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May 25, 2016

UW, NOAA deploy ocean robot to monitor harmful algal blooms off Washington coast

Oceanographers from the UW and NOAA deployed a new tool that will automatically test for harmful algal blooms and help warn of when they could hit local beaches.


May 24, 2016

UW experts develop first method for including migration uncertainty in population projections

Image of earth with black background

Statisticians at the University of Washington have developed the first model for projecting population that factors in the vagaries of migration, a slippery issue that has bedeviled demographers for decades. Their work, published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also provides population projections for all countries worldwide — and…


Chickens on campus and a mood shift at EPA: Relevant projects are nature of environmental studies capstone

moving a new chicken coop at uw farm.

A cohort of UW Environmental Studies majors will present projects and research findings at at symposium from 1:30-5:30 p.m. May 25 at Alder Hall and Wallace Hall.


May 23, 2016

Study shows disparities in treatment for children with traumatic brain injuries

Young boy in brain scanning machine

Children who suffer traumatic brain injuries can face a difficult road to recovery, requiring services such as physical therapy and mental health treatment for months or years to get their young lives back on track. When those children come from low-income households with limited English proficiency, there can be significant barriers in getting them the…


May 20, 2016

Lingcod meet rockfish: Catching one improves chances for the other

A lingcod fish

In a new study, scientists found that selectively fishing for lingcod in protected areas actually avoided hampering the recovery of other fish, including rockfish species listed as overfished.


Bacteria in branches naturally fertilize trees

Young poplar and willow trees along the Snoqualmie River.

A University of Washington team has demonstrated that poplar trees growing in rocky, inhospitable terrain harbor bacteria within them that could provide valuable nutrients to help the plant grow.


May 19, 2016

Historical role of translation studied in new book ‘Translation’s Forgotten History’

Book cover to "Translation's Forgotten History: Russian Literature, Japanese Mediation, and the Formation of Modern Korean Literature," by Heekyoung Cho, UW assistant professor of Asian languages and literature, published in March by Harvard University Press.

“Translation’s Forgotten History: Russian Literature, Japanese Mediation, and the Formation of Modern Korean Literature” by Heekyoung Cho, UW assistant professor of Asian languages and literature, explores the role of translation in the making of modern literature, and how its understanding changes when viewed through the lens of translation.


Using static electricity, insect-sized flying robots can land and stick to surfaces

Image of flying insect robot

A new study co-authored by a University of Washington mechanical engineer demonstrates how flying insect-sized robots can land and stick to surfaces, which conserves energy and extends flight times.


Will more snow over Antarctica offset rising seas? Don’t count on it

person in red coat pointing at ice

Heavier snowfall over Antarctica was supposed to be one of the few brakes on sea-level rise in a warming world. But that prediction is not reliable, says a new study of Antarctic snowfall over the past 31,000 years.


May 17, 2016

UW team first to measure microscale granular crystal dynamics

Photo of slide showing granular crystals

UW mechanical engineers have for the first time analyzed interactions between microscale granular crystals — a first step in creating novel materials that could be used for impact mitigation, signal processing, disease diagnosis, or even making more controllable solid rocket propellants.


May 16, 2016

Aliens, architecture, Beatles and beyond: MFA Dance Concert 2016

The UW Dance Program's MFA Dance Concert 2016 will be performed May 18-22 in the Meany Studio Theatre.

Six new works of choreography by graduate students in the University of Washington Dance Program will comprise the MFA Dance Concert 2016. Performances will be May 18-22 in the Meany Studio Theatre.


US-India collaboration finds molecular signatures of severe malaria

Malaria parasites infecting a red blood cell.

The malaria parasite can cause unusually severe cases of the eponymous disease in patients, leading to higher mortality and poorer health outcomes among survivors. But scientists have long struggled to understand why some patients develop severe malaria. The University of Washington’s International Center of Excellence for Malaria Research in South Asia — along with partners…


May 13, 2016

Proton-conducting material found in jelly that fills organs of sharks, skates and rays

Image of the ampullae of Lorenzini found in sharks, skates and rays.

The jelly found in the electrosensory organs of sharks, skates and rays is a remarkable proton-conducting material, with the highest proton conductivity ever reported for a biological material, UW researchers have found.


UW researchers unleash graphene ‘tiger’ for more efficient optoelectronics

In traditional light-harvesting methods, energy from one photon only excites one electron or none depending on the absorber’s energy gap, transferring just a small portion of light energy into electricity. The remaining energy is lost as heat. But in a paper released May 13 in Science Advances, Wu, UW associate professor Xiaodong Xu and colleagues at four other institutions describe one promising approach to coax photons into stimulating multiple electrons. Their method exploits some surprising quantum-level interactions to give one photon multiple potential electron partners.


May 12, 2016

Washington home prices up 8.1 percent over last year in first quarter of 2016

A home with a for-sale sign in front. Story says: Washington state's housing market remained strong in the second quarter of 2016.

Washington state’s housing market showed the continuing effects of low supply in the first quarter of 2016, with sales limited and most markets less affordable, according to the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.


UW study: state-licensed marijuana canopy enough to satisfy recreational and medical markets

The amount of marijuana allowed to be grown by state-licensed producers in Washington is enough to satisfy both the medical and recreational marijuana markets, a University of Washington study released today finds. The state Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) tasked the UW-based Cannabis Law and Policy Project (CLPP) with calculating the “grow canopy,” or square…


May 11, 2016

Skull specializations allow bats to feast on their fellow vertebrates

Skull of a fish-eating bat.

Over their 52-million-year history, a few bats have evolved a taste for their fellow vertebrates. Now biologists at the University of Washington and the Burke Museum of History and Culture are shedding light on how these so-called “carnivorous bats” adapted to the daunting task of chowing down their backboned prey.


UW researchers secure prestigious MURI grants for self-cooling lasers and fluid mechanics

University of Washington professors Peter Pauzauskie and Alberto Aliseda are part of two U.S. Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grants to develop innovative approaches to cutting-edge fields of engineering.


Paper gets ‘smart’ with drawn-on, stenciled sensor tags

In this example, the speed of the spinning tag on the pinwheel is mapped to onscreen graphics.

Researchers from the University of Washington, Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University have created ways to give a piece of paper sensing capabilities that allows it to respond to gesture commands and connect to the digital world.


May 10, 2016

UW part of NOAA-led cruise to study West Coast ocean acidification

colored map shwoing the 16 stops

University of Washington students, faculty and staff are part of the fifth West Coast Ocean Acidification Cruise that will investigate changes to ocean chemistry from Baja to British Columbia. The ship left Thursday from San Diego to begin sampling on Mexico’s northern coast. It will stop May 21 at San Francisco’s Exploratorium Pier, then travel…


Brain pattern predicts how fast an adult learns a new language

Some adults learn a second language better than others, and their secret may involve the rhythms of activity in their brains. New findings by scientists at the University of Washington demonstrate that a five-minute measurement of resting-state brain activity predicted how quickly adults learned a second language. The study, published in the June-July issue of…


May 9, 2016

Vicente Rafael explores link between translation, historical imagination in book ‘Motherless Tongues’

"Motherless Tongues: The Insurgency of Language Amid Wars of Translation," by UW history professor Vicente Rafael, was published by Duke University Press.

UW history professor Vicente Rafael says his new book, “Motherless Tongues: The Insurgency of Language amid Wars of Translation,” asks longstanding questions about the relationship between history and language.


This five-fingered robot hand learns to get a grip on its own

A University of Washington team of computer science and engineering researchers has built a robot hand that can not only perform dexterous manipulation – one of the most difficult problems in robotics – but also learn from its own experience.


Early Earth’s air weighed less than half of today’s atmosphere

swirly rocks

The idea that the young Earth had a thicker atmosphere turns out to be wrong. New research from the University of Washington uses bubbles trapped in 2.7 billion-year-old rocks to show that air at that time exerted at most half the pressure of today’s atmosphere. The results, published online May 9 in Nature Geoscience, reverse…


May 6, 2016

Academics, artists collaborate on UW book arts exhibit ‘Just One Look’

"Cupid and Psyche" by Mari Eckstein Gower of Redmond, Washington. Inspired by a work of the same name by Apulieus and suggested by Ashli Baker of Bucknell University.

Thirty-two colorful and creative artist books on display as part of the exhibit “Just One Look,” in University of Washington Libraries’ Special Collections department, in Allen Library. The exhibit co-curated by UW alumna Lauren Dudley with Sandra Kroupa, UW book arts and rare book curator.


May 5, 2016

Two-minute warnings make kids’ ‘screen time’ tantrums worse

picture of child using computer

Giving young children a two-minute warning that “screen time” is about to end makes transitions away from tablets, phones, televisions and other technological devices more painful, a new University of Washington study has found.


May 4, 2016

Urban planning symposium May 5 addresses ‘The Future City’

What possible future scenarios lie ahead for urban design, and how will big data and new technologies affect science and decision-making? The UW Graduate School’s Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Urban Design and Planning will tackle such questions in a daylong symposium May 5.


May 2, 2016

New health sensing tool measures lung function over a phone call, from anywhere in the world

image of SpiroSmart being used in a Bangladesh clinic

University of Washington researchers have developed SpiroCall, a new health sensing tool that can accurately measure lung function from anywhere in the world over a simple phone call.


April 28, 2016

Wolf hunting near Denali, Yellowstone cuts wolf sightings in half

A wolf on the road in Denali.

Visitors to national parks are half as likely to see wolves in their natural habitat when wolf hunting is permitted just outside park boundaries, according to a new study.


April 27, 2016

‘Walk-DMC’ aims to improve surgery outcomes for children with cerebral palsy

A UW mechanical engineer has developed a new assessment of motor control in children with cerebral palsy called Walk-DMC, which could help predict which patients are — or are not — likely to benefit from invasive surgical interventions.


April 25, 2016

Music improves baby brain responses to music and speech

Rock your baby in sync with music and you may wonder how the experience affects her and her developing brain. A new study by scientists at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) shows that a series of play sessions with music improved 9-month-old babies’ brain processing of both music and…


April 21, 2016

UW’s Jerry Franklin honored for lifetime of forest research, policy

Jerry Franklin displaying his Pinchot Medallion award.

Jerry Franklin, a professor of environmental and forest sciences, was honored by the Pinchot Institute for Conservation for his lifelong work in forest ecology, conservation and policy.


April 20, 2016

Cash in the trash: Interactive composting, recycling station shows savings in real time

A new installation at PACCAR Hall by design professors Karen Cheng and Kristine Matthews tells users how much money has been saved by correctly sorting items for composting, recycling or sending to the landfill.

An interactive recycling and composting station installed this spring at PACCAR Hall is showing the University of Washington community exactly how much money can be saved by composting and recycling correctly. And it seems to be doing its job well.


4 UW professors elected as fellows in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Four University of Washington professors join 172 other academics as newly elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the group announced Wednesday.


April 19, 2016

‘Shakespeare, Music, and Memory’ April 29 is colloquium, concert

Performers in UW Collegium Musicum rehearse for their concert April 29 concluding the colloquium "Shakespeare, Music, and Memory." From left are Linda Tsatsanis and Emerald Lessley, sopranos; John Lenti on baroque guitar and lute and Nathan Whittaker on baroque cello.

A daylong colloquium, “Shakespeare, Music and Memory” will bring scholars and musicians to the University of Washington campus April 29 for lectures ending with a concert of Shakespeare-themed songs by the School of Music’s Collegium Musicum ensemble. The free events were organized by JoAnn Taricani, associate professor and chair of the School of Music‘s Division…


States with punitive justice systems have higher rates of foster care, study finds

The number of children in foster care across the country is driven not solely by child abuse and neglect, but by states’ varying politics and approaches to social problems, a new University of Washington study finds. States with more punitive criminal justice systems tend to remove children from their homes far more frequently than those…


April 18, 2016

Board of Regents approves first University of Washington master’s program through Global Innovation Exchange

Shwetak Patel, chief technology officer for GIX.

The University of Washington Board of Regents has approved the Master of Science in Technology Innovation degree, a 60-credit interdisciplinary program developed by the Global Innovation Exchange.


Early analysis of Seattle’s $15 wage law: Effect on prices minimal one year after implementation

Most Seattle employers in a UW-led study said in 2015 they expected to raise prices on goods and services to compensate for the city’s new $15 per hour minimum wage law — but a year after implementation such increases are not in evidence.


First Salish Sea-wide shoreline armoring study shows cumulative effects on ecosystem

A seawall along Harbor Avenue Southwest in West Seattle.

A new University of Washington study shows that impacts associated with shoreline armoring can scale up to have cumulative, large-scale effects on the characteristics of Salish Sea shorelines and the diversity of life they support.


UW to study link between recession-related stress and health in older Americans

The Great Recession devastated millions of Americans financially — but what impacts did that economic stress have on their physical and mental well-being? Gillian Marshall, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Washington Tacoma, wants to answer that question. Marshall was awarded a five-year, $654,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health…



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