Congrats to Contest Winners, Cool Science Images

The 2012 winners of the "Cool Science Images Contest" have been announced. The contest, which was open to UW-Madison students, faculty and staff invited entries that depict objects or phenomena from any discipline in the sciences.

See the slide-show of winners and honorable mentions (as selected from a field of 82 submissions!)

2012 entries are to be incorporated into a slide-show to be featured on the media wall of the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery during the 2012 Wisconsin Science Festival. Images have also been posted to the Why Files site.

See the original press release.

The Loving of the Land (April 13)

Save the date for a benefit concert! UW-Madison’s Agroecology Master’s Program will present a "rousing night of class-grass music". What is "class-grass" you might ask? This concert fusion of bluegrass and classical music traditions will feature Graminy and The Blue Dog Consort (aka: faculty, staff and students in performance with band-mates). Proceeds from the concert will benefit graduate student research in sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Concert-goers will be welcomed to the event by Stephanie Elkins, Host of Simply Folk on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR).

Date: Friday, April 13
Time: Doors open at 7:00 PM; Show begins at 8:00 PM
Place: Mills Hall, (445 N. Park Street)

Ticket prices: $9.00 ($6.00 students) in advance; $12.00 ($9.00 student) at the door

For more information, visit the Agroecology Department Website.

Print a flyer.

Hoe, Hoe, Hoe!

Spring has apparently sprung--and the unnaturally high temperatures have had many green-thumbs assessing their gardening spaces and deciding what, and when best, to plant.

If you are similarly inclined to indulge this interest, come browse Steenbock’s gardening collections.

The library has books suitable for the novice and practical gardener as well as academic texts examining garden history and landscape design.

The library also has a collection of seed catalogs useful for recording ideas to particular garden products and locating suitable vendors. Current issues of these seed catalogs can be browsed in-house and are located on the first floor near the rear stacks and vending area (older copies are in filing cabinets).

To get you oriented to the stacks, you can generally find gardening books shelved in the vicinity of call numbers SB300…and SB400…on the first floor of the library.

Otherwise, do speak with our librarians to assist you with using the campus library catalog to determine specific titles and call numbers within your topics of interest.

Have your cake and read it, too!

Sink your teeth into a good book--an edible book, that is, with UW-Madison’s Annual Edible Book Festival! The festival, which is free and open to the public, will be held, Tuesday, April 10 from 4:30-6:30 PM (Memorial Library Commons, Room 460).

As part of the fun, the libraries encourage all aspiring "food artists", (bakers and book enthusiasts) to participate by crafting their own edible books. An edible book is an entry made of edible materials, with the subject pertaining to books in shape or content. In the past, those participating have worked with cake, Jell-O, cheese, matzo and more.

If you are interested in contributing an "edible book", please complete and return the application form found on the festival page.

The deadline for submitting this application form is Monday, April 2, 2012.

This event is sponsored by UW-Madison's Memorial Library and the Librarians’ Assembly.

Comments/questions? Please send e-mail to the Edible Book Festival Committee.

Lab Lit

What do you get when you infuse creative writing with lab culture of the micro-and-macroscopic kind? If you are suitably curious, then browse Lab Lit—intended for scientists and non-scientists alike—that, through fiction and non-fiction, looks to shed light on the world of science, scientists and their creative spaces—be that the research lab, library, office or anywhere that inspiration happens.

Lab Lit is edited by Dr. Jennifer Rohn, cell biologist with University College, London. She is also a part-time novelist and science communicator. The site welcomes material from interested readers and writers (see the guidelines for contributors). Be amazed and amused!