can be transmitted.

11-Dec-2017 1:05 PM EST
Monkey Study Shows a Path to Monitoring Endangered Species
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A Brazilian-American research group has just published an unusual study outlining data needs for monitoring the survival of monkeys called muriquis that live in patches of forest in Brazil.

11-Dec-2017 10:05 AM EST
Chimpanzee Deaths in Uganda Pinned on Human Cold Virus
University of Wisconsin–Madison

In the wild, chimpanzees face any number of dire threats, ranging from poachers to predators to deforestation. That’s why scientists, investigating an outbreak of respiratory disease in a community of wild chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park, were surprised and dismayed to discover that a human “common cold” virus known as rhinovirus C was killing healthy chimps.

Released: 12-Dec-2017 12:05 PM EST
Estrogen Discovery Could Shed New Light on Fertility Problems
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Estrogen produced in the brain is necessary for ovulation in monkeys, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who have upended the traditional understanding of the hormonal cascade that leads to release of an egg from the ovaries. Their findings may reveal the cause of some undiagnosed infertility problems and point the way to new methods of birth control.

   
Released: 6-Dec-2017 12:05 PM EST
Decades-Past Logging Still Threatens Spotted Owls in National Forests
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Logging of the largest trees in the Sierra Nevada’s national forests ended in the early 1990s after agreements were struck to protect species’ habitat. But new research reported Dec. 6 in the journal Diversity and Distributions by University of Wisconsin–Madison ecologists shows that spotted owls, one of the iconic species logging restrictions were meant to protect, have continued to experience population declines in the forests.

Released: 4-Dec-2017 3:55 PM EST
Virtual Reality Users Must Learn to Use What They See
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Anyone with normal vision knows that a ball that seems to quickly be growing larger is probably going to hit them on the nose. But strap them into a virtual reality headset, and they still may need to take a few lumps before they pay attention to the visual cues that work so well in the real world, according to a new study from University of Wisconsin–Madison psychologists.

30-Nov-2017 4:45 PM EST
High-Stress Childhoods Blind Adults to Potential Loss
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Adults who lived high-stress childhoods have trouble reading the signs that a loss or punishment is looming, leaving themselves in situations that risk avoidable health and financial problems and legal trouble. According to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, this difficulty may be biological, stemming from an unhelpful lack of activity in the brain when a situation should be prompting heightened awareness. And that discovery may help train at-risk young people to be better at avoiding risk.

   
28-Nov-2017 11:05 AM EST
Designer Molecule Points to Treatment for Diseases Caused by DNA Repeats
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Using a molecule designed to overcome a roadblock formed by a common type of genetic flaw, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made progress towards novel molecular treatments for Friedreich’s ataxia — a rare but fatal disorder — in the laboratory dish and in animals.

Released: 29-Nov-2017 2:55 PM EST
Research to Relieve Stress of Police Officers Expands
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A new study could bring a better scientific understanding of the unique stressors facing police officers. Expanding on a pilot study, the new project delves deeper into the effectiveness of an eight-week mindfulness-based program on police well-being and brings into the fold new collaborators in the law enforcement community.

Released: 29-Nov-2017 12:05 PM EST
‘Magnetoelectric’ Material Shows Promise as Memory for Electronics
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Smartphones and computers wouldn’t be nearly as useful without room for lots of apps, music and videos. Devices tend to store that information in two ways: through electric fields (think of a flash drive) or through magnetic fields (like a computer’s spinning hard disk). Each method has advantages and disadvantages. However, in the future, our electronics could benefit from the best of each.

20-Nov-2017 10:55 AM EST
Icebound Detector Reveals How Ghostly Neutrinos Are Stopped Cold
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Famously, neutrinos, the nearly massless particles that are a fundamental component of the universe, can zip through a million miles of lead without skipping a beat. Now, in a critical measurement that may one day help predict new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics — the model that seeks to explain the fundamental forces of the universe — an international team of researchers with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has shown how energized neutrinos can be stopped cold as they pass through the Earth.



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