September 5, 2017
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…
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.
August 31, 2017
A new book focuses on climate change risks in the Northern Rocky Mountains, and how managers of public lands can prepare.
This exceptional, sudden nosedive in Antarctic sea ice last year was due to a unique one-two punch from atmospheric conditions both in the tropical Pacific Ocean and around the South Pole.
August 28, 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…
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.
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…
August 25, 2017
The bacterial communities that live inside each of our guts are relatively similar when times are good, but when stress enters the equation, those communities can react very differently from person to person.
August 24, 2017
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.
Information School Dean Harry Bruce talks about his job and life as he prepares to step down.
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…
August 23, 2017
The University of Washington is ranked No. 13 in the world — No. 3 among public universities — on the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released this month.
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…
August 21, 2017
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.
August 18, 2017
With many in Seattle are wondering what the Aug. 21 solar eclipse will be like in our city, Bruce Balick, UW professor emeritus of astronomy, shared a few thoughts.
August 17, 2017
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…
August 16, 2017
As corals face threats from warming oceans, a new study uses modern genetic-sequencing tools to help reveal the relationships between three similar-looking corals.
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.
MIT Technology Review has named Franziska Roesner, University of Washington professor of computer science and engineering, one of 35 “Innovators Under 35” for 2017.
August 15, 2017
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,”
August 14, 2017
Researchers from the University of Washington and several small companies have conducted the first large-scale experiment on a Superfund site using poplar trees fortified with a probiotic — or natural microbe — to clean up groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE.
Many exoplanets to be found by coming high-powered telescopes will probably be tidally locked — with one side permanently facing their host star — according to new research by UW astronomer Rory Barnes.
August 10, 2017
Starting Aug. 12, the public can watch fossil preparation of the University of Washington Burke Museum’s Tyrannosaurus rex skull “live.”
The annual maintenance cruise for the Pacific Northwest’s deep-sea observatory continues through Aug. 29. Two dozen students will participate, and more than 120 ocean instruments will get their yearly checkup.
A new UW study finds DNA sequencing tools lack robust cybersecurity protections. In a scientific first, the team also infected a computer with synthesized DNA molecules.
August 7, 2017
The University of Washington is the new host for the federally funded Northwest Climate Science Center, a consortium that supports climate-adaptation research in the Northwest.
August 3, 2017
Researchers at the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance have released a public finance analysis of two competing proposals to develop an NBA/NHL arena in Seattle.
August 1, 2017
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.
July 31, 2017
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…
The University of Washington has been recognized by three separate publications in rankings focused on access for low-income students, affordability and value.
The New York Times’ College Access Index ranked the UW 18th in the nation – ninth among public institutions – in its assessment of “which top universities are doing the most to promote the American Dream.”
A new UW statistical study shows only 5 percent chance that Earth will warm less than 2 degrees, what many see as a “tipping point” for climate, by the end of this century.
What makes people look “American”? The way they dress? Maybe their hairstyle, or mannerisms? How much they weigh? A University of Washington-led study has found that for Asian Americans, those who appear heavier not only are perceived to be more “American,” but also may be subject to less prejudice directed at foreigners than Asian Americans who are thin. Researchers believe this effect relates to common stereotypes that Asians are thin and Americans are heavy — so if someone of…
July 27, 2017
Six scientists and engineers from the University of Washington have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences.
Oceanographers are building swimming robots to carry out an ambitious mission gathering climate data from one of Earth’s most challenging locations: the icy water that surrounds Antarctica.
The true cultural tipping point in the run-up to the American Revolution might have been the First Continental Congress’s decision in late October of 1774 to close the theaters in British America, says University of Washington drama professor Odai Johnson in his new book, “London in a Box: Englishness and Theatre in Revolutionary America.”
This video acquaints the viewer with the puppets and introduces the idea of which is socially dominant. The charismatic colleague, the natural leader, the life of the party – all are personal qualities that adults recognize instinctively. These socially dominant types, according to repeated studies, also tend to accomplish and earn more, from accolades and material wealth to friends and romantic partners. This social hierarchy may be so naturally ingrained, University of Washington researchers say, that toddlers as young…
July 25, 2017
A first test of humans’ ability to modify clouds would help explain the behavior of clouds and aerosols, while also testing a possible future climate emergency measure.
July 24, 2017
Eleven UW students and alumni were awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships for the 2017-18 academic year, and four have been named as alternates, joining about 1,900 students and recent graduates from around the country to study and teach abroad this coming year.
Most schools offer parents specific ways to help out: Join the PTA, chaperone a field trip, grade papers for a teacher or assist on a classroom art project. Those volunteer opportunities, however, not only reinforce the top-down power structure of schools, but also cater to mostly white, privileged families, maintaining the institutionalized racism that marginalizes low-income families and families of color, said Ann Ishimaru, assistant professor of education at the University of Washington. What schools and districts can do…
Scientists have used data from the intergalactic medium — the vast, largely empty space between galaxies — to narrow down what dark matter could be.