I&D

  • Computer security icon Computer scientist fights threat of ‘botnets’ Oct. 31, 2007 Computer scientist Paul Barford has watched malicious traffic on the Internet evolve from childish pranks to a billion-dollar “shadow industry’” in the last decade, and his profession has largely been one step behind the bad guys. Viruses, phishing scams, worms and spyware are only the beginning, he says.
  • Photo of rain garden plots Questions remain on what makes a perfect rain garden Oct. 31, 2007 Since their public introduction more than 10 years ago, rain gardens — small garden plots that are designed to collect and filter storm water — have created quite a storm among environmentally minded homeowners. But as their popularity has grown, so have opinions about what makes the perfect rain garden.
  • Kirk Douglas Spartacus publicity photo A glimpse into Kirk Douglas: Film center shares online collection Oct. 30, 2007 Kirk Douglas was Spartacus. But that's not all. The iconic, dimple-chinned movie star was also a powerful producer who blazed a trail and took command of his own acting career in the new era of American filmmaking that followed the demise of the Hollywood studio system. Now, letters, photos and other documents Douglas donated to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research are available through a new Web site that tells the story of his career both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
  • Photo of ballon drop at School of Business announcement Alumni give $85 million to name Wisconsin School of Business Oct. 27, 2007 The Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has received an unprecedented gift totaling $85 million from a small group of alumni who have formed the "Wisconsin Naming Partnership" to support the school's mission.
  • Photo of candy corn As Halloween approaches, a food scientist muses on the coming ‘candy season’ Oct. 23, 2007 In anticipation of the candy season — those sugar-packed months stretching from Halloween through Easter, marked by a succession of candy corn, chocolate turkeys, ribbon candy, candy hearts and chocolate eggs — UW-Madison food scientist Rich Hartel answers some questions about candy and the candy business.
  • Farm produce UW center will lead efforts to expand farm-to-school programs in Midwest Oct. 22, 2007 The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been named as lead agency in a six-state area for a new national program to encourage schools to serve more locally grown food.
  • DNA sequencing Researchers underscore limitations of genetic ancestry tests Oct. 19, 2007 Although many people rely on commercially available genetic tests for insights into their ancestry, consumers should be aware of significant limitations in such testing, according to a group of researchers commenting in today's issue of the journal Science.
  • Rendering of Mechanical Engineering renovation New mechanical engineering building set for generations of innovation Oct. 19, 2007 When the Mechanical Engineering Building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus opened its doors in 1930, sliding chalkboards and concrete floors were among its most innovative features.
  • Photo of Edward DeNomie Professor’s film on Native American soldiers to air on PBS Oct. 18, 2007 Patty Loew, a veteran television journalist and an associate professor of life sciences communication, has long wondered what motivated Native American veterans — including her grandfather — to fight for a country that considered them outsiders. Now, she has produced “Way of the Warrior,” a one-hour documentary that will air nationally on the PBS network in November, to explore these motivations.
  • Medical students in anatomy lab Clear about one thing: These medical students will become rural doctors Oct. 18, 2007
  • Dairy cows Study finds dairy farming a satisfying profession — on farms big and small Oct. 17, 2007 What type of dairy farmer would you expect to be more satisfied with life? One who owns a large confinement farm and milks hundreds of cows, or one who milks fewer than 100 cows and relies mostly on family labor? It turns out that both answers are right.
  • Tale from Planet Earth logo Festival to showcase environmental films in November Oct. 17, 2007 From travelogue-expedition films to the experimental avant-garde and the worlds of Walt Disney and Jacques Cousteau, cinema has been central to how we think about nature and the environment.
  • Harvesting switchgrass Researchers examine world’s potential to produce biodiesel Oct. 17, 2007 What do the countries of Thailand, Uruguay and Ghana have in common? They all could become leading producers of the emerging renewable fuel known as biodiesel, says a study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
  • Online program helps working nurses earn bachelors’ degrees Oct. 16, 2007 The BSN@Home program — a joint initiative of five UW System schools, including UW-Madison — provides nurses with associate degress the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree without disrupting work or family life.
  • Humic lake ecosystem Study of bacterial communities may provide climate-change clues Oct. 11, 2007 A multidisciplinary group of UW-Madison and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers is studying the composition of bacterial communities in humic lakes (bodies of water containing high levels of decaying organic matter) and how these microorganisms respond to changes in their environment.
  • A gene divided reveals details of natural selection Oct. 10, 2007 In a molecular tour de force, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have provided an exquisitely detailed picture of natural selection as it occurs at the genetic level.
  • Eric Kneuve Learning the ropes with Eric Knueve Oct. 9, 2007 Eric Knueve has been climbing trees and swinging from ropes for most of his professional life. As adviser for Adventure Learning Programs, a unit of the Student Organizations Office, he’s an expert in experiential education, a teaching philosophy involving learning by doing.
  • Health icon Primate study shows excess vitamin A can be stored during fetal development Oct. 8, 2007 A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study suggests that pregnant women who take some types of vitamin supplements or eat fortified foods may be passing excess vitamin A to their developing fetuses. Reported in the October issue of the Journal of Comparative Medicine, the finding could guide efforts to develop future formulations of vitamins.
  • Lab vials Researchers identify key step bird flu virus takes to spread readily in humans Oct. 5, 2007 Since it first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, the H5N1 avian flu virus has been slowly evolving into a pathogen better equipped to infect humans. The final form of the virus, biomedical researchers fear, will be a highly pathogenic strain of influenza that spreads easily among humans.
  • Photo of Greene Prairie Fight to save celebrated prairie continues Oct. 3, 2007 Students from UW–Madison’s general ecology class have joined Arboretum researchers and land managers in an ambitious five-year plan to subdue the spread of invasive reed canary grass in the UW Arboretum’s Greene Prairie.