Science

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Service & Advocacy

Physics MuseumFall 2017

Above and below: Students from the Milwaukee Excellence Charter School explored hands-on exhibits during a tour of the L. R. Ingersoll Physics Museum this spring.

“I was always a tinkerer,” Steve Narf explains from his Chamberlin Hall workshop lined with towering cabinets, each one stuffed with an…

Science & Technology

Power WalkingSummer 2017

Spencer Walts

The next renewable energy source could be right underfoot. A group of UW–Madison engineers has developed an inexpensive method to convert footsteps into electricity using wood pulp and nanofibers incorporated into flooring. It marks the latest advance in “roadside energy harvesting” — green…

Teaching & Learning

Lake Laboratory

Dawn patrol on Lake Mendota: Carolyn Voter PhDx’18 (right) and Alexandra Linz ’13, PhDx’18 collect water samples before sunrise. The work was part of a 44-hour limnology experiment that took place in July 2016 and examined how light affects bacteria and carbon exchange.

Photo by Jeff Miller

International

Planet IceCubeWinter 2016

This eerie, moonlit setting looks like it could be on another planet, but it’s right here on Earth. At the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, UW–Madison operates the world’s biggest telescope, buried deep in the ice, and detects tiny particles that could help unravel how the universe was made.

Environment & Climate

Mammoth IslandWinter 2016

Aunt_Spray/ISTOCK

By ten thousand years ago, woolly mammoths had gone extinct from mainland Asia and North America. But a population of island-dwelling mammoths survived on a remnant piece of land once part of the Bering Strait land bridge.

UW geography professor Jack Williams and…

Science & Technology

Pokémon Who?Winter 2016

George Clerk/ISTOCK

Even if you didn’t spend the summer desperately seeking a Dratini, you’ve surely heard of Pokémon Go, the augmented-reality game that captured audiences when it was released in July. As reviews came in, there was overarching praise for the physical nature…

Campus History

Grain of TruthWinter 2016

A UW wood scientist became the star witness in a trial that captivated the nation, garnering comparisons to Sherlock Holmes for his role in solving the Lindbergh-baby kidnapping case.

Science & Technology

Eat Your VegetablesFall 2016

Award-winning chef Tory Miller (right) is part of a new UW program that links breeders and growers with top Madison chefs.

For farmers who sell vegetables directly to consumers, disease resistance and high yield are often the top priorities when choosing varieties, but a UW…

Health & Medicine

That’s RuffFall 2016

Apart from being quadrupedal, furry, and commonly found on your couch, cats and dogs have little in common. But the two species share one more — much less fortunate — trait: both can contract canine influenza.

Sandra Newbury DVM’03, clinical assistant professor and director of the UW School of…

Environment & Climate

Plant Family TreeFall 2016

Sequencing the DNA of every plant in Wisconsin is a daunting task, but a UW team recently accomplished just that. After four years, the project has now gathered information for some 2,600 species — from the most primitive fern to the most advanced flowering plants, plus conifers, birch trees,…

Science & Technology

Horsepower vs. HearingSummer 2016

Tractor image, Shutterstock; all other images, IStock; photo illustration by Nancy Rinehart

Growing up on a dairy farm in Viroqua, Wisconsin, Melanie Buhr-Lawler ’00 heard her dad’s tractors and other loud equipment every day. Now, as a clinical associate professor of audiology at UW–Madison,…