I&D

• Long-term lake study suggests ecological mechanism may control destructive crayfish Nov. 4, 2010 Just a few years ago, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's research station in Boulder Junction, Wis., were growing sick of a crustacean delicacy - the rusty crayfish. Roughly 90,000 of the animals had been caught during an intensive trapping program at the nearby Sparkling Lake.
• Online map allows visitors, naturalists to share Arboretum experience Nov. 1, 2010 If the UW Arboretum were just a pretty place to take a walk, its new Interactive Map wouldn't need much more than crisscrossing trails, grey blobs for parking lots and symbols marking the restrooms.
• Expanding croplands chipping away at world’s carbon stocks Nov. 1, 2010 Nature's capacity to store carbon, the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the world's farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests.
• New technique shows 50-year history of toxic algae in Lake Wingra Oct. 28, 2010 As public health officials worry about rising concentrations of cyanobacteria - often called blue-green algae - in lakes, scientists are concerned that a warming climate will stimulate the growth of cyanobacteria.
• Tracing the ‘blurry line’ between hospital and at-home care Oct. 26, 2010 When patients come home from the hospital after major surgery or a transplant, they often are not well enough to care for themselves, and more importantly, have complex medical needs that need to be monitored by others.
• Study: Mountain vegetation impacted by climate change Oct. 25, 2010 Climate change has had a significant effect on mountain vegetation at low elevations in the past 60 years, according to a study done by the University of California at Davis, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and U.S. Geological Survey.
• Common anxiety disorders make it tougher to quit cigarettes Oct. 25, 2010 Researchers may have pinpointed a reason many smokers struggle to quit.
• Invasive shrubs increase spread of tick-borne disease Oct. 11, 2010 For a hungry tick, bush honeysuckle is as good as a drive-through.
• Major grant aims at breaking the habit of implicit bias Oct. 11, 2010 A University of Wisconsin-Madison doctor who has long worked to increase the entry of women into the scientific workforce has won a grant to develop video games to uncover and neutralize implicit, unintentional biases against women, minorities and people with disabilities.
• Large study shows females are equal to males in math skills Oct. 11, 2010 The mathematical skills of boys and girls, as well as men and women, are substantially equal, according to a new examination of existing studies in the current online edition of journal Psychological Bulletin.
• In Wisconsin, 75 percent of economic benefit of Bt corn goes to farmers who don’t plant it Oct. 7, 2010 Widespread planting of genetically modified Bt corn throughout the Upper Midwest has suppressed populations of the European corn borer, a major insect pest of corn, with the majority of the economic benefits going to growers who do not plant Bt corn, reports a multistate team of scientists in the Oct. 8 edition of the journal Science.
• UW-Madison research expenditures top the $1 billion mark Oct. 7, 2010 For the first time, annual research expenditures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have surpassed the $1 billion milestone.
• Bioenergy choices could dramatically change Midwest bird diversity Oct. 4, 2010 Ambitious plans to expand acreage of bioenergy crops could have a major impact on birds in the Upper Midwest, according to a study published today (Oct. 4) in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
• For first time, monkeys recognize themselves in the mirror, indicating self-awareness Sept. 29, 2010 Typically, monkeys don't know what to make of a mirror. They may ignore it or interpret their reflection as another, invading monkey, but they don't recognize the reflection as their own image. Chimpanzees and people pass this "mark" test - they obviously recognize their own reflection and make funny faces, look at a temporary mark that the scientists have placed on their face or wonder how they got so old and grey.
• Report casts world’s rivers in ‘crisis state’ Sept. 29, 2010 The world's rivers, the single largest renewable water resource for humans and a crucible of aquatic biodiversity, are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis.
• Researchers discover less-expensive low-temperature catalyst for hydrogen purification Sept. 23, 2010 Engineering researchers from Tufts University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Harvard University have demonstrated the low-temperature efficacy of an atomically dispersed platinum catalyst, which could be suitable for on-board hydrogen production in fuel-cell-powered vehicles of the future.
• Coming to a device near you: A safer, faster Internet Sept. 16, 2010 Like an aging bridge, the Internet is groaning under the weight of traffic that is growing by leaps and bounds and changing form under constant innovation.
• UW-Madison student mixes passions for science, dancing Sept. 15, 2010 UW-Madison junior Jeffrey Vinokur is passionate about two things: chemistry and a style of hip-hop dancing called "popping."
• Plants give up some deep secrets of drought resistance Aug. 23, 2010 In a study that promises to fill in the fine details of the plant world's blueprint for surviving drought, a team of Wisconsin researchers has identified in living plants the set of proteins that help them withstand water stress.
• Renewed partnership keeps $60 million satellite center in Madison Aug. 20, 2010 It was a deep history in satellite meteorology that first got the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration interested in Madison in the 1970s.