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In 1948, the University of Washington fired three tenured professors for alleged Communist sympathies. It was a controversial action in a time full of such actions. McCarthy, the blacklist, loyalty oaths-most Americans have heard of post-war anti-Commun ist fervor, though it is hard for those who didn’t live through it to understand what happened and why. To address some of those questions, the University will mark the 50th anniversary of the firings this winter with a series of events called the “All Powers Project.”

In the next week or so, about 100 million Americans will venture down a well-traveled path paved with bold and sometimes hastily conceived New Year’s resolutions. All are not necessarily broken promises. According to a new University of Washington survey, 63 percent of the people questioned were still keeping their number one 1997 New Year’s resolution after two months.

Two days after their most recent research piece appeared in the journal Nature, University of Washington oceanography professors Steve Emerson and Paul Quay set sail on the UW’s Thomas G. Thompson to seek more answers about subtropical oceans and how they absorb carbon dioxide, one of the so-called greenhouse gases.

What was found by three graduate students — Kirsten Lorentzen of the University of Washington and Robin Millan and Jason Foat of the University of California at Berkeley — has scientists scrambling for an explanation: an intense stream of X-rays, occurring in seven bursts, each separated by only a few minutes and lasting for a total of half an hour. The evidence was clear that the high energy bursts came not from outer space, but from the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Individual neurons, or brain cells, do not just relay information from one point to another, according to a group of researchers from across the United States who discussed new insights into the process of hearing at a symposium held last month at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Instead, they said, each neuron could be compared to a tiny computer that compiles information from many sources and makes a decision based on that information

The impact of multiple births on a family is not additive, it’s exponential. Few parents are prepared for the enormous emotional, physical and financial demands that accompany this phenomenon. To help couples deal with this huge change in their lives, University of Washington Medical Center hosts “Expecting Multiples,” a series of classes for families expecting twins or more.

Surgical students soon will be able hone their skills with simulators that for the first time present a realistic feel of performing surgery thanks to a research project under way at the University of Washington. The project also could improve patient care by leading to the development of instruments that enhance surgeons’ sense of touch.

This presentation will cover the highlights of the Mars Pathfinder mission and the design and control of the Sojourner vehicle. It will include pictures taken by the lander and rover, video clips of mission operations, a video containing eight rover movies showing sojourner navigating its way across the Martian surface and a 3-D animated playback of data collected by Sojourner.

First it was the Chinese, then the Egyptians who more than 3,000 years ago began studying and predicting the weather. Then in the 16th and 17th centuries meteorology became a science with the invention of instruments to measure the elements. Now a supercomputer is ushering in a new era of high-precision local weather forecasting.

Some women who become glucose intolerant late in pregnancy may develop gestational diabetes and give birth to larger than normal babies with a tendency to become obese. Now a new study of genetically normal rats indicates that the effect of overfeeding extends for at least three generations and may explain health trends beginning to be seen in human populations in the American Southwest, Japan, Australia and some Pacific islands.

Seattle-based world leaders in the fight against cancer today announced that they are forming a new, combined clinical cancer program. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington (UW), and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center are creating the new program, called the “Cancer Care Alliance,” to speed the development of new knowledge of, and treatment for, various cancers.

Maria Root, a psychologist and associate professor of American Ethnic Studies, is looking for 60 pairs of adult siblings in Washington state and the Portland, Ore., area to participate in a study that will explore how people of mixed ancestry develop their racial identity and how they viewed themselves when they were growing up.

It may well be the “biggest” honor ever bestowed upon a UW researcher: A Seattle-based shipping company will christen its newest vessel, a 25,000-barrel oil barge, the “Bonnie R.” in honor of Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.