Science
October 8, 2014
UW fusion reactor concept could be cheaper than coal
University of Washington engineers have designed a concept for a fusion reactor that, when scaled up to the size of a large electrical power plant, would rival costs for a new coal-fired plant with similar electrical output.
October 7, 2014
Toddlers regulate behavior to avoid making adults angry
UW researchers have found that children as young as 15 months can detect anger in other people’s social interactions and then modify their own behavior.
October 3, 2014
Not stuff of musty museums: Enlist evolutionary biology against modern threats
Using evolutionary biology is one way to try to outwit evolution where it is happening too quickly and to perhaps find accommodations when evolution occurs too slowly.
October 2, 2014
UW’s Jeffrey Heer wins award to support data visualization research
Jeffrey Heer, a University of Washington associate professor of computer science and engineering, has received an award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to develop new theories, tools and techniques for data visualization that help scientists see and understand big data.
September 23, 2014
Dying brain cells cue new brain cells to grow in songbird
Using a songbird as a model, scientists have described a brain pathway that replaces cells that have been lost naturally and not because of injury.
September 22, 2014
Snail shells show high-rise plateau is much lower than it used to be
Geologists have long debated when and how the Tibetan Plateau reached a 14,000-foot-plus elevation, but new UW-led research shows it once was probably even higher.
September 19, 2014
Join expedition online: UW students help install cabled deep-sea observatory
UW students have had a unique experience off the coast of Washington and Oregon helping scientists and engineers complete construction of the world’s largest deep-ocean observatory.
Reflected smartphone transmissions enable gesture control
University of Washington engineers have developed a new form of low-power wireless sensing technology that lets users “train” their smartphones to recognize and respond to specific hand gestures near the phone.
September 16, 2014
Health Sciences Digest: Wearable Artificial Kidney, worker wellness, chromosome sort safeguard
Health Sciences Digest: Wearable Artificial Kidney safety testing to begin, low-wage workers value employer wellness initiatives, cells simply avoid chromosome errors
September 11, 2014
UW-built sensors to probe Antarctica’s Southern Ocean
Floating sensors built at the UW will be central to a new $21 million effort to learn how the ocean surrounding Antarctica influences climate.
September 8, 2014
Geneticist Mary-Claire King to receive Lasker Foundation Award
Mary-Clare King, a world leader in cancer genetics and the application of genetics to justice for human rights violations, will be honored by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation.
September 5, 2014
California blue whales rebound from whaling; first of their kin to do so
The number of California blue whales has rebounded to near historical levels and, while the number of blue whales struck by ships is likely above allowable U.S. limits, such strikes do not immediately threaten that recovery.
September 4, 2014
Predicting when toxic algae will reach Washington and Oregon coasts
Better understanding of how a deadly algae grows offshore and gets carried to Pacific Northwest beaches has led to a computer model that can predict when the unseen threat will hit local beaches.
September 3, 2014
Changing temperature powers sensors in hard-to-reach places
University of Washington researchers have taken inspiration from a centuries-old clock design and created a power harvester that uses natural fluctuations in temperature and pressure as its power source.
September 2, 2014
Dwindling waterways challenge desert fish in warming world
One of Arizona’s largest watersheds – home to many native species of fish already threatened by extinction – is providing a grim snapshot of what could happen to watersheds and fish in arid areas around the world as climate warming occurs.
August 27, 2014
New smartphone app can detect newborn jaundice in minutes
University of Washington engineers and physicians have developed a smartphone application that checks for jaundice in newborns and can deliver results to parents and pediatricians within minutes.
August 26, 2014
Health Digest: Ebola outbreak, HIV persistence, kids’ sleep routines
UW Health Sciences News Digest: Ebola outbreak, HIV persistence, back-to-school sleep routines
Scientists craft a semiconductor junction only three atoms thick
Scientists have developed what they believe is the thinnest-possible semiconductor, a new class of nanoscale materials made in sheets only three atoms thick.
August 25, 2014
Learning by watching, toddlers show intuitive understanding of probability
UW researchers have found that children as young as 2 intuitively use math concepts to help make sense of their world.
August 21, 2014
Busy midsummer week for UW undergraduate researchers
The popular Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Session allows UW students — and some just arriving — to show off their research.
Cause of global warming hiatus found deep in the Atlantic Ocean
Observations show that the heat absent from the Earth’s surface is plunging deep in the north and south Atlantic Ocean, and is part of a slow, naturally recurring cycle.
August 20, 2014
UW project becomes a focal point in hunt for dark matter
The UW has one of three experiments aimed at detecting elusive dark matter in the universe that have gotten a big financial boost.
August 16, 2014
Virginity pledges for men can lead to sexual confusion — even after the wedding day
Young men receiving support after they pledge to abstain from sex until marriage, can find themselves without advisors and help once they do marry.
August 15, 2014
Research from 1960s shakes up understanding of West Coast earthquakes
A new study used seabed samples collected by UW graduate students in the late 1960s to question current interpretations of earthquake frequency along the West Coast.
August 14, 2014
Stardust sample analysis finds likely interstellar dust
The Stardust mission, the brainchild of a UW astronomer, enlisted help from thousands of citizen scientists to find likely evidence of interstellar dust.
August 13, 2014
Snow has thinned on Arctic sea ice
Historic observations and NASA airborne data provide a decades-long record showing that the snowpack on Arctic sea ice is thinning.
August 8, 2014
Ancient shellfish remains rewrite 10,000-year history of El Niño cycles
Piles of ancient shells provide the first reliable long-term record for the powerful driver of year-to-year climate changes. Results show that the El Niños 10,000 years ago were as strong and frequent as they are today.
August 7, 2014
Ocean’s most oxygen-deprived zones to shrink under climate change
Predictions that the lowest-oxygen environments in the ocean will get worse may not come to pass. UW research shows climate change, by weakening the trade winds, will shrink these extremely low-oxygen waters.
Rebuilding part of the Large Hadron Collider – with Legos
UW students used Legos to build a replica of the Atlas detector, part of the Large Hadron Collider that made physics history. (With video)
August 6, 2014
Penguins at risk world over, scientists urge new strategies
Scientists writing in the current issue of Conservation Biology call for marine protected areas and partially protected areas to help penguins cope.
August 5, 2014
Funding approval a big step forward for Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
With a key funding approval, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, an international astronomy project of which the University of Washington is a founding member, is taking a major step toward becoming a reality.
July 31, 2014
Companion planets can increase old worlds’ chance at life
Having a companion in old age is good for people — and, it turns out, might extend the chance for life on certain Earth-sized planets in the cosmos as well.
July 30, 2014
Dissolvable fabric loaded with medicine might offer faster protection against HIV
University of Washington bioengineers have discovered a potentially faster way to deliver a topical drug that protects women from contracting HIV. Their method spins the drug into silk-like fibers that quickly dissolve when in contact with moisture, releasing higher doses of the drug than possible with other materials.
July 29, 2014
Huge waves measured for first time in Arctic Ocean
The first measurements of waves in the middle of the Arctic Ocean recorded house-sized waves during a September 2012 storm. More sensors are going out this summer to study waves in newly ice-free Arctic waters.
Health Sciences News Digest 7.29.2014
News from the UW Health Sciences: Alzheimer’s impact on our aging population, hunger cues, trauma treatment study, avoiding burnout, training new neuroscientists, an AIDS-free generation
July 28, 2014
New protein structure could help treat Alzheimer’s, related diseases
University of Washington bioengineers have a designed a peptide structure that can stop the harmful changes of the body’s normal proteins into a state that’s linked to widespread diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and Lou Gehrig’s disease.
July 22, 2014
Oso disaster had its roots in earlier landslides
The UW is part of a new study that shows the disastrous landslide that killed 43 people at Oso, Washington, involved the “remobilization” of a 2006 landslide in the same place.
July 18, 2014
Sloan Digital Sky Survey — including UW — now to view entire sky
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a consortium of institutions of which the University of Washington is part, will soon expand its view to see the entire sky, and even peer into the Milky Way’s galactic center.
July 17, 2014
Geophysicists prep for massive ‘ultrasound’ of Mount St. Helens
Dozens of geophysicists and volunteers will deploy 3,500 seismic sensors at Mount St. Helens next week in an unprecedented study of the volcano’s plumbing.
July 16, 2014
Tracking the breakup of Arctic summer sea ice
An international team has placed sensors on and under Arctic sea ice to monitor this season’s retreat. Scientists hope to understand the physics of the ice edge in order to predict summer conditions in the Arctic Ocean.
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