UW News

College of Arts & Sciences


June 20, 2019

Looking for life: UW researchers, presentations abound at 2019 astrobiology conference in Bellevue

A roundup of UW talents and presentations in AbSciCon2019, the national conference on astrobiology — the search for life in the universe — to be held in Bellevue, June 24-28.


Mammals and their relatives thrived, diversified during so-called ‘Age of Dinosaurs,’ researchers show

Illustration of an extinct marsupial.

Old myths state that, during the time of the dinosaurs, mammals and their relatives were small and primitive. But new research shows that, during the time of the dinosaurs, mammals and their relatives actually underwent two large ecological radiations, diversifying into climbing, gliding and burrowing forms with a variety of diets.


June 19, 2019

Abundance of gases in Enceladus’s ocean are a potential fuel — if life is there to consume it

This illustration shows NASA's Cassini spacecraft diving through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus, in 2015. New research from the University of Washington, to be presented at the coming AbSciCon2019 conference, indicates that the moon's subsurface ocean of probably has higher than previously known concentrations of carbon dioxide and hydrogen and a more Earthlike pH level, possibly providing conditions favorable to life.

The subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus probably has higher than previously known concentrations of carbon dioxide and hydrogen and a more Earthlike pH level, possibly providing conditions favorable to life, according to new research from planetary scientists at the UW.


ArtsUW Roundup: Last week to see MFA + MDes exhibition at the Henry, opening of Beverly Semmes, concert at the library, and more

This week in the arts, visit an exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery or the Center for Urban Horticulture, attend a concert at the library, attend a field poetics workshop, and more! Closing weekend: 2019 School of Art + Art History + Design Graduation Exhibitions Each year we celebrate graduating Art and Design undergraduate and…


June 18, 2019

Of octopuses and astrobiology: Conference talk speculates on cognition beyond Earth

Dominic Sivitilli, UW doctoral student in behavioral neuroscience

Of the many papers and presentations scheduled for AbSciCon2019, the conference on astrobiology and the search for life in space happening in Bellevue the week of June 24, the UW’s Dominic Sivitilli’s is perhaps unique — he’ll discuss his research into how octopuses “think.”


June 12, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: Design show reception, DMA recitals, and more

This week in the arts, partake in the Design Show reception at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery or the MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition at the Henry, attend a DMA recital, and more! 2019 School of Art + Art History + Design Graduation Exhibitions Each year we celebrate graduating Art and Design undergraduate and graduate students…


June 10, 2019

UW’s Pacific Northwest English Study seeking new group of research participants for summer 2019

The Pacific Northwest English Study, headed by UW linguist Alicia Beckford Wassink, is about to begin a new, three-year research project listening to voices from throughout the region and is looking for participants.


June 4, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: A site responsive exhibition, #HEREproject, Strange Coupling 2019 exhibition reception, Daniel Alexander Jones reading and more

This week in the arts, partake in the #HEREproject  – a celebratory interactive art installation honoring places around campus that have defined our #HuskyExperience and set us on our path, attend one of the 2019 School of Art + Art History + Design Graduation Exhibitions, attend a performance by UW Symphony and Choirs, and more! ASUW…


How early-life challenges affect how children focus, face the day

Experiences such as poverty, residential instability, or parental divorce or substance abuse, can affect executive function and lead to changes in a child’s brain chemistry, muting the effects of stress hormones, according to a new University of Washington study.


Soundbites: Graham Pruss on vehicle residency

Graham Pruss has been researching vehicle residency in Seattle for nearly a decade. He established the methodology for counting the vehicle-resident population for All Home’s annual point-in-time count, conducted on one night each January.


Video: UW MFA + MDes students exhibit thesis work at Henry Art Gallery

The annual thesis exhibition by graduating art and design students with the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design brings together the dreamy and the practical to cohabit at the Henry Art Gallery. This year’s exhibit features the work of 10 artists and 11 designers, and will be at the Henry through June 23.


June 3, 2019

Documentary films by UW faculty members Jeff Shulman, David Shields to screen

Two films by UW faculty members — business professor Jeff Shulman and English professor David Shields — will have screenings in Seattle in coming days — both with strong connections to the city.


May 31, 2019

Seattle’s forgotten street community: UW anthropologist talks about the unique circumstances of vehicle residency

UW doctoral student Graham Pruss has studied vehicle residency for a decade. Photo of an RV being used as a residence on a Seattle street.

Vehicle residents are a significant proportion of Seattle’s unsheltered population. The University of Washington’s Graham Pruss, a doctoral candidate in anthropology, has studied vehicle residency for a decade and speaks about the challenges and solutions facing this community.


May 30, 2019

Design, art thesis projects fill Henry Art Gallery for eclectic annual exhibition

"Spoiled Landscapes - Ocean," an oil on canvas by Baorong Liang is seen through a gap in Brighton McCormack's house-like structure "Fully Furnished" (in video above) at the 2019 MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery.

The annual thesis exhibition by graduating art and design students with the UW School of Art + Art History + Design reliably brings together the dreamy and the practical to cohabit at the Henry Art Gallery. This year’s exhibit features the work of 10 artists and 11 designers, and will be at the Henry through June 23.


May 29, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: You Are Not Invited, world premier of ‘Lynch: A History’ at SIFF, last week to see ‘Nina Simone: Four Women’, Edgar Arceneaux’s Library of Black Lies, and ‘The Learned Ladies’, and more!

Photo: Free Sheep Foundation, Bridge Motel, 2007 Photo by Dan Hawkins

This week in the arts, visit one of the School of Art + Art History + Design exhibitions, attend the premier of “Lynch: A History’” – an official selection in SIFF’s documentary competition, see “Nina Simone: Four Women” at the Seattle Rep., and more! You Are Not Invited: A Critical Survey of Seattle Art History…


New study identifies patterns of growth in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

In a paper published May 29 in Nature, scientists report that the growth of chronic lymphocytic leukemia is apt to follow one of three trajectories: relentlessly upward, steadily level or something in between. The particular course the disease takes is tightly linked to the genetic makeup of the cancer cells, particularly the number of growth-spurring “driver” mutations they contain.


UW, collaborating institutions awarded $9.5 million for detecting autism earlier in childhood

A child and an adult playing with toys.

A multicenter research team that includes the University of Washington Autism Center has received a five-year, $9.5 million grant to further evaluate whether brain imaging can help detect very high risk of autism spectrum disorder in early infancy.


May 24, 2019

UW books in brief: Mindful travel in an unequal world, day laborers in Brooklyn, activist educators

Recent notable books by University of Washington faculty explore mindful international travel, men seeking work as day laborers, and activist teachers.


May 23, 2019

Hot spots in rivers that nurture young salmon ‘flicker on and off’ in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region

A spawning sockeye salmon.

Chemical signatures imprinted on tiny stones that form inside the ears of fish show that two of Alaska’s most productive salmon populations, and the fisheries they support, depend on the entire watershed.


May 21, 2019

ARTSUW Roundup: Eleventh Improvised Music Project Festival (IMPFest XI), Graduation Exhibitions, The Learned Ladies, and more!

This week in the arts, stop by one of the School of Art + Art History + Design’s Graduation Exhibitions, see The Learned Ladies performed in the United States’ first Theatre in the Round, attend IMPFest XI,  featuring UW Jazz Studies faculty, students and seasoned professionals of international renown, and more! 2019 School of Art…


Help by design: Art assists science at UW Design Help Desk

Sometimes when science gets stuck, art can come to the rescue. Such is the case, a new study shows, with the UW Design Help Desk, which guides faculty, students and staff in improving the more artistic aspects of presenting research or reports — figures, diagrams, posters and such.


May 15, 2019

ARTSUW Roundup: newly launched ARTSUW website, JACK Quartet performance, Heisenberg, Print Sale, Screening at LANGSTON, MFA Dance Concert, and more!

This week in the arts, partake in an audio augmented reality (AR) experience with hundreds of others on Red Square, explore the newly redesigned ARTSUW website, attend JACK Quartet, and more! Inspiring arts exploration: ArtsUW website redesigned with students in mind “We want the arts to be part of the DNA of every student’s experience.” That…


May 13, 2019

From counseling services to commissary items, how the private sector shapes ‘offender-funded justice’

An article by University of Washington sociology professor Alexes Harris focuses on the role of the private sector in collecting court-imposed fines and fees.


May 10, 2019

Chemists take a closer look at the spot where water meets air

A chemical structure of water molecules.

A study published April 18 in the journal Science by researchers at Yale University and the University of Washington provides the first direct measurement of the behavior of bonded oxygen and hydrogen atoms perched on the surface of water.


May 8, 2019

ARTSUW Roundup: Peruvian Textiles, This Moment, Innovation the Nordic Way, International Experimental Music Ensemble, MFA Concert, and more!

This week in the arts, examine up-close a selection of Peruvian textiles from the Henry’s collection, attend a lecture about Nordic innovation at the Nordic Museum, go to a graduation exhibition at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and more! From the Collection: Peruvian Textiles May 9, 6:30 pm | Henry Art Gallery Quipus, knotted strings used for…


May 2, 2019

Bats evolved diverse skull shapes due to echolocation, diet

A close-up image of a California leaf-nosed bat.

In a paper published May 2 in Nature Communications, a University of Washington team reports that two major forces have shaped bat skulls over their evolutionary history — echolocation and diet — generating a huge diversity of skull shapes across 1,300 bat species today.


May 1, 2019

US public support for undocumented immigrants seeking citizenship stronger if pathway includes military service, UW research shows

Americans appear more willing to support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if that path includes serving in the United States military, according to new research from UW political scientists Sophia Jordán Wallace and Geoffrey Wallace.


Atmospheric scientist Chris Bretherton elected to National Academy of Sciences

Chris Bretherton

Chris Bretherton, a professor of atmospheric sciences and of applied mathematics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.


April 30, 2019

Flowering plants, new teeth and no dinosaurs: New study sheds light on the rise of mammals

Well-preserved fossils ― like this Yanoconodon allini (Specimen No.: NJU P06001; Formation: Yixian; Age: 122.2–124.6 million years ago; Provenance: China) ― enabled the team to infer ecology of these extinct mammal species and look at changes in mammal community structure during the last 165 million years.

A new study published April 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identified three factors critical in the rise of mammal communities since they first emerged during the Age of Dinosaurs: the rise of flowering plants; the evolution of tribosphenic molars in mammals; and the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, which reduced competition between mammals and other vertebrates in terrestrial ecosystems.


ARTSUW Roundup: Photographer Abelardo Morell, Guest Pianist Yekwon Sunwoo, and more!

This week in the arts, partake in a West African Dance Masterclass with Live Drumming with Etienne Cakpo, attend a concert with guest pianist Yekwon Sunwoo, see “This Moment”, presented by UW School of Drama’s Musical Theater cohort, and more! Monsen Photography Lecture: Abelardo Morell May 3, 6:30 pm | Henry Art Gallery Abelardo Morell…


April 24, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: Philip Glass’s Hydrogen Jukebox, George Rodriguez’s exhibition opening at MadArt, west coast premiere of ‘Nina Simone: Four Women,’ and more!

This week in the arts, attend an original, gender-expansive adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet; see the dancer-illusionists of MOMIX;  experience the Seattle premiere of the chamber opera Hydrogen Jukebox, composed by Philip Glass, with libretto by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, presented by the students of the UW Vocal Theatre Works program will present the Seattle…


April 22, 2019

Brains of blind people adapt to sharpen sense of hearing, study shows

People who are visually impaired rely on other senses to interpret their surroundings. A pair of studies from the University of Washington shows how the brains of blind people adapt to process information. Photo of blind person walking with cane.

Research from the University of Washington uses functional MRI to identify two differences in the brains of blind individuals — differences that might be responsible for their abilities to make better use of auditory information.


April 19, 2019

New space race: Essays from Jackson School symposium explore changing law, policy

Saadia Pekkanen, UW professor of international studies

A new space race is underway, characterized by the intersecting trends of democratization, commercialization and militarization. Saadia Pekkanen, UW professor of international relations, is lead guest editor for a group of essays addressing such issues and more published online this month in the American Journal of International Law.


April 17, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: Romeo and Jules, Seattle Symphony: Mozart Symphony No. 40, Performing with the Brain, and more!

This week in the arts, attend opening night of “Romeo and Jules”, witness musicians perform with their brains, drop in to the Allen Library for a lunchtime concert, and more! SOLD OUT: Kollar American Art Lecture: Elizabeth West Hutchinson April 18, 6:00 pm | Henry Art Gallery In the summer of 1868, Eadweard Muybridge accompanied…


April 11, 2019

Stars and stories: UW astronomer Emily Levesque gathering material for book on ‘true tales of observational astronomy’

Emily Levesque, University of Washington assistant professor of astronomy, is gathering stories for a book to be titled "The Last Stargazers: True Tales of the Colorful and Vanishing World of Observational Astronomy," which will be published in 2020.

Emily Levesque, UW assistant professor of astronomy, is gathering material for a new book to be called “The Last Stargazers: True Tales of the Colorful and Vanishing World of Observational Astronomy.”


April 10, 2019

David Thouless — Nobel laureate and UW professor emeritus — dies at age 84

David Thouless in 2016.

David James Thouless, Nobel laureate and a professor emeritus at the University of Washington, died in Cambridge in the U.K. on April 6, 2019. He was 84 years old.


April 9, 2019

ArtsUW Roundup: The Hip Hop Architect, Anne Focke Leadership Award, Basara 婆娑羅 and the Medieval Origins of Japanese Maximalism, and more!

This week in the arts, celebrate 100 years of influence of the iconic choreographer Merce Cunningham; attend an East African Retro Pop concert with  Alsarah and the Nubatrones, attend a graduation exhibition opening the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and more.  The Hip Hop Architect: Michael Ford April 10, 6:30 pm | Kane Hall, Room 130 The…


March 26, 2019

ARTSUW Roundup: Reading with African-American Writers’ Alliance, Emanuel Ax performance, Graduation Exhibition, and Memory and Place Exhibition

This week in the arts, join members of the African-American Writers’ Alliance as they present new works written in response to the content and themes of Edgar Arceneaux’s Library of Black Lies, attend Pianist Emanuel Ax’s performance, and before that, stop by the graduation exhibition at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery! Reading: African-American Writers’ Alliance March…


March 21, 2019

UW, Microsoft, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory establish new Northwest Quantum Nexus for a quantum revolution in science, technology

Portraits of two people

The University of Washington, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Microsoft Quantum announced this week that they have joined forces in a new coalition, the Northwest Quantum Nexus, to bring about a revolution in quantum research and technology.


March 18, 2019

Information School to welcome high school students March 19 for ‘MisInfo Day’ – from ‘Calling BS’ faculty duo

The UW Information School is taking a leading role in helping people better navigate this era of increasing online fakery and falsehood. On March 19, the school will welcome 200-some Seattle-area high school students for “MisInfo Day,” a daylong workshop on how to navigate the misinformation landscape, from Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom, the faculty duo behind “Calling BS in the Age of Big Data.”



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