In episode five, we focus on sustainable agriculture and how the food we eat impacts the environment. Instead of meeting with UW experts, we turn to students who are knowledgeable about food insecurity, gardening and farming and the connections between agriculture and climate change.
Lake Mendota had once been the home for swimming, sailing and fishing, among many other recreational and scenic activities. But since the discovery of zebra mussels in the lake by a limnology lab last fall, the lake’s environment has shifted, resulting in changed food sources for fish and less attractive experiences for water activities at the Memorial Union terrace on a summer day. Throughout the summer following the zebra mussel discovery, Lake Mendota had become completely invaded by the mussels, with amounts ranging from 10 zebra mussels per square meter to 60,000 in some areas of the lake, which has created an imbalanced ecosystem, resulting in many future changes to the lake’s ecology and aesthetics.
UW professors develop sensors to detect harmful materials: University of Wisconsin-Madison professors of chemical and biological engineering have recently developed new ways to detect explosives, pollutants and chemical disease markers.
Ecologists at University of Wisconsin-Madison led a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Oct 21, demanding Venus flytrap be recorded as an endangered species in accordance with the Endangered Species Act.
Sore arms and talks of a deadly infection flooded the campus last week, a result of students swarming the Southeast Recreational Facility to receive the first of two free meningococcal B vaccines offered by the university’s health services after three University of Wisconsin-Madison students fell ill this past month. Roughly 20,400 vaccines had been distributed with the help of nursing students, pharmacy students and other Dane County public health officials over the three week period spanning from Oct. 20 until Nov. 2.
Welcome back to Sciencecast: Climate Change Series! In our fourth episode, we talk with Dr. Sharon Dunwoody, professor emerita in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and focus on science communication and journalism.
What is herd immunity? Why do I cry when I laugh?
Every day, the Earth is bombarded by energy from a source more powerful than humanity could ever replicate: the sun. But this power is not so kind as to be easily harnessed. Even with the wealth of solar technology available and in development, problems persist. Sunlight is a fickle resource, unable to be collected at night or when the weather is cloudy. Because of this inconsistency in production, solar energy’s main sticking point is storage. If solar power can be stored efficiently when the sun is shining, it can be dispersed at any given time. Song Jin, a professor in the chemistry department at UW-Madison, is looking into this area.
In an office cluttered with monkey memorabilia —stuffed animals, posters and photos, books galore —Dr. Karen Strier smiled as she spoke about the species she holds close to her heart: the muriqui monkeys. Strier, the UW-Madison Vilas Research Professor and Irven DeVore Professor of Anthropology, however, has a new accomplishment to add to her list. Last August, she was chosen to be the president of the International Primatological Society.
Does smoking marijuana kill brain cells? Why is yawning so contagious?
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum has provided a natural home, full of rich resources and desirable terrain for the rusty-patched bumblebee, that was discovered at the Arboretum in 2010 and is now proposed for the Endangered Species List by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been focusing their resources at the Arboretum to study the rusty-patched bumblebee, which has become a rarity in places it was once abundant. “We didn’t know the rusty-patched bumblebee was here, originally,” Susan Carpenter, the native plant gardener at the UW-Madison Arboretum, said.
Thanks for tuning in again to Sciencecast: Climate Change Series! In our third episode, we talk with Dr. Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Friday’s Science Arcade Night, part of the annual 4-day Wisconsin Science Festival at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, was a wonderful fusion of science, technology, games and fun. Families, couples and students all enjoyed what the event had to offer. True to the event’s name, the ring of large, clunky arcade games was one of the first sights that greeted the festival goers when they walked in— a charming and vintage scene. Nearby, several science-related board games were set up, including a game integrating disease outbreak and Star Wars.
“Science in brief” is a new column featured in the Daily Cardinal. Highlighting other science stories not covered in full, “Science in brief” hopes to shed light on the plethora of research the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers. In brief this week: Rockd, Electron Beam Lithography and heart patches.
In a nearly packed Shannon Hall Monday night, Director of the National Parks Service Jonathan Jarvis took the stage as part of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies’ Jordahl Public Lands lecture to address the NPS centennial and recent sexual harassment allegations surrounding park employees.
Welcome back to Sciencecast: Climate Change Series! Twice a month, we will explore various facets of climate change through interviews with UW experts.
Friday afternoon’s conversation with Dr. Nadia Drake, the Fall 2016 UW-Madison Science Writer in Residence, began with an experiment in which a chemistry professor placed dry ice into six cylinders filled with colorful liquid. Waiting until the chemical reaction stopped, Drake went to the front and poured huge amounts of dry ice into a basin of hot water. Clouds of white fog came out of the container as condensed water vapor.
New research on the chemical composition of the ocean has shown that, 3.26 billion years ago, the continents were actually above water. This pieces together several other studies into a cohesive, big-picture idea of how the world once looked, according to Aaron Satkoski and his team of researchers who studied the chemical composition of erosion in the ocean back in 2013 in the Barite Valley, near Barberton, South Africa.
The stick hit the puck and the puck glided across the ice. As the blades on his skates did the same, Vaughn Kottler, a now junior at UW-Madison but an incoming high school junior at the time, scurried around the hockey rink at tryouts. Little did he know what was about to hit him. He was so fixated on the puck and his stick, doing his best to make the team, that he didn’t notice the other player and the side of the rink so close to him. Crash! His body—and head—hit the boards.
Introducing Sciencecast: Climate Change Series! Twice a month, we will explore various facets of climate change through interviews with UW experts.
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