At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, research moves us forward. It improves people's health, supports industry, creates jobs, fosters entrepreneurship and inspires us to find wonder in our everyday lives.

This year, the UW research community faced uncertainty surrounding federal funding. But that didn't stop Badger researchers from inventing, discovering, and improving the lives of Wisconsinites and people around the world. They helped prevent the spread of bird flu in the state, provided hyper-local weather data to farmers, learned why bird sounds are so varied by region, unraveled the evolution of sea spiders to understand other species, and explored the origins of life on Earth.

As the semester winds down and we prepare for the new year, our research communicators selected some of their favorite stories from 2025, ranging from a dinosaur discovery to a game-changing clinical trial for kidney transplant patients.