Humans have cultivated potatoes for millennia, but there has been great controversy about the ubiquitous vegetable’s origins. This week a team led by a USDA potato taxonomist stationed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has for the first time demonstrated a single origin in southern Peru for the cultivated potato.

Vibrantly colored creatures from the depths of the South Pacific harbor toxins that have the potential to act as powerful cancer drugs–and CALS biochemists have defined the structure of the toxins and provided basic understanding that can be used to synthesize pharmaceuticals.

Dane County, Wisconsin is home to more than 120,000 dairy cows and some of the most productive farmland in the state. It’s also home to some of the hottest house-building in the state, thanks to a thriving job market in and around Madison, the capital city. And it’s home to some thorny urban/rural problems, as dairy farmers try to manage manure in a countryside that’s filling up with houses and commuters.

The UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems has been selected by the EPA as a Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program Champion for 2005. This designation honors CIAS for its efforts to reduce pesticide risk through sustainable agricultural practices such as Integrated Pest Management and organic farming. CIAS also received this national honor in 2003.

A grant from the UW-Madison Graduate School’s Technology Transfer Program will fund a project that uses computer mapping and statistical modeling to identify likely habitat of the endangered Karner blue butterfly–which could help Wisconsin land managers save thousands of dollars on field surveys required to protect the rare insect.

As part of a capstone experience for her undergraduate degree, Katie Selin created a plan for environmentally friendly student housing and community space at the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College.

Spring rains may make flowers–and crops–grow, but when stormwater runs off fields it can carry topsoil, chemicals and nutrients such as phosphorus into rivers and streams. This spring, a University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist and his team will begin tests to understand the mechanisms of erosion by tracking sediment movement as well as the flow of water over fields.

The food is delicious, organic, and local-and it’s on the dinner menu at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The public as well as students are invited to partake in feasts served by the University Housing Dining Service Tuesday, April 19 and Thursday, April 21. Many of the food items featured on the menu will come from Wisconsin farms.

A new two-hour documentary movie about the century-long effort to find a balance between conservation, preservation and utilization of the nation’s forests and other natural resources will have its Madison premier Tuesday, April 12, at 7 p.m. in the Wisconsin Historical Society auditorium, 816 State Street, Madison. A Q&A discussion of the film will follow. Admission is free.

For the 25th and perhaps final year, a summer weekend course on walleye and musky fishing will be offered on Lake Tomahawk, a premier fishing lake in Oneida County. Participants stay in a beautiful log cabin lodge overlooking the lake.