Professor named to UN working group

When law professor Anita Ramasastry began teaching at the University of Washington in 1996, she was working on an article about banks’ responsibilities around human rights, to the bemusement of her peers. But Ramasastry’s decades-long focus on the intersection of commerce and human rights paid off. In July, she was appointed to serve on the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights. Ramasastry will represent all of Western Europe, North America and Australia-Pacific, one of five UN regions and arguably the most competitive. She was selected out of a field of 22 applicants.

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Migrations in motion

Together with the Nature Conservancy, UW researchers have released a map showing where animals will need to move to survive as climate change alters habitats.

Interact with the map…

IHME study shows Syrian civil war has shortened lifespans

An IHME-led study published in the Lancet examined health in countries such as Syria, Tunisia and Yemen from 1990 to 2013 found that since the Arab Spring began in 2010, a combination of increased violence and a collapse in health care has led to the drop of the region’s average expected life span. In Syria, a deadly and complex civil war that continues to ravage the country has resulted in a particularly precipitous drop in life expectancy.

Professor embarks on 100th field course in Indonesia

A chance meeting with a fellow scientist 27 years ago forever changed Randy Kyes’ life — catapulting him from North Carolina to Indonesia and beyond. As the founding director of the University of Washington’s Center for Global Field Study and head of the Division of Global Programs at the Washington National Primate Research Center, Kyes has spent almost three decades leading field courses on environmental and global health in a dozen countries.

Often accompanied by students from the UW and around the United States, Kyes spends about seven months of the year traveling to remote sites in places such as Indonesia and Nepal, leading study abroad programs and conducting field courses and K-12 outreach efforts for local people.

In late July, Kyes — who is also a research professor in psychology and an adjunct research professor in global health and anthropology — will lead his 100^th field course, in Thailand. He sat down with UW Today recently to talk about his work.

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Tracing China’s past with geologic and oral history

A paper published this week in Science finds evidence to support stories that a huge flood took place in China about 4,000 years ago, during the reign of Emperor Yu. The study, led by Chinese researcher Qinglong Wu, finds evidence for a massive landslide dam break that could have redirected the course of the Yellow River, giving rise to the legendary flood that Emperor Yu is credited with controlling.

An accompanying commentary by David Montgomery, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences, discusses how this finding supports the historical basis for traditional tales about China’s Great Flood. It even explains some details of the classic folk story.

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UW-led team awarded $1M bioelectronics innovation prize

An international team led by researchers at the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) based at the University of Washington is one of three finalists in a race to produce an implantable wireless device that can assess, stimulate and block the activity of nerves that control organs.

For the GlaxoSmithKline Bioelectronics Innovation Challenge, the team is working on an implantable device that could help restore bladder function for people with spinal cord injuries or millions of others who suffer from incontinence.

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Language learning changes your brain – even as an adult

Researchers from the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) showed that adults immersed in a foreign language environment undergo brain changes.

Professor, researcher, detective – saving endangered animals

UW Professor Samuel . K Wasser “is a Sherlock Holmes of the wildlife trade. With modern biochemical tools and old-fashioned shoe leather, he sleuths out the merchants behind the market for poached animal products.”

Innovative cup designed to save babies

Experts from the University of Washington and PATH have invented a special low-cost cup for feeding special needs babies. Each year in the developing world, millions of babies are born with health challenges that impair feeding and can lead to starvation. The $1 NIFTY cup provides a new solution.

New tool measures lung function over the phone, from anywhere in the world

University of Washington computer science and engineering and electrical engineering researchers have developed SpiroCall, a new health sensing tool that can accurately measure lung function over a simple phone call.