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A newly described type of chemistry in fungi is both surprisingly common and likely to involve highly reactive enzymes, two traits that make the genes involved useful signposts pointing to a potential treasure trove of biological compounds with medical and chemical applications. It was also nearly invisible to scientists until now.

A new study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that ticks can harbor transmissible amounts of the protein particle that causes chronic wasting disease (CWD), implicating the parasites as possible agents in the disease's spread between deer in Wisconsin. The findings were CWD is caused by a pathogenic agent called a prion, which can pass from deer to deer through contact with things like prion-contaminated soil and infected bodily fluids such as urine, saliva, blood and feces.

The Milky Way galaxy is an awe-inspiring feature of the night sky, dominating all wavelengths of light and viewable with the naked eye as a hazy band of stars stretching from horizon to horizon. Now, for the first time, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has produced an image of the Milky Way using neutrinos - tiny, ghostlike astronomical messengers.

Shear band formation is not typically a good sign in a material - the bands often appear before a material fractures or fails. But materials science and engineering researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that shear bands aren't always a negative; under the right conditions, they can improve the ductility, or the plasticity, of a material.

Using the power of prediction, University of Wisconsin-Madison mechanical engineers have quickly discovered several promising high-performance polymers out of a field of 8 million candidates. The aerospace, automobile and electronics industries use these polymers, known as polyimides, for a wide variety of applications because they have excellent mechanical and thermal properties - including strength, stiffness and heat resistance.

Some microbes in the guts of humans and mice may help control the buildup of plaque in arteries, the leading cause of cardiovascular disease, by gobbling up a group of inflammatory chemicals before they can circulate in the body. New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and collaborators around the world identified bacteria able to break down uric acid in the low-oxygen environment of the intestines and the specific genes that enable the process.

New observations and excavations in South African caves have found that  Homo naledi , an early human ancestor, intentionally buried their dead and made crosshatch engravings in the cave walls nearby. Fossils of  Homo naledi  were first discovered in these caves 10 years ago by a team of researchers led by paleoanthropologist  Lee Berger , now a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, with key participation by John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other UW-Madison researchers.

It may be easy to argue that cleaning up a river is inherently good, but it's far harder to put a monetary value on the outcome of a clean-up - especially when each person appreciates the condition and uses and expectations for a local or distant body of water in their own way. Measuring that value is important, though, as government agencies run cost-benefit calculations and consider how to best deploy limited resources.

It's a cold, wet day in 2015 and Anne Pringle is scouring the understory of a Northern California forest for the unassuming organism that has consumed her research for the last several years: the death cap mushroom, or Amanita phalloides. This fungus isn't the whimsical, polka-dotted toadstool of childhood cartoon nostalgia, but the fatally toxic mushroom that has invaded the North American West Coast.

A new antiviral compound designed and synthesized by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Pharmacy is highly effective in mice against two types of devastating encephalitis viruses that are harmful to humans. UW-Madison researchers developed the compound, a quinazolinone known as BDGR-49, in collaboration with cellular virologists at the University of Louisville and researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center who performed animal efficacy studies.

In an advance they consider a breakthrough in computational chemistry research, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical engineers have developed a model of how catalytic reactions work at the atomic scale. This understanding could allow engineers and chemists to develop more efficient catalysts and tune industrial processes - potentially with enormous energy savings, given that 90% of the products we encounter in our lives are produced, at least partially, via catalysis.

Unintentional weight loss in people with Down syndrome may predict the onset of Alzheimer's disease long before typical cognitive symptoms like memory loss and dementia are apparent. As many as 90% of people with Down syndrome experience Alzheimer's symptoms by the time they are 65, but brain changes associated with the disease appear decades earlier.

Gene therapies have the potential to treat neurological disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, but they face a common barrier - the blood-brain barrier. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a way to move therapies across the brain's protective membrane to deliver brain-wide therapy with a range of biological medications and treatments.

Approaching the 3-year anniversary of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many can attest to the mental health challenges that came with the sudden changes to everyday life as the disease took hold. In schools, teachers and support staff were forced to revamp lesson plans for virtual and hybrid learning environments, all while toggling between remote and in-person duties and supervising at-home learning.

Gene therapies have the potential to treat neurological disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, but they face a common barrier - the blood-brain barrier. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a way to move therapies across the brain's protective membrane to deliver brain-wide therapy with a range of biological medications and treatments.

A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin­-Madison has successfully combined genomics with machine learning in the quest to develop accessible tests that allow earlier detection of cancer. For many types of cancer, early detection can lead to better outcomes for patients. While scientists are developing new blood tests that analyze DNA to aid in earlier detection, these new technologies have limitations, including cost and sensitivity.

Three million people in the United States have had opioid use disorder, and another 1.5 million people have dealt with methamphetamine misuse within the last year alone. But two new groundbreaking clinical trials out of the UW Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances (TCRPS), housed within the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, aim to address these pressing issues with a promising psychoactive agent: psilocybin.

Retinal cells grown from stem cells can reach out and connect with neighbors, according to a new study, completing a "handshake" that may show the cells are ready for trials in humans with degenerative eye disorders. Over a decade ago, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a way to grow organized clusters of cells, called organoids, that resemble the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.

Developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers, a lightweight, ultra-shock-absorbing foam could vastly improve helmets designed to protect people from strong blows. The new material exhibits 18 times higher specific energy absorption than the foam currently used in U.S. military combat helmet liners, as well as having much greater strength and stiffness, which could allow it to provide improved impact protection.

While the physical differences between humans and non-human primates are quite distinct, a new study reveals their brains may be remarkably similar. And yet, the smallest changes may make big differences in developmental and psychiatric disorders. Understanding the molecular differences that make the human brain distinct can help researchers study disruptions in its development.