Jennifer Ruesink, University of Washington professor of biology, studies the relationship between the environment and marine organisms, including eelgrass, the primary species of seagrass that resides in the oceans surrounding Washington. In honor of World Seagrass Day, UW News asked Ruesink to explain what seagrass is and what makes the seagrasses in Washington unique.
The peer review process in scientific publishing has reached a critical point where there are too many manuscript submissions and not enough peer reviewers. UW News asked Carl Bergstrom, University of Washington professor of biology, and Kevin Gross, North Carolina State University professor of statistics, to describe this self-perpetuating cycle and potential interventions.
Last December was the warmest on record for Washington, according to the Washington State Climate Office. Now many plants in our gardens are beginning to bud, even though it’s only February. UW News asked Takato Imaizumi, UW professor of biology, to talk about the mechanisms behind blooming and how warmer winters might impact flowering plants.
A recent documentary about the breeding habits of antelopes in India includes the story of how engaging with artists and local communities can help researchers share the importance of their work. UW News asked Vivek Hari Sridhar, a UW assistant professor of biology and one of the leaders of the project, for details about the project and the documentary.
UW News spoke with Lauren Buckley, University of Washington professor of biology, to learn about “functional resurvey” experiments and what they can tell us about how organisms change over time.
New research led by the University of Washington suggests that two different climate transitions millions of years ago fueled the diversification of carnivoran body plans.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Oct. 8 awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal-organic frameworks,” or MOFs. Both Dianne Xiao, a UW associate professor of chemistry, and Douglas Reed, a UW assistant professor of chemistry, use MOFs in their research at the UW. UW News reached out to them to learn more about the significance of these structures and how researchers use them.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute on Monday awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Mary E. Brunkow — an alum of the University of Washington — along with Frederick J. Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body.” Brunkow received her bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology from the UW in 1983. UW News spoke with Martha Bosma, professor and chair…
In a new study, a team of scientists determined the minimum natural habitat on agricultural land that will allow insect pollinators — including bumble bees, solitary bees, hoverflies and butterflies — to thrive. UW News reached out to co-author Berry Brosi, UW professor of biology, to learn more about these results and how habitat is important to two types of bees native to Washington.
Quantum dots, which are 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, are unique materials that generate very specific colors of light. Researchers, including Brandi Cossairt, UW professor of chemistry, hope that quantum dots can one day be useful for more than just illuminating TV screens. UW News asked her to compare the quantum dots in QLED TVs with the ones her lab makes.
An international research effort, including scientists from the University of Washington, has finally revealed the cause of sea star wasting disease: a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida.
For Valentine’s Day, UW News asked 12 University of Washington researchers to share their love stories: What made them decide to pursue their career paths?
Two University of Washington researchers are developing treatments that aim to simultaneously treat cancer and improve patients’ quality of life. For World Cancer Day, UW News asked them to discuss their novel materials and how these materials can treat both the cancer and the patient.
Alex Prybutok, UW assistant teaching professor of chemical engineering, studies anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in engineering education.
A research team at UW and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory examined the atomic composition of enamel samples from two human teeth.
Jie Xiao, University of Washington professor of mechanical engineering, talks about batteries and how academia can help support the growing domestic battery manufacturing industry.
UW researchers collaborated with people at multiple institutions to collect pre-storm data and place sensors to measure storm surge levels and wave height during Hurricane Helene’s landfall.
The Remote Hub Lab allows students to access physical engineering equipment from anywhere in the world. A primary focus of the lab is to use a process called “digital twinning,” to create virtual models that mirror real-world systems, which enables students to experiment, learn and innovate in a risk-free, cost-effective environment.
UW researchers have developed a flexible, durable electronic prototype that can harvest energy from body heat and turn it into electricity that can be used to power small electronics, such as batteries, sensors or LEDs. This device is also resilient — it still functions even after being pierced several times and then stretched 2,000 times.
The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water in seven U.S. states and Mexico. But since 2000, water managers have struggled to predict how much water will come from the snowpack. The problem lies with the lack of rainfall in the spring, according to new research from the UW.
Several common injuries seem to haunt women’s sports. Jenny Robinson, a University of Washington assistant professor, is interested in designing better methods to help female athletes train to prevent and recover from injuries.
Two University of Washington researchers are investigating how to mitigate the effects of climate change on common road pavements, such as asphalt and concrete.
This University of Washington College of Engineering event brings thousands of elementary and middle school students from all over Washington to campus to be engineers for a day.
As researchers explore potential applications for AI, they have found scenarios where AI could be really useful but there’s not enough data to accurately train the algorithms. Jenq-Neng Hwang, University of Washington professor of electrical and computer and engineering, specializes in these issues.
Alzheimer’s disease and Type 2 diabetes are part of a family of amyloid diseases that are characterized by having proteins that cluster together. UW researchers have demonstrated more similarities between the two diseases.
Robots in warehouses and even around our houses struggle to identify and pick up objects if they are too close together, or if a space is cluttered. This is because robots lack what psychologists call “object unity,” or our ability to identify things even when we can’t see all of them. Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a way to teach robots this skill.
New research led by the UW demonstrates a new class of hydrogels that can form not just outside cells, but also inside of them. These hydrogels exhibited similar mechanical properties both inside and outside of cells, providing researchers with a new tool to group proteins together inside of cells.
Two UW professors teamed up to study how climate change will affect predator-prey interactions in snowy landscapes. Together with a group of researchers, the two measured snow properties that led to a “danger zone,” where prey would sink but predators would not.
UW researchers found that people who live within 2 miles of an Amazon last-mile delivery station are exposed to more delivery-related air pollution despite ordering fewer packages.
UW researchers developed small robotic devices that can change how they move through the air by “snapping” into a folded position during their descent.
Research led by the UW found that, in some western states, the amount of snow already on the ground by the end of December is a good predictor of how much total snow that area will get.
Training a large language model, such as ChatGPT, uses on average roughly equivalent to the yearly electricity consumption of over 1,000 U.S. households, according to Sajjad Moazeni, UW assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, who studies networking for AI and machine learning supercomputing.
A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed new bioplastics that degrade on the same timescale as a banana peel in a backyard compost bin.
UW News sat down with Michele Newman, a University of Washington doctoral student in the Information School, to learn more about fans’ dedication to “Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.”
Danli Luo, a UW doctoral student of human centered design and engineering, developed a toolkit of sensors and controllers that helped her re-create three dishes from growing up in China: rice wine, tofu and spring roll wrappers.
Two University of Washington researchers are using very different methods to investigate the issue of marine microplastics. For Earth Day, UW News asked them to discuss their research.
Scientists at the University of Washington are pursuing multiple quantum research projects spanning from creating materials with never-before-seen physical properties to studying the “quantum bits” — or qubits (pronounced “kyu-bits”) — that make quantum computing possible. UW News sat down with Professor Kai-Mei Fu, one of the leaders in quantum research on campus, to talk about the potential of quantum R&D, and why it’s so important.
A team led by researchers at the University of Washington studied how artificial intelligence could help people on the platform TalkLife, where people give each other mental health support. The researchers developed an AI system that suggested changes to participants’ responses to make them more empathetic. The best responses resulted from a collaboration between AI and people.
University of Washington researchers examined 44 3D tours in 44 states across the U.S. to look for potential security issues when personal details were included in the tour.
A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created a new hearing screening system that uses a smartphone and earbuds.