Technology
March 29, 2013
Head-on collisions between DNA-code reading machineries accelerate gene evolution
Bacteria speed up their evolution by positioning specific genes along the route of expected traffic jams in DNA encoding. Collisions can result in mutations.
March 26, 2013
Gene therapy may aid failing hearts
Scientists come closer to boosting heart muscle by powering its contractile machinery.
February 20, 2013
Searchable by cell phone or GPS unit, interactive map for arboretum being created
UW Botanic Gardens is digitizing 55 years of handwritten plant records and creating an interactive GIS map for the Washington Park Arboretum.
February 15, 2013
Firing range lead exposure reduced with UW workplace health expertise
UW’s Field Research and Consultation Group in Environmental and Occupational Health assess ventilation systems and airborne lead levels in firing ranges, and offer advice on lowering exposure.
February 6, 2013
Smartphones, tablets help UW researchers improve storm forecasts
Atmospheric scientists are using pressure readings from some new smartphones and tablet computers to improve short-term thunderstorm forecasts. A weather station in every pocket would offer an unprecedented wealth of data.
January 24, 2013
Organic ferroelectric molecule shows promise for memory chips, sensors
A paper in Science describes an organic crystal that shows promise as a cheap, flexible, nontoxic material for the working parts of memory chips, sensors and energy-harvesting devices.
January 9, 2013
UW, Pacific NW National Lab join forces on computing research
The University of Washington and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have formed the Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing, a joint institute based at the UW that will foster collaborative computing research.
December 31, 2012
News Digest: Honor: Daniela Witten
Daniela Witten named one of Forbes’ rising stars
December 28, 2012
Surgery establishes penile sensation in men with spina bifida
The new procedure may improve the quality of life for men with spinal cord lesions or injuries.
December 27, 2012
Academic medicine has major economic impact on the state and the nation
The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that its member medical schools and teaching hospitals had a combined economic impact of more than $587 billion in the United States in 2011
December 21, 2012
Training Xchange puts UW research advances into practitioners’ hands
The UW is expanding its Training Xchange initiative to help researchers transmit innovations in healthcare and other fields to professionals locally and beyond the Northwest.
December 20, 2012
Mild brain cooling after head injury prevents epileptic seizures in lab study
Traumatic head injury is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in young adults, and at present there is no treatment to prevent or cure it.
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.
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.
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 25, 2012
Students win $100K for 3-D printer to turn waste plastic into composting toilets, rainwater harvesting systems
Three undergraduates won $100,000 to form a company that will work with partners in Oaxaca, Mexico, to build machines that can transform waste plastic into composting toilets and pieces for rainwater harvesting systems.
October 17, 2012
Living Voters Guide adds fact-checking by Seattle librarians for 2012 election
The Living Voters Guide, created by the UW and presented with Seattle’s CityClub, just won a regional award and has been updated for the 2012 election. This year the guide has expanded to include a California edition, and the Washington guide will include fact-checking of selected points by Seattle Public Library staff.
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 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.
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
Browser plug-in helps people balance their political news reading habits
As the U.S. presidential election approaches, many voters become voracious consumers of online political news. A new tool tracks whether all those articles really provide a balanced view of the debate – and, if not, suggests some sites that offer opinions from the other side of the political spectrum.
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
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 13, 2012
After months on portable artificial heart, Alaska man receives transplant
Christopher Marshall underwent a seven-hour heart transplant surgery yesterday, Sept. 12, a UW Medical Center.
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 5, 2012
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.
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.
August 30, 2012
New program joins computer science and design experts at UW, Tsinghua University
This summer the UW hosted the first World Lab Summer Institute, which brings together computing and design students from the UW and Beijing’s Tsinghua University. The students spent seven weeks devising ways that technology could be used to address global issues in health, environment and education.
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.
August 10, 2012
Student-built rocket with experimental motor blasts to 1st-place finish
A team of University of Washington students designed a unique rocket motor and launched it 5 miles up to claim first prize this summer in the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition. The UW students built a new type of motor powered by a combination of solid paraffin and liquid nitrous oxide. So-called hybrid propulsion systems are…
August 9, 2012
Crowd funding on campus: UW scientists raise money for research online
When Rachel Aronson travels this month to Alaska, she and a local research assistant will interview people who are in danger of being displaced by climate change. She will also send about 100 postcards to her funders. Aronson is among a growing number of University of Washington students, faculty and staff who are using online…
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
Memorial for UW-IT’s R.L. “Bob” Morgan
A memorial for R.L. “Bob” Morgan, 57, an expert in “identity management” for UW Information Technology, will be held in Kane Hall 225 (the Walker-Ames Room) at 11 a.m. Sunday, July 29. He died July 12 during cancer treatment at UW Medical Center. Besides his work in identity management, which provides the foundation for safe…
July 17, 2012
DO-IT celebrates 20 years preparing students with disabilities for college
A group of Washington high-school students will arrive at the University of Washington campus this week for the annual DO-IT Scholars Summer Study program. It’s the 20th anniversary of the summer program, which has now helped launch the careers of hundreds of students from Washington and beyond who have a wide range of disabilities. DO-IT…
July 13, 2012
3-D printed boat to enter tomorrow’s Milk Carton Derby
Students in the UW’s new 3-D printing club plan to enter tomorrow Milk Carton Derby at Green Lake with what they believe is the world’s first 3-D printed boat, made from more than 150 recycled, melted and extruded milk cartons.
July 9, 2012
UW students win NASA contest with their plan for mining the moon
A senior class in Aeronautics & Astronautics won a national competition with the students’ detailed plan to travel to the moon, establish a mining outpost and jettison the product back to Earth.
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.
June 28, 2012
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.
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