Comb jellies – and not sponges – may lay claim as the earliest ancestors of animals, according to new research in Nature.
News releases
Many have assumed that warmer winters as a result of climate change would increase the growth of trees and shrubs because the growing season would be longer. But shrubs achieve less yearly growth when cold winter temperatures are interrupted by temperatures warm enough to trigger growth.
Most discrimination in the U.S. is not caused by intention to harm people different from us, but by ordinary favoritism directed at helping people similar to us, according to a theoretical review published online in American Psychologist.
The University of Washington is receiving a $31.2 million gift from Washington Research Foundation to boost entrepreneurship and support research that tackles some of society’s most crucial challenges. The award will fund four interdisciplinary initiatives that seek to advance global innovation in clean energy, protein design, big data science and neuroengineering.
Researchers affiliated with the UW’s School of Social Work tailored a parenting program known to improve communication in non-foster families for use in foster families, who often say they don’t feel connected and have trouble communicating, but few resources exist that nurture their bonding.
A significantly greater number of students fail science, engineering and math courses that are taught lecture-style than fail with active learning according to the largest analysis ever of studies comparing lecturing to active learning in undergraduate education
The collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has begun, according to computer models using detailed topographic maps. The fast-moving Thwaites Glacier will likely disappear in a matter of centuries, researchers say, raising sea level by nearly 2 feet.
Washington state’s housing market finished weaker in the first quarter of 2014 when compared to the end of 2013, according to the UW’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.
Social work researchers from the University of Washington have found that among a group of active-duty Army personnel who use illicit drugs, the most abused substance is synthetic marijuana, nicknamed “Spice,” which is harder to detect than other drugs through standard drug tests.
University of Washington electrical engineers have developed telerobotics technology that could make disaster response faster and more efficient. They are working with a large team as part of the SmartAmerica Challenge, an initiative that encourages new technologies that help society in our increasingly connected world.
Up to half of the recent warming in Greenland and surrounding areas may be due to climate variations that originate in the tropical Pacific and are not connected with the overall warming of the planet. Still, at least half the warming remains attributable to global warming caused by rising carbon dioxide emissions.
More than a million people are treated for mild traumatic brain injuries in U.S. hospitals and emergency rooms each year. A University of Washington researcher has found that a 20-minute conversation with a social worker has the potential to significantly reduce the functional decline of those diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury.
Amphibians in the West’s high-mountain areas find themselves caught between climate-induced habitat loss and predation from introduced fish. A novel combination of tools could help weigh where amphibians are in the most need of help.
University of Washington political scientist John Wilkerson has matched data visualization with the study of lawmaking to create a new online tool for researchers and students called the Legislative Explorer. Think of it as big data meeting up with How a Bill Becomes a Law. “The goal was to get beyond the ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ narrative and let users discover the lawmaking process for themselves,” said Wilkerson, UW professor of political science and director of the UW’s Center for American Politics…
Roger Roffman, UW professor emeritus of social work who has studied marijuana dependence interventions for 30 years, talks about his new book, “Marijuana Nation: One Man’s Chronicle of America Getting High: From Vietnam to Legalization.”
What looked at first like a sort of upside-down planet has instead revealed a new method for studying binary star systems, discovered by a UW student astronomer.
UW licensees who source, produce or buy apparel in Bangladesh are now required to become signatories to The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
A fluctuating tilt in a planet’s orbit does not preclude the possibility of life, according to new research by astronomers at the University of Washington, Utah’s Weber State University and NASA. In fact, sometimes it helps.
Babies as young as 15 months preferred people with the same ethnicity as themselves — a phenomenon known as in-group bias, or favoring people who have the same characteristics as oneself.
UW oceanographers found fast-flowing water and intense mixing in a submarine canyon just off the Washington coast.
Detailed ice core measurements show smog-related ratios leveling off in 1970, and suggests these deposits are sensitive to the same chemicals that cause acid rain.
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be the speaker at this year’s UW commencement exercises June 14.
Get on your 3-D glasses for one of the animations of tiny fruit flies employing banked turns to evade attacks just like fighter jets.
University of Washington engineers have developed software that automatically generates images of a young child’s face as it ages through a lifetime. The technique is the first fully automated approach for aging babies to adults that works with variable lighting, expressions and poses.
UW President Michael K. Young has announced the appointment of an Advisory Council on Medical Education Access and Affordability,
As the United States puts ever-greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to keep competitive in the global economy, schools are trying to figure out how to improve student learning in science. University of Washington researchers think music may be the answer for some students.
A national team jointly led by a University of Washington geotechnical engineer and an engineering geologist will investigate what caused the March 22 mudslide in Snohomish County and what effects the disaster had on the nearby residential communities.
A new UW online bachelor’s degree completion program in social sciences is intended to provide a flexible, lower-cost option for individuals who want to finish their college education without coming to campus.
Seventeen North American scientists outline the importance of natural science and call for a revitalization of the practice.
The UW School of Medicine plans to establish Spokane as the center of an effort called “Next Generation WWAMI.”
Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Gershwin — the names alone are enough to quicken the pulse of any classical music lover. Those greats and many more are represented in a gift of rare classical music scores to the University of Washington Music Library.
Many University of Washington students will greet spring break next week from a warm sandy beach, but 69 of them will instead spend their week off helping young students in rural communities learn about art, literacy and the environment. In turn, these UW students will learn about life, culture and education in rural Washington.
University of Washington researchers have found that misinformation spread widely on Twitter after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing despite efforts by users to correct rumors that were inaccurate.
Joining a gang in adolescence has significant consequences in adulthood beyond criminal behavior, even after a person leaves the gang. Former gang members are more likely to be in poor health, receiving government assistance and struggling with drug abuse than someone who never joined a gang.
Very young children often don’t view an artistic copycat negatively, but that changes by the age of 5 or 6, even in countries that place less value on intellectual property rights than the U.S.
U.S. News & World Report’s new rankings give high marks to UW programs in medicine, education, law, business and engineering and rate the medical school No. 1 overall for primary care.
University of Washington scientists have built the thinnest-known LED that can be used as a source of light energy in electronics. The LED is based off of two-dimensional, flexible semiconductors, making it possible to stack or use in much smaller and more diverse applications than current technology allows.
The University of Washington’s Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching has received a $4.4 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to develop and promote teaching practices that help undergraduate engineering students reflect on their experiences. The award establishes the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education that focuses on first- and second-year undergraduates who want to be engineers, especially those from underrepresented populations
UW astronomers have developed a new method of gauging the atmospheric pressure of exoplanets, or worlds beyond the solar system, by looking for a certain type of molecule. And if there is life out in space, it may one day be revealed by this method.
Kenyon Chan, former chancellor of the University of Washington Bothell, has been named interim chancellor of the University of Washington Tacoma.