Science - The Daily Cardinal

SCIENCE

Action Project: Interest in organic movement grows with technology

By Brita Larson | Apr. 21, 2014

The word “organic” is a buzzword in the whole foods/go natural movement. Prior to my interview with Erin Silva, associate director for the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, I had a narrow definition of what “organic” meant. I thought it was just food grown without pesticides typically found at places like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and the farmer’s market.

SCIENCE

Ask Ms. Scientist: endangered bananas and hibernation

By Corinne Thornton | Apr. 21, 2014

Dear Ms. Scientist,

SCIENCE

UW Study finds cause of canine tremors

By Catherine Steffel | Apr. 8, 2014

A team of researchers led by Ian Duncan, professor of neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, reported last November in the journal glia that they have found the genetic basis for canine tremor disorder. Their findings hold implications for dog owners, dog breeders, and families of individuals with certain disorders.

SCIENCE

Self-powered electronics may be the future

By Suma Samudrala | Apr. 8, 2014

Xudong Wang, an assistant professor of material science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a researcher in the field of nanogenerators, a technology that harvests mechanical or thermal energy into electricity. Wang was one of the early pioneers in the use of nanomaterials to harvest mechanical energy. While research on mechanical energy harvesting already existed, Wang helped advance nanomaterials for this application. While doing his post-doctorate at Georgia Institute of Technology, he developed the first nanogenerator.

SCIENCE

Ask Ms. Scientist: Runny Noses and Bird Maps

By Corinne Thornton | Apr. 8, 2014

Dear Ms. Scientist,

SCIENCE

The Oldest Known Piece of Earth

By Catherine Steffel | Apr. 2, 2014

“It started over beer in a meeting in China in 1998,” said professor John Valley. In Beijing that year, Valley met with Simon Wilde, who was able to provide him and a graduate student with what they needed: “the oldest oxygen on earth [that they] could find.”

SCIENCE

Holoflops could prevent parasites

By Suma Samudrala | Mar. 11, 2014

A prevalent health problem in the developing countries of the tropics and subtropics is helminth or parasitic worm transmission. Among the most common parasites is a hookworm or a nematode roundworm with hooked mouthparts known to cause tissue obstruction, anemia and infestation in the stomach.

SCIENCE

UW-Madison members part of South African dig strike fossil gold

By Paul Blazevich and Danielle Smith | Mar. 11, 2014

Participating in any archeological expedition requires a lot of skill and expertise in order for it to be successful. However, a dig that recently took place in northeastern South Africa had an especially unique qualification for any potential archeologists or excavators—the ability to squeeze through a tiny space called the International Postbox and repel down into a cavern named The Cradle of Humankind for its remarkable contents approximately 30 meters below.

SCIENCE

Ask Ms. Scientist: Shots of Absinthe and Different Tastes

By Molly Reppen and Corinne Thornton | Mar. 11, 2014

Dear Ms. Scientist,

SCIENCE

Poverty may influence brain growth

By Donald Radcliffe | Feb. 18, 2014

Poverty can cause a lot of challenges for a child. Parents in poverty tend to be out working most of the time, and they’re stressed by inconsistent income when they aren’t working. The social support network of parents tends to be smaller. Stress accumulates and indirectly passes down to the children. Children of poorly educated parents hear fewer words and tend to receive commands rather than questions. There are fewer books in poor households. Nutrition, hygeine and sleep can also be negatively affected by poverty.

SCIENCE

IceCube, 2013 breakthrough of the year, brings neutrinos to the fore

By Catherine Steffel | Feb. 18, 2014

Buried deep within one and a half miles of dark, clear Antarctic ice lies IceCube. After seven years of construction, the IceCube detector was completed in 2010: one cubic-kilometer of ice instrumented with over 5,000 optical sensors.

SCIENCE

Ask Ms. Scientist: Sticky Skirts and Coffee Schedules

By Corinne Thornton | Feb. 18, 2014

Dear Ms. Scientist,

CAMPUS NEWS

UW-Madison senior Joshua Shutter receives Churchill Scholarship

By Daniella Emanuel | Feb. 5, 2014

University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Joshua Shutter is one of 14 students in the nation in 2014 to receive the Churchill Scholarship for his research in chemistry.

SCIENCE

Touchscreens may do more for toddlers

By Hamdi Hamzah | Feb. 4, 2014

“Sesame Street.” “Blue’s Clues.” “Dora the Explorer.” These television programs aim to teach children by providing an early exposure to learning. As effective as they are in increasing a child’s ability to learn, interacting with the screen media has proven to be a better way to educate children at the age of two to three years old—a finding reported by Dr. Heather Kirkorian, a researcher at University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology.

SCIENCE

Sustainability is becoming a more prominent theme for UW Housing

By By Ethan Safran and Brita Larson | Feb. 4, 2014

When I decided to write about UW’s Housing sustainability projects, I didn’t expect to get a two for one during my interview, but indeed that is what I got. The program manager for sustainability is a brand new position in the housing department, acting as a testament to the importance of sustainability on this campus, and Laura Shere is the first person to hold this esteemed title.

SCIENCE

Ask Ms. Scientist: Icy Bridges and Vaccines

By Corinne Thornton | Feb. 4, 2014

Dear Ms. Scientist,

SCIENCE

UW works to understand cosmos

By Suma Samudrala | Feb. 4, 2014

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is home to the Plasma dynamo experiment led by physics professor Cary Forest and his colleagues. This experiment has been designed to study plasma physics, which is the study of plasma state of matter. Plasma is a matter different from solids, liquids and normal gases in that it is a highly ionized gas composed of ions, electrons and neutral particles.

SCIENCE

Monkeys may be future model for Ritalin-ADHD studies

By Donald Radcliffe | Jan. 20, 2014

Impulsivity —a tendency to act without forethought—is one of the defining characteristics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. Impulsive people struggle with waiting for rewards, or taking delayed gratification. Thus, they have trouble successfully setting and achieving long-term goals.

SCIENCE

Tracking may help raptor rehabilitation

By Danielle Smith | Jan. 20, 2014

Dane County Humane Society is a non-profit organization with a mission to help both animals and people to learn how to assist animals in need. Seven thousand animals of many species, shapes and sizes enter the doors of Dane Country Humane Society every year. They provide wildlife rehabilitation, stray animal holding, adoption service and spay and neutering services to animals from the southern Wisconsin area.

SCIENCE

UW students train computers to play angry birds

By Suma Samudrala | Dec. 9, 2013

Artificial Intelligence is defined as the ability for a machine such as a computer to perform functions analogous to learning and decision making. This past summer undergraduates Anjali Narayan-Chen and Liqi Xu taught the computer how to play Angry Birds. Angry birds is a popular game where using a slingshot, the player shoots wingless birds to kill pigs. And like other games, there are several levels of difficulty, different sizes and colors of birds, and different obstacles. With each game, new birds and special abilities can be activated by the player.