Doug Tallamy, Professor, Entomology & Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, explains why providing native plants in your garden is an important food source for a healthy animal population. Tallamy discusses plant conservation scenarios in the tropics designed to provide food for endangered species.
Neil Binkley, Professor, Geriatrics, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, discusses the role of vitamin D in the development of osteoporosis and sarcopenia as we age. Binkley explores whether vitamin D is the fountain of youth and how much is enough.
David Kaplan, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, UW-Milwaukee, explains how stars die, what they leave behind and discusses the intriguing property of a recently discovered white dwarf star.
Chris Day, Faculty Associate, Laboratory of Genetics, UW-Madison explores ways plants interact with their world. Day discusses documented studies that allege that plants can see, touch, hear and taste and explores how plants achieve a “mindless mastery” in their environment.
Jeffrey Kahn, Professor, Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, and Eric Sandgren, Director, Research Animal Resources Center, UW-Madison, join moderator Russ Shafer-Landau, Chair, Department of Philosophy, UW-Madison, in a discussion of the ethics of using and then euthanizing baby monkeys to study the neurochemical reactions to anxiety and depression.
Nigel Cook, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine, UW-Madison, introduces the Dairyland Initiative, a UW School of Veterinary Medicine outreach program which provides guidelines on welfare-friendly dairy cattle housing. Farmers may access building assessments and other valuable information based on the latest research.
Hannah Carey, Professor, Department of Comparative Biosciences, UW-Madison explains what the UW Biotron Laboratory is and talks about the hibernation research taking place there. Carey focuses on what we can learn from hibernators and advantages to being cold.
Tracy Drier, Master Glassblower, Department of Chemistry, UW-Madison, discusses the history of glass and demonstrates some of the techniques he uses to create technically-tailored, made-to-order glassware for the Chemistry Department.
Claudio Gratton, Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, UW-Madison introduces midges and discusses their cyclic nature. These tiny insects that live mostly in the water link aquatic ecosystems to the land. Gratton’s research takes place at Lake Myvatn in northern Iceland.
William Karasov, Professor and Chair, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, UW- Madison, discusses how animals respond to environmental contaminants and to naturally existing toxins which may occur in the foods they eat. Additionally, Karasov reports on how animals respond to both man-made and natural environmental challenges.