UW News


August 24, 2012

UW’s Formula Motorsports race car finishes strong

The University of Washington's 2012 Formula motorsports car at Kane Hall on campus on Thursday, April 19, 2012.

August 22, 2012

Inside the Botany Greenhouse

Doug Ewing in the Botany Greenhouse.

August 20, 2012

UW faces potential cut fo federal research funding


August 14, 2012

New book explores Noah’s Flood; says Bible and science can get along

The cover of "The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood."

David Montgomery, a University of Washington geologist, is the author of a new book that explores the long history of religious thinking on matters of geological discovery, particularly flood stories such as the biblical account of Noah’s ark.


August 13, 2012

Taking out the trash

Collected trash at UW.

August 7, 2012

A million little pieces

Students Rebecca Anderson (left), Felecia Muncaster (right) and Ellie Robbins record and transfer vials of ololths.

‘Mohawk Guy’ of Mars mission graduated from UW


August 2, 2012

Volunteers aid scientists with data on shoreline carcasses

Margie Cochrane examines a dead bird on the Pacific Coast of southwest Washington.

UW Farm to supply produce for campus dining halls


July 24, 2012

Six minutes in Berlin — UW crew at the 1936 Olympics

The UW rowers (top boat) cross the finish line ahead of the Italians and Germans.

July 6, 2012

UW physicists played significant role in discovery of Higgs boson

As scientists around the world celebrated the detection of what appears to be the long-sought Higgs boson, University of Washington physicists took satisfaction in knowing they played a significant part in it.


June 26, 2012

UW deploying seismic sensors in hope of getting to bottom of Spokane quakes

It’s been a decade since a swarm of relatively mild earthquakes shook up parts of Spokane. Now, armed with the right tools, scientists want to find out what was at fault.


June 21, 2012

Astronomers spy two planets in tight quarters as they orbit a distant star

A research team led by the University of Washington and Harvard University has discovered a bigger version of Earth locked in an orbital tug-of-war with a much larger, Neptune-sized planet as they orbit very close to each other around the same star.


Sediment core shows Arctic has gone through intense warm periods

New research from an international team that includes a UW professor emeritus confirms that the Arctic has gone through intensely warm periods, warmer than scientists thought was possible, during the last 2.8 million years.


June 7, 2012

New twist on old chemical process could boost energy efficiency

An unappreciated aspect of chemical reactions on the surface of metal oxides could be key in developing more efficient energy systems, including more productive solar cells or hydrogen fuel cells efficient enough for automobiles.


May 30, 2012

Landslides linked to plate tectonics create the steepest mountain terrain

New research shows some of the steepest mountain slopes in the world got that way because of the interplay between terrain uplift associated with plate tectonics and powerful streams cutting into hillsides, leading to large landslides.


May 4, 2012

Three UW faculty members named to National Academy of Sciences

Faculty members James Bardeen and Ann Nelson in physics and Evan Eichler in genome sciences have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for excellence in their original scientific research.


May 3, 2012

Increasing speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level

Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland’s contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century might be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible, a new study shows.


April 16, 2012

Celebration of Life planned for Donna Gerstenberger

A Celebration of Life for Donna Gerstenberger, former head of the UW English Department and Faculty Senate, will be at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, at the University Club.


April 10, 2012

Newfangled space-propulsion technology could help clean up Earth orbit

A magnetized ion plasma system devised by a UW researcher to propel spacecraft at ultra-high speeds could be adapted to clean up dead satellites and other debris crowded in Earth orbit.


March 28, 2012

Fossil raindrop impressions imply greenhouse gases loaded early atmosphere

Evidence from fossilized raindrop impressions from 2.7 billion years ago indicates that an abundance of greenhouse gases most likely caused the warm temperatures on ancient Earth.


March 26, 2012

Tiny reader makes fast, cheap DNA sequencing feasible

Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available.


March 22, 2012

Geologists discover new class of landform – on Mars

An odd, previously unseen landform could provide a window into the geological history of Mars, according to new research by University of Washington geologists.


March 14, 2012

Some mammals used highly complex teeth to compete with dinosaurs

New research shows that at least one group of small mammals, the multituberculates, actually flourished in the last 20 million years of dinosaurs reign and survived their extinction.


March 6, 2012

One year later: Japan quake, tsunami a cautionary tale for Pacific Northwest

On the one-year anniversary of Japan’s great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, UW scientists said the devastating event has some important lessons for the Pacific Northwest – most notably, that a similar event will happen here, and this region is much less prepared than Japan.


UW played major role in telling story of Japan quake

From Seattle to Japan, University of Washington faculty had an important role in providing information about the aftermath of the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.


February 17, 2012

Models underestimate future temperature variability; food security at risk

Climate warming caused by greenhouse gases is very likely to increase summer temperature variability around the world by the end of this century, new UW research shows. The findings have major implications for food production.


January 30, 2012

Preserved habitat near national parks helps species conservation

National parks help preserve species native to a particular region, but it appears that some species preservation is more successful if a significant portion of land adjacent to a park also is left as natural habitat.


January 25, 2012

Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere wont fully offset climate change

New UW research demonstrates that one suggested method of geoengineering the atmosphere to deal with climate change probably would have limited success.


January 17, 2012

Fruit flies watch the sky to stay on course — with video

New research demonstrates that fruit flies keep their bearings by using the polarization pattern of natural skylight, bolstering the belief that many, if not all, insects have that capability.


January 11, 2012

Hubble spies old stars that shed their skins to look younger

A UW-led team has peered deep into the neighboring Andromeda galaxy to find unusual ultra-blue stars.


December 21, 2011

To turn up the heat in chilies, just add water

Hot chilies growing wild in dry environments produce substantially fewer seeds than non-pungent plants, but they are better protected against a seed-attacking fungus that is more prevalent in moist regions.


December 19, 2011

Upper atmosphere facilitates changes that let mercury enter food chain — with video

New research shows that the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere work to transform elemental mercury into oxidized mercury, which can easily be deposited into aquatic ecosystems and ultimately enter the food chain.


December 6, 2011

Tropical sea temperatures influence melting in Antarctica

New research shows accelerated melting of two fast-moving glaciers that drain Antarctic ice into the Amundsen Sea Embayment is likely in part the result of an increase in sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.


November 29, 2011

$2M grant could make early earthquake warning a reality in the Northwest

A grant to the University of Washington from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation could pave the way for a system to provide a warning seconds to minutes in advance of a major offshore earthquake in the Northwest.


November 14, 2011

Lightning network helps get a handle on volcanoes

A UW-based alert system using real-time data on lightning flashes around the world is helping to keep tabs on erupting volcanoes.


October 19, 2011

Spiral arms indicate possible planets in a star's gas-and-dust disk — with video

A new image of a gas-and-dust disk around a sun-like star is the first that scientists, including a UW astronomer, have seen that displays structures that could hint at the presence of still-unseen planets around the star.


October 13, 2011

Differences in jet lag severity could be rooted in how circadian clock sets itself

Researchers have found hints that differing molecular processes in one area of the brain might play a significant role in the differences of jet lag severity between long-distance west-to-east travel and east-to-west travel.


October 10, 2011

Research shows how life might have survived ‘snowball Earth

New research indicates that simple life in the form of photosynthetic algae could have survived a “snowball Earth” event, living in a narrow body of water with characteristics similar to todays Red Sea.


September 22, 2011

Model provides successful seasonal forecast for the fate of Arctic sea ice

Relatively accurate predictions for summer sea ice extent in the Arctic can be made the previous autumn, but forecasting more than five years into the future requires understanding of the impact of climate trends on the ice pack.



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