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Environment | News releases | Research | Science

September 13, 2017

Climate change challenges the survival of fish across the world

  Climate change will force many amphibians, mammals and birds to move to cooler areas outside their normal ranges, provided they can find space and a clear trajectory among our urban developments and growing cities. But what are the chances for fish to survive as climate change continues to warm waters around the world? University of Washington researchers are tackling this question in the first analysis of how vulnerable the world’s freshwater and marine fishes are to climate change. Their…

Engineering | News releases | Research | Science | Technology

UW team shatters long-range communication barrier for devices that consume almost no power

UW researchers have demonstrated for the first time that devices that run on almost zero power can transmit data across distances of up to 2.8 kilometers — breaking a long-held barrier and potentially enabling a vast array of interconnected devices.

News releases | Research | Social science

Offhand comments can expose underlying racism, UW study finds

        Blatant racism is easy to identify — a shouted racial slur, a white supremacist rally, or the open discrimination, segregation and violence of the pre-civil rights era. But more subtle forms of bias, called microaggressions, emerge in the everyday exchanges among friends and strangers alike and can offend racial and ethnic minorities. Such statements, uttered intentionally or inadvertently, draw upon stereotypes and are linked with racism and prejudice, according to a University of Washington-led study. The…

Administrative affairs | Education | News releases

September 12, 2017

Work broadening high-quality early learning bolstered by grant

    The University of Washington College of Education’s work to expand access to high-quality early learning opportunities across the country is being strengthened with a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over the next four years, the grant will support the College in generating tools and methods needed to launch sustainable high-quality practices in pre-kindergarten programs, particularly among low-income communities. Principal Investigator Gail Joseph, associate professor of early childhood and family studies and director of…

Environment | Research | Science | UW News blog

Land-sea experiment will track earthquakes, volcanoes along Alaska Peninsula

The National Science Foundation is funding the largest marine seismic-monitoring effort yet along the Alaska Peninsula, a region with frequent and diverse earthquake and volcanic activity. Involving aircraft and ships, the new Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment will be led by Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with partners at the University of Washington and seven other research institutions. “This effort will really change the information we have at our disposal for understanding the seismic properties of subduction zones,” said…

Environment | Social science | UW News blog

Q&A | Sanne Knudsen: Consumers need more protection from chemicals and pesticides

  Sanne Knudsen was an undergraduate in Chicago when she got her first close-up look at environmental justice. As an environmental engineering student at Northwestern University, Knudsen answered an attorney’s call for volunteers to study several neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side, communities that had endured more than their share of pollution and exposure to chemicals. Through that work, Knudsen found a future calling. “That piqued my interest in environmental law and the impact law can have,” said Knudsen, who now…

Honors and awards | News releases | UW and the community

September 6, 2017

UW remains at No. 25 in the world, fourth among U.S. public institutions, on Times Higher Education ranking list

For the second consecutive year, the University of Washington has been ranked No. 25 on the Times Higher Education world rankings for 2018, released Tuesday. It is tied with the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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

PupilScreen aims to allow parents, coaches, medics to detect concussion, brain injuries with a smartphone

University of Washington researchers are developing a smartphone app that is capable of objectively detecting concussion and other traumatic brain injuries in the field, which could provide a new level of screening for athletes and accident victims.

News releases | Research | Science | Technology | UW and the community

Earth as hybrid planet: New classification scheme places Anthropocene era in astrobiological context

A team of researchers including the UW’s Marina Alberti has devised a new classification scheme for the evolutionary stages of worlds based on “non-equilibrium thermodynamics” — a planet’s energy flow being out of synch, as the presence of life could cause.

Social science | UW and the community | UW News blog

Gun dealers, suicide-prevention advocates partner to save lives

  With 80 percent of firearms deaths in Washington related to suicide, the scenario isn’t hard to imagine: A person thinking of ending their life enters a gun store to buy the means to do it. Unfortunately, other scenarios play out, as well: A person filling a lethal dose of a prescription medication at a pharmacy. Or showing signs of depression at a doctor’s visit, without a screening for suicide risk. In each case, there is an opportunity to prevent…

Education | Learning | News releases | Politics and government | Research | Social science | UW and the community | UW News blog

How governments can maintain strong public-private partnerships: Guide from Evans School’s Justin Marlowe

The biggest risk to public-private partnerships in governing is not financial or technical, but political, says UW Evans School professor Justin Marlowe in his fourth guide to financial literacy, published by Governing magazine.

For UW employees | News releases | Research | Social science | UW and the community

August 28, 2017

Home prices up, supply down in second quarter of 2017

Washington state’s housing market showed the continuing effects of high demand in the second quarter of 2017, according to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at the University of Washington The statewide median sales price rose to $337,700 in the second quarter, 6.6 percent higher than the same time period last year. This represents an all-time high for statewide house prices and the highest median price ever recorded in Washington state. Similarly, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing…

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

New app could use smartphone selfies to screen for pancreatic cancer

A new app could lead to earlier detection of pancreatic cancer simply by snapping a smartphone selfie. The disease kills 90 percent of patients within five years, in part because there are no telltale symptoms or non-invasive screening tools to catch a tumor before it spreads.

Education

How reading and writing with your child boost more than just literacy

  Children who read and write at home — whether for assignments or just for fun — are building long-term study and executive function skills, according to a paper from the University of Washington. And while home literacy activities have already been associated with higher test scores, the new study shows these activities also provide students with tools for lifetime success. “People who are good students tend to become good employees by being on time and putting forward their best…

Environment | News releases | Research | Science | Technology

August 24, 2017

Scientists to create digital encyclopedia of 3-D vertebrate specimens

A $2.5 million National Science Foundation grant will daylight thousands of specimens from their museum shelves by CT scanning 20,000 vertebrates and making these data-rich, 3-D images available online to researchers, educators, students and the public. The University of Washington is a partner institution contributing most of the fish and bat scans.

News releases | Research | Social science

Lesbian, gay and bisexual older adults suffer more chronic health conditions than heterosexuals, study finds

  Lesbian and bisexual older women are more likely than heterosexual older women to suffer chronic health conditions, experience sleep problems and drink excessively, a new University of Washington study finds. In general, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) older adults were found to be in poorer health than heterosexuals, specifically in terms of higher rates of cardiovascular disease, weakened immune system and low back or neck pain. They also were at greater risk of some adverse health behaviors such as…

Research | Science | UW and the community | UW News blog

Greetings from Earth: Documents that Changed the World podcast revisits Voyager’s ‘Golden Record,’ 1977

  Forty years ago this month, Planet Earth said hello to the cosmos with the launch of the two Voyager probes that used gravity to swing from world to world on a grand tour of the solar system. Each bore a two-sided, 12-inch, gold-plated copper “Golden Record” of sights and sounds from Earth and its people — and a stylus to help play the record. Documents that Changed the World: Listen: Voyager’s “Golden Record,” 1977 About 20 billion kilometers (about…

Environment | Learning | Science | UW and the community | UW News blog

August 21, 2017

Native American youth launch high-altitude balloons for unique perspective on solar eclipse

While many people across the country donned viewing glasses and prepared to watch Monday’s solar eclipse, a group of 100 teenagers from tribes across the Pacific Northwest launched balloons thousands of feet into the air, gaining a novel perspective of the eclipse — and the chance to send meaningful artifacts to the edge of space during a memorable moment in history.

Politics and government | Social science | UW News blog

August 17, 2017

Q & A: Sarah Quinn lifts the curtain on the ‘hidden state’

  Given today’s political climate, one might assume that terms like “administrative state” and “deep state” are merely examples of polarized rhetoric. But the wariness underlying those terms goes back much further, said Sarah Quinn, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Washington. Try colonial America. “Some historians will say this is something that defines American culture, going back to before the revolution – that there is a longstanding dislike of centralized power and markets, and that this…

Engineering | News releases | Research | Science

Computer scientists use music to covertly track body movements, activity

Researchers at the University of Washington have demonstrated how it is possible to transform a smart device into a surveillance tool that can collect information about the body position and movements of the user, as well as other people in the device’s immediate vicinity. Their approach involves remotely hijacking smart devices to play music embedded with repeating pulses that track a person’s position, body movements, and activities both in the vicinity of the device as well as through walls.

News releases | Politics and government | Research | Social science | UW and the community

August 15, 2017

Evans School’s Scott Allard notes poverty’s changing landscape in ‘Places in Need’

The number of poor people living in America’s suburbs has more than doubled over the last 25 years, with little attention from academics or policymakers, says Scott W. Allard, a professor in the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, in his new 2017 book “Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty,”

Arts and entertainment | Honors and awards | Learning | Politics and government | Research | UW News blog

August 1, 2017

English professor William Streitberger honored for book on Queen Elizabeth I’s Revels Office

William Streitberger, UW professor of English, has been honored for his book “The Masters of Revels and Elizabeth I’s Court Theatre.” Decades in the making, the book was published in 2016 by Oxford University Press.

Health and medicine | Learning | News releases | Research | Science | Social science | UW and the community

July 31, 2017

University of Washington’s Livable City Year program completes inaugural partnership with Auburn

University of Washington students have been working with city of Auburn staff and community members throughout the past year on a wide range of projects tackling challenges around livability and sustainability in the city. Livable City Year is continuing in the 2017-2018 year in partnership with the city of Tacoma. These projects were part of the UW Livable City Year program, which connects one Washington community with UW faculty each year. The faculty incorporate projects identified by that community into their classes, giving…