These experts from the UW–Madison faculty and staff have agreed to comment on breaking news, ongoing developments and trends in their areas of expertise. If you need help arranging interviews, email the Office of Strategic Communication.
Experts on today’s news
-
Nathaniel Chin on: Dementia risk rising in US population, new research says, doubling by 2060
A study published this week suggests the risk for developing dementia is higher than previously estimated, with projections doubling to about 1 million a year by 2060. More than 2 in 5 people over the age of 55 in the US – about 42% – are expected to develop dementia as they age.
Nathaniel Chin, MD, medical director and Clinical Core Co-Leader for the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), medical director for the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP), and host of the Wisconsin ADRC's podcast, "Dementia Matters," can speak to why this is happening, contributing factors, and what can be done to prevent dementia.
Previous interviews include:
-
“Up to 40 percent of dementia cases are preventable” - Wisconsin Public Radio (2024)
-
“Rethinking The Future of Dementia Care” / Science Friday (2023)
-
“6 Ways to Reduce Your Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease” - PBS-TV (2020)
-
-
Kathleen Bartzen Culver on: Implications of possible TikTok ban
Kathleen Culver is an expert on free expression, media ethics and social media. She is available to discuss the implications of a possible TikTok ban as the Supreme Court considers whether to allow a TikTok ban to take effect. She can discuss, among other things:
-
Implications of the Supreme Court’s decision for the media landscape
-
Tension between national security and freedom of expression
-
Unifying power of First Amendment cases bringing SCOTUS together across ideological lines
-
-
Lucas Graves on: Meta ending fact-checking in favor of community notes
As Mark Zuckerberg positions his company for a second Trump term, Meta is scrapping its third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with community notes written by users, similar to the model used by Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
Lucas Graves, professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and author of the book Deciding What's True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism, is an expert on new media and the evolution of the fact-checking movement who is discussing the development in the press:
- The Guardian — "Will the EU fight for the truth on Facebook and Instagram?" (guest essay, 1/13/25)
- Al Jazeera — "Meta's move to end fact-checking reflects turn toward freewheeling internet" (1/10/25)
