Ideas and discoveries

  • Photo of triceratops skull Study firms up idea that triceratops used horns in duels with rivals Jan. 28, 2009 Because nobody was around to witness their use, the functions of the impressive horns and frill of the familiar dinosaur triceratops have been a matter of speculation.
  • Photo of Porter Predicting the future spread of infectious-disease vectors Jan. 27, 2009 As global warming raises concerns about potential spread of infectious diseases, a team of researchers has demonstrated a way to predict the expanding range of human disease vectors in a changing world.
  • Photo of child and woman Early childhood stress has lingering effects on health Jan. 26, 2009 Stressful experiences in early childhood can have long-lasting impacts on kids' health that persist well beyond the resolution of the situation.
  • Photo of quilt Enter ‘fairyland’ with Victorian crazy quilts Jan. 22, 2009 “A Fairyland of Fabrics: The Victorian Crazy Quilt” opens Wednesday, Jan. 21, at the Design Gallery, located in the School of Human Ecology. The show runs through Sunday, March 8.
  • Screen capture from Web site New Web site promotes conversation on teaching Jan. 22, 2009 Whether they are stumped by a classroom dilemma or inspired by a breakthrough moment with students, faculty and instructional staff will now have the opportunity to spark a broader conversation about teaching practices through a new interactive Web resource.
  • Arts Enterprise logo Artist confronts those ‘now-what’ moments Jan. 22, 2009 If Stephanie Jutt has her way, there will be no more starving artists who sacrifice well-being to make art.
  • Large-scale nuclear materials study shapes national collaborations Jan. 15, 2009 In Kumar Sridharan's laboratory on the University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering campus, just one ill-timed sneeze might have catapulted his next three years' worth of nuclear reactor materials research into oblivion.
  • Deer Common soil mineral degrades the nearly indestructible prion Jan. 14, 2009 In the rogues' gallery of microscopic infectious agents, the prion is the toughest hombre in town.
  • Curved photodetector array Can you see me now? Flexible photodetectors could help sharpen photos Jan. 13, 2009 Distorted cell-phone photos and big, clunky telephoto lenses could be things of the past.
  • Medicine icon Protein that regulates hormones critical to women’s health found in pituitary Jan. 12, 2009 University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have solved the mystery surrounding a "rogue protein" that plays a role in the release of neurotransmitters and hormones in the brain.
  • Photo of a boat docked on a northern Wisconsin lake Study: Can nature’s leading indicators presage environmental disaster? Jan. 5, 2009 Economists use leading indicators - the drivers of economic performance - to take the temperature of the economy and predict the future. Now, in a new study, scientists take a page from the social science handbook and use leading indicators of the environment to presage the potential collapse of ecosystems.
  • fMRI brain scan image Expectant brains help predict anxiety treatment success Jan. 2, 2009 A network of emotion-regulating brain regions implicated in the pathological worry that can grip patients with anxiety disorders may also be useful for predicting the benefits of treatment.
  • Medicine icon Clinical trial uses bat saliva enzyme for stroke treatment Dec. 30, 2008 Vampires aren't usually cast in the role of saviors, but stroke experts are hoping a blood thinner that mimics a chemical in vampire saliva will help save brain cells in stroke patients. The School of Medicine and Public Health is one of several centers worldwide currently enrolling patients in a large new clinical trial of desmoteplase, a drug based on an enzyme in vampire bat saliva.
  • Photo from research lab Scientists isolate genes that made 1918 flu lethal Dec. 29, 2008 By mixing and matching a contemporary flu virus with the "Spanish flu" - a virus that killed between 20 and 50 million people 90 years ago in history's most devastating outbreak of infectious disease - researchers have identified a set of three genes that helped underpin the extraordinary virulence of the 1918 virus.
  • Charlie Bentley Photo essay: Cold digger Dec. 23, 2008 Fifty years ago, UW scientist Charlie Bentley made his maiden voyage to a frigid, faraway land – and he’s been returning ever since.
  • Image of a motor neuron Patient-derived induced stem cells retain disease traits Dec. 22, 2008 When neurons started dying in Clive Svendsen's lab dishes, he couldn't have been more pleased. The dying cells - the same type lost in patients with the devastating neurological disease spinal muscular atrophy - confirmed that the University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell biologist had recreated the hallmarks of a genetic disorder in the lab, using stem cells derived from a patient.
  • Portion of cover of Sorkin's book Author examines relationship between Enlightenment, religion Dec. 18, 2008 In researching the relationship between Judaism and Enlightenment thought, David Sorkin found significant misunderstanding about the relationship between the Enlightenment and religion in general.
  • Image of collection specimen Bringing modern roots to a traditional collection Dec. 18, 2008 Ken Cameron joined the faculty earlier this year as an associate professor of botany and director of the Wisconsin State Herbarium. He cites the botany department — one of a relative few remaining university botany departments, most having folded into larger biology departments — as a strong draw, along with the mix of teaching, research and administrative duties offered by his joint appointment.
  • Computer illustration of brain Cognitive computing: Building a machine that can learn from experience Dec. 17, 2008 A UW-Madison researcher says the goal of building a computer as quick and flexible as a small mammalian brain is more daunting than it sounds.
  • Photo of Antarctic ice shelf Study: Did early climate impact divert a new glacial age? Dec. 16, 2008 The common wisdom is that the invention of the steam engine and the advent of the coal-fueled industrial age marked the beginning of human influence on global climate.