UW News
The latest news from the UW
August 16, 2013
Helping Puget Sound shed its armor
August 14, 2013
Scientists want a detailed picture of Mount St. Helens’ plumbing
Earth scientists are laying plans for a two-year study designed to develop a better understanding of how Mount St. Helens gets its supply of volcanic magma.
UW geographer devises a way for China to resolve its ‘immigration’ dilemma
University of Washington geographer Kam Wing Chan is in China this week, explaining how that country can dismantle its 55-year-old system that limits rural laborers from moving to and settling in cities and qualifying for basic social benefits.
Tag(s): Department of Geography • Kam Wing Chan
Earth orbit changes were key to Antarctic warming that ended last ice age
New ice core research shows that the warming that ended the last ice age in Antarctica began at least 2,000 years earlier than previously thought.
UW garners highest score possible, named again to Green Honor Roll
The University of Washington has again been named to the Princeton Review’s Green Honor Roll, receiving the highest score possible for the 2012-13 academic year.
Tag(s): sustainability • UW SustainabilityAugust 13, 2013
Wireless devices go battery-free with new communication technique
University of Washington engineers have created a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • David Wetherall • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Joshua Smith • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Shyam GollakotaAugust 12, 2013
A chilly epic: Biologist Julia Sidorova’s novel, ‘The Age of Ice’
Julia Sidorova, research scientist for the UW Department of Pathology, discusses her debut novel, “The Age of Ice.” She’ll be at the Elliot Bay Book Company at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14.
Tag(s): Julia Sidorova
Progress made in linking some forms of epilepsy to genetics
Some epilepsy patients who have both seizures and speech abnormalities share something else in common — mutations on the same gene.
Tag(s): Department of Pediatrics • genetics & DNAAugust 8, 2013
Ocean acidification center another example of state leading the nation
Washington’s governor and state legislators in the last session created a hub at the University of Washington to coordinate research and monitoring of ocean acidification and its effects on local sea life such as oysters, clams and fish.
Tag(s): Applied Physics Laboratory • College of the Environment • School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
Dementia risk tied to blood sugar
August 7, 2013
Washington’s housing market strengthens in second quarter of 2013
Washington state’s housing market continued to advance in the April-June quarter, with four consecutive monthly improvements in home sales activity.
Tag(s): College of Built Environments • Glenn Crellin • home sales • Runstad Department of Real Estate
Regulating electron ‘spin’ may be key to making organic solar cells competitive
UW researchers have discovered a high-performance polymer that could make inexpensive, organic solar cells competitive with silicon-based cells.
Tag(s): clean or renewable energy
UW researchers report on genome of aggressive cervical cancer that killed Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta Lacks was the subject of bestselling book on the HeLa immortal cell line, the most used of its kind in labs around the world. The UW scientists are the first to publish under new policy, established through agreement with Lacks’ family.
Tag(s): cell biology • Department of Genome Sciences • genomics • School of MedicineAugust 6, 2013
News Digest: UW wins two CASE awards, cosmic ray detectors being assembled, informant testimony questioned, Honor: Charles Johnson
UW wins two Council for Advancement and Support of Education awards || Local high school students, teachers assembling cosmic ray detectors || Triple exoneration aided by UW’s Innocence Project Northwest || Charles Johnson recipient of Humanities Washington Award
Documents that Changed the World: Einstein’s letter to FDR, 1939
The latest installment in the popular podcast series by Joe Janes of the UW Information School is about the famous physicist being persuaded to warn FDR of a growing atomic threat from Germany.
Tag(s): Documents that Changed the World • Information School • Joe JanesAugust 5, 2013
Compile and create: Early book collecting examined in Jeffrey Todd Knight’s ‘Bound to Read’
Jeffrey Todd Knight, UW professor of English, discusses his new book, “Bound to Read: Compilations, Collections, and the Making of Renaissance Literature.”
Tag(s): books • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of English • Jeffrey Todd Knight • Q&A
Abused children found to smoke more as teens and adults
Researchers have long suspected some kind of link between childhood abuse and smoking. But in an interesting twist, UW researchers found a connection not between whether or not an abused child will ever begin smoking, but to how much they smoke once they do start.
Tag(s): abuse • Allison N. Kristman-Valente • Eric C. Brown • School of Social Work • smoking • Social Development Research Group • Todd HerrenkohlAugust 1, 2013
Brain chemistry changes in children with autism offer clues to earlier detection and intervention
Between ages three and 10, children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit distinct brain chemical changes that differ from children with developmental delays and children with typical development.
Tag(s): autism • Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences • neuroscience & brain science • School of Medicine
Burnt sugar-derivative reduces muscle wasting in fly and mouse models of muscular dystrophy
A trace substance in caramelized sugar, when purified and given in appropriate doses, improves muscle regeneration in insect and animal models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Tag(s): Department of Biochemistry • Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology • Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine • regenerative medicine • School of Medicine
Scientists review the ecological effects of sea ice loss
A UW atmospheric scientist is co-author of a review paper, published this week in the journal Science, looking at the ecological consequences of sea ice decline.
Tag(s): Applied Physics Laboratory • Cecilia Bitz • climate change • College of the Environment • Department of Atmospheric Sciences • Kristin Laidre • polar science • sea ice
Lost and Found Film: ‘History and Industry, 1965’
The title of the latest Lost and Found Film — “History and Industry, 1965” gives away the “where” and the “when” of the mystery footage —it’s the “what” and “why” parts that film archivist Hannah Palin is interested in.
Tag(s): Hannah Palin • Lost and Found FilmsJuly 31, 2013
University presidents urge President Obama, Congress to address “innovation deficit”
University of Washington President Michael K. Young today joined more than 160 other university presidents and chancellors in calling on leaders in Washington to close what they call the “innovation deficit.”
July 30, 2013
Fifty years of ecological insights earn UW biologist international award
Biologist Robert Paine has been awarded this year’s International Cosmos Prize that carries a cash award of about $408,000 and has previously gone to well-known conservationists such as David Attenborough and the leaders behind the Census of Marine Life project.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Biology
Santa’s workshop not flooded – but lots of melting in the Arctic
Widespread media reports of a lake at the North Pole don’t hold water — but scientists who deployed the monitoring buoys are watching closely as Arctic sea ice approaches its yearly minimum.
Tag(s): Applied Physics Laboratory • Axel Schweiger • climate change • Jamie Morison • polar science • sea iceJuly 29, 2013
Planetary ‘runaway greenhouse’ more easily triggered, research shows
It might be easier than previously thought for a planet to overheat into the uninhabitable “runaway greenhouse” stage, according to new research.
Tag(s): astronomy & astrophysics • Department of Astronomy • planetary science • Tyler Robinson
Natural affinities – unrecognized until now – may have set stage for life to ignite
It might not have been just happenstance that caused components of RNA and the earliest “cell” membranes to be in the right place at the right time to spark life.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Chemistry • Sarah Keller
UW welcomes Denzil Suite, vice president for student life
The University of Washington on July 29 welcomed Denzil Suite as vice president for student life.
July 28, 2013
Breakthrough in detecting DNA mutations could help treat tuberculosis, cancer
Researchers have developed a new method that can look at a specific segment of DNA and pinpoint a single mutation, which could help diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering • Georg Seelig • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & EngineeringJuly 25, 2013
Dental school mourns alumnus Dr. Vincent G. Kokich
The Northwest has the best summer in the nation. But why?
University of Washington ranked eighth in country by Forbes
The University of Washington was ranked eighth among public universities in the country (excluding federally-funded military academies) in the quality of undergraduate education, according to Forbes.
Video: Building the Galapagos penguin population
July 24, 2013
Fish-ear bones offer clues to health of ocean, species
Literary arts: Discarded books become art in UW Summer Youth Programs class
Can a book be a sculpture? Sure — at UW Summer Youth Programs, it’s all part of the creative process.
Tag(s): ArtsUW • UW Professional & Continuing Education • UW summer programsJuly 23, 2013
Pain of artificial legs could be eased by real-time monitoring
University of Washington engineers have developed a device that tracks how much a person’s limb swells and shrinks when inside a prosthetic socket. The data could help doctors and patients predict how and when their limbs will swell, which could be used to build smarter sockets.
Tag(s): College of Engineering • Department of Bioengineering • Joan Sanders • School of MedicineJuly 22, 2013
Geochemical ‘fingerprints’ leave evidence that megafloods eroded steep gorge
For the first time, scientists have direct geochemical evidence that the 150-mile long Tsangpo Gorge, possibly the world’s deepest, was the conduit by which megafloods from glacial lakes, perhaps half the volume of Lake Erie, drained catastrophically through the Himalayas when their ice dams failed during the last 2 million years.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Department of Earth and Space SciencesJuly 19, 2013
Nighttime heat waves quadruple in Pacific Northwest
Nighttime heat waves — events where the nighttime low is unusually hot for at least three days in a row — are becoming more common in western Washington and Oregon.
Tag(s): College of the Environment • Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies • Karin Bumbaco • Nick Bond • Office of the Washington State ClimatologistJuly 18, 2013
Board of Regents — August 8 Meeting Canceled
The meeting of the Board of Regents for Thursday, August 8, is canceled. The next Regular Meeting of the Board is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 12, in the Petersen Room of the Allen Library. Agendas and schedule will be available after noon on Friday, Sept. 6.
Falling from windows is serious risk for small children
A few safety measures can help those with young children at home reduce the chance of window falls.
Tag(s): Brian Johnston • Department of Pediatrics • Harborview Medical Center
UW launches record 17 startup companies
The University of Washington launched a record 17 startup companies this fiscal year.
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