Robert H. Burris, a noted University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemist, died on Tuesday, May 11 at the age of 96. He was one of the world’s preeminent authorities on nitrogen fixation.

The goal of MicroExplorers, the product of a broad University of Wisconsin-Madison collaboration, is to open the world of the very small to the very young. This is possible, asserts UW-Madison biochemistry professor Doug Weibel, because advances in plastic optics and the availability of cheap charge-coupled devices (the microelectronic heart of all digital imaging) have brought inexpensive high-end microscopy within reach of children.

For long-term survival, European bison need to live in large herds. But does the crowded continent have room? A wildlife research aims to find out.

A group of dairy policy specialists from Missouri and Wisconsin want the industry to remember that as debate ramps up on dairy provisions for the 2012 Farm Bill. So they have produced a pair of reports, one an overview, the other in-depth, on the benefits and unintended consequences of past dairy policies.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and UW-Extension Cooperative Extension are pleased to announce that Mark Stephenson has been named as the new Director of Dairy Policy Analysis.

Fungal disease has become an epidemic in Wisconsin forests since it first showed up in a stand of pines in Adams County in 1993.

With colony collapse disorder continuing to plague commercial beekeepers in many parts of the country, University of Wisconsin-Madison experts are studying whether native pollinators can supply the insect pollination needed to form many fruits.

A new study is the first to provide concrete evidence for a long-hypothesized system for generating animal color patterns, be they stripes, spots or any of the myriad designs animals use to camouflage themselves or find a mate.

Sean Carroll, a University of Wisconsin-Madison molecular biologist and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has been named the recipient of the 2010 Stephen Jay Gould Prize, an award given in recognition of exemplary efforts to advance public understanding of evolutionary science.

A University of Wiscosnin-Madison research team has developed a promising new chemical method to liberate the sugar molecules trapped inside inedible plant biomass, a key step in the creation of cellulosic biofuels.