Science
November 14, 2011
Lightning network helps get a handle on volcanoes
A UW-based alert system using real-time data on lightning flashes around the world is helping to keep tabs on erupting volcanoes.
November 9, 2011
Carbon mitigation strategy uses wood for buildings first, bioenergy second
Pacific Northwest trees grown and harvested sustainably can both remove existing carbon dioxide from the air and help keep the gas from entering the atmosphere in the first place. Thats provided wood is used primarily for such things as building materials, instead of cement and steel, and secondarily that wood wastes are used for biofuels.
November 2, 2011
Wavechasers condemn gummy bears to crushing ocean depths
Follow the serious science – and the development of novel “Will it crush?” segments inspired by the YouTube hit “Will it blend?” – as University of Washington Wavechasers work in the South Pacific near Samoa.
October 19, 2011
Beyond ecological insubordination: Speaker urges us to rethink invasive species
Ignoring the potential beneficial roles of non-native species is no longer a valid option, says UWs Julian Olden. His public talk Oct. 25, “Invasive Species: Exonerating Crimes to Envision a New Global Future,” is the annual deans lecture from the College of the Environment.
Spiral arms indicate possible planets in a star's gas-and-dust disk — with video
A new image of a gas-and-dust disk around a sun-like star is the first that scientists, including a UW astronomer, have seen that displays structures that could hint at the presence of still-unseen planets around the star.
Fiery volcano offers geologic glimpse into land that time forgot — with video
The first scientists to witness exploding rock and molten lava from a deep sea volcano, seen during a 2009 expedition, also collected boninite, a rare lava that accompanies the formation of Earths subduction zones. Current subduction zones are continually evolving but most formed 5 million to 200 million years ago.
October 13, 2011
Improving the physics of grocery store display cases to save energy
Aeronautical engineers are devising ways to boost the efficiency of open-air refrigerated cases, which are increasingly common in supermarkets. Results could lower the energy use of existing cases by up to 15 percent — potentially saving $100 million in electricity costs each year.
October 12, 2011
Bioblitz volunteers to catalog living things in arboretum Oct. 21-22
Naturalists, kayakers and other volunteers – including University of Washington students, faculty and staff – are needed to look for as many birds, plants, insects, mammals and fungi as possible during the 24-hour Bioblitz 2011 at the Washington Park Arboretum.
September 28, 2011
NW biofuels coming of age with $80 million in separate projects led by UW, WSU
The University of Washington and Washington State University are leads for two separate grants of $40 million each that will use Pacific Northwest woody biomass to expand whats been a Midwest-centric biofuels industry into Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and northern California.
September 20, 2011
Proton-based transistor could let machines communicate with living things
Materials scientists at the University of Washington have built a novel transistor that uses protons, creating a key piece for devices that can communicate directly with living things.
September 14, 2011
Salmon and other fish predators rely on ‘no guts, no glory survival tactic
The phrase “no guts, no glory” doesnt just apply to athletes who are striving to excel. Salmon and other fish predators take the adage literally.
August 25, 2011
Ocean acidification science, societal needs meld in new training program
Students already knowledgeable about the science behind ocean acidification and warming will learn more about the challenges those ocean changes pose for tribes, shellfish growers and other sectors of society – as well as helping seek solutions ¬– under a just-announced National Science Foundation grant of $3 million.
August 24, 2011
Scented laundry products emit hazardous chemicals through dryer vents
The researcher who used chemical sleuthing to uncover whats in scented products now has turned her attention to the air wafting from household laundry vents. Air from laundry machines using the top-selling scented liquid detergent and dryer sheet contains hazardous chemicals, including two that are classified as carcinogens.
August 3, 2011
Web search is ready for a shakeup, says UW computer scientist
On the 20-year anniversary of the World Wide Web, computer scientist Oren Etzioni has written a two-page commentary in the journal Nature that calls on the international academic and business communities to take a bolder approach when designing how people find information online.
August 2, 2011
Digital photos can animate a face so it ages and moves before your eyes
Computer scientists have created a way to take images from the web or personal photos collections and in seconds create an animation of a persons face. The tool can make a face appear to age over time, or gradually change the expression from a smile to a frown.
July 25, 2011
Materials scientist John Cahn awarded international Kyoto Prize
John Cahn, a UW affiliate professor in the departments of physics and materials science & engineering, has won an international Kyoto Prize, sometimes described as Japan’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize. Cahn is recognized for his work describing and predicting the behavior of mixtures of materials.
July 22, 2011
The cable has landed: Ocean science history in the making — with slideshow
Submarine cables for the nations first regional cabled ocean observatory, a project led by the University of Washington, made landfall last week on the Oregon coast.
July 14, 2011
UW will lead $18.5 million effort to create mind-machine interface
The National Science Foundation today announced an $18.5 million grant to establish an Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering based at the UW. The interdisciplinary center will combine neuroscience and robotics to develop new rehabilitation technologies.
July 13, 2011
Wood products part of winning carbon-emissions equation, researchers say
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow, so forests have long been proposed as a way to offset climate change. But rather than just letting the forest sit there for a hundred or more years, the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere could be quadrupled in 100 years by harvesting regularly and using the wood in place of fossil-fuel intensive steel and concrete.
July 12, 2011
Wireless power could cut cord for patients with implanted heart pumps
A new system to send electricity over short distances has been shown to reliably power a mechanical heart pump. The system could free patients from being tethered to a battery or external power source, lowering their chance of infection and improving their quality of life.
July 7, 2011
Hubble makes one millionth science observation
Earlier this week, NASAs Hubble Space Telescope logged its one millionth science observation during a search for water in an exoplanets atmosphere 1,000 light years away, according to a UW faculty member conducts theoretical interpretation of data from the Hubble.
July 6, 2011
Sarah Reichard becomes director of UW Botanic Gardens
A forest resources professor whos an expert on invasive species and rare plants became director of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens July 1.
June 21, 2011
Ocean measurements by UW will be part of just-launched satellite mission
With the launch earlier this month of NASAs satellite Aquarius, more than half a dozen University of Washington researchers are involved in projects to calibrate data from space with actual measurements of ocean salinity.
June 16, 2011
Boost for plant scientists, including UW prof, comes at critical time
Keiko Torii, professor of biology, is among 15 of the “nations most innovative plant scientists” selected to share $75 million for fundamental plant science research.
June 9, 2011
Scientists find recent snowpack declines in the West nearly unprecedented
The snowpack decline of the last 50 years in the Rocky Mountains is highly unusual in context of the past 800 years, according to findings published June 10 in “Science.”
June 7, 2011
Corpse flower blooms overnight Wednesday
An Amorphophallus titanum, also known as a corpse flower in its native Sumatra and elsewhere because of its foul odor, has bloomed at the University of Washington botany greenhouse. Visit weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. while the bloom lasts.
May 31, 2011
Code green: Energy-efficient programming to curb computers power use
A new system called EnerJ helps computer programmers go green, allowing them to cut a program’s energy consumption by as much as 50 percent.
May 16, 2011
Digital imaging software creates a ‘Google Earth view of the bladder
A more automated approach to bladder exams could be cheaper, more comfortable and more convenient. The system would use the UWs ultrathin laser endoscope, which is like a thin piece of cooked spaghetti, in combination with software that automatically creates a 3-D panorama of the bladder interior.
May 10, 2011
Razing Seattles viaduct doesnt guarantee nightmare commutes, model says
University of Washington statisticians used a computer model to study the effect of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct on commuter travel times. They found that relying on surface streets would likely have less impact on travel times than previously reported, and that effects on commute times are not well known.
April 27, 2011
Era of canopy crane ending; certain research and education activities remain – view slideshow
The 25-story construction crane used since 1995 to investigate such things as how Pacific Northwest forests absorb carbon dioxide, obtain sufficient water and resist attacks by pests and diseases is being pruned back to just the tower.
8 percent of women physical oceanographers in tenure track, down from 23 percent – with audio clip
The gender gap for physical oceanographers in tenure-track positions has almost doubled since the mid-1990s.
April 14, 2011
Data catches up with theory: Ocean front is energetic contributor to mixing
For more than two decades scientists have suspected theres a substantial source of energy for ocean mixing at ocean fronts. Researchers with the Applied Physics Laboratory are the first to devise a way to prove it.
April 4, 2011
High dose of oxygen enhances natural cancer treatment
An environment of pure oxygen at three-and-a-half times normal air pressure adds significantly to the effectiveness of a natural compound already shown to kill cancerous cells.
March 15, 2011
Controlling a single molecules reaction with light could improve solar cells
In new research published in “Science,” engineers at UW and UCLA used nanotechnology to control and observe how molecules react. They plan to use their method to develop more efficient solar molecules.
March 2, 2011
Algal antifreeze makes inroads into ice
Sea-ice algae – the important first rung of the food web each spring in places like the Arctic Ocean – can engineer ice to its advantage, according to the first published findings about this ability.
February 25, 2011
Learn about research in some of the most challenging places on Earth
With live presentations and 40 exhibit and activity stations, Polar Science Weekend March 3-6 offers opportunities to learn about extreme polar environments from those who work there.
February 9, 2011
Stardust set to meet its NExT comet
It’s been 12 years since Stardust, the brainchild of a UW astronomer, was launched and seven years since it encountered a comet called Wild 2 out beyond Mars. Next Monday the probe will make history again when it meets its second comet, Tempel 1.
February 8, 2011
Follow the field work: researcher blogging about fishing tech and turtles
On her plane trip to Ecuador Wednesday, UWs Kiki Jenkins will write her first entry for the “New York Times” blog “Scientist at work: Notes from the Field.”
February 1, 2011
New center aims to dramatically lower barrier to making silicon photonic chips
The University of Washington has launched a new program, co-funded by Intel Corp., to make it easier and cheaper to build silicon photonic circuits. Sending information using light, instead of electrons, will allow for faster, lower-power and more versatile microchips.
January 25, 2011
Rogue storm system caused Pakistan floods that left millions homeless
Last summers disastrous and deadly Pakistan floods were caused by a rogue weather system that wandered hundreds of miles farther west than is normal for such systems, new UW research shows.
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