Research
A Job for Batman
Dave Redell '99 lives in Madison — not Gotham City. He drives a Honda Civic — not the Batmobile. He wears jeans and plaid shirts — not a cape and cowl. Yet, many people think he's a Hollywood superhero.
"I'll show up at a farm with my assistant," he says, "and the landowner will automatically call us Batman and Robin."
The reason is simple: Redell, a researcher in the wildlife ecology department, studies bats. During the summer months, he spends his nights — like Batman — hunting nocturnal predators.
There are about one thousand species of bats, accounting for 20 percent of all mammal species, and they live throughout the world — except in high altitudes and the Arctic. About seven hundred species feast solely on insects, and each one of these insectivores can gobble up as many as six hundred mosquito-sized critters per hour. Seven types of bats glide through Wisconsin's night skies.
"I'll show up at a farm with my assistant," he says, "and the landowner will automatically call us Batman and Robin."
The reason is simple: Redell, a researcher in the wildlife ecology department, studies bats. During the summer months, he spends his nights — like Batman — hunting nocturnal predators.
There are about one thousand species of bats, accounting for 20 percent of all mammal species, and they live throughout the world — except in high altitudes and the Arctic. About seven hundred species feast solely on insects, and each one of these insectivores can gobble up as many as six hundred mosquito-sized critters per hour. Seven types of bats glide through Wisconsin's night skies.
Still, Redell says, "there's so much to be learned about bats."
One thing Redell doesn't know — but is working to find out — is just how many bats roost in the cracks and fissures of the Neda Mine, an abandoned iron ore mine north of Madison. During winter, the mine's four miles of tunnels harbor one of the Midwest's largest bat populations — although no one is sure how big that population is. Previous estimates have placed the number at between three hundred thousand and five hundred thousand bats.
From as early as August, the bats enter the mine, find the perfect spot, and just hang out (upside down, of course) until spring. During the night, they leave the mine to feed. "Some nights there are so many bats, you can feel their wings against your face," says Redell.
Knowing how many bats call Neda home could help conservationists and developers appreciate the significance of the habitat and help preserve it, Redell says. But counting bats isn't exactly like counting sheep.
One thing Redell doesn't know — but is working to find out — is just how many bats roost in the cracks and fissures of the Neda Mine, an abandoned iron ore mine north of Madison. During winter, the mine's four miles of tunnels harbor one of the Midwest's largest bat populations — although no one is sure how big that population is. Previous estimates have placed the number at between three hundred thousand and five hundred thousand bats.
From as early as August, the bats enter the mine, find the perfect spot, and just hang out (upside down, of course) until spring. During the night, they leave the mine to feed. "Some nights there are so many bats, you can feel their wings against your face," says Redell.
Knowing how many bats call Neda home could help conservationists and developers appreciate the significance of the habitat and help preserve it, Redell says. But counting bats isn't exactly like counting sheep.
Redell has developed technology to help keep tabs on the bats. At each of the four entrances, he has mounted detectors that shine two beams of infrared light across the opening, which tell him how many bats are coming or going. Preliminary measurements indicate that about 150,000 to 200,000 bats use the mine, but Redell thinks that this year's vigil will reveal more reliable estimates.
Even with his detectors at work, Redell still spends many nights up at the mine, working five to six hours in complete darkness. "From the sounds they make, you can tell whether they're feeding in the area or just cruising by," he says.
— Emily Carlson
Even with his detectors at work, Redell still spends many nights up at the mine, working five to six hours in complete darkness. "From the sounds they make, you can tell whether they're feeding in the area or just cruising by," he says.
— Emily Carlson
Bone Builders
During the past four decades, few biochemists anywhere have been as productive as Hector DeLuca MS'53, PhD'55. His work creating compounds of vitamin D — which has resulted in hundreds of patented inventions — has led some to suggest that the vitamin really should be called "D-Luca."
Now, the biochemistry professor has announced new work that may be his best yet. His laboratory has produced a new form of vitamin D that has been shown to grow bone, making it a possible treatment for the millions of women who suffer from osteoporosis.
The compound triggers significant new bone growth when fed to rats with a condition similar to osteoporosis, and while human treatments are likely years away, DeLuca calls the work "very promising. There's nothing like it on the market now. We think it could become a major actor, but we haven't done any experiments in people," he says.
- M.P.
Now, the biochemistry professor has announced new work that may be his best yet. His laboratory has produced a new form of vitamin D that has been shown to grow bone, making it a possible treatment for the millions of women who suffer from osteoporosis.
The compound triggers significant new bone growth when fed to rats with a condition similar to osteoporosis, and while human treatments are likely years away, DeLuca calls the work "very promising. There's nothing like it on the market now. We think it could become a major actor, but we haven't done any experiments in people," he says.
- M.P.
Diabetes Procedure Breaks Ground
For years — forty, to be exact — Dan Quigley has lived with the routine, cumbersome task of injecting insulin into his body two or three times a day. "For those of us with Type I [juvenile] diabetes, we know of no life without insulin," says the fifty-three-year-old Door County man.
Now life for Quigley has changed dramatically. In September, doctors at UW Hospital and Clinics performed Wisconsin's first pancreatic islet cell procedure on him. Diabetes causes the loss of pancreatic islet cells, rendering the body unable to control sugar levels within the blood. Only a handful of medical centers around the world have done the experimental surgery, which transplants insulin-releasing islet cells into a patient's liver.
The procedure marks "a big step forward for diabetes research in that it offers the potential to eliminate insulin injections and control blood sugar without major surgery," says Jon Odorico, the transplant surgeon who led the UW's team. He says that, by allowing tighter control over blood sugar, the procedure may help patients avoid long-term complications associated with diabetes.
— Karen Ingwell
Now life for Quigley has changed dramatically. In September, doctors at UW Hospital and Clinics performed Wisconsin's first pancreatic islet cell procedure on him. Diabetes causes the loss of pancreatic islet cells, rendering the body unable to control sugar levels within the blood. Only a handful of medical centers around the world have done the experimental surgery, which transplants insulin-releasing islet cells into a patient's liver.
The procedure marks "a big step forward for diabetes research in that it offers the potential to eliminate insulin injections and control blood sugar without major surgery," says Jon Odorico, the transplant surgeon who led the UW's team. He says that, by allowing tighter control over blood sugar, the procedure may help patients avoid long-term complications associated with diabetes.
— Karen Ingwell
Immune to Violence
New research suggests that about two-thirds of people have a type of genetic shield that may help them absorb traumatic experiences — so that when life hits hard, they can overcome the urge to hit back.
The findings — resulting from a nearly three-decades-long international research effort led by UW-Madison psychologists Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi — add to the growing body of evidence that genes play an important role in regulating behavior, leading some people into violent, antisocial lives, while others are able to find stability.
Moffitt and Caspi followed the lives of abused children as they entered adulthood, seeking to explain why children who suffer abuse are twice as likely as others to develop conduct problems later in life. Along with case histories, police records, and interviews, the researchers collected genetic samples from the subjects, looking specifically at a gene that controls the production of a brain enzyme known as monoamine oxidase A, or MAOA. That enzyme, Moffitt says, works like a cleaning crew, sopping up chemicals and helping to bring the brain back into normal balance. "We hypothesized that the role of the gene was to assist people in recovering their normal emotional status after a stressful experience," she says.
The findings — resulting from a nearly three-decades-long international research effort led by UW-Madison psychologists Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi — add to the growing body of evidence that genes play an important role in regulating behavior, leading some people into violent, antisocial lives, while others are able to find stability.
Moffitt and Caspi followed the lives of abused children as they entered adulthood, seeking to explain why children who suffer abuse are twice as likely as others to develop conduct problems later in life. Along with case histories, police records, and interviews, the researchers collected genetic samples from the subjects, looking specifically at a gene that controls the production of a brain enzyme known as monoamine oxidase A, or MAOA. That enzyme, Moffitt says, works like a cleaning crew, sopping up chemicals and helping to bring the brain back into normal balance. "We hypothesized that the role of the gene was to assist people in recovering their normal emotional status after a stressful experience," she says.
The results reveal a convincing conspiracy of genes and experience at play. A staggering 85 percent of the children who had both a history of severe mistreatment and genes that produced low amounts of MAOA became antisocial as adults — making them more than nine times as likely as their peers to engage in violence or have other conduct problems. Children with similar life histories, but genes producing high levels of MAOA, showed no such tendencies.
This isn't a case of finding a violence gene, researchers point out, noting that people with low levels of MAOA but no history of maltreatment are no more prone to violence than others. In fact, as many as one-third of people have the genetic variation that leads to low enzyme levels, and most of them do just fine. It's only the combination of factors that seems to set the course in motion,
Moffitt says.
Having the high-enzyme genotype, however, gives children a genetic advantage in overcoming the tribulations of the past. And that benefit may work in favor of others dealing with trauma, Moffitt adds.
This isn't a case of finding a violence gene, researchers point out, noting that people with low levels of MAOA but no history of maltreatment are no more prone to violence than others. In fact, as many as one-third of people have the genetic variation that leads to low enzyme levels, and most of them do just fine. It's only the combination of factors that seems to set the course in motion,
Moffitt says.
Having the high-enzyme genotype, however, gives children a genetic advantage in overcoming the tribulations of the past. And that benefit may work in favor of others dealing with trauma, Moffitt adds.
"It stands to reason that if a genetic variant has been maintained in the human population over many generations, it probably conveys some kind of shielding or protective effect against the vicissitudes of human experience," she says. "We do expect this to be a general rule of thumb that extends beyond the MAOA gene, to apply to other genes as well." The research team will soon begin to examine if genes have the same effect in mitigating depression or anxiety after traumatic experiences.
— Michael Penn
— Michael Penn
Pining for a Blaze
The towering red pines so prevalent in Minnesota's Boundary Waters are at risk, researchers say. The culprit is fire — not the presence of it, but the lack of it.
Fires swept through the area every fifty to one hundred years before settlers came in during the early 1900s. Now they are fought and extinguished, but that may signal the demise of the red pine. Fires reduce most vegetation to ash, but they also enable surviving red pines to reproduce. Without those periodic blazes, researchers say, the area's abundant groves could eventually vanish.
"Because of fire suppression, we're starting to lose them forever," says Robert Scheller MS'00, a forest ecologist who, along with professor David Mladenoff '73, MS'74, PhD'85, is using computer models to study how fire might help save the forest.
Many of the species, which live about three hundred years, are nearing the end of their lives, and few new trees are rooting up to replace them. "If full fire suppression continues," Scheller says, "the forest may never recover, and red pine may be lost as a locally dominant species."
— Emily Carlson
Fires swept through the area every fifty to one hundred years before settlers came in during the early 1900s. Now they are fought and extinguished, but that may signal the demise of the red pine. Fires reduce most vegetation to ash, but they also enable surviving red pines to reproduce. Without those periodic blazes, researchers say, the area's abundant groves could eventually vanish.
"Because of fire suppression, we're starting to lose them forever," says Robert Scheller MS'00, a forest ecologist who, along with professor David Mladenoff '73, MS'74, PhD'85, is using computer models to study how fire might help save the forest.
Many of the species, which live about three hundred years, are nearing the end of their lives, and few new trees are rooting up to replace them. "If full fire suppression continues," Scheller says, "the forest may never recover, and red pine may be lost as a locally dominant species."
— Emily Carlson
Map of the Worlds
UW-Madison researchers have transformed the world — to show how dramatically humans have done the same.
The September issue of National Geographic features a striking, pullout map of the Earth, which illustrates how much of the planet's surface has been given over to human activities such as farming and urbanization. That human footprint was traced by researchers Jonathan Foley PhD'93 and Navin Ramamkutty of UW-Madison's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. They provided data for the map, which also includes design work by student Billiana Leff. By evaluating historical records and satellite imagery, the researchers found that humans have "planted, grazed, paved, or built upon roughly 40 percent of the Earth's terrestrial surface."
— Terry Devitt '78, MA'85
The September issue of National Geographic features a striking, pullout map of the Earth, which illustrates how much of the planet's surface has been given over to human activities such as farming and urbanization. That human footprint was traced by researchers Jonathan Foley PhD'93 and Navin Ramamkutty of UW-Madison's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. They provided data for the map, which also includes design work by student Billiana Leff. By evaluating historical records and satellite imagery, the researchers found that humans have "planted, grazed, paved, or built upon roughly 40 percent of the Earth's terrestrial surface."
— Terry Devitt '78, MA'85
The Garden Grows
On thirty-one acres on Madison's north side, a serene view is taking shape. Nature trails weave through tangles of woodlands and among community garden plots spilling over with produce. A compact housing development has arisen, and a new research facility is operating.
There, the combined effort of multiple community groups and several UW-Madison researchers has created Troy Gardens, a young but flourishing experiment in land use.
Without those groups, the view might be very different. It could have looked like an office park.
When the state decided in the mid-nineties that it didn't need the fertile land adjacent to the Mendota Mental Health Clinic, residents of Madison's north side saw an opportunity. Many of them already unofficially maintained garden plots on the unused land, and a few had broad visions for how to make the space a permanent part of the neighborhood.
There, the combined effort of multiple community groups and several UW-Madison researchers has created Troy Gardens, a young but flourishing experiment in land use.
Without those groups, the view might be very different. It could have looked like an office park.
When the state decided in the mid-nineties that it didn't need the fertile land adjacent to the Mendota Mental Health Clinic, residents of Madison's north side saw an opportunity. Many of them already unofficially maintained garden plots on the unused land, and a few had broad visions for how to make the space a permanent part of the neighborhood.
Together with UW-Madison and city government, a coalition of community groups submitted a development concept, which led to full acquisition of the land and, most recently, a $493,603 grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to further the interaction between the community and the university.
The land features five acres of community gardens, a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm, and prairie and woodland restoration. There are also thirty units of affordable housing based on a Scandinavian model of co-op living.
The university's role in Troy Gardens has largely been reciprocal. The UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, for example, is conducting research on the land to determine the best organic soil amendments for its small farm and gardens. The goal is to create an organic model of sustainable urban agriculture, says Marcia Caton Campbell, a professor of urban and regional planning. "We're building infrastructure," she says, "both physical and human."
Representatives from UW-Madison sit on Troy Gardens's board of directors, which includes members of the community organizations, the neighborhood, and employees of the site. For more information on the project, visit www.madison.com/communities/troygdn/.
— Josh Orton x'04
The land features five acres of community gardens, a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm, and prairie and woodland restoration. There are also thirty units of affordable housing based on a Scandinavian model of co-op living.
The university's role in Troy Gardens has largely been reciprocal. The UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, for example, is conducting research on the land to determine the best organic soil amendments for its small farm and gardens. The goal is to create an organic model of sustainable urban agriculture, says Marcia Caton Campbell, a professor of urban and regional planning. "We're building infrastructure," she says, "both physical and human."
Representatives from UW-Madison sit on Troy Gardens's board of directors, which includes members of the community organizations, the neighborhood, and employees of the site. For more information on the project, visit www.madison.com/communities/troygdn/.
— Josh Orton x'04
Cool Tool - Speedy Seeds
How fast are Wisconsin's patented "Fast Plants"? Well, they can grow from a seed to a mature plant in as little as thirty-five days. They're grown in labs. They're grown in space. And they're all over schools.
The plants were developed at UW-Madison as a quick way to evaluate genetic alterations. They've grown — speedily, of course — to be incredibly versatile little tools, valued by researchers and teachers worldwide. Paul Williams PhD'62, a former professor of plant pathology who now runs the Fast Plants mini-industry, estimates that up to ten million students grow the plants each year, taking advantage of that quick life cycle to observe multiple plant generations within a semester. "They're very inexpensive, and they're very accessible," Williams says. And they're going fast.
— M.P.
The plants were developed at UW-Madison as a quick way to evaluate genetic alterations. They've grown — speedily, of course — to be incredibly versatile little tools, valued by researchers and teachers worldwide. Paul Williams PhD'62, a former professor of plant pathology who now runs the Fast Plants mini-industry, estimates that up to ten million students grow the plants each year, taking advantage of that quick life cycle to observe multiple plant generations within a semester. "They're very inexpensive, and they're very accessible," Williams says. And they're going fast.
— M.P.
Wisconsin Ideas
Scientists have learned how plants tell time. The secret is a gene that helps plants regulate their growth cycles and bloom at just the right moment. Researchers in the UW's biochemistry department traced the gene in a variety of Arabidopsis plants, and they haven't found similar genes anywhere outside the plant kingdom — suggesting that plants have an internal clock all their own.
Using atoms of silicon instead of ones and zeros, UW-Madison physicists have fashioned an early model of atomic memory, which may someday become the gold standard for computer storage of data. Using the fundamental particle to represent words and pictures could create a device with a million times the storage density of a CD-ROM.
While conventional wisdom seems to be that adding lanes makes for safer highways, it can actually do more good to narrow them, according to findings from Keith Knapp '88, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. Knapp's analysis shows that reducing from four lanes to three — with a shared turn lane — increases safety without diminishing traffic flow. Three-lane roads also cost less and conserve land, he says.
Using atoms of silicon instead of ones and zeros, UW-Madison physicists have fashioned an early model of atomic memory, which may someday become the gold standard for computer storage of data. Using the fundamental particle to represent words and pictures could create a device with a million times the storage density of a CD-ROM.
While conventional wisdom seems to be that adding lanes makes for safer highways, it can actually do more good to narrow them, according to findings from Keith Knapp '88, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. Knapp's analysis shows that reducing from four lanes to three — with a shared turn lane — increases safety without diminishing traffic flow. Three-lane roads also cost less and conserve land, he says.
