I&D

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Librarian makes modern update to historic collection Sept. 24, 2008
• Obama and McCain in tight race in inaugural Big Ten Battleground Poll Sept. 18, 2008 In the inaugural Big Ten Battleground Poll taken as the nation's financial crisis worsened this week, John McCain and Barack Obama were in a statistical dead heat in seven of the eight Midwest states included in the survey.
• Reseachers derive 'green gasoline' from plant sugars Sept. 18, 2008 Alternative energy doesn't always mean solar or wind power. In fact, the alternative fuels developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical and biological engineering professor James Dumesic look a lot like the gasoline and diesel fuel used in vehicles today.
• Comet dust reveals unexpected mixing of solar system Sept. 18, 2008 Chemical clues from a comet's halo are challenging common views about the history and evolution of the solar system and showing it may be more mixed-up than previously thought.
• Study works to improve pain relief in pets Sept. 18, 2008 A new, injectable pain-relieving drug formulation for animals might eliminate more than pain.
• Engineered stem cells carry promising ALS therapy Sept. 16, 2008 Using adult stem cells from bone marrow as "Trojan horses" to deliver a nurturing growth factor to atrophied muscles, Wisconsin scientists have successfully slowed the progression of ALS in rats.
• Performance Center to get $20 million boost Sept. 16, 2008 Two anonymous donors have made a commitment of $20 million in support of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music's future Performance Center on the northwest corner of University Avenue and Lake Street.
• World’s biggest particle accelerator begins operation Sept. 10, 2008 After more than 15 years of planning and preparation, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator, started operating this morning (Sept. 10).
• UW researcher contributes to study linking warmer seas, stronger hurricanes Sept. 4, 2008 The theory that global warming may be contributing to stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic over the past 30 years is bolstered by a new study led by a Florida State University researcher. The study is published in today's edition of the journal Nature.
• Baby's smell tamps down dad's testosterone levels Sept. 3, 2008 Does eau de infant make dad a better parent? It does, it seems, if you are a common marmoset, a New World monkey known for its collaborative approach to rearing offspring.
• New projects take aim at Arboretum stormwater problems Sept. 3, 2008 Even after the most violent rains, stormwater usually recedes from city streets within hours. But in the downstream places where this water collects, the impact can be lasting, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum.
• Ice Age lesson predicts a faster rise in sea level Sept. 2, 2008 If the lessons being learned by scientists about the demise of the last great North American ice sheet are correct, estimates of global sea level rise from a melting Greenland ice sheet may be seriously underestimated.
• Patterns in changing ecological landscapes inspire professor Aug. 27, 2008 Thirty years after visiting Yellowstone National Park for the first time, Monica Turner has established herself as a leader in the field of ecology and made Yellowstone one of the most well-studied ecological landscapes in the country.