Stories indexed under: College of Letters & Science

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  • Gifts establish ‘best ever’ UW-Madison music scholarships Dec. 18, 2007 Glen A. Skillrud and Winifred Skillrud of San Antonio, Texas, have made gifts to establish what are being called the two best undergraduate scholarships in the history of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
  • Photo of glass of water Arsenic contamination lacks one-size-fits-all remedy Dec. 10, 2007 Though a worldwide problem, arsenic contamination of drinking water does not have a universal solution, recent work by UW-Madison researchers has shown.
  • Waterborne carbon increases threat of environmental mercury Dec. 10, 2007 Mercury is a potent neurotoxin and a worrisome environmental contaminant, but the severity of its threat appears to depend on what else is in the water, researchers at UW-Madison have found.
  • Photo of skull Genome study places modern humans in the evolutionary fast lane Dec. 10, 2007 Countering a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a new study by UW-Madison researchers examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change.
  • Cover of Narayan's book Family, memories at core of anthropologist’s new book Dec. 5, 2007 A UW-Madison anthropologist first decided to write a book about her family when she was 10 years old, a decision she made while growing up in Bombay, the child of an American mother and an Indian father.
  • Still frame crop from plan cell growth video What lies beneath: Growth of root cells remarkably dynamic, study finds Dec. 3, 2007 A new UW-Madison study, publishing online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that certain plant cells pulse as they grow.
  • Satellite image of Hurrican Floyd Recipe for a storm: The ingredients for more powerful Atlantic hurricanes Nov. 29, 2007 As the world warms, the interaction between the Atlantic Ocean and atmosphere may be the recipe for stronger, more frequent hurricanes.
  • Portion of cover from the book Beowulf’s world comes to life in new book Nov. 14, 2007 A new Hollywood film opening in theaters Friday, Nov. 16, employs special effects wizardry to tell the story of Beowulf, but a just-released illustrated edition of the epic tale from a UW-Madison English professor comes much closer to showing us the world where the action takes place.
  • Photo of Julie Mitchell Bridging the divide between math and biology Nov. 14, 2007 As a mathematician who has navigated the field of biology for nearly a decade, mathematics professor Julie Mitchell has some sage advice for those who choose to follow. Never hesitate to ask a “dumb” question. Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something. Meanwhile, show some bravado.
  • Photo of Chikyu Deep-sea drilling expedition off Japan seeks earthquake, tsunami causes Nov. 12, 2007 Harold Tobin is interested in deep scientific questions, whose answers lie thousands of meters underwater. The UW-Madison geologist studies deep oceanic earthquake faults, which extend miles into the Earth’s crust below the seafloor, to learn what causes earthquakes and tsunamis.
  • Tool-wielding chimps provide a glimpse of early human behavior Nov. 12, 2007 Chimpanzees inhabiting a harsh savanna environment and using bark and stick tools to exploit an underground food resource are giving scientists new insights to the behaviors of the earliest hominids who, millions of years ago, left the African forests to range the same kinds of environments and possibly utilize the same foods.
  • Computer scientist forges new line of defense against malicious traffic Nov. 5, 2007 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.
  • 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.
  • Video editing New classes explore environmental film’s mobilizing power Oct. 31, 2007 Gregg Mitman believes in the power of a well-told story. This semester the professor of history of science is teaching two new courses on the environment from a cinematic perspective: a class on environmental film in history and a hands-on production class in documentary storytelling.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Illustration of children's hand prints Training program readies social workers for the field Sept. 25, 2007 For the right person, it's the best job in the world. That's the inspiration for a UW-Madison training program that covers the cost of a master's degree for social work students who commit to working in Wisconsin's public child welfare system for one or two years.
  • Photo of frog Study: Nutrient pollution drives frog deformities Sept. 25, 2007 High levels of nutrients used in farming and ranching activities fuel parasite infections that have caused highly publicized frog deformities in ponds and lakes across North America, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
  • Portion of book cover New book looks at public perception and media treatment of GMOs Sept. 24, 2007 Although the vast majority of Americans are blithely unaware, the United States and its system of food production is irreversibly hitched to modern biotechnology. In short, most people unwittingly and regularly consume food that was produced through genetic engineering.
  • Photo of Kleinhenz Professor finds the modern in the medieval Sept. 19, 2007 Chris Kleinhenz retired from the Department of French and Italian after nearly 40 years of leading students through Dante’s “Divine Comedy’” — including Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise — and showing them why the medieval text matters.