Science
December 7, 2012
Crowdsourcing site compiles new sign language for math and science
The ASL-STEM Forum is a crowdsourcing project, similar to Wikipedia or the Urban Dictionary, that creates a new sign language for the latest scientific and technical terms.
Greenland ice sheet carries evidence of increased atmospheric acidity
Research suggests rising atmospheric acidity is probably why levels of the isotope nitrogen-15 in Greenland ice samples dropped around the time of the Industrial Revolution.
December 6, 2012
Moths wired two ways to take advantage of floral potluck
Moths are able to enjoy a pollinator’s buffet of flowers because of two distinct “channels” in their brains, scientists have discovered.
December 4, 2012
Crowdsourcing the cosmos: Astronomers welcome all to identify star clusters in Andromeda galaxy
Astronomers are inviting the public to search Hubble Space Telescope images of the Andromeda galaxy to help identify star clusters and increase understanding of how galaxies evolve. The new Andromeda Project, set to study thousands of high-resolution Hubble images, is a collaboration among scientists at the University of Washington, the University of Utah and several…
Scientists find oldest dinosaur – or closest relative yet
Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs.
December 3, 2012
Russian Far East holds seismic hazards that could threaten Pacific Basin
The Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands, long shrouded in secrecy by the Soviet government, are a seismic and volcanic hotbed with a potential to trigger tsunamis that pose a risk to the rest of the Pacific Basin.
November 30, 2012
Electrically spun fabric offers dual defense against pregnancy, HIV
Electrically spun cloth with nanometer-sized fibers show promise as a cheap, versatile platform to simultaneously offer contraception and prevent HIV. New funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will further test the system’s versatility and feasibility.
November 29, 2012
Rules devised for building ideal protein molecules from scratch
These principles could allow scientists to custom-make, rather than re-purpose, protein molecules for vaccines, drugs, and industrial and environmental uses.
International study provides more solid measure of shrinking in polar ice sheets
Climatologists have reconciled their measurements of ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland during the past two decades. A second article looks at how to monitor and understand accelerating losses from the planet’s two largest continental ice sheets.
November 28, 2012
Harmful protein-coding mutations in people arose largely in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years
The spectrum of human genetic diversity today is vastly different than what it was only 200 to 400 generations ago.
Hungry salmon a problem for restoration efforts
Food webs needed by young salmon in the Columbia River basin are likely compromised in places, something that should be considered when prioritizing expensive restoration activities.
November 19, 2012
Mutations in genes that modify DNA packaging result in form of muscular dystrophy
Studying the molecular basis of progressive muscle weakness may lead to therapies to prevent or reduce symptoms.
Can life emerge on planets around cooling stars?
UW astronomers find that planets orbiting white and brown dwarfs are unlikely to be good candidates for sustaining life.
November 13, 2012
Roots of deadly 2010 India flood identified; findings could improve warnings
UW researchers find the flash flood was set off by a string of unusual weather events similar to those that caused catastrophic U.S. floods in the 1970s.
November 8, 2012
Extra chromosome 21 removed from Down syndrome cell line
The approach could lead to cell therapy treatments for some of the blood-forming disorders that accompany the common genetic condition.
October 18, 2012
2012 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Brian Kobilka will speak at UW Oct. 23
The Stanford University faculty member will talk about a group of cell membrane receptors that are crucial for emotion, behavior, memory, vision, motion and many other activities. About 40 percent of medications act via these receptors.
October 17, 2012
Scientists building crowdsourced encyclopedia to further Puget Sound recovery
Representatives of the Encyclopedia of Earth and the Encyclopedia of Life will be on the University of Washington campus Wednesday, Oct. 24, for the public launch of an encyclopedia unique to Puget Sound.
October 12, 2012
U.S. fish and wildlife director, a UW alum, considers challenges posed by landscape changes
It’s time to think differently about how we interact with nature because we’re increasingly disconnected from the natural world, said Dan Ashe during visit to campus.
October 11, 2012
Mug handles could help hot plasma give lower-cost, controllable fusion energy
New hardware lets engineers maintain the plasma used in fusion reactors in an energy-efficient, stable manner, making the system potentially attractive for use in fusion power plants.
October 4, 2012
Misconduct is a major factor in retracted research
New UW research shows that 2,047 research papers that have been retracted since 1977, misconduct—blatantly falsified data or data manipulation— was the cause in 41 percent of the cases.
October 2, 2012
Sticky paper offers cheap, easy solution for paper-based diagnostics
Global health researchers are working on cheap systems like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases. A new chemical technique makes medically interesting molecules stick to regular paper — a possible route to building such paper-based diagnostics from paper you could buy at an office-supply store.
UW scientists team with Coast Guard to explore ice-free Arctic Ocean
UW scientists are teaming with the U.S. Coast Guard to study the new frontier in the Arctic Ocean opened up with the melting ice.
September 28, 2012
Duplex-sequencing method could lead to better cancer detection and treatment
Two young UW researchers sought to reduce the error rate in DNA sequencing to better pinpoint cells that are mutating.
September 27, 2012
Dynamics of DNA packaging helps regulate heart formation
Findings suggest new ways to study controls of early human development, causes of birth defects, and regeneration of damaged tissue.
September 24, 2012
New York Times blog features UW scientist at sea
The New York Times’ Scientist at Work blog is featuring posts from Jim Thomson, an oceanographer at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory, as he seeks big waves in the North Pacific.
September 23, 2012
Large bacterial population colonized land 2.75 billion years ago
New University of Washington research suggests that early microbes might have been widespread on land, producing oxygen before the atmosphere was oxygen-rich.
September 20, 2012
The original Twitter? Tiny electronic tags monitor birds’ social networks
A tiny digital tag developed at the UW can for the first time see when birds meet in the wild, offering a window into animal social networks. A study in Current Biology used the tags to track the social habits of New Caledonian crows, and found a surprising amount of interaction among the tool-using birds.
September 18, 2012
Center for Chemical Innovation receives NSF reauthorization of $20 million
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $20 million grant over five years in reauthorizing the Center for Enabling New Technologies Through Catalysis based at the University of Washington.
Local scientists chosen for NIH High Risk High Rewards program
The scientists were selected for their inventive ideas to transform their field of research and improve the health of the public.
App lets you monitor lung health using only a smartphone
Feeling wheezy? You could call the doctor. Or soon you could use your smartphone to diagnose your lung health, with a new app that uses the frequencies in the breath to determine how much and how fast you can exhale.
September 17, 2012
Shrinking snow depth on Arctic sea ice threatens ringed seal habitat
Scientists found that the habitat required for ringed seals — animals under consideration for the threatened species list — to rear their young will drastically shrink this century.
September 12, 2012
UW celebrates opening of new Molecular Engineering & Sciences Building
The UW’s new Molecular Engineering and Sciences Building opens this fall with a series of kick-off events focused on this emerging area of research. The associated Institute will focus on research applications in medicine and clean energy.
September 10, 2012
Crows react to threats in human-like way
Crows and humans share the ability to recognize faces and associate them with negative and positive feelings. The way the brain activates during that process is something the two species also appear to share.
September 5, 2012
Dinosaur die out might have been second of two closely timed extinctions
New UW research indicates that shortly before an asteroid impact spelled doom for the dinosaurs, a separate extinction triggered by volcanic eruptions killed life on the ocean floor.
Encyclopedia of DNA elements compiled; UW a key force in Project ENCODE
An international team of researchers has made headway toward a comprehensive listing of all the working parts of the human genome. More than 30 scientific papers appear today, include major work by UW researchers. The London Museum of Science celebrates with ceiling banners and aerial dancers.
Millions of DNA switches that power human genome’s operating system are discovered
Scientists created comprehensive maps of elusive gene-controlling DNA and a dictionary of the human genome’s programming language
Researchers unlock disease information hidden in genome’s control circuitry
Most genetic changes linked to more than 400 common diseases affect regions of DNA that dictate when genes are switched on or off. Many of these changes affect circuits active during early human development.
September 4, 2012
Rocket science coming to the Yakama Nation
Middle school and high school students from the Yakama Nation will have a chance this weekend to peer into space or learn the basics of rocket flight during a daylong festival with scientists from UW and other institutions.
Gardener’s delight offers glimpse into the evolution of flowering plants
Double flowers – though beautiful – are mutants. UW biologists have found the class of genes responsible in a plant lineage more ancient than the one previously studied, offering a glimpse even further back into the evolutionary development of flowers.
August 29, 2012
From UW to Mars, sundial has an important role
With the recent landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, for the third time a timepiece assembled at the University of Washington has found a home on the Red Planet.
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