Science
July 31, 2012
Critically endangered whales sing like birds; new recordings hint at rebound — with audio
When a University of Washington researcher listened to the audio picked up by a recording device that spent a year in the icy waters off the east coast of Greenland, she was stunned at what she heard: whales singing a remarkable variety of songs nearly constantly for five wintertime months. Listen to the bowheads repeat…
July 26, 2012
Underwater ‘electrical outlets’ put in place for cabled ocean observatory project
The first U.S. cabled ocean observatory reached a milestone on July 14 with the installation of a node 9,500 feet deep off the coast of Oregon. Like a giant electrical outlet on the seafloor that also provides Internet connectivity, the node was spliced into a network of cable segments totalling some 560 miles that were…
July 24, 2012
‘Control-Alt-Hack’ game lets players try their hand at computer security
Do you have what it takes to be an ethical hacker? Can you step into the shoes of a professional paid to outsmart supposedly locked-down systems? Now you can at least try, no matter what your background, with a new card game developed by University of Washington computer scientists. “Control-Alt-Hack” gives teenage and young-adult players…
July 23, 2012
President Obama honors UW biologist
Jay Z. Parrish, University of Washington assistant professor of biology, has been named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
July 18, 2012
UW astronomer helped discover planet
July 13, 2012
Robert J. Naiman earns award for insights into freshwater ecosystems
Robert J. Naiman has received the highest award given by the Ecological Society of America, the world’s largest society of professional ecologists.
July 12, 2012
Early-career neuroscientists sought for new UW-based diversity program
A new professional development program aims to nurture neuroscientists who are underrepresented minorities as they enter faculty positions.
July 11, 2012
Got milk? Climate change means stressed cows in southern U.S. may have less
UW researchers found that the decline in milk production due to climate change will vary across the U.S., since there are significant differences in humidity and how much the temperature swings between night and day across the country.
July 6, 2012
UW physicists played significant role in discovery of Higgs boson
As scientists around the world celebrated the detection of what appears to be the long-sought Higgs boson, University of Washington physicists took satisfaction in knowing they played a significant part in it.
July 5, 2012
Eddies, not sunlight, spur annual bloom of tiny plants in North Atlantic
Researchers have long believed that the longer days and calmer seas of spring set off an annual bloom of plants in the North Atlantic, but UW scientists discovered that warm eddies fuel the growth three weeks before the sun does.
June 28, 2012
New hires catapult UW's expertise in machine learning and 'big data'
Four incoming faculty members promise to make the University of Washington a leading institution in machine learning and the science of “big data.”
Plasma startup creates high-energy light to make smaller microchips
In one of the twists of scientific discovery, a UW duo working on fusion energy — harnessing the energy-generating mechanism of the sun — may have found a way to etch the next generation of microchips.
June 26, 2012
UW deploying seismic sensors in hope of getting to bottom of Spokane quakes
It’s been a decade since a swarm of relatively mild earthquakes shook up parts of Spokane. Now, armed with the right tools, scientists want to find out what was at fault.
June 21, 2012
Astronomers spy two planets in tight quarters as they orbit a distant star
A research team led by the University of Washington and Harvard University has discovered a bigger version of Earth locked in an orbital tug-of-war with a much larger, Neptune-sized planet as they orbit very close to each other around the same star.
Sediment core shows Arctic has gone through intense warm periods
New research from an international team that includes a UW professor emeritus confirms that the Arctic has gone through intensely warm periods, warmer than scientists thought was possible, during the last 2.8 million years.
June 19, 2012
Synchronized probes explore Bermuda Triangle's swirling vortices
University of Washington scientists are studying swirling whirlpools in the Sargasso Sea via a pioneering experiment that repeatedly sent profilers deep into the ocean and back to the surface in unison.
June 12, 2012
Novel scientific equipment will unlock ocean secrets for decades — with slide show
University of Washington engineers and scientists are one step closer to deploying sophisticated equipment that will collect important information about ocean properties like currents and temperature and send the information via the Internet in real time to scientists around the world.
June 11, 2012
New research to help scientists better predict underwater volcanic eruptions
Axial Seamount, an undersea volcano, gave warning signals hours before its eruption, scientists say in three papers published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience.
June 7, 2012
New twist on old chemical process could boost energy efficiency
An unappreciated aspect of chemical reactions on the surface of metal oxides could be key in developing more efficient energy systems, including more productive solar cells or hydrogen fuel cells efficient enough for automobiles.
June 6, 2012
Too few salmon is far worse than too many boats for killer whales – with slide show
Not having enough Chinook salmon to eat stresses out southern resident killer whales more than having boatloads of whale watchers nearby, according to hormone levels of whales summering in the Salish Sea. In lean times, however, the stress normally associated with boats becomes more pronounced, further underscoring the importance of having enough prey.
June 4, 2012
Nuclear and coal-fired electrical plants vulnerable to climate change
In a study published this week in Nature Climate Change, University of Washington and European scientists project that in the next 50 years global climate change will disrupt power generation in the U.S. and Europe. Warmer water and lower flows are predicted to interrupt the supply of cooling water.
May 31, 2012
Students design underwater robot that does more than score points
A new UW club has qualified to participate in an international underwater robot competition and has designed its robot to be used by UW oceanographers in the field.
May 30, 2012
Landslides linked to plate tectonics create the steepest mountain terrain
New research shows some of the steepest mountain slopes in the world got that way because of the interplay between terrain uplift associated with plate tectonics and powerful streams cutting into hillsides, leading to large landslides.
May 29, 2012
Mathematicians can conjure matter waves inside an invisible hat
Mathematician Gunther Uhlmann and colleagues have devised an amplifier to boost light, sound or other waves while hiding them inside an invisible container. The findings are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
May 28, 2012
Engineered microvessels provide a 3-D test bed for human diseases
Bioengineers have developed the first structure to grow small human blood vessels, creating a 3-D test bed that offers a better way to study disease, test drugs and perhaps someday grow human tissues for transplant.
May 21, 2012
Inaugural Conservation Remix aims to foster creative thinking about environment
Conservation Remix, a daylong event June 2 organized by UW staff with Conservation Magazine and biology, offers an eclectic mix of topics for discussion – from designing superefficient buildings that generate their own energy to controlling invasive species by eating them.
May 17, 2012
Slew of rare DNA changes following population explosion holds clues to common diseases
Scientists try to find which single-letter switches in the genetic code influence health risks.
May 14, 2012
Nearly one-tenth of hemisphere’s mammals unlikely to outrun climate change
A safe haven could be out of reach for 9 percent of the Western Hemisphere’s mammals, and as much as 40 percent in certain regions, because the animals just won’t move swiftly enough to outpace climate change, according to new research from the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.
May 9, 2012
Portable diagnostics designed to be shaken, not stirred
A textured surface mimics a lotus leaf to move drops of liquid in particular directions. The low-cost system could be used in portable medical or environmental tests.
May 7, 2012
New research brings satellite measurements and global climate models closer
UW researchers have discovered a problem with a climate record that is often cited by climate change skeptics.
May 3, 2012
Increasing speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level
Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland’s contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century might be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible, a new study shows.
May 2, 2012
Handful of heavyweight trees per acre are forest champs
Big trees three or more feet in diameter accounted for nearly half the biomass measured at a Yosemite National Park site, yet represented only 1 percent of the trees growing there.
April 26, 2012
Cells in blood vessel found to cling more tightly in regions of rapid flow
The cells that line the pipes leading to the heart pull more tightly together in areas of fast-flowing blood. The cells’ mechanical response to their environment could aid understanding of heart disease.
April 25, 2012
Wind pushes plastics deeper into oceans, driving trash estimates up (with video)
Decades of research into how much plastic litters the ocean, conducted by skimming only the surface, may in some cases vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris in the oceans, according to a University of Washington oceanographer publishing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
April 11, 2012
Space weather forecast: Sunspotty, with an increasing chance of solar storms
Electrical engineering professor John Sahr gives his read on the increase in solar activity, and how it relates to his research.
April 10, 2012
Newfangled space-propulsion technology could help clean up Earth orbit
A magnetized ion plasma system devised by a UW researcher to propel spacecraft at ultra-high speeds could be adapted to clean up dead satellites and other debris crowded in Earth orbit.
March 29, 2012
UW invites kids, families for ‘paws-on’ science activities this weekend
Head for Paws-On Science: Husky Weekend, March 30, 31 and April 1, at Pacific Science Center, for 50 stations featuring UW research. UW faculty, staff, students and their families receive a 20 percent discount on admission during the event, as do UW alums.
March 28, 2012
Fossil raindrop impressions imply greenhouse gases loaded early atmosphere
Evidence from fossilized raindrop impressions from 2.7 billion years ago indicates that an abundance of greenhouse gases most likely caused the warm temperatures on ancient Earth.
March 26, 2012
Tiny reader makes fast, cheap DNA sequencing feasible
Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available.
March 22, 2012
Geologists discover new class of landform – on Mars
An odd, previously unseen landform could provide a window into the geological history of Mars, according to new research by University of Washington geologists.
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