I&D

• Middle East air-quality study bridges borders Oct. 27, 2009 An unprecedented effort to collect air pollution data in the Middle East has united researchers in a region mired in conflict.
• Muscle mass maintenance under scrutiny Oct. 27, 2009 When muscles are not pressed into service, they begin to lose mass.
• Collaboration to enhance patient safety during blood collection, transfusion Oct. 26, 2009 The National Institute of Health (NIH), Health and Human Services has awarded a $1.4 million Small Business Technology Transfer grant to SysLogic Inc., the UW RFID Laboratory and the BloodCenter of Wisconsin.
• UW fields and gardens help feed people in need Oct. 26, 2009 Food bank workers have been lining up for tons of potatoes produced at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's agricultural research stations at Rhinelander and Hancock this fall.
• New material could efficiently power tiny generators Oct. 22, 2009 To power a very small device like a pacemaker or a transistor, you need an even smaller generator. The components that operate the generator are smaller yet, and the efficiency of those foundational components is critical to the performance of the overall device.
• Festival leverages power of film for community action Oct. 21, 2009 The Tales from Planet Earth film festival takes center stage in Madison Friday-Sunday, Nov. 6-8, with something new: a built-in call to action.
• War of the viruses: Could ancient virus genes help fight modern AIDS? Oct. 20, 2009 Almost 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, scientists have yet to find an effective vaccine against HIV, the virus that destroys the immune system and causes AIDS. HIV is perhaps the most adaptive virus ever seen, not only evading the immune system, but also antiviral medicines.
• Carbon nanotubes may cheaply harvest sunlight Oct. 19, 2009 A new alternative energy technology relies on the element most associated with climate change: carbon.
• Digital reading technology makes its way into UW-Madison classrooms Oct. 13, 2009 Alongside music, television and the news media, books are surging into the new technology era with digital reading devices.
• Satellite anniversary marks 50 years of studying climate from space Oct. 13, 2009 On Oct. 13, 1959, University of Wisconsin-Madison professors Verner Suomi and Robert Parent crouched in a bunker at Cape Canaveral, sweating through the countdown for the Juno II rocket perched on its launching pad 150 yards away.
• High-speed genetic analysis looks deep inside primate immune system Oct. 11, 2009 Viruses such as HIV and influenza take safe harbor in cells, where they cannot be recognized directly by the immune system. The immune response relies on infected cells announcing the presence of the virus by studding their exterior with fragments of the virus lurking within.
• Banded rocks reveal early Earth conditions, changes Oct. 11, 2009 The strikingly banded rocks scattered across the upper Midwest and elsewhere throughout the world are actually ambassadors from the past, offering clues to the environment of the early Earth more than 2 billion years ago.
• Scientists hope to mimic nature's dynamos Oct. 9, 2009 In the cosmos, all celestial objects - planets, stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies - have magnetic fields. On Earth, the magnetic field of our home planet is most easily observed in a compass where the needle points north.
• Researcher studies monkeys in Africa to better understand virus evolution Oct. 7, 2009 Despite the importance of AIDS in human health, scientists still know very little about the diversity and ecology of AIDS-like viruses in nature.
• Sand dunes reveal unexpected dryness during heavy monsoon Oct. 6, 2009 The windswept deserts of northern China might seem an odd destination for studying the heavy monsoon rains that routinely drench the more tropical regions of Southeast Asia.
• Models begin to unravel how single DNA strands combine Oct. 5, 2009 Using computer simulations, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has identified some of the pathways through which single complementary strands of DNA interact and combine to form the double helix.
• Two new dance faculty introduced in showcase Oct. 1, 2009 The Dance Program has added four new faculty members to its roster during the past two years, adding depth to the program’s instruction in current dance scholarship as well as dance history and the ongoing and evolving cultural fusion of dance around the globe.
• We Conserve director inspires environmental spirit Oct. 1, 2009 In 2006, when Faramarz Vakili proposed the goal of reducing UW–Madison’s energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010, he was met with doubt
• Federal grants power research on computer games and learning Sept. 29, 2009 A research team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently won $4.5 million in federal grants to study computer games and learning.
• Was mighty T. rex ‘Sue’ felled by a lowly parasite? Sept. 29, 2009 A new study, published today (Sept. 29) in the online journal Public Library of Science One, provides evidence that ‘Sue,’ the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex whose fossilized remains are a star attraction of the Field Museum in Chicago, was felled by a lowly parasite that still afflicts modern birds.