Scott Walker Reflux

By Jeff Simpson


Because some things are so stupid and extreme they should never be forgotten.   This is one of them 

Walker said UW campuses might be able to tap into their reserves to offset the cuts, but he emphasized “it will make them do things that they have not traditionally done.”
“They might be able to make savings just by asking faculty and staff to consider teaching one more class per semester,” Walker told reporters Wednesday in Madison. “Things like that could have a tremendous impact on making sure that we preserve an affordable education for all of our UW campuses, and at the same time we maintain a high-quality education.”

Vince Sweeney, vice chancellor for university relations at UW-Madison, said the most recent survey data found UW-Madison faculty spend 50 to 70 hours per week teaching and supporting students, participating in research and other activities.
“It should be noted that many also bring in millions of dollars in grant funding that is a direct boost to the Wisconsin economy,” Sweeney said. “Many create their own companies, which go on to create state jobs. We value their work greatly.”

So this happened today:

UW-Madison scientists have grown human vocal cord tissue in a dish, which made sound when transplanted into voice boxes from cadaver dogs — a development that could lead to better treatments for people with voice disorders.
Such implants likely won't be ready for human testing for years. But recreating the tissue, known as a vocal fold, and showing it was functional in dog larynges and not rejected by a mouse model of the human immune system are significant steps, the researchers said.
“We never imagined that we would see the impressive level of function that we did — and that this engineered tissue, created with actual human vocal fold cells, would have such strong potential as a therapy," said Nathan Welham, a UW-Madison speech-language pathologist and leader of the research team.
The researchers reported their findings Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine

I hope anyone who has, or has a family member, with a disease that has benefited the last twenty years thanks to major advances in research, remembers this when they go to the polls next November.

 

We Need To Do Our Research!

By Jeff Simpson

When you allow the smartest among us, to do research,we have incredible breakthroughs and people(ie....you, me, our friends, family and neighbors) actually are able to beat diseases and live.

As seen on 60 minutes last night. researchers at Duke University, have started treating aggressive brain cancer with a version of the polio virus, and treating it successfully!

When we elect the people to govern us who are NOT the smartest among us, this is what we get:

In an interview last week, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker fired a shot across the bow of academe. Defending his proposal to cut $300 million over the next two years from the University of Wisconsin (UW) System, Walker opined, “Maybe it’s time for faculty and staff to start thinking about teaching more classes and doing more work.” 

Apparently the researchers who are busy in the lab doing research and saving lives and eradicating disease are not working.   I wonder what Scott Walker thinks a full day of work consists of?

Or this:

 In the wake of Republican victories at the polls last Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos opened another chapter in a contentious relationship with the University of Wisconsin System.

Vos said he wants university research to be geared toward helping the state's economy, "not on ancient mating habits of whatever."

Robin Vos will never be accused of understanding any topic he speaks to, but it is interesting that he speaks to helping the economy when research brings in a billion dollars a year and Robin Vos brings in failed marriages, forced ultrasounds and low wages.  

Gerrymandered districts or not, can we please STOP electing stupid people?

Robin Vos Is Not A Scholar!

 

By Jeff Simpson

Robin Vos and his campaign Co-Chair John Nygren held a press conference yesterday telling us of the extreme agenda they planned on ramming through WI.    One thing stood out:

Rep. John Nygren, a Marinette Republican, said during a news conference with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos that the request is a tough sell. He said he doesn't think the system should ask the Legislature to backfill a legislatively imposed tuition freeze
Vos, a Rochester Republican, said the system needs to ensure that instructors teach students and focus research efforts on how to grow the economy, not on, as he put it, "ancient mating habits of whatever."

garsh darn right Robin, who needs that edumactian anywaysemphasis mine)?

He began researching cancer and developing his vaccine during a summer internship at the Rush University Medical Center after his junior year of high school.
The Chicago native said his love for science sparked in fifth grade when his class began using microscopes. Since then, he jumped at every science-related opportunity he could.
“My whole principle is that you don’t build a whole wall in one day, you do it one brick at a time,” he said. “If I don’t cure cancer, as long as I inspire somebody and set up a stepping stone I’m satisfied with that.”
Stonewall, who majors in microbiology, said UW-Madison has fostered his scientific abilities due to the large emphasis it puts on research.