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Arts and entertainment | UW Notebook

January 27, 2023

ArtSci Roundup: Doce Sones para Doce Poetas / Twelve Songs for Twelve Poets, Thick as Mud exhibition opening, and more

Attend lectures, performances, and more! January 18 – February 15, 7:30 PM |History Lecture Series: Medieval Made Modern, Kane Hall The medieval period has always occupied a paradoxical position in our cultural memory. An age of fantasy unimaginably distant from historical reality, it is also an era onto which writers and artists—and now moviemakers and gamers—have long projected their fears and desires. Why do cultures remake certain figures from the past—but not others–in their own image? Join Professor Emerita Robin…

Engineering | Expert quotes | News releases | Research | Technology

January 23, 2023

Q&A: How AI can help people be more empathetic about mental health

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington studied how artificial intelligence could help people on the platform TalkLife, where people give each other mental health support. The researchers developed an AI system that suggested changes to participants’ responses to make them more empathetic. The best responses resulted from a collaboration between AI and people.

Arts and entertainment | UW Notebook

January 19, 2023

ArtSci Roundup: Behzod Abduraimov, “Manzanar, Diverted” Screening and Director talk, and more

Start the new year with lectures, performances, and more! January 24, 7:30 PM |Behzod Abduraimov, Meany Hall Since winning the London International Piano Competition in 2009, Behzod Abduraimov’s passionate and virtuosic performances have dazzled audiences around the world. His “prodigious technique and rhapsodic flair” (The New York Times) have defined his career as a recording artist, recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with major orchestras worldwide. The Tashkent, Uzbekistan native presents a program specifically crafted for his Meany debut, featuring Uzbek…

Arts and entertainment | UW Notebook

January 13, 2023

ArtSci Roundup: Democracy and the 2022 Midterm Elections, UW Dance Presents, Physics Slam, and more

Start the new year with lectures, performances, and more! January 18, 6:30 PM | Democracy and the 2022 Midterm Elections, Part II, Kane Hall Join UW Professor Jacob Grumbach for the second and final lecture on the 2022 midterm elections. In this talk, he will address the election results as well as ways we can protect and improve American democracy through reforming the Constitution, updating election laws, and revitalizing the labor movement. Free | More info. January 19, 3:30 PM…

News releases | Research | Science

January 12, 2023

How did the Butterfly Nebula get its wings? It’s complicated

Something is amiss in the Butterfly Nebula. When a team led by astronomers at the University of Washington compared two exposures of this planetary nebula that had been taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and 2020, they saw dramatic changes in the material within its “wings.” As the team will report on Jan. 12 at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, powerful winds are apparently driving complex alterations of material within the Butterfly Nebula, behavior not seen in planetary nebulae to date. The researchers want to understand how such activity is possible from what should be a “sputtering, largely moribund star with no remaining fuel.”

News releases | Research | Science

January 11, 2023

Old and new stars paint very different pictures of the Triangulum galaxy

On Jan. 11 at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, a team led by scientists at the University of Washington and the Center for Computational Astrophysics reported something unexpected about the distinct populations of stars that make up the Triangulum galaxy: In this satellite galaxy, a close companion of the much larger Andromeda galaxy, old and new stars occur in separate parts of the galaxy’s structure, something not seen in galaxies like our own and so far not reporter for other satellite galaxies.

News releases | Research | Science

January 10, 2023

The seven-year photobomb: Distant star’s dimming was likely a ‘dusty’ companion getting in the way, astronomers say

University of Washington astronomers were on the lookout for “stars behaving strangely” when an automated alert from pointed them to Gaia17bpp, a star that had gradually brightened over a 2 1/2-year period. But follow-up analyses indicated that Gaia17bpp wasn’t changing. Instead, the star is likely part of a rare type of binary system. Its apparent brightening was the end of a years-long eclipse by an unusual, “dusty” stellar companion.

Environment | Research | Science | UW News blog

Plastic pollution in the oceans is an equity issue, says UW-led report

A recent report and upcoming virtual event looks at the unequal effect of marine plastics on different communities. The international report led by UW’s Yoshitaka Ota covers topics ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on plastic pollution to a critique of Coca-Cola’s waste initiative.

Global | News releases | Research | Science

January 9, 2023

Climate ‘presses’ and ‘pulses’ impact Magellanic penguins — a marine predator — with guidance for conservationists

Climate change will reshape ecosystems through two types of events: short-term, extreme events — or “pulses” — and long-term changes, or “presses.” Understanding the effects of presses and pulses is essential as conservationists and policymakers try to preserve ecosystems and safeguard biodiversity. Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered how different presses and pulses impacted Magellanic penguins — a migratory marine predator — over nearly four decades and found that, though individual presses and pulses impacted penguins in a variety of ways, both were equally important for the future survival of the penguin population. They also found that these types of climate changes, taken together, are leading to an overall population decline at their historically largest breeding site.

Environment | News releases | Research | Science

Warming oceans have decimated marine parasites — but that’s not a good thing

Save the … parasites? Analyzing 140 years of parasite abundance in fish shows dramatic declines, especially in parasites that rely on three or more host species. The decline is linked to warming ocean temperatures. Parasitic species might be in real danger, researchers warn — and that means not just fewer worms, but losses for the entire ecosystem.

Arts and entertainment | UW Notebook

January 6, 2023

ArtSci Roundup

Start the new year with lectures, performances, and more! January 9, 7 PM |Feelin Book Event: Bettina Judd in Conversation with Dian Million, Elliott Bay Book Company University of Washington Professors Bettina Judd and Dr. Dian Million gather in support of the former’s new book Feelin: Creative Practice, Pleasure, and Black Feminist Thought (Northwestern University Press, December 2022). In the book, the poet, artist, and scholar Bettina Judd argues that Black women’s creative production is feminist knowledge production produced by…

News releases

January 4, 2023

Fredrick Nafukho named UW Vice Provost for the Office of Academic Personnel

University of Washington Provost Mark Richards announced the appointment of Fredrick Muyia Nafukho as the new Vice Provost for the Office of Academic Personnel beginning Feb. 1, pending approval by the Board of Regents. Nafukho also will hold a tenured faculty position in the Department of Management and Organization in the Foster School of Business.

News releases | Research | Science

Trouble falling asleep at night? Chase that daytime light, study shows

A study measuring the sleep patterns of students at the University of Washington found that students fell asleep later in the evening and woke up later in the morning during winter, when daylight hours on the UW’s Seattle campus are limited and the skies are notoriously overcast. Researchers believe the students’ natural circadian clocks were being “pushed back” or delayed in winter because they were not getting enough exposure during the day to natural light, and that getting more daytime light exposure can help reverse this.

Education | Environment | Research | Science | Technology | UW News blog

December 8, 2022

UW brings field geology to students with ‘Virtual Field Geology’

UW’s Virtual Field Geology project has many goals: to make geology field experiences accessible to more people; to document geological field sites that may be at risk from erosion or development; to offer virtual “dry run” experiences; and to allow scientific collaborators to do virtual visits to a field site together. While the pandemic brought new urgency to the project, its developers believe it’s part of a “new normal” for geology research and education.

News releases | Research | Science

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows how several stars ‘stirred up’ the Southern Ring Nebula

In a study published Dec. 8 in Nature Astronomy, an international research team, led by Orsola De Marco of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, analyzed 10 highly detailed exposures taken by the JWST of the Southern Ring Nebula. Their calculations show the central star that ejected the expanding nebula gas was originally three times the mass of the sun, and that unseen companions shaped the nebula’s intricate features.

Engineering | Health and medicine | News releases | Research | Science

December 5, 2022

New blood test can detect ‘toxic’ protein years before Alzheimer’s symptoms emerge, study shows

Researchers at the University of Washington have detected “toxic” small aggregates of a particular protein in the blood of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as in individuals who showed no signs of cognitive impairment at the time the blood sample was taken, but who developed it at a later date. This blood test picks up oligomers — or small, misfolded aggregates — of the amyloid beta protein, which scientists believe triggers the development of Alzheimer’s.

Environment | News releases | Research | Science

Strongest Arctic cyclone on record led to surprising loss of sea ice

The strongest Arctic cyclone ever observed struck in January 2022. A new analysis led by the University of Washington shows that while forecasts accurately predicted the massive storm, models seriously underestimated its impact on sea ice. Results suggest how forecast models for a changing Arctic Ocean could improve.

News releases

Dr. Gautham Reddy, Faculty Senate chair, outlines priorities for term

Improving faculty dispute resolution policies, promoting ways to improve terms of employment for clinical faculty, reenvisioning the merit and promotion process for faculty on all three University of Washington campuses, and continuing to promote diversity, equity and inclusion practices are top priorities for this year’s UW Faculty Senate Chair Dr. Gautham Reddy, a professor in Department of Radiology in the School of Medicine.

Education | UW News blog | Video

November 28, 2022

‘Everything that you need is already in you’: Supporting young women of color through the Sisterhood Initiative

The University of Washington’s new Sisterhood Initiative aims to support young women of color through a cohort-based program, building on the success of the UW’s Brotherhood Initiative, which focuses on young men of color.

News releases | Population Health | Public Health | Research | Social science

November 16, 2022

More US adults carrying loaded handguns daily, study finds

New research led by the University of Washington finds that the number of U.S. adult handgun owners carrying a loaded handgun on their person doubled from 2015 to 2019, and that a larger proportion of handgun owners carried handguns in states with less restrictive carrying regulations.

News releases | UW and the community

November 9, 2022

Fundraising effort to restore, reimagine historic ASUW Shell House is in full swing

Perched on the southeast corner of the University of Washington campus, where the Montlake Cut meets Union Bay, the ASUW Shell House looks as vulnerable as it does majestic. Over the course of a century, the structure built as a critical wartime post later was the home to a group of rowers who captured the nation’s imagination before becoming an all-but-forgotten artifact of the past. Now, propelled by a wave of renewed interest, the 12,000-square-foot wooden structure is the focus of an $18.5 million campaign that will restore and renovate the space.