UW News


August 16, 2014

Virginity pledges for men can lead to sexual confusion — even after the wedding day

Hands of a man and woman wearing weddng rings on to pf open bible

Young men receiving support after they pledge to abstain from sex until marriage, can find themselves without advisors and help once they do marry.


July 28, 2014

UW alum, Bremerton native wins global architecture award

headshot of Steven Holl

World-renowned architect and UW alumnus Steven Holl recently received a 2014 Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award in architecture, joining the likes of I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas.


July 14, 2014

Months before their first words, babies’ brains rehearse speech mechanics

A year-old baby sits in a brain scanner, called magnetoencephalography -- a noninvasive approach to measuring brain activity. The baby listens to speech sounds like "da" and "ta" played over headphones while researchers record her brain responses.

Research from UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences shows that in 7- and 11-month-old infants speech sounds stimulate areas of the brain that coordinate and plan motor movements for speech.


July 2, 2014

‘I see it, learn it and do it’: A peek into the lives of some of UW’s online students

Miho Wright working with children

Forty-nine students from eight states are part of the inaugural group of Huskies in the UW’s first online bachelor’s degree completion program in early childhood and family studies.


June 11, 2014

Nearly 1 in 8 American children are maltreated before age 18

black and white photo of a child

By the time they reach age 18, nearly one in eight of American children experience a confirmed case of maltreatment. Co-author Hedy Lee, a UW assistant professor of sociology, says the study shows that child maltreatment is much more common than previously thought.


June 2, 2014

UW experts offer free resources to help caregivers boost babies’ brains

photo of a mom with her son

UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences has a new online library to showcase the latest in how young children learn – and what their caregivers can do to help kids be ready to start school.


May 28, 2014

PTSD treatment cost-effective when patients given choice

A woman sits in a dim room

A cost-analysis of post-traumatic stress disorder treatments shows that letting patients choose their course of treatment – either psychotherapy or medication – is less expensive than assigning a treatment and provides a higher quality of life for patients.


May 13, 2014

Video stories, other bonding exercises could help foster families connect

A family walks on the beach together.

Researchers affiliated with the UW’s School of Social Work tailored a parenting program known to improve communication in non-foster families for use in foster families, who often say they don’t feel connected and have trouble communicating, but few resources exist that nurture their bonding.


May 7, 2014

UW student briefs lawmakers on global land use, touts undergrad research

Mollie Holmberg stands next to her poster

At an event in Washington, D.C. a UW biology student presented her research into the global connections between consumers and goods that come from agriculture and forest production.


May 5, 2014

Hundreds seek confidential, objective advice from UW Ombud

Chuck Sloane, the UW ombud, gives a talk on campus.

Career transitions, conflicts with colleagues, grades, student housing and more are issues that arise for the UW Office of the Ombud, which has released an annual report detailing the scope of their work during 2013.


April 25, 2014

Worker struggles, immigrant rights topic of social work series in May

Part of the mural "Struggle Against Racial Descrimination"

The UW School of Social Work will host the series “Working Together for Labor Justice” during Labor History Month in May.


April 14, 2014

Babies prefer fairness – but only if it benefits them – in choosing a playmate

During the "choice trial" of a research experiment, a baby chooses one experimenter to play with.

Babies as young as 15 months preferred people with the same ethnicity as themselves — a phenomenon known as in-group bias, or favoring people who have the same characteristics as oneself.


March 31, 2014

UW launches online bachelor’s degree completion program in social sciences

A large 'W' is at the north entrance to the UW campus.

A new UW online bachelor’s degree completion program in social sciences is intended to provide a flexible, lower-cost option for individuals who want to finish their college education without coming to campus.


March 11, 2014

Justice Sonia Sotomayor on finding life’s work, facing discrimination

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told a UW audience about life lessons spanning discrimination, public service, power and what makes her optimistic.


February 24, 2014

Healthy Generations Hartford Center of Excellence opens with lecture on changing culture of aging

A large 'W' is at the north entrance to the UW campus.

The University of Washington’s School of Social Work will launch a new center – called the Healthy Generations Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Social Work – with a public lecture and reception Thursday, Feb. 27.


February 11, 2014

Data on today’s youth reveal childhood clues for later risk of STDs

Findings from UW longitudinal surveys of nearly 2,000 participants suggest that efforts to curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases should begin years before most people start having sex.


February 4, 2014

Personal experience, work seniority improve mental health professionals’ outlook

photo of a man looking down at his feet

One might think that after years on the job, mental health workers would harbor negative attitudes about mental illness, but a new UW study suggests the opposite.


January 24, 2014

News writer survives kettlebell workout – with photos from The Whole U’s kickoff event

A woman lifts a kettlebell.

More than a thousand people participated in a Jan. 24 kettlebell workout as the kickoff event for The Whole U, an initiative to make it easier for UW faculty and staff to access the university’s health, arts, culture and other resources and to connect with people with similar interests.


January 6, 2014

Babbling babies – responding to one-on-one ‘baby talk’ – master more words

Common advice to new parents is that the more words babies hear the faster their vocabulary grows. Now new findings show that what spurs early language development isn’t so much the quantity of words as the style of speech and social context in which speech occurs.


December 9, 2013

Communities across U.S. reduce teen smoking, drinking, violence and crime

Fewer high school students across the U.S. started drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, committing crimes and engaging in violence before graduation when their towns used a prevention system developed by UW’s Social Development Research Group.


December 3, 2013

Signalers vs. strong silent types: Sparrows exude personalities during fights

Song sparrow on a tree branch..

Like humans, some song sparrows are more effusive than others, at least when it comes to defending their territories. New UW findings show that consistent individual differences exist not only for how aggressive individual song sparrows are but also for how much they use their signals to communicate their aggressive intentions.


November 21, 2013

David Barash explores science, religion and meaning of life in ‘Buddhist Biology’

book cover of Buddhist Biology

David Barash, a UW psychology professor, is an evolutionary biologist, unapologetic atheist, and self-described Jewbu. In his latest book, “Buddhist Biology: Ancient Eastern Wisdom Meets Modern Western Science,” Barash examines the overlap between Buddhism and biology.


October 30, 2013

A first step in learning by imitation, baby brains respond to another’s actions

child plays pat-a-cake with an adult

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery for adults, but for babies it’s their foremost tool for learning. Now researchers from the University of Washington and Temple University have found the first evidence revealing a key aspect of the brain processing that occurs in babies to allow this learning by observation.


June 13, 2013

UW research: World population could be nearly 11 billion by 2100

World map gives graphic representation of population changes by 2100.

A new United Nations analysis, using statistical methods developed at the University of Washington, shows the world population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of the century, about 800 million more people than the previous projection issued in 2011.


May 30, 2013

Big feet preference in rural Indonesia defies one-size-fits-all theory of attractiveness

Karo Batak women at work

In most cultures, a woman’s small feet are seen as a sign of youth and fertility, but that’s not true of all cultures, including the Karo Batak on the island of Sumatra.


May 29, 2013

Early brain responses to words predict developmental outcomes in children with autism

Child in autism study plays with toys

The pattern of brain responses to words in 2-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder predicted the youngsters’ linguistic, cognitive and adaptive skills at ages 4 and 6, according to a new study by UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences.


May 20, 2013

New K-12 science standards add focus on practices, engineering and early learning

Student using bunsen burner

The recently updated K-12 science education learning goals outline a vision for what all U.S. citizens should know about science. Philip Bell, director of UW’s Institute for Science and Math Education, talks about what’s new about the goals.


April 3, 2013

Diversity programs give illusion of corporate fairness, study shows

Black and white hands clasped.

Diversity training programs lead people to believe that work environments are fair even when given evidence of hiring, promotion or salary inequities, according to findings by UW psychologists.


March 27, 2013

UW announces new, low-cost online-only degree completion program in early childhood studies

children playing with hula hoop

The UW will offer a new low-cost online bachelor’s degree completion program in early childhood and family studies. Pending final approval, the program will start in the fall.


March 19, 2013

Grieving parents find solace in remembrance photography – with photo gallery

baby hands

A UW anthropology student investigated how remembrance photography helps grieving parents, and how the practice’s resurgence could signal a change in the way death and dying are dealt with in our society.


February 27, 2013

Women Who Rock (un)conference, launch of oral history archive – with video

Women Who Rock photo montage.

The Women Who Rock Project, a collaboration between University of Washington and the community organizers, will hold its third “unconference” combined with the launch of its oral history archive March 9.


February 13, 2013

Psychology in the real world: Public lecture series begins

Poster for the 2013 psychology lecture series

The eighth annual Allen L. Edwards Psychology Lecture Series will spotlight “The Science of Psychology in the Real World,” exploring psychological aspects of the natural world, adolescence and the law.


February 12, 2013

Get off my lawn: Song sparrows escalate territorial threats – with video

Song sparrow singing in his territory.

UW researchers have discovered a hierarchical warning scheme in which territorial song sparrows use increasingly threatening signals to ward off trespassing rivals.


February 11, 2013

Noisy classroom simulation aids comprehension in hearing-impaired children

Student wears hearing aid in class

A new report by a UW researcher showed about a 50 percent increase in speech comprehension in background noise when children with hearing impairments followed a three-week auditory training regimen.


January 29, 2013

More sex for married couples with traditional divisions of housework

Photo of husband and wife sharing chores

Married couples who divide chores in traditional ways have more sex than couples who share so-called men’s and women’s work.


January 23, 2013

Better outlook for dwindling black macaque population in Indonesia

a group of black macaques in Indonesia

Hunting and habitat loss harm the critically endangered Sulawesi black macaque, but new research shows the population has stabilized in the past decade.


January 22, 2013

Brain structure of infants predicts language skills at 1 year

One year old baby with experimenters

Researchers at UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences have found that the anatomy of certain brain areas – the hippocampus and cerebellum – can predict children’s language abilities at 1 year of age.


January 7, 2013

Human trafficking conference to focus on poverty, trade policy

Hands and wrists chained together.

Human trafficking is commonly thought of as part of the sex trade, but in reality it entangles many more types of labor and continues to grow worldwide even as laws try to squelch it. The UW Women’s Center will hold a conference Jan. 11-12 to take a fresh look at the issue.


January 2, 2013

While in womb, babies begin learning language from their mothers

Baby with image of vowels

Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought.


December 31, 2012

Baby genome listed in top 10 discoveries in 2012



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