UW News

Technology


August 5, 2014

Funding approval a big step forward for Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

A photograph and a rendering mix of the 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.


August 4, 2014

No-power Wi-Fi connectivity could fuel Internet of Things reality

A diagram of how the technology works.

University of Washington engineers have designed a new communication system that uses radio frequency signals as a power source and reuses existing Wi-Fi infrastructure to provide Internet connectivity to battery-free devices.


July 29, 2014

Health Sciences News Digest 7.29.2014

brain isocortex

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 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 10, 2014

UW business incubator gets top spot in global ranking

Fluke Hall, home of the UW business incubator, New Ventures Facility.

The UW’s New Ventures Facility has been named emerging incubator of the year in a global ranking of top university business incubators.


July 8, 2014

Better visualizing of fitness-app data helps discover trends, reach goals

sample visualization on a smartphone

University of Washington researchers have developed visual tools to help self-trackers understand their daily activity patterns over a longer period and in more detail. They found people had an easier time meeting personal fitness and activity goals when they could see their data presented in a broader, more visual way.


June 26, 2014

Nanopore technique rapidly decodes long DNA strands

nanopore sequencing

A low-cost technique may make DNA sequencing more convenient and less cumbersome, perhaps eventually replacing large lab machines with hand held devices.


Ask the crowd: Robots learn faster, better with online helpers

University of Washington computer scientists have shown that crowdsourcing can be a quick and effective way to teach a robot how to complete tasks.


June 24, 2014

Rhoads leaving UW commercialization; Jandhyala takes new innovation post

statue of George Washington on UW campus

Linden Rhoads will leave her post as UW vice provost for commercialization; Vikram Jandhyala will take over the new position of vice provost for innovation.


June 23, 2014

Zippy, electric micro cars coming to campus for sustainability research

Micro electric cars.

The University of Washington is one of four institutions receiving four Innova Dash all-electric micro vehicles this summer. They will be able to communicate data such as position, speed and battery charge directly to the UW’s network, which will provide the information to various research projects.


June 20, 2014

UW students’ electric-hybrid car takes 2nd in international competition

Members of the UW team test their car during the competition.

The University of Washington’s Advanced Vehicle Works team won second place in the international EcoCAR 2 competition this month for turning a Chevrolet Malibu into a highly efficient hybrid vehicle running on electric grid energy and biodiesel.


June 16, 2014

Sensor in eye could track pressure changes, monitor for glaucoma

A commercially available artificial lens implanted in an eye.

University of Washington engineers have designed a low-power sensor that could be placed permanently in a person’s eye to track hard-to-measure changes in eye pressure. The sensor would be embedded with an artificial lens during cataract surgery and would detect pressure changes instantaneously, then transmit the data wirelessly using radio frequency waves.


June 12, 2014

New computer program aims to teach itself everything about anything

Some of the many variations that the new program has learned for three different concepts: "Horse," "Dog" and "Walking."

Computer scientists from the University of Washington and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle have created the first fully automated computer program that teaches everything there is to know about any visual concept.


May 14, 2014

$31M gift will fund early stage UW research by high-tech entrepreneurs

Neil King and graduate student Yu-Ru Lin observe bacterial colony growth at the Institute for Protein Design.

The University of Washington is receiving a $31.2 million gift from Washington Research Foundation to boost entrepreneurship and support research that tackles some of society’s most crucial challenges. The award will fund four interdisciplinary initiatives that seek to advance global innovation in clean energy, protein design, big data science and neuroengineering.


May 13, 2014

Health Digest: Cutbacks jeopardize newborns, safe water, MERS facts

WIC food program

The costly effects of cutbacks on maternal/child services, assuring a pure water supply, and what you need to know about Middle East respiratory syndrome.


May 7, 2014

UW building teleoperated robots for disaster response in national challenge

The robot has a mounted camera and router to transmit the robot’s view of the scene, and built-in haptics technology allows the operator to receive force feedback from the robot.

University of Washington electrical engineers have developed telerobotics technology that could make disaster response faster and more efficient. They are working with a large team as part of the SmartAmerica Challenge, an initiative that encourages new technologies that help society in our increasingly connected world.


May 2, 2014

Teaching kids the language behind their devices — Code.org co-founder to speak

A second grade student participates in the 2013 Hour of Code.

Hadi Partovi of Code.org will talk May 8 at UW’s Seattle campus about the impact of the Hour of Code and what parents, educators and policymakers in Washington state can do to prepare students for science, technology, math and engineering jobs.


April 30, 2014

Stem cell therapy regenerates heart muscle in primates

cardiac cells

Regenerative medicine researchers successfully attempted stem cell therapy to repair damaged heart muscle in non-human primates.


April 23, 2014

Thousands on campus for Engineering Discovery Days, April 25-26

Students check out 3-D printers at the 2013 Engineering Discovery Days.

Engineers and scientists at the University of Washington will display their most engaging research and projects Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, during the annual Engineering Discovery Days, which is free and open to the public.


April 15, 2014

UW graduate’s lens turns any smartphone into a portable microscope

Photo of the micro phone lens on a smartphone.

The Micro Phone Lens, developed by UW mechanical engineering alumnus Thomas Larson (’13), can turn any smartphone or tablet computer into a handheld microscope.


April 7, 2014

UW startup creates underwater robotics with a human touch

Undergraduates students work on instrumentation with the BluHaptics team.

A team of University of Washington scientists and engineers working at the Applied Physics Laboratory is creating a control system for underwater remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs. Researchers will demonstrate the technology at the SmartAmerica Challenge in Washington, D.C. in June.


April 4, 2014

UW researchers, radar company conduct aerial surveys of Oso site

Black and white image of slide

UW researchers made some of the first aerial surveys over the Oso mudslide, using radar technology to map the condition immediately after the slide.


March 17, 2014

Hold that RT: Much misinformation tweeted after 2013 Boston Marathon bombing

A graph shows hashtags on Twitter and how they are related to each other.

University of Washington researchers have found that misinformation spread widely on Twitter after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing despite efforts by users to correct rumors that were inaccurate.


March 13, 2014

Tethered robots tested for Internet-connected ocean observatory

people on boat deploying instrument

The UW this fall will complete installation of a huge high-tech ocean observatory. Dozens of instruments will connect to power and Internet cables on the seafloor, but the observatory also includes a new generation of ocean explorers: robots that will zoom up and down through almost two miles of ocean to monitor the water conditions and marine life above.


March 3, 2014

UW astronomer Eric Agol’s seven-planet system part of major NASA discovery

An artist's illustration of multiple-transiting planet systems. The planets eclipse or transit their host star from the vantage point of the observer.

UW astronomer Eric Agol played a key role in the windfall of 715 new exoplanets recently announced by NASA. Agol was on a team that found seven of those worlds, all in orbit around the same star.


February 27, 2014

Battery-free technology brings gesture recognition to all devices

AllSee detects the unique signal changes (shown on the oscilloscope) and classifies a rich set of hand gestures.

University of Washington computer scientists have built a low-cost gesture recognition system that runs without batteries and lets users control their electronic devices hidden from sight with simple hand movements. The prototype, called “AllSee,” uses existing TV signals as both a power source and the means for detecting a user’s gesture command.


February 20, 2014

NASA’s ‘Mohawk Guy’ advocates ‘audacious,’ creative engineering

Bobak Ferdowsi photo

Bobak Ferdowsi, a NASA flight engineer who became known as “Mohawk Guy” after sporting a mohawk hairstyle during the 2012 rover Curiosity’s landing on Mars, spoke to a class of University of Washington aeronautics and astronautics engineering students on Feb. 19. Ferdowsi was a student in the department and graduated from the UW in 2001.


February 6, 2014

Credit card-sized device could analyze biopsy, help diagnose pancreatic cancer in minutes

the device is shown up close.

University of Washington scientists and engineers are developing a low-cost device that could help pathologists diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier and faster. The prototype can perform the basic steps for processing a biopsy, relying on fluid transport instead of human hands to process the tissue.


January 27, 2014

Facelift complications eased with help of new 3-D imaging technique

This image shows a mouse ear after a successful cosmetic filler injection. The filler, in green, rests in the tissue without blocking the blood vessels and veins

New imaging technology from University of Washington engineers allows scientists to analyze what happens within the smallest blood vessels during a cosmetic facelift. This finding could be used to prevent accidents during procedures and help clinicians reverse the ill effects if an injection doesn’t go as planned.


January 10, 2014

Trial to test using ultrasound to move kidney stones

ultrasound image

A clinical trial in Seattle is testing a technique developed at the UW that uses low-power ultrasound to reposition kidney stones.


December 18, 2013

Home dialysis gains momentum through UW research

home dialysis

Of the 400,000 kidney disease patients on dialysis in the United States only 6 percent to 7 percent are treated with home dialysis, largely because the choice is not often given to them as an option.


December 12, 2013

Scientists discover double meaning in genetic code

Genome scientist Dr. John Stamatoyannopoulos.

Finding a second code hiding in the genome casts new light on how changes to DNA impact health and disease.


December 3, 2013

New book ‘Going Viral’ explores nature, impact of Internet virality

Book cover for "Going Viral" by Karine Nahon and Jeff Hemsley of the UW Information School.

Will we of the early 21th century be remembered for Internet memes like Grumpy Cat? “Going Viral,” a new book by Karine Nahon and Jeff Hemsley of the UW Information School explores the nature of virality and impacts of virality.


November 25, 2013

Dashboards to bring culture change in strategic decision-making

Drumheller Fountain and Gerberding Hall on the UW campus.

New dashboards for exploring trends are bringing about a culture change in strategic decision-making at the university


November 24, 2013

How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to generate electrical signals

Advanced Light Source

Filtered from a vast sodium sea, more than 1 million calcium ions per second gush through our cells’ pores to generate charges


November 12, 2013

Grant will support interdisciplinary, data-intensive research at UW

wordle image of words from the UW's proposal

The UW, along with the University of California, Berkeley, and New York University, are partners in a new five-year, $37.8 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that aims to accelerate the growth of data-intensive discovery across many fields.


November 7, 2013

Cost-effective method accurately orders DNA sequencing along entire chromosomes

human chromosomes

The method may help overcome a major obstacle that has delayed progress in designing rapid, low-cost — but still accurate — ways to assemble genomes from scratch. It also may validate certain types of chromosomal abnormalities in cancer.


November 6, 2013

A shot in the dark: Detector at UW on the hunt for dark matter

Physicists examine components of the axion detector at the University of Washington.

Physicists are using a detector at the UW to search for a particle called an axion, which would be the first physical evidence of the universe’s dark matter.


November 1, 2013

UW surgical robot featured in 2013 movie ‘Ender’s Game’

A close-up shoot of the UW’s Raven II robot as it simulates brain surgery on actor Moisés Arias during the filming of “Ender’s Game.”

A University of Washington surgical research robot appears in the sci-fi movie “Ender’s Game” starring Harrison Ford. Two UW students operated the robot during the filming of the movie, which opens Nov. 1 in theaters across the country.


October 29, 2013

Crashing rockets could lead to novel sample-return technology

An artist's conception shows a sampling rocket, with a tether linking a return capsule inside the rocket to a recovery craft.

This year, in an annual trek to the Nevada desert, UW students deliberately launched rockets from altitude directly into a dry lakebed. These were early tests of a concept that eventually could be used to collect and return samples from an erupting volcano, a melting nuclear reactor or even an asteroid in space.



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