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Warming up to cold emails: four tips to land a UW research opportunity

STEM Nobel Prize roundup

How plants wield knives, talk to each other

Termites in a warming world

Kemp Station: A hidden gem of scientific research

Driving north, away from the bustling streets of Madison and its cookie-cutter suburbs, is a window into Wisconsin's landscapes. The scenery along US-51 changes from city to suburb, from suburb to field. The vast plains of central Wisconsin give way to mixed forest as you drive through Wisconsin Dells and Stevens Point. Soon, the highway is engulfed in the beautiful pine forests of the northern highland.

IJTTN: Black Blister Beetles

Stem Club Spotlight: WEMP

Invasive species in colorful camouflage: what chameleons tell us about species dispersal

Invasive species are running amuck around the globe. In Wisconsin, invasive plants and non-native earthworms are changing the composition of our forests, while zebra and quagga mussels harm the ecosystem and economic value of our lakes. 

STEM Club Spotlight: Helios

A Sunny Future: WARF Project is Changing Solar Energy

'The Cosmic Perspective’ and learning with UW-Madison astronomers

Within a room in Sterling Hall, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a group of college students prepared for their first astronomy club meeting. More than 30 people showed up for the meeting, which was an introduction and trivia night. Members of the club said they had a curiosity as to what is beyond our home planet, Earth. It’s that curiosity of what is beyond the cosmos that led so many astronomers to recognize the cosmic perspective.

University study disproves eight-week mindfulness stress reduction claims

College and stress are ubiquitous. You'll be hard pressed to find anyone at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who hasn’t felt the crushing weight of stress from life, classes and current events. Mindfulness practices, such as yoga and mediation, are often touted as ways to relieve stress and anxiety. 

Landmark climate report says humans can and must stop burning fossil fuels

On April 4, hundreds of leading scientists published the third and final part of the latest authoritative assessment on the Earth’s changing climate. Taken together, the three parts of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report paint an ominous picture of the accelerating impacts of global heating on humans and nature. 

Entomophagy: Why We Should Eat Insects

In the words of Kevin Bachubar, owner of insect agriculture consulting firm Bachubar Consulting, “We’re fucked.” 

Spring Ephemerals: See them before they’re gone!

It seems unlikely that anything would grow early in the Wisconsin spring, when the temperature is just as likely to be 20 degrees as it is 70. But if there's water, sunlight and access to nutrients … life finds a way. 

Major Spotlight: Conservation Biology

In my freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison I, with many other STEM students, struggled through the CHEM 103/104 sequence (if you took 109, I don’t want to hear it). I spent hours and hours balancing equations, calculating pH, free energy and other things that I’ve already forgotten. Lecture, homework, exams, discussion… I dreaded almost every aspect of chemistry, but none so much as lab.

Say goodbye to winter blues: Sunnier skies are beneficial to your health

After a predictably cold and snowy Midwestern winter, there are few days more worth celebrating than the first sunny day of the year. For University of Wisconsin-Madison students especially, the sun emerges as a sign that the end of the semester is near, and with it, brings the promise of afternoons spent with friends at the Memorial Union Terrace, study sessions on picnic blankets on Bascom Hill and long walks along the Lakeshore path. 

SPACE NEWS: Protoplanet defies expectations

On April 4, 2022, NASA’s Hubble Telescope, launched in 1990, detected a Jupiter-like protoplanet, which is otherwise known as a swirling, massive ball of gas and matter thought to eventually become a planet. Dubbed AB Aurigae b due to its location in the Auriga constellation, this protoplanet is located about 531 light years away from the sun. For context, one light year is equivalent to about 9.5 trillion kilometers, which is nearly an incomprehensible distance. Hubble has detected countless celestial bodies situated at a further distance than this, including Earendel, a recently-spotted star some 12.9 billion light years away from the sun. However, what is particularly striking about AB Aurigae b is the potential implications of its discovery for understanding planetary formation.

I just think they're neat: Jelly fungi

In characteristic Wisconsin fashion, spring has sprung, and unsprung, and resprung, and then unsprung again and then re-resprung. Warmer weather is around the corner, and the snow has given way to not-so-gentle rain. The conditions are ideal…and now they are here. 

HRT, Assembly Bill 977

On Feb. 15, 2022, Assembly Bill 977 was introduced to the Wisconsin State Legislature by nine state representatives, and cosponsored by three state senators. Assembly Bill 977 proposed in the cold legal logic of political change that transgender and nonbinary kids under the age of 18 should be prohibited from any gender transition procedures and gender affirming medical care. Thankfully, this bill was left dead on the legislature floor March 15, but similar bills are on the rise across the country, including Missouri’s SB843, Tennessee's HB2835 and Arizona's HB2608. Gender affirming care, however, is critical for the health and livelihood of transgender youth.