Pokemon Go people are happy people. That’s the finding of media researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison who leapt to study the wildly popular mobile game shortly after its release in July 2016. Their work, newly published in the journal Media Psychology, shows that Pokemon Go users were more likely to be positive, friendly and physically active.
Despite the internet-dependent nature of our world, a thorough understanding of the internet’s physical makeup has only recently emerged, thanks to painstaking work by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their collaborators.
Building on efforts to tease out a new and mostly hidden feature of our galaxy, a team from UW-Madison’s astronomy department developed WHAM, a spectrometer capable of detecting the faint, diffuse light emanating from the space between the stars.
Agronomy is the study of crop and soil science – important in delivering food from farm to table. But most people don’t know the word. And most agronomists – the scientists working in the field of agronomy – find their complicated jobs hard to explain. That means there is a communication gap, and Nels Hansen wants to help solve it.
Recent studies have implicated air pollution from vehicles as playing a role in whether exposed infants develop autism. Now a UWM scientist will try to uncover how the developing brain is affected by these chemicals and whether they also lead to childhood ADHD.
What if a computer model could improve itself over time without requiring additional data? Paul Roebber has made weather forecasting more accurate by repurposing an idea from Charles Darwin.
Combining theory with experiment, University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists are trying to understand how life can arise from non-life. Researchers at the UW–Madison Wisconsin Institute for Discovery are conducting experiments to test the idea that lifelike chemical reactions might develop readily under the right conditions. The work addresses some of the deepest mysteries in biology, and has implications for understanding how common life might be in the universe.
Can organic growers fight weeds and increase soil health? To grow crops organically, farmers fight weeds with chemical-free weapons. But it takes heavy tractors to efficiently turn soil and rip out weeds, compressing the soil. And after a field is turned, heavy rains and wind can erode the exposed soil. Researchers are working to get the best of both worlds.
A hardy perennial is a promising source of biofuel, and a UW-Milwaukee scientist is developing a technique to make a GMO version that cannot "infect" the genes of natural plants around it.
Ever heard of a bed that gets tired? The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) April 1 Soils Matter blog post explains how to wake up raised garden bed soils and keep them healthy.
MILWAUKEE _ The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Information Studies is introducing a new online Master of Science in Information Science and Technology (MSIST) degree to teach information technology workers new skills that will advance their careers in the fast-evolving field.The interdisciplinary program, which includes courses from multiple UWM schools and colleges, is broader than a traditional master’s degree in computer science.
A study that used a new digital library and machine reading system to suck the factual marrow from millions of geologic publications dating back decades has unraveled a longstanding mystery of ancient life: Why did easy-to-see and once-common structures called stromatolites essentially cease forming over the long arc of earth history?
Ten images and two videos by University of Wisconsin–Madison students, faculty and staff have been named winners of the university's 2017 Cool Science Image Contest.
It makes sense that a 1,200 pound Angus cow would place quite a lot of pressure on the ground on which it walks. But a new study shows that even these heavy beasts can’t do much to compact common soils—if they’re grazed responsibly.
In a publication in the journal Nature released today (March 27, 2017), scientists from the Department of Biochemistry and Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have solved the structure of an enzyme caught in the act of attacking toluene — a chemical derived from wood and oil.
Research undertaken by scientists in China reveals that ants are hardworking and beneficial insects. In the activities of their daily lives, ants help increase air, water flow, and organic matter in soil. The work done by ants even forms a type of mulch that helps hold water in the soil.
A new study by Waisman Center researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison looks at the daily experiences of the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder to provide a more detailed picture of the strengths and vulnerabilities of couples raising a child with ASD.
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are using the decellularized husks of plants such as parsley, vanilla and orchids to form three-dimensional scaffolds that can then be primed and seeded with human stem cells to optimize their growth in the lab dish and, ultimately, create novel biomedical implants.
Ecologists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are trying to understand why the midge population at an Icelandic lake can fluctuate by 100,000-fold across a decade, and what impact these massive swarms have on the surrounding landscape.
Forest fires can be frightening, destructive events. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) March 15 Soils Matter blog post explains the effects of forest fires on soil ecosystems—and how they bounce back.
Annually, diseases, weeds, and insects are estimated to cause more than $1.3 billion in losses for sunflower growers. To combat this, researchers are preserving the genetic diversity of wild sunflowers. Wild plants retain the genes needed to resist pests and survive in different environments.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made a surprising and potentially crucial discovery about Alexander disease, a rare and fatal neurological disorder with no known cure.
For decades, phosphorous has accumulated in Wisconsin soils. Though farmers have taken steps to reduce the quantity of the agricultural nutrient applied to and running off their fields, a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reveals that a "legacy" of abundant soil phosphorus in the Yahara watershed of Southern Wisconsin has a large, direct and long-lasting impact on water quality.
Peter Krsko hauled 800 feet of hosing through the woods, drilled holes into the trees on his property in Wonewoc, Wisconsin, and for the first time, tapped his maples for the sap that will ultimately become maple syrup. While he was laboring, Krsko began to contemplate how trees fight gravity and move fluid from their roots deep in the ground to leaves and buds in the sky. That got him thinking about cells, the basic conduits of those fluids, and how they pack together to build the tissues and organs found in living things.
In an abandoned gold mine one mile beneath Lead, South Dakota, the cosmos quiets down enough to potentially hear the faint whispers of the universe’s most elusive material — dark matter. Shielded from the deluge of cosmic rays constantly showering the Earth’s surface, the mine, scientists think, will be the ideal setting for the most sensitive dark matter experiment to date.
Abstracts from Environmental Factors, Genetics and Epigenetics in MS Susceptibility and Clinical Course are now available at Multiple Sclerosis Journal.
Montrealers have cultivated not only a love for food, but also a love for food grown locally. The city’s growth in this field yields lessons for urban agriculture elsewhere.
Don’t forget winter snows when considering the water cycle! The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) March 1 Soils Matter blog post explains how winter snowpack helps recharge groundwater.
Organic farmers can use a combination of cover crops and no-till methods to improve soil health, suppress weeds, and retain moisture.
The regenerative biology team at the Morgridge Institute for Research, led by stem cell pioneer and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor James Thomson, is studying whether stem cell differentiation rates can be accelerated in the lab and made available to patients faster.
The second annual ACTRIMS Forum gets underway today. This year, the forum was preceded by the Neurology Resident Summit in Neuroimmunology, which drew 47 residents from the United States and Canada.
Plumbing a 90 million-year-old layer cake of sedimentary rock in Colorado, a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Northwestern University has found evidence confirming a critical theory of how the planets in our solar system behave in their orbits around the sun. The finding, published Feb. 23, 2017 in the journal Nature, is important because it provides the first hard proof for what scientists call the “chaotic solar system.”
Canola and camelina are cool-season crops that produce oilseeds. Soon they may find a home in California fields as a rotational crop with smart water use and high demand.
Listeria, a common food-borne bacterium, may pose a greater risk of miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy than appreciated, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine studying how pathogens affect fetal development and change the outcome of pregnancy.
The community of microorganisms that resides in the gut, known as the microbiome, has been shown to work in tandem with the genes of a host organism to regulate insulin secretion, a key variable in the onset of the metabolic disease diabetes. That is the primary finding of a study published this week by a team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
Snow is fun for sledding and skiing, but what is its role in soil protection? The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) February 15 Soils Matter blog post explains the crucial role of snow for healthy soils.
A school-to-work partnership involving the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, the Water Council and local technical colleges provides a pipeline to jobs in the growing water industry..
Eating popcorn has long been synonymous with watching movies. But soon you might find yourself reaching for another popped snack option—popped sorghum.
The National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine issued a report Tuesday focused on human genome editing. It lays out principles and recommendations for governments grappling with how to handle rapid advances in human genome-editing technology as it applies to human health and disease. Two University of Wisconsin–Madison experts served on the 22-member international committee that compiled the report.
The compound employs a unique mechanism of action that has safely and effectively suppressed tumors in animal models.
Can grassy lawns affect carbon and nitrogen in the soil? Researchers found grass species and mowing habits can make a difference.
Abbas Ourmazd, a UWM distinguished professor of physics, has been appointed to serve on the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Striking electron microscope pictures from inside the brains of mice suggest what happens in our own brain every day: Our synapses – the junctions between nerve cells - grow strong and large during the stimulation of daytime, then shrink by nearly 20 percent while we sleep, creating room for more growth and learning the next day.
The prospect of regenerating bone lost to cancer or trauma is a step closer to the clinic as University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have identified two proteins found in bone marrow as key regulators of the master cells responsible for making new bone.
When do erosion and rebuilding of soil equate with outdoor beauty? The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) February 1 Soils Matter blog post explains how the wind and water forces at Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park work in a constant cycle of erosion and rebuilding.
Breeding new varieties of chickpeas with desirable traits – such as increased resistance to diseases and pests – is difficult. In a new study, researchers evaluated four combinations of breeding methods and tested whether they increased the success rate of crossing chickpeas.
MILWAUKEE__Dr. Shana Ponelis, an Assistant Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies, is one of 70 scholars who have been awarded a fellowship through the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program to travel to South Africa to work with the University of Zululand’s Department of Information Studies.
The American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), and the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) sent an open letter today to President Trump, asking that he “protect and defend the scientific integrity of federal scientists.”
Researchers found engineered floating wetlands show promise, similar to natural floating wetlands, for water treatment.
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