UW News

The latest news from the UW


September 28, 2015

Earth-like planets around small stars likely have protective magnetic fields, aiding chance for life

Earth-like planets orbiting close to small stars probably have magnetic fields that protect them from stellar radiation and help maintain surface conditions that could be conducive to life, according to research by UW astronomers.

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A new single-molecule tool to observe enzymes at work

A team of scientists at the University of Washington and the biotechnology company Illumina have created an innovative tool to directly detect the delicate, single-molecule interactions between DNA and enzymatic proteins. Their approach provides a new platform to view and record these nanoscale interactions in real time. As they report Sept. 28 in Nature Biotechnology, this tool should provide fast and reliable characterization of the different mechanisms cellular proteins use to bind to DNA strands — information that could shed new light on the atomic-scale interactions within our cells and help design new drug therapies against pathogens by targeting enzymes that interact with DNA.

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September 25, 2015

Forefront hosts state’s first higher education suicide prevention conference

Each year, around 1,100 undergraduate students around the United States die by suicide; in the last six years alone, 18 University of Washington students have taken their own lives. “That number sounds horrific, and it is, but it’s also squarely in line with the national average,” said Lauren Davis, director of school and campus programs…

September 24, 2015

Cooled down and charged up, a giant magnet is ready for its new mission

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory — or Fermilab — announced that a 680-ton superconducting magnet is secure in its new home and nearly ready for a new era of discovery in particle physics. This achievement follows the delicate, 3,200-mile transport of the magnet’s 17-ton, 50-foot-wide housing ring to the U.S. Department of Energy facility outside Chicago two years ago. The fully assembled magnet will drive high-energy particle experiments as part of an international partnership among 34 institutions, of which the University of Washington is a leading contributor.

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September 23, 2015

Chinese president presents gift to Global Innovation Exchange

Chinese President Xi Jinping presented the gift of a dawn redwood tree to the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX), a new partnership between the University of Washington and Tsinghua University, during a ceremony at Microsoft headquarters Wednesday.

Arts Roundup: birthdays, butoh – and 37,000 balloons

Arts Roundup is back! The leaves are turning yellow, the days are getting shorter and students are arriving on campus – it’s time to kick off a new season of arts events at the UW. This weekend marks the end of the popular Martin Creed exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery and with it, your…

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UW and Shanghai Jiao Tong University forge international collaboration on smart cities

Leaders from the University of Washington and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), one of China’s most prestigious public research universities, signed an agreement Wednesday to work together on “smart cities” research, teaching and collaborations in their respective electrical engineering departments.

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Washington, Sichuan promise low-carbon cities in new agreement

A memorandum of understanding, called the “2+2 MOU,” was signed Tuesday between the state of Washington and the Chinese province of Sichuan, as well as the University of Washington and Tsinghua University, to catalyze the science, technology and investment needed to grow innovations that will underpin adaptable and resilient urbanization.

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UW team links two human brains for question-and-answer experiment

Imagine a question-and-answer game played by two people who are not in the same place and not talking to each other. Round after round, one player asks a series of questions and accurately guesses the object the other is thinking about. Sci-fi? Mind-reading superpowers? Not quite. University of Washington researchers recently used a direct brain-to-brain…

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September 22, 2015

Jackson School gathers experts to discuss Syrian humanitarian crisis Oct. 6

Syria’s drawn-out civil war has displaced more than 10 million people since 2011 and the flood of refugees from the area has drawn the concerned attention of the world. The University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies will hold a free, public forum at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Room 101 of Thomson…

September 21, 2015

Summer 2015 tally of Arctic Ocean ice volume confirms long-term decline

A University of Washington tool that monitors the amount of ice in Arctic waters calculated that we remain on track for a gradual disappearance of the Arctic ice cap in summer. “Last year, when the ice had bounced back by some percentage both in extent and in volume, there was a bit of talk about…

AI system solves SAT geometry questions as well as average human test taker

The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and UW computer scientists have created an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can solve SAT geometry questions as well as the average American 11th-grade student, a breakthrough in AI research.

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September 18, 2015

Former U.S. Senators Lott, Daschle to discuss plan for ‘civility and democracy’ at Sept. 24 Ruckelshaus Center event

In a sense, early returns from the 2016 election are already in: Civility is losing to vitriol in a landslide. But two former U.S. senators who each served as Senate majority leaders — Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi and Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota — have been promoting a plan to restore civility to…

‘Access to Information as a Human Right’ public conference Oct. 5

The University of Washington Center for Human Rights will hold a daylong conference Oct. 5 at the UW School of Law, underscoring a crucial international theme even with its title: “Access to Information as a Human Right.” The conference springs from the center’s partnerships with communities and organizations struggling for truth and accountability in postwar…

September 17, 2015

Scientists: Let wildfires burn when prudent

In a commentary published Sept. 17 in Science, a team of scientists, including University of Washington researchers Jerry Franklin and James Agee, describe unique opportunities and provide suggestions to reform forest fire management to reduce the impacts of inevitable wildfires in future years.

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Poverty decreases in Washington state

The share of Washingtonians living in poverty dropped from 14.1 percent to 13.2 percent between 2013 and 2014, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday. Washington was one of 12 states with significant declines in their poverty rates during that period. Among the remaining states, the vast majority saw no change in their…

A Q & A with Pedro Domingos: Author of ‘The Master Algorithm’

UW CSE professor Pedro Domingos’ book “The Master Algorithm” is an essential primer on machine learning, and a popular science romp through one of today’s hottest scientific topics.. It unveils the deep ideas behind the algorithms that increasingly pick our books, find our dates, manage investments and run our lives — and what informed consumers ought to know about them.

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September 16, 2015

Reuters names UW the world’s most innovative public university, fourth overall

The University of Washington is the most innovative public university in the world, according to a new ranking by Reuters released Wednesday. The UW is ranked fourth overall, behind only Stanford, MIT and Harvard. “Innovation and turning ideas into action are at the center of everything we do,” UW Interim President Ana Mari Cauce said….

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UW labs win $4.5 million NSF nanotechnology infrastructure grant

The University of Washington and Oregon State University have won a $4.5 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to advance nanoscale science, engineering and technology research in the Pacific Northwest and support a new network of user sites across the country. The regional partnership was selected as one of 16 sites for a…

September 15, 2015

Young chum salmon may get biggest nutrition boost from Elliott Bay restored beaches

University of Washington researchers have found the types of organisms in Seattle’s Elliott Bay change depending on the shoreline nearby, either armored or restored beaches. Young chum salmon adjusted their diets based on these changes.

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September 14, 2015

Take a virtual voyage to the Arctic Ocean

If you’ve ever wanted to travel north of the Arctic Circle in early fall, when the expanse of water dotted with ice floes reaches its greatest extent, this is your chance. Follow the ArcticMix website or on Twitter at @_following_seas through Sept. 26 A University of Washington oceanographer is one of three principal investigators on…

A more acidic ocean will bend the mermaid’s wineglass

New research from the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories shows that a more acidic ocean can weaken the protective shell of a delicate alga. The findings, published Sept. 9 in the journal Biology Letters, come at a time when global climate change may increase ocean acidification.

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UW, city of Seattle join ‘Smart Cities’ network

The University of Washington and city of Seattle have joined a new national network of university-city partnerships that will work on “smart city” solutions as part of a new White House Smart Cities Initiative. The MetroLab Network, announced by the White House on Monday, consists of partnerships between research universities with expertise in engineering, robotics…

September 11, 2015

Availability of a final environmental impact statement (DEIS)

Pursuant to the provisions of ROW 43.210 and WAC 197-11-460 & 510 and WAC 478-324-140, the University of Washington hereby provides public notice of the: AVAILABILITY OF A FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (DEIS) Project name: Life Sciences Building Proponent: University of Washington Description: The proposed Life Sciences Building (LSB) will accommodate new laboratory and office…

September 10, 2015

UW scientists will continue studies of evolution ‘in real time’ with five-year grant renewal

Faculty members from several departments at the University of Washington will share $2.25 million in research funds from the National Science Foundation to study and apply the principles of evolution “in real time.” Their studies are a part of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. Founded in 2010, this NSF science…

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September 8, 2015

UW seventh-largest driver of Teach for America corps

The University of Washington is the 7th-largest contributor of college graduates to the 2015 Teach For America corps, according to the annual list of top contributors released today by the national nonprofit organization. Graduates who join Teach For America commit to teach for at least two years in under-resourced schools. Among large schools, the University of California–Los Angeles…

Gender, corporate culture at Boeing explored in new book ‘Capitalist Family Values’

Polly Myers is a lecturer in the UW Department of History and author of the book “Capitalist Family Values: Gender, Work, and Corporate Culture at Boeing,” published by University of Nebraska Press.

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New wearable technology can sense appliance use, help track carbon footprint

A new wearable technology developed at the University of Washington called MagnifiSense can sense what devices and vehicles its user interacts with, which can help track that individual’s carbon footprint, enable smart home applications or even assist with elder care.

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UW scientists are pioneering research on ‘body maps’ in babies’ brains

For more than half a century, scientists have studied how the surface of the body is mapped in parts of the brain associated with touch. That research has focused largely on “body maps” that show how certain parts of the brain correspond point-for-point with the body’s topography. These body maps have been studied extensively in…

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UW hosts Pacific Northwest energy storage symposium on Sept. 11

Gone are the days when electricity flowed only in one direction — from huge power plants to homes and businesses — and entirely on demand. Today, homeowners who install solar panels can sell extra electricity back to the grid. Savvy industries save money by timing and controlling energy use. Renewable energy sources are multiplying. Yet…

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September 4, 2015

UW indoor alert test Sept. 9 on Seattle campus

The UW’s indoor alert system will be tested Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. in buildings across the Seattle campus. The indoor alerts are part of the campus emergency notification system. The test will last about 15 minutes and could include voice announcements, tones and horns, depending on the building. The purpose of this system-wide test is…

September launch could give UW team rare measurements of ‘dusty plasmas’

Researchers from the University of Washington are awaiting the launch an over 50-foot-long rocket from a launch site in Norway into the upper reaches of the atmosphere to observe and measure a puzzling phenomenon.

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Poplar trees are best bet for biofuel in UW-led research project

A five-year, $40 million study is laying the foundation for a Pacific Northwest industry that converts sustainably produced poplar feedstock into fuels and chemicals. The research, led by the University of Washington, will seed the world’s first wood-based cellulosic ethanol production facility.

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Climate change could leave Pacific Northwest amphibians high and dry

A new model for snow-fed mountain wetlands projects that the extremely dry conditions seen this year could be commonplace by the 2070s, affecting mountain species.

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Grant will help Native American undergraduates attend first scientific meeting

Two professors from the University of Washington and Oklahoma State University have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to bring six Native American undergraduate students to their first scientific meeting. The students will attend the Jan. 2016 annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Portland, Oregon. Known commonly…

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September 3, 2015

Earth observations show how nitrogen may be detected on exoplanets, aiding search for life

Observations of nitrogen in Earth’s atmosphere by a NASA spacecraft 17 million miles away are giving astronomers fresh clues to how that gas might reveal itself on faraway planets, thus aiding in the search for life.

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September 1, 2015

UW professor Marsha Linehan to receive National Alliance on Mental Health award

University of Washington psychology professor Marsha Linehan has been chosen to receive the 2015 Scientific Research Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The award, given annually since 2005, honors excellence in research for mental illnesses. Linehan, who is also an adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the UW, is the…

August 31, 2015

UW students put data science skills to use for social good

They could easily spend their days poring over statistical methods for a genetic study or sorting through data about consumer behavior on the other side of the globe. But this summer, data scientists at the University of Washington’s eScience Institute took a break from their typical work helping researchers and professors to incorporate cutting-edge technologies…

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August 27, 2015

Evans School’s Justin Marlowe pens second installment of guide to public finance

Government finance is a bit like Italian opera, writes Justin Marlowe, professor in the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance: It’s beautiful and elaborate, sure — but it’s also in a foreign language full of “traditions, customs and unspoken rules most casual fans don’t understand.” And though local, county and state government officials don’t…

August 26, 2015

Lab experiments question popular measure of ancient ocean temperatures

The membranes of sediment-entombed archaea are an increasingly popular way to determine ocean surface temperatures back to the age of the dinosaurs. But new results show that changing oxygen can affect the reading by as much as 21 degrees C.

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