Ideas and discoveries

  • Image of a crystal Sea urchin yields a key secret of biomineralization Oct. 27, 2008 The teeth and bones of mammals, the protective shells of mollusks, and the needle-sharp spines of sea urchins and other marine creatures are made-from-scratch wonders of nature.
  • Poll results map thumbnail Obama leading all Midwest states in Big Ten Battleground Poll Oct. 23, 2008 As the race for the White House enters its final days, the Big Ten Battleground Poll shows Barack Obama holds significant leads over John McCain in eight crucial Midwest states.
  • Photo of bridge construction Engineering teamwork gives bridge building a lift Oct. 22, 2008 With major grants from the Federal Highway Administration, UW–Madison engineers and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation have designed and built four innovative, experimental bridges on the state’s roadways during the past eight years, with a fifth project now wrapping up in St. Croix County.
  • Photo of gray wolf History of Wisconsin's wolf policy filled with compromise, meddling Oct. 20, 2008 To some, last month's federal decision that put the gray wolf back on the endangered species list in the Great Lakes region was an unmitigated triumph. Siding with the Humane Society of the United States and other groups, the court ruling placed the wolf once again under federal protection after it was removed from the list last March.
  • Photo of lobeliad Evolution’s hand detailed in Hawaiian lobeliads Oct. 16, 2008 A team led by UW-Madison botanists Thomas Givnish and Kenneth Sytsma details the evolutionary history of a diverse tropical group of flowering plants long viewed as one of the plant world's most dramatic examples of adaptive radiation, the phenomenon of new species arising from a single ancestor to occupy a multitude of ecological roles.
  • Portion of album cover Study debunks myth that early immigrants quickly learned English Oct. 16, 2008 Joseph Salmons has always been struck by the pervasiveness of the argument. In his visits across Wisconsin, in many newspaper letters to the editor, and in the national debates raging over modern immigration, he encounters the same refrain:
  • Wisconsin Advertising Project logo Wisconsin Advertising Project analyzes tone of ads in White House race Oct. 16, 2008 During the Wednesday (Oct. 15) presidential debate, both candidates made claims about the tone of the other's television advertising campaign.
  • Photo of Crampton Lake Reservoirs promote spread of aquatic invasive species Oct. 15, 2008 The latest "damming" evidence suggests that manmade reservoirs are facilitating the spread of invasive species in Wisconsin lakes.
  • Photo of Henry Drewal Exhibition reveals passion for African arts Oct. 14, 2008 For those who believe a tidy, antiseptic workplace free of distractions improves productivity, a visit to Henry Drewal’s office in the Elvehjem Building will challenge that notion.
  • Image of Uranus New images yield clues to seasons of Uranus Oct. 13, 2008 Speaking in Ithaca, N.Y., today (Oct. 13) at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, a team led by UW-Madison researcher Lawrence Sromovsky shared crisp new Keck II telescope images of Uranus as it changed seasons.
  • Photo of girl at chalkboard working on math problem U.S. culture derails girl math whizzes Oct. 10, 2008 A culture of neglect and, at some age levels, outright social ostracism, is derailing a generation of students, especially girls, deemed the very best in mathematics, according to a new study.
  • Railroad tracks Courses help growing railroad industry stay on track Oct. 9, 2008 there are few undergraduate or graduate programs in the United States that teach engineers to design, build and maintain railroads that are safe, efficient and consumer-oriented. However, UW-Madison offers a comprehensive continuing education program.
  • Restoring order: UW Arboretum runoff solutions combine ecology and engineering Oct. 8, 2008 In spring 2008, a class of undergraduate and graduate engineering students studied a section of Wingra Marsh to learn more about the hydroecologic effects of the massive stormwater inflow. "Stormwater management infrastructure throughout the Arboretum is failing due to age and increased flows of runoff from the surrounding watershed," says David Liebl, a UW-Madison engineering professional development faculty associate who chairs the Arboretum stormwater committee.
  • High water road closed sign Waterborne disease risk upped in Great Lakes Oct. 7, 2008 An anticipated increased incidence of climate-related extreme rainfall events in the Great Lakes region may raise the public health risk for the 40 million people who depend on the lakes for their drinking water, according to a new study.
  • Southern Pine Beetle Wielding microbe against microbe, beetle defends its food source Oct. 2, 2008 As the southern pine beetle moves through the forest boring tunnels inside the bark of trees, it brings with it both a helper and a competitor. The helper is a fungus that the insect plants inside the tunnels as food for its young. But also riding along is a tiny, hitchhiking mite, which likewise carries a fungus for feeding its own larvae.
  • Research team discovers brain pathway responsible for obesity Oct. 2, 2008 University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, for the first time, have found a messaging system in the brain that directly affects food intake and body weight.
  • Portion of Engineers Without Borders logo Engineering students begin water-quality projects in Kenyan village Sept. 30, 2008 A group of UW-Madison students who are part of the university's chapter of Engineers Without Borders are working to solve a Kenyan village's water-quality issues.
  • 'Polymazing' image Science photo takes second in national contest Sept. 25, 2008 With a photograph that embodies the unexpected - and sometimes breathtaking - outcomes of science, University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student Jenna Eun has won second place in the 2008 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Science magazine.
  • Image of Earth's magentic variations Lava flows reveal clues to magnetic field reversals Sept. 25, 2008 Ancient lava flows are guiding a better understanding of what generates and controls the Earth's magnetic field - and what may drive it to occasionally reverse direction.
  • Stoltenberg Librarian makes modern update to historic collection Sept. 24, 2008 The Department of Geography and UW Digital Collections Center at Memorial Library — with help of a 2008 Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment grant — are digitizing the collection of aerial photos of the state of Wisconsin, taken by the USDA from 1937–41, and creating a Web portal to make the content more publicly accessible.