How to take in the solar eclipse: Tips from UW Space Place

On Monday, Aug. 21, for the first time in almost 100 years, a total solar eclipse will sweep across the United States from coast to coast, bathing the country in the moon’s shadow and providing a unique view of the sun — as long as the clouds stay away. The effects of the partial eclipse in Wisconsin will be subtle, but worth watching nonetheless.

Read More »

In words and glass, collaboration unlocks birth of modern chemistry

In an interdisciplinary collaboration, historian of science Catherine Jackson and scientific glassblower Tracy Drier are delving into the foundations of modern chemistry and its reliance on specialized glassware. Through historical research and the re-creation of iconic glass apparatus, Jackson and Drier aim to uncover the beginnings of Drier’s profession and its contribution to the field of chemistry as it matured in the 19th century.

Read More »

Longtime botany greenhouse director Mo Fayyaz to retire

When the Iranian government offered Mo Fayyaz a full scholarship to study horticulture abroad, a simple oversight meant the University of Wisconsin–Madison was not his top choice. “I didn’t even know there was a state called Wisconsin,” laughs Fayyaz, who is retiring in August after 33 years as the distinguished director of the botany department greenhouse and botanical gardens.

Read More »

Peanut family secret for making chemical building blocks revealed

As you bite into your next peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chew on this: The peanut you’re eating has a secret. It’s a subtle one. The peanut and its kin — legumes — have not one, but two ways to make the amino acid tyrosine, one of the 20 required to make all of its proteins, and an essential human nutrient.

Read More »

Rediscovered mosses document changing Wisconsin landscape

The Wisconsin State Herbarium at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has discovered a collection of more than 2,000 mosses from the turn of the 20th century, lost to time in a cabinet inside Birge Hall, where the herbarium is housed.

Read More »

Cultural value of natural world doesn’t depend only on species diversity

What is the value of a sunset overlooking a wildflower field in the Appalachian Mountains?Or of ice skating on a frozen lake in central Wisconsin? The natural world might most often be counted and measured through the resources we extract from it, or the intrinsic worth of biodiversity itself. But Ph.D. student Rose Graves has focused her research on uncovering a hidden value — people’s cultural ties to a landscape.

Read More »

L&S Communications

South Hall, Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706
info@ls.wisc.edu