June 3, 2024
Video: Before they bite — UW researcher hones in on which scents, colors make us a tempting target for hungry mosquitoes
Jeffrey Riffell, a University of Washington professor of biology, wants to understand how female mosquitoes find find a host to bite for a bloody meal. His research has shown that hungry mosquitoes find us by following a trail of scent cues, including chemicals exuded by our skin and sweat, as well as the carbon dioxide gas we exhale with each breath. Mosquitoes also like colors, at least certain ones. His team is closing in on how the sense of smell and vision work together to help a mosquito zero in for the final strike and get her blood meal.
UW celebrates Class of 2024 as thousands march in events in Husky Stadium, the Tacoma Dome and T-Mobile Park
More than 7,000 UW graduates of the Class of 2024 plan to participate in the June 8 ceremony for UW Seattle. Officials expect about 40,000 family and friends to cheer the graduates from the Husky Stadium grandstands. UW Tacoma will hold its commencement June 7; UW Bothell’s graduation ceremonies are June 9. UW President Ana Mari Cauce will present 18,006 degrees to the Class of 2024 across all three UW campuses’ ceremonies.
May 23, 2024
AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd, by looking at them just once
A University of Washington team has developed an artificial intelligence system that lets someone wearing headphones look at a person speaking for three to five seconds to “enroll” them. The system then plays just the enrolled speaker’s voice in real time, even as the pair move around in noisy environments.
May 9, 2024
Navy Growler jet noise over Whidbey Island could impact 74,000 people’s health
As often as four days a week, Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island fly loops overhead as pilots practice touch-and-go landings. The noise is immense. New research from the University of Washington shows that the noise isn’t just disruptive — it presents a substantial risk to public health.
May 3, 2024
Video: Washington students learn about engineering at Discovery Days
This University of Washington College of Engineering event brings thousands of elementary and middle school students from all over Washington to campus to be engineers for a day.
March 8, 2024
Video: Predicting cherry tree bloom timing at the UW
Cherry trees on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus are waking up and getting ready to say hello. For the 29 iconic Yoshino cherry trees in the UW Quad, peak bloom will likely begin after March 20.
February 16, 2024
Video: Bringing stars back to the sea
Scientists at Friday Harbor Laboratories, a University of Washington facility in the San Juan Islands, are working to help sunflower stars — a type of sea star — grow and thrive once again after their populations along the West Coast were devastated by a mysterious disease called sea star wasting syndrome.
January 2, 2024
Video: UW Rorrer Lab seeks new life for plastic waste
At the University of Washington Rorrer Lab, Julie Rorrer, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is teaching students to explore ways to transform plastics into useful chemicals to make new plastic or fuel, shifting away from fossil fuel consumption and reducing waste plastics.
December 19, 2023
How will climate change affect how predators hunt prey? Two UW professors teamed up to find out
Two UW professors teamed up to study how climate change will affect predator-prey interactions in snowy landscapes. Together with a group of researchers, the two measured snow properties that led to a “danger zone,” where prey would sink but predators would not.
December 12, 2023
Holiday blahs? Why social connection, even talking to strangers, can help
Milla Titova, assistant teaching professor of psychology and director of the Happiness and Well-Being Lab at the UW, offers strategies for joy this holiday season.
November 20, 2023
New research aims to reduce fatal bird collisions on campus
A project in the UW College of Built Environments, led by researcher Judy Bowes, is examining how building architecture contributes to bird collisions, and the ways bird-safe glass and other designs can help address the problem.
October 23, 2023
Video: Familiar ingredients make Afghan Food Guide easy to swallow
Unfamiliar foods can get in the way of following a recommended diet. For the Afghan community seeking health care in the U.S., a nutrition handbook created by UW School of Public Health graduate student Priyasha Maharjan works to solve this problem, using Afghan food examples to educate patients and care providers on the nutritional content of their meals.
September 20, 2023
Video: UW welcomes students to campus as thousands move into residence halls
About 8,500 students, including 78% of this year’s freshman class, are expected to move into UW residence halls and apartments this week.
September 7, 2023
Video: New hives at UW Farm welcome us to ‘bee curious’
The UW Farm welcomed an addition this spring: two bee hives in an apiary on the south side of the Center for Urban Horticulture. The hives will serve as a teaching tool for students who want to know more about agriculture and the function of pollinators in the ecosystem.
June 8, 2023
Video: UW School of Drama lead costumer retires after 15 years
Inside Hutchinson Hall, home of the University of Washington School of Drama, students work at tables as they learn to assemble patterns based on costume designs. They’re surrounded by dress forms, bolts of cloth, sewing machines and costumes in progress. This is the Costume Shop, the domain of Val Mayse, master dressmaker for the School of Drama.
June 7, 2023
Video: UW Architecture’s bench project turns an idea into an experience
In UW Architecture’s Making and Meaning class, students built benches to learn about design and construction, and to create community.
May 15, 2023
Video: What to wear? UW Libraries explores age-old question
Around the world, people begin each day by deciding what clothes to put on their bodies. A yearlong exhibit in the Allen Library explores a history of clothing and fashion, featuring a rotating selection of prints, books and artwork inspired by dress from the early 19th century to the present.
April 27, 2023
Video: Tiny, fierce hummingbirds are also an evolutionary delight for UW, Burke researcher
Many of us are familiar with the hummingbirds that visit feeders, plants and gardens around us. But these small creatures are unusual in the ways they push the limits of biology, says Alejandro Rico-Guevara, UW assistant professor biology and curator of ornithology at the Burke Museum. He and his students study hummingbirds and other birds…
April 24, 2023
Awakening the canoe: UW Canoe Family prepares for this summer’s Tribal Canoe Journey
Member of the University of Washington Canoe Family have spent months carving traditional paddles using only hand tools, all in preparation for this summer’s Tribal Canoe Journey.
April 6, 2023
National and local leaders convene at UW for discussion of CHIPS and Science Act, investing in scientific discovery
Leaders from Washington higher education institutions met with national policymakers April 4 to discuss opportunities provided by the CHIPS and Science Act. U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene and National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan visited the University of Washington campus to talk about the legislation, which provides more than $100 billion to fund scientific research and…
March 15, 2023
Cherry blossoms get new visitors’ website, are on track for early April peak bloom
The cherry blossoms at the University of Washington campus are a seasonal tradition and celebration for the entire region. This year’s colder-than-usual spring is demanding a little more patience. Mark your calendars and plan your visit for a peak bloom expected in early April.
February 17, 2023
Video: Lummi Nation School students visit UW to talk to International Space Station astronaut
Students from the Lummi Nation School visited the University of Washington in earlh February for a real-time Q&A with astronaut Josh Cassada aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Cassada helped do space research on a plant science experiment the students sent to the ISS.
February 2, 2023
Hitting the snow with a new course on accessibility and disability justice
It’s ski season and cold sunny days fill outdoor enthusiasts with delight, but ski areas usually come with stairs, crowds and an infrastructure generally built for skiers and snowboarders who ride solo and on two legs.
Observing this winter activity through a lens of accessibility and disability justice is the point of a new class developed by UW Bothell associate teaching professor Jason Naranjo. His course, “Disability & Society — A Focus on Community and the Outdoors,” pairs UW students with skiers from Outdoors for All, an organization that provides adaptive outdoor activities for people who, for cognitive or physical reasons, can’t simply pop on skis and hit the slopes.
December 14, 2022
Video highlights: UW News in 2022
The year 2022 saw the UW community coming together again with in-person classes, events and fascinating research that make videographers excited to hit “record” and share these scenes with you.
December 2, 2022
‘Good manners are good economics’: UW’s Anthony Gill on the value of giving
University of Washington political science professor Anthony Gill explains the social and economic value of gift-giving — and how even unwanted gifts help promote trust and build relationships.
November 28, 2022
‘Everything that you need is already in you’: Supporting young women of color through the Sisterhood Initiative
The University of Washington’s new Sisterhood Initiative aims to support young women of color through a cohort-based program, building on the success of the UW’s Brotherhood Initiative, which focuses on young men of color.
October 27, 2022
Bats are everywhere, but they get special attention around Halloween
These nocturnal flying mammals live in cities and rural areas and in most climates around the world – and maybe even in your own backyard.
Sharlene Santana, a University of Washington professor of biology and curator of mammals at the Burke Museum, explains that there are over 1,400 species of bats spanning an incredible diversity.
October 13, 2022
Video: Finding — and keeping — the perfect fit for a prosthetic leg
University of Washington Professor Joan Sanders and her team are creating a new type of prosthetic leg: one that automatically adjusts its fit throughout the day. Their latest prototype detects in real time how well the prosthesis socket and amputation site are fitting and responds by automatically changing the size of the socket, without the need for adjustments to padding or user action.
September 26, 2022
UW’s incoming class, one of the university’s largest and most diverse, welcomed at New Student Convocation
The University of Washington on Sunday held its 39th annual New Student Convocation, which returned to Alaska Airlines Arena, Hec Edmundson Pavilion, for the first time since 2019.
September 21, 2022
Video: UW welcomes students back to campus with move-in days
The University of Washington’s campus again is bustling as students began moving into residence halls on Tuesday and will participate in annual fall activities for incoming undergraduates. About 10,000 students are expected to move into campus housing this week.
August 17, 2022
New UW Photonic Sensing Facility will use fiber-optic cables for seismic sensing, glaciology and more
A University of Washington pilot project is exploring the use of fiber-optic sensing for seismology, glaciology, and even urban monitoring. Funded in part with a $473,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Washington, the new UW Photonic Sensing Facility will use photons traveling through a fiber-optic cable to detect ground motions as small as 1 nanometer.
June 15, 2022
Video: Improvised Music Project Festival’s new format focuses on recording process
This year, the School of Music’s Improvised Music Project focused on audio recording, inviting acclaimed recording engineer David Boucher for a weeklong workshop. The new format allowed students and faculty to gain experience with UW’s new mobile recording system while teaching fundamental recording and audio skills.
May 26, 2022
Video: Alexes Harris draws attention to low representation of people of color in bone marrow registry
In 2016, Alexes Harris was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. But a search for a bone marrow donor turned up only five matches, and none ended up being a donor. People of color are underrepresented in the bone marrow registry; according to Be The Match, the nation’s largest bone marrow registry, white people have a 79% chance of finding a match. But a Black person’s potential match is only 29%, and Asian and Latinx people both have about a 47% chance. People of Native American ancestry have a 60% chance of finding a match.
May 24, 2022
Video: Experts collaborate to troubleshoot necessary fires and harmful smoke
Forest fire smoke can make you sick, and we’re experiencing more them. In terms of public health, it seems logical to reduce forest fires to limit unhealthy air pollution, but forest managers are increasingly seeing prescribed burning as an essential tool to reduce explosive wildfires. How should we plan to deal with the impacts of these fires?
April 1, 2022
Video: Rubbish is reborn as ‘Trash Art’ in unique contest
Bottle tops, face masks and dog hair — these are all items usually destined for the dumpster. But UW Recycling came up with a unique art contest that takes waste from garbage to gallery.
March 30, 2022
Video: New face mask guidance for UW’s 2022 spring quarter
With the start of spring quarter on March 28, face masks became optional — but still recommended — inside most UW facilities. In light of the policy change, UW News spoke with several experts about what to expect on campus, how the current science and transmission rates inform our policy, and emotions and feelings we may experience as a result of removing our face coverings.
December 17, 2021
Video: UW News 2021 highlights
As the year draws to a close, we present highlights from video stories produced by UW News during 2021 — a year where the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact our lives.
December 13, 2021
Video: Modeling how debris affects buildings during a tsunami
Researchers are modeling how tsunami debris pushes on a building — either by hitting it or getting lodged on it and creating a dam. They are also looking for patterns in the way floating debris moves around and against rigid shapes. The information may help in designing buildings in coastal communities that can better withstand damage by floating objects in tsunami events.
December 9, 2021
Video: Peer Health Educators help students meet life’s challenges
Who do you talk to when you have a problem? For a student, it’s most likely a friend. Because young people tend to talk first to someone in their peer group, UW’s LiveWell created a Peer Health Education program where trained students teach other students about taking care of themselves and each other.
November 22, 2021
Video: UW students build purifiers that can remove virus particles, other pollutants
A UW class that normally is about air pollution has pivoted to focus on another airborne health hazard — coronavirus aerosols. As part of the class project, students are designing and building air purifiers and testing how effective they are.
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