UW-Madison in the Media

A selection of media coverage about the university and its people.

• Nervous monkeys lend clues to childhood anxiety ABCNEWS.com Aug. 12, 2010 Scientists have identified two parts of the brain linked with severe anxiety in young monkeys, and they suspect these same areas may also play a role in children who develop anxiety disorders, offering new promise for treatment. Nervous monkeys in the study showed heightened brain activity in the amygdala and anterior hippocampus, a team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health reported on Wednesday in the journal Nature.
• Consumers find ways to spend less and find happiness New York Times Aug. 11, 2010 Quotes research by Thomas DeLeire, an associate professor of public affairs, population, health and economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
• Another risk for families dealing with autism spectrum disorder -- divorce Los Angeles Times Aug. 5, 2010 The researchers, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Georgia State University and Boston University, said they weren’t surprised that parents of ASD children were nearly twice as likely to divorce. Their results were in line with another study that found couples raising a child with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder were about twice as likely to split up compared to other couples.
• When do stents triple your risk of dying? Orlando Sentinel July 29, 2010  Quoted: “The results made us very convinced that you should not have a stent procedure if you’re symptomatic,” says Dr. K. Craig Kent, chair of surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
• Expert focus on fish and climate change BBC News Online July 29, 2010 Noted: Fish that specifically favour temperature cold water habitats are already showing signs of the struggle with climate change. John Magnuson, University of Wisconsin, says that cold water fish like trout and charr are affected. "We already have evidence that they are beginning to show poor performance and in many streams in the European and North American area, we have major declines in the abundance and distribution of these cold water species."
• Nike agrees to help laid-off workers in Honduras New York Times July 27, 2010 Facing pressure from universities and student groups, the apparel maker Nike announced on Monday that it would pay $1.54 million to help 1,800 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when two subcontractors closed their factories.
• Music review: A great pianist once more flies under the radar Los Angeles Times July 23, 2010 Christopher Taylor is the overpopulation pianist. He has a common name, which means he has a lot of company on Internet searches. His handful of obscure, independent recordings have such amateurish graphics that he would be easy to dismiss as a home hobbyist.
• Gray wolf comeback worries Midwest Christian Science Monitor July 22, 2010 Quoted: "Wolf recovery has seen a gradual expansion of what we’ve defined as wolf habitat," says Adrian Treves, an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "They’re starting to form breeding packs in areas where we didn’t think, 20 or 30 years ago, that they could."
• How to Spend Money So It Makes You Happy U.S. News and World Report July 22, 2010 Noted: By comparing consumption data from the national Health and Retirement Study, Thomas DeLeire of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ariel Kalil of the University of Chicago found that spending money on leisure activities, which include vacations, movie theater tickets, and hobbies, improve happiness levels. (Happiness was measured by asking respondents to describe how they felt about their lives.)
• A new type of tear-jerker BBC News Online July 16, 2010 Quoted: "In general, there’s some research to support the idea that going to the movies to ’have a good cry’ is a young person’s game - probably part of the developmental task of exploring intense feelings as well as a way to bond with your peers," says Prof Marie-Louise Mares, of the communication arts department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Scientists Quantify Global Warming's Threat to Public Health Scientific American July 13, 2010 There is, however, a silver lining: Tackling global warming is also a public health opportunity, said Jonathan Patz, director of global environmental health at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who also participated in the UCS briefing.
• Explicit teen tweets a clue for parents it may be time to talk sex: study Vancouver Sun May 3, 2010 Time for that dreaded sex talk with your teenager? A new study suggests the writing’s on their Facebook wall.
• David Bordwell, Film Historian, Focuses on Movie Blog New York Times April 26, 2010 Last Sunday the film historian David Bordwell watched movies from Spain, Denmark and Romania at the Wisconsin Film Festival here in Madison, where he has lived if rarely stayed still for four decades. He had just returned from the Hong Kong International Film Festival, after which he drove some 400 miles (and back) from Madison to Bloomington, Ind., to deliver a lecture.
• Will Bison Roam Europe's Mountains? Discovery News April 20, 2010 Quoted: "That’s not a large number, but it’s still a major success story in terms of conservation of wild animals," said Tobias Kuemmerle of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who led the new study.
• How Tackling Allergies Can Ease Asthma Suffering National Public Radio April 12, 2010 Quoted: "For the vast majority of children with asthma, allergies are a very important, if not the most important factor in causing symptoms and determining risk for hospitalizations and emergency room visits," says asthma expert Dr. William Busse of the University of Wisconsin.
• Underground cash economy thrives in Sacramento Contra Costa Times April 12, 2010 Quoted: As much as $2 trillion in income went unreported nationally in 2008 — about 24 percent of total adjusted gross income in the United States, said Edgar Feige, a University of Wisconsin economist and authority on the topic. That’s the highest level since World War II, he said.
• New questions about Kissinger role in 1970s Latin death plot Los Angeles Times April 12, 2010 Quoted: "I think the document reinforces what we already know -- that Kissinger wanted to downplay Condor," said Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of a 2007 book on Kissinger. "His primary concern was to maintain good and ... productive relationships with Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Condor was seen as an irritant."
• Organ donation isn't what it sounds like Wisconsin State Journal March 19, 2010 Walter Pridham didn’t so much sweep his future wife off her feet as bowl her over.It was 1952, and they were both singing in the choir at Pres House, the Presbyterian student chapel on the UW-Madison campus. He was 21 and in the Air Force, stationed at Truax Field in Madison. She was an 18-year-old nursing student. After practice one night, he came around a blind corner from the coat room and crashed into her. As he picked her up, he invited her to coffee, thus beginning their courtship. Pres House has rarely been far from their thoughts ever since. Now, 58 years later, the Pridhams have donated $72,000 to replace the pipe organ in the chapel. Of the total, $22,000 is an outright gift, and $50,000 is a matching grant, part of an effort to raise $125,000 for the Pres House music program.
• Taking the field for the Milwaukee Brewers Milwaukee Journal Sentinel March 22, 2010 Mike Boettcher grew up on his family’s 100-cow beef farm in Fairchild, so he’s used to working outdoors. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Boettcher had intended on a career in animal science. But on a whim, he decided to take a class in horticulture. Today, he is the landscape manager for the Milwaukee Brewers under head groundskeeper Gary Vanden Berg.
• Energy loan programs in state help spread out costs Milwaukee Journal Sentinel March 22, 2010 The idea behind the Milwaukee and Racine initiatives is the work of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy founder Joel Rogers, a MacArthur Fellow who’s also a leader of Emerald Cities Collaborative, a national initiative.
• Are neti pots on the nose? Los Angeles Times March 16, 2010 Quoted: Nasal rinses can be especially helpful for people who suffer from seasonal allergies or lingering sinus infections, says Dr. David Rabago, an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. "People say they feel better right away," he says.
• Grass Roots: Nuts about fruit trees? Get clicking for Madison March 16, 2010 Online voting starts today to win orchards for Madison. A grass roots group, Madison Fruit and Nuts, worked with city officials to get the okay to plant fruit trees in Madison parks and other local supporters of edible landscapes have mobilized to enter five local sites in the running. One is the Eagle Heights Garden on UW Campus.
• Even a 3-year-old knows power of a logo MSNBC.com March 10, 2010 Having the "right" brand of jeans or the latest gadget isn’t just an annoying trait of teenagers (not to mention their parents). New research found that even preschoolers are brand-conscious and can recognize kiddie brand logos and products." Children as young as three are feeling social pressure and understand that consumption of certain brands can help them through life," said lead researcher Anna McAlister of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Findings like this show us that we need to think about materialism developing in very young children."
• Despite what you may have heard, there's no boom in deafness Washington Post March 9, 2010 According to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in January, the odds of hearing loss are 31 percent lower, overall, for baby boomers than for their parents. "The study shows that the prevalence of hearing loss at any given age is getting lower with different generations -- that we’re retaining good hearing for longer than our parents and grandparents," says University of Wisconsin at Madison professor Karen Cruickshanks, a co-author of the study.
• Scientists Propose a More Efficient Way to Make Ethanol New York Times March 9, 2010 Ronald T. Raines and Joseph B. Binder of the University of Wisconsin are proposing a different way. In a paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they describe a process that uses an ionic liquid — a salt with a low melting point — in combination with water and acids at lower concentrations to produce fermentable sugars.
• University rankings smarten up Nature March 5, 2010 Every autumn, politicians, university administrators, funding offices and countless students wait impatiently for the World University Rankings produced by Britain’s Times Higher Education (THE) magazine. A position in the upper echelons of the THE ranking can influence policy-makers’ higher-education investments, determine which institutions attract the best researchers or students, and prompt universities to try to boost their ratings.
• Economy forces some medical schools to shrink classes USA Today March 5, 2010 Edward S. Salsberg, director of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Center for Workforce Studies, says he has seen some evidence of medical schools taking in fewer first-year students or slowing their planned growth rates. "It’s up to the individual schools to make decisions that work for them," he says. Public medical schools "have to go to their state legislatures to get support and we know state budgets aren’t in good condition in most states. "For the medical establishment, tight budgets and enrollment cuts couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Council on Graduate Medical Education estimated in 2005 that the United States would face a shortage of 85,000 to 96,000 physicians by 2020 unless medical schools were able to increase the number of new M.D.’s they graduate each year by several thousand. Other groups, too, project a physician shortage or at least the need to draw physicians to underserved regions and toward practicing high-demand specialties such as internal medicine and geriatrics.
• Why so fewer dead in Chile? Wisconsin Radio Network March 1, 2010 The devastation in Haiti from January’s earthquake was still fresh in our minds when another massive quake rocked Chile this weekend with an 8.8 magnitude.  UW-Madison Geophysics professor Clifford Thurber says in terms of size, Haiti was a “run-of-the-mill” 7.0 quake and Chile’s is among the top ten in the last century.
• Should We Clone Neanderthals? (Archaeology Magazine) Archaeology Magazine Feb. 23, 2010 Quoted: "There are humans today who are more different from each other in phenotype [physical characteristics]," says John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin. He has studied differences in the DNA of modern human populations to understand the rate of evolutionary change in Homo sapiens. Many of the differences between a Neanderthal clone and a modern human would be due to genetic changes our species has undergone since Neanderthals became extinct. "In the last 30,000 years we count about 2,500 to 3,000 events that resulted in positive functional changes [in the human genome]," says Hawks. Modern humans, he says, are as different from Homo sapiens who lived in the Neolithic period 10,000 years ago, as Neolithic people would have been from Neanderthals.
• Highlighting E-Readers Inside Higher Education Feb. 23, 2010 Even before Apple announced the iPad, higher-education technologists predicted that e-book readers were on the brink of becoming a common accessory among college students; last fall, two-thirds of campus CIOs said they believed e-readers would become an “important platform for instructional resources” within five years, according to the Campus Computing Project.