February 18, 2020
Simple, fuel-efficient rocket engine could enable cheaper, lighter spacecraft
UW researchers have developed a mathematical model that describes how rotating detonation engines work.
February 13, 2020
Hydropower dams cool rivers in the Mekong River basin, satellites show
Using 30 years of satellite data, UW researchers discovered that within one year of the opening of a major dam in the Mekong River basin, downstream river temperatures during the dry season dropped by up to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C).
February 3, 2020
The one ring — to track your finger’s location
UW researchers have created AuraRing, a ring and wristband combination that can detect the precise location of someone’s index finger and continuously track hand movements.
January 22, 2020
What’s in Puget Sound? New technique casts a wide net for concerning chemicals
Using a new “non-targeted” approach, UW and UW Tacoma researchers screened samples from multiple regions of Puget Sound to look for potentially harmful compounds that might be present.
December 4, 2019
Warmer temperatures will increase arsenic levels in rice, study shows
UW researchers have found that warmer temperatures, at levels expected under most climate change projections, can lead to higher concentrations of arsenic in rice grains.
December 2, 2019
Carpentry Compiler helps woodworkers design objects that they can actually make
UW researchers have created Carpentry Compiler, a digital tool that allows users to design woodworking projects. Once a project is designed, the tool creates optimized fabrication instructions based on the materials and equipment a user has available.
November 20, 2019
Emissions from electricity generation lead to disproportionate number of premature deaths for some racial groups
UW researchers have found that air pollution from electricity generation emissions in 2014 led to about 16,000 premature deaths in the continental U.S. In many states, the majority of the health impacts came from emissions originating in other states.
November 4, 2019
Single discrimination events alter college students’ daily behavior
UW researchers aimed to understand both the prevalence of discrimination events and how these events affect college students in their daily lives. Over the course of two academic quarters, the team compared students’ self-reports of unfair treatment to passively tracked changes in daily activities, such as hours slept, steps taken or time spent on the phone.
October 29, 2019
Popular third-party genetic genealogy site is vulnerable to compromised data, impersonations
UW researchers have found that the third-party genealogy site GEDmatch is vulnerable to multiple kinds of security risks.
October 15, 2019
First smart speaker system that uses white noise to monitor infants’ breathing
UW researchers have developed a new smart speaker skill that lets a device use white noise to both soothe sleeping babies and monitor their breathing and movement.
October 7, 2019
How bike sharing in Seattle rose from the ashes of Pronto’s failure
University of Washington transportation researchers looked into why the docked bike-share program Pronto failed while dockless bike sharing has been so successful.
September 16, 2019
Americans would rather drive themselves to work than have an autonomous vehicle drive them, study says
Are you willing to ride in a driverless car? Researchers at the University of Washington studied how Americans’ perceived cost of commute time changes depending on who’s driving.
August 20, 2019
New tools to minimize risks in shared, augmented-reality environments
UW security researchers have created ShareAR, a toolkit that lets developers build collaborative and interactive features into AR apps without sacrificing their users’ privacy and security.
August 19, 2019
How ergonomic is your warehouse job? Soon, an app might be able to tell you
Researchers at the UW have used machine learning to develop a new system that can monitor factory and warehouse workers and tell them how ergonomic their jobs are in real time.
July 29, 2019
Stressed at school? Art therapy reduces teenage girls’ headaches
In a pilot study led by the UW, researchers explored art-based mindfulness activities that schools could use to reduce headaches, a common side effect of stress in adolescent girls. After three weeks of twice-weekly mindfulness and art therapy sessions, eight teenage girls reported experiencing significantly fewer headaches.
July 1, 2019
How you and your friends can play a video game together using only your minds
UW researchers created a method for two people help a third person solve a task using only their minds.
June 19, 2019
‘Alexa, monitor my heart’: Researchers develop first contactless cardiac arrest AI system for smart speakers
UW researchers have developed a new tool to monitor people for cardiac arrest while they’re asleep — all without touching them. The tool is essentially an app for a smart speaker or a smartphone that allows it to detect the signature sounds of cardiac arrest and call for help.
June 11, 2019
Behind the magic: Making moving photos a reality
UW researchers have figured out how to take a person from a 2D photo or a work of art and make them run, walk or jump out of the frame. The system also allows users to view the animation in three dimensions using augmented reality tools.
May 24, 2019
Origami-inspired materials could soften the blow for reusable spacecraft
University of Washington researchers used the paper folding art of origami to develop a novel solution to help reduce the forces associated with impact — like in car crashes, football helmets, landing spacecraft and more.
May 16, 2019
Children describe technology that gives them a sense of ambiguity as ‘creepy’
University of Washington researchers have defined for the first time what children mean when they say technology is “creepy.”
May 15, 2019
First smartphone app that can hear ear infections in children
Researchers at the UW have created a new smartphone app that can detect fluid behind the eardrum by simply using a piece of paper and the phone’s microphone and speaker.
April 29, 2019
Patterns of compulsive smartphone use suggest how to kick the habit
UW researchers conducted in-depth interviews to learn why we compulsively check our phones.
April 18, 2019
Project Sidewalk helps users map accessibility around Seattle, other cities
UW researchers have led the development of Project Sidewalk, an online crowdsourcing game that lets anyone with an internet connection use Google Street View to virtually explore neighborhoods and label curb ramps, missing or rough sidewalks, obstacles and more.
April 8, 2019
Water and wastewater disinfection can help prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, but what about their genes?
A UW team tested how well current water and wastewater disinfecting methods affect antibiotic resistance genes in bacterial DNA. While these methods work well to deter bacterial growth, they had varied success in either degrading or deactivating a representative antibiotic resistance gene.
March 13, 2019
New method to assess platelet health could help ER doctors
UW researchers have created a novel system that can measure platelet function within two minutes and can help doctors determine which trauma patients might need a blood transfusion upon being admitted to a hospital.
March 11, 2019
How to train your robot (to feed you dinner)
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a robotic system that can feed people who need someone to help them eat.
February 4, 2019
Early spring rain boosts methane from thawing permafrost by 30 percent
A UW-led team has found that early spring rainfall warms up a thawing permafrost bog in Alaska and promotes the growth of plants and methane-producing microbes.
January 23, 2019
First-of-its-kind center hosts tools to analyze the effects of natural disasters
A center housed at the University of Washington offers a new way for scientists to get their hands on state-of-the-art equipment to study the effects of natural disasters. The RAPID Facility, which is the first of its kind in the world, contains over 300 instruments that are available for researchers around the world to use.
January 9, 2019
First smartphone app to detect opioid overdose and its precursors
UW researchers have developed a smartphone app that uses sonar to monitor someone’s breathing rate and sense when an opioid overdose has occurred.
December 19, 2018
Researchers develop a new houseplant that can clean your home’s air
Researchers at the University of Washington have genetically modified a common houseplant to remove chloroform and benzene from the air around it.
December 13, 2018
Underwater sensors for monitoring sea life (and where to find them)
A UW team created a mechanical eye under the ocean’s surface that could live near renewable-energy sites and use a series of sensors to watch nearby animals. On Dec. 13, the researchers put the newest version of the AMP into the waters of Seattle’s Portage Bay for two weeks of preliminary testing before a more thorough analysis is conducted in Sequim, Washington.
December 11, 2018
Researchers create first sensor package that can ride aboard bees
Farmers can already use drones to soar over huge fields and monitor temperature, humidity or crop health. But these machines need so much power to fly that they can’t get very far without needing a charge. Now, engineers at the University of Washington have created a sensing system that is small enough to ride aboard a bumblebee.
November 28, 2018
UW-led philosophy team receives $1.5M grant to study the ethics of neurotechnology research
University of Washington researchers in the Center for Neurotechnology are studying how brain-computer interfaces affect whether patients feel they are in charge of their own actions.
October 25, 2018
Urban Freight Lab will help UPS evaluate its new e-bike delivery service in Seattle
UPS announced today that it will be pilot-testing deliveries with cargo e-bikes in downtown Seattle. This test is expected to last a year, and the University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab at the Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center will help UPS evaluate the study’s outcomes.
Creating curious robots: UW researchers get Honda grant to build a mathematical model of curiosity
The University of Washington will lead one of three teams that will partner with the Honda Research Institute to explore the mechanisms behind curiosity and seek advances in artificial cognition. The UW-led team will receive $2.7 million over the next three years to generate a mathematical model of curiosity.
October 12, 2018
Could parcel lockers in transit stations reduce traffic congestion in Seattle?
The University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab at the Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center has been looking for solutions to Seattle’s traffic congestion: Parcel lockers that aren’t owned by a specific company could alleviate the strain. Now the researchers have identified five viable locker locations at three different Seattle Link light rail stations for a future pilot test.
October 10, 2018
Prescience: Helping doctors predict the future
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a new machine-learning system, called Prescience, which uses input from patient charts and standard operating room sensors to predict the likelihood that a patient will develop hypoxemia — a condition when blood oxygen levels dip slightly below normal. Prescience also provides real-world explanations behind its predictions.
October 9, 2018
Researchers develop 3D printed objects that can track and store how they are used
Engineers at the University of Washington have developed 3D printed devices that can track and store their use — without using batteries or electronics. Instead, this system uses a method called backscatter, through which a device can share information by reflecting signals that have been transmitted to it with an antenna.
October 1, 2018
Engineering lecture series focuses on engineering for social good
This fall, the University of Washington’s annual engineering lecture series will feature three College of Engineering faculty whose research is accelerating positive impact here and around the world.
September 27, 2018
Lunar library to include photos, books stored in DNA
People who have submitted photos to the #MemoriesInDNA project have selected images of family members, favorite places and tasty food that will be preserved for years in the form of synthetic DNA. Now this collection will be headed to the final frontier: space.
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