Archive

February 4, 2008

Screening for domestic violence woefully weak in welfare offices

Even though federal welfare-reform legislation calls for case workers to screen for domestic violence and most states have agreed to implement this requirement, just 9 percent of women applying for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families were screened for domestic violence, according to data from a University of Washington study.

Use of baby personal care products associated with higher levels of phthalates

Babies recently treated with infant personal care products such as lotion, shampoo, and powder, were more likely to have manmade chemicals called phthalates in their urine than other babies, according to University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute study appearing in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.

January 31, 2008

Campaign UW: Creating Futures surpasses $2.5 billion

The University of Washington Foundation has raised $2.

Lost City pumps life-essential chemicals at rates unseen at typical black smokers

Hydrocarbons — molecules critical to life — are being generated by the simple interaction of seawater with the rocks under the Lost City hydrothermal vent field in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.

Water planners call for fundamental shift to deal with changing climate

The past is no longer a reliable base on which to plan the future of water management.

January 30, 2008

Accelerated head growth can predict autism before behavorial symptoms start

Children with autism have normal-size heads at birth but develop accelerated head growth between six and nine months of age, a period that precedes the onset of many behaviors that enable physicians to diagnose the developmental disorder, according to new research from the University of Washington’s Autism Center.

January 28, 2008

Graduate students and Native American tribes will tap forests, farms for biofuels

Most of Washington state’s biofuels come from plants grown elsewhere.

January 24, 2008

Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides

What if swallowing a pill with a camera could detect the earliest signs of cancer? The tiny camera is designed to take high-quality, color pictures in confined spaces.

UW, 1,500 colleges and groups across nation to brainstorm climate change solutions next week

“Universities have a huge role to play in raising public awareness about climate change,” says LuAnne Thompson, University of Washington associate professor of oceanography and lead organizer of the UW events being conducted as part of Focus the Nation, a national teach-in on global warming solutions for America.

UW launches sustainability program with national leaders in architecture

Carefully tucked into a stand of pines on the Maryland shore, Loblolly House is a study in the pragmatic and the poetic.

January 22, 2008

Ray Wittmier appointed interim UW police chief

Ray Wittmier, who has served as assistant chief of the University of Washington Police Department since 2003, has been appointed interim chief effective Feb.

Finalists for dean of School of Law announced

A number of finalists for the deanship of the School of Law have been identified by the search committee and will begin visiting the university for interviews and public presentations over the next several weeks.

Ecologists, material scientists pursue genetics of diatom’s elegant, etched casing

Diatoms — some of which are so tiny that 30 can fit across the width of a human hair — are so numerous that they are among the key organisms taking the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the Earth’s atmosphere.

January 17, 2008

Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision

Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs.

Washington state sea levels could rise considerably by end of century

Melting glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, combined with other effects of global climate change, are likely to raise sea levels in parts of Western Washington by the end of this century, though geological forces will offset the rising water in some areas.

January 10, 2008

Harborview Medical Center in Seattle receives $100,000 Foster G. McGaw Prize for excellence in community service

CHICAGO, January 10, 2008 — Honoring the outstanding leadership, unwavering spirit of excellence and remarkable achievements in its community, Harborview Medical Center of Seattle is the recipient of the prestigious 2007 Foster G.

SOURCE IMAGES: Microfluids photo gallery

Albert Folch, University of Washington “Van Gogh’s cells”: A magnified image of muscle cells after about one week of growth, when they start to fuse. The cells have been digitally colored. Albert Folch, University of Washington A microfluidic device is filled by substituting water with dyes, here flowing in from the left. The channels at…

Small is beautiful: Gallery celebrates the art of microfluids research

Albert Folch is a scientist who also happens to appreciate art.

January 8, 2008

Forty years since Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, last campaign relevant to 2008

Most Americans know an assassin shot Martin Luther King Jr.

January 3, 2008

Marla Salmon chosen as dean of UW School of Nursing

University of Washington Provost Phyllis Wise announced the she has selected Marla Salmon, currently professor and dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, as the next dean of the top-ranked UW School of Nursing, effective Oct.

UW Medicine Neighborhood Clinics receive leadership award from Premera Blue Cross

UW Medicine Neighborhood Clinics have received a second leadership award from the health insurer Premera Blue Cross (Premera) for continued participation and support in the Premera Quality Score Card program.

January 2, 2008

200 Puget Sound infants needed for first autism prevention study

Autism researchers at the University of Washington will take the initial step in attempting to prevent the developmental disorder when they launch an $11.

December 19, 2007

GOP policies ruining the economy, UW political scientists say in new book

With the Iowa caucuses only weeks away and Wall Street fearing a recession, two University of Washington political scientists say too many politicians and their constituencies hang onto bad economic ideas, even when they’ve been shown wrong.

December 18, 2007

Study suggests polls may overestimate support for Obama, underestimate backing for Clinton among Democrats

A new national study of voters who say they might vote in Democratic primaries and caucuses shows a striking disconnect between their explicit and implicit preferences, according to University of Washington researchers.

December 13, 2007

Tiny dust particles from Asian deserts common over western United States

It has been a decade since University of Washington scientists first pinpointed specific instances of air pollution, including Gobi Desert dust, traversing the Pacific Ocean and adding to the mix of atmospheric pollution already present along the West Coast of North America.

December 11, 2007

Earth’s magnetic field could help protect astronauts working on the moon

It has been 35 years since humans last walked on the moon, but there has been much recent discussion about returning, either for exploration or to stage a mission to Mars.

Without its insulating ice cap, Arctic surface waters warm to as much as 5 C above average

Record-breaking amounts of ice-free water have deprived the Arctic of more of its natural “sunscreen” than ever in recent summers.

December 7, 2007

UW graduate student Peter Kithene named CNN Heroes Honoree

University of Washington graduate student Peter Kithene has won $25,000 as a CNN Heroes Honoree.

December 6, 2007

Free software brings affordability, transparency to mathematics

Until recently, a student solving a calculus problem, a physicist modeling a galaxy or a mathematician studying a complex equation had to use powerful computer programs that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Contrarian approach could mean more fish: Maximizing fishery profits could be new strategy for conservation

Managing fisheries to maximize profits got a bad name in the 1970s after an economist concluded that overexploitation, even to the point of causing a stock to go extinct, is a definite possibility when fishers are pitted against each other and are attempting to maximize profits.

December 4, 2007

Price of lower-calorie foods rising drastically, UW researchers find

As food prices rise, the costs of lower-calorie foods are rising the fastest, according to a University of Washington study appearing in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Religious politics now pervasive, says new book, ‘The God Strategy’

With Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney scheduled to address the nation about his Mormon beliefs this Thursday, Democratic and Republican debates in Iowa next week, the Iowa caucus only a month away and seemingly endless political discussion fueled by religion, a new book co-authored by a University of Washington professor explains how politicians are using God talk to garner votes.

November 30, 2007

Study of social science PhDs recommends changes for 21st century

The first multi-disciplinary study to examine the status of doctoral students in the social sciences at least five years after receiving their degree concludes that doctoral programs need to be brought into the 21st century.

November 27, 2007

Puget Sound residents put together $11.8 billion roads and transit package

While central Puget Sound voters were debating the merits and then defeating the $18 billion package of roads and other transit projects called Proposition 1 earlier this month, a smaller group of citizens was putting together its own proposals to improve the region’s congested transportation network.

November 22, 2007

2002 Alaskan quake left seven areas of California stirred but not shaken

Earth tremors not linked to volcanic activity first turned up in seismic observations several years ago, but those tremors were almost exclusively in subduction zones such as the Cascadia region off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.

Rising tides intensify non-volcanic tremor in Earth’s crust

For more than a decade geoscientists have detected what amount to ultra-slow-motion earthquakes under Western Washington and British Columbia on a regular basis, about every 14 months.

November 20, 2007

Ana Mari Cauce selected as dean of UW College of Arts and Sciences

University of Washington Provost Phyllis Wise announced that she has selected Ana Mari Cauce as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which provides a liberal arts education to more than 25,000 students, with faculty who conduct research or scholarship in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.

November 15, 2007