News releases
July 29, 2013
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.
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.
July 25, 2013
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.
July 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.
July 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.
July 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.
July 18, 2013
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.
A warmer planetary haven around cool stars, as ice warms rather than cools
In a bit of cosmic irony, planets orbiting cooler stars may be more likely to remain ice-free than planets around hotter stars. This is due to the interaction of a star’s light with ice and snow on the planet’s surface.
July 16, 2013
UW Medicine hospitals rank highly in latest U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals
U.S. News publishes Best Hospitals to guide patients who need a high level of care because they face a difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age.
Eye-tracking could outshine passwords if made user-friendly
University of Washington engineers found in a recent study that the user’s experience could be key to creating an authentication system that doesn’t rely on passwords.
July 15, 2013
Ecological forces structure your body’s personal mix of microbes
Researchers hope to build a predictive model of the human microbiome to study what affects this massive biological system and to design ways to manipulate the microbiome to achieve desired clinical outcomes.
July 14, 2013
Some volcanoes ‘scream’ at ever-higher pitches until they blow their tops
Swarms of small earthquakes before a volcanic eruption can come in such rapid succession that they create a signal called harmonic tremor. A new eruption analysis from Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano shows the harmonic tremor glided to higher frequencies, then stopped abruptly just before six eruptions in 2009.
July 10, 2013
Global study stresses importance of public Internet access
Millions of people in low-income countries still depend on public computer and Internet access venues despite the global proliferation of mobile phones and home computers.
Functional genomics lab to predict potential AIDS vaccines efficacy and find protection markers
Funded by the NIH at $15 million over five years, the lab will be a national resource to evaluate candidate vaccines from studies around the country.
July 9, 2013
Biceps bulge, calves curve, 50-year-old assumptions muscled aside
The basics of how a muscle generates power remain the same: Filaments of myosin tugging on filaments of actin shorten, or contract, the muscle – but the power doesn’t just come from what’s happening straight up and down the length of the muscle, as has been assumed for 50 years. The rest of the force should be credited to the lattice work of filaments as it expands outward in bulging muscle – whether in a body builder’s buff biceps or the calves of a sinewy marathon runner.
Link between low vitamin D blood levels and heart disease varies by race
Low vitamin D levels are linked to higher risk of heart disease in whites and Chinese, but not in blacks or Hispanics. The findings underscore the importance of designing medical research that includes a diverse ethnic and racial makeup of participants.
School policies reduce student drinking – if they’re perceived to be enforced
Every middle and high school has a policy against drinking alcohol on campus, but not all students follow the rules. New research suggests students are less likely to drink if they believe their school will strictly enforce its policy.
July 3, 2013
Great ape genetic diversity catalog frames primate evolution and future conservation
A model of great ape history during the past 15 million years has been fashioned through the study of genetic variation in a large panel of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.
July 1, 2013
Calming your dog’s anxiety during noisy Fourth of July
Dog owners everywhere feel a pang of anxiety as the Fourth of July approaches. Will their pooch simply hide under the bed when fireworks go off or run for the hills? If you’re the owner of a dog with noise phobias, what can you do?
June 27, 2013
UW gas-, electric-powered cars claim 1st and 2nd in national contest
The University of Washington Formula Motorsports team took first place at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers competition held June 19-22 in Lincoln, Neb.
Kiana Scott appointed as new student regent
Gov. Jay Inslee announced that he has appointed Kiana M. Scott, a graduate student in communication, as the student representative on the University of Washington Board of Regents, effective July 2.
June 25, 2013
More women pick computer science if media nix outdated ‘nerd’ stereotype
The media often portray computer scientists as nerdy males with poor social skills. But a UW psychologist found women will want to study computer science if they don’t buy into the stereotypes.
Brewster Denny, founding dean and civic leader, dies at 88
Brewster C. Denny, the founder of what is now the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, one of the first independent public schools of public administration in the country, died Saturday (June 22) at the age of 88.
UW awarded $10 million to design paper-based diagnostic medical device
The University of Washington has received nearly $10 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to continue a project aimed at building a small, paper-based device that could test for infectious diseases on-demand in areas where diagnostic capabilities are limited.
Astronomers find three ‘super-Earths’ in nearby star’s habitable zone
A UW astronomer is part of an international team that found six or seven planets orbiting a nearby star where only two or three were thought to exist.
Clearing up confusion on future of Colorado River flows
Leading experts on water issues in the Western U.S. have come together to establish what is known about the future of Colorado River water, and to understand the wide range of estimates for future flows.
June 21, 2013
Airborne gut action primes wild chili pepper seeds
Seeds gobbled by birds and dispersed across the landscape tend to fare better than those that fall near parent plants. Now it turns out it might not just be the trip through the air that’s important, but also the inches-long trip through the bird.
June 19, 2013
UW seventh in world for articles in Nature and Nature’s research journals
The University of Washington has been ranked seventh in the world for the number of journal articles published in 2012 in Nature or one of Nature’s main monthly research journals, some of the most widely cited journals in science.
Detour ahead: Cities, farms reroute animals seeking cooler climes
In the first broad-scale study of its kind, UW led research finds half a dozen regions that could provide some of the Western Hemisphere’s more heavily used thoroughfares for mammals, birds and amphibians seeking cooler environments in a warming world.
June 17, 2013
Fiber-optic pen helps see inside brains of children with learning disabilities
For less than $100, University of Washington researchers have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that helps scientists see inside the brains of children with learning disabilities while they read and write.
June 13, 2013
UW research: World population could be nearly 11 billion by 2100
A new United Nations analysis, using statistical methods developed at the University of Washington, shows the world population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of the century, about 800 million more people than the previous projection issued in 2011.
June 11, 2013
138th Commencement for UW’s Seattle campus — 1:30 p.m. June 15 at CenturyLink Field
About 5,000 graduates, a record number, are expected to attend the University of Washington commencement ceremonies at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on June 15.
New tasks become as simple as waving a hand with brain-computer interfaces
University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that when humans use brain-computer interfaces, the brain behaves much like it does when completing simple motor skills such as kicking a ball or waving. Learning to control a robotic arm or a prosthetic limb could become second nature for people who are paralyzed.
June 6, 2013
Pollution in Northern Hemisphere helped cause 1980s African drought
Air pollution in the Northern Hemisphere in the mid-20th century cooled the upper half of the planet and pushed rain bands south, contributing to the prolonged and worsening drought in Africa’s Sahel region. Clean air legislation in the 1980s reversed the trend and the drought lessened.
June 5, 2013
A walking revolution helps older adults get and stay active
Older adults are assessing their neighborhoods to make them more amenable to a favorite physical activity: walking.
June 4, 2013
Two wheels, four days: UW hosts international symposium on bicycling
The UW will become the global capital of bicycling when scores of scholars, policymakers, analysts and activists come to campus for the Bicycle Urbanism Symposium, June 19-22.
Wi-Fi signals enable gesture recognition throughout entire home
University of Washington researchers have shown it’s possible to leverage Wi-Fi signals around us to detect specific movements without needing sensors on the human body or cameras.
June 3, 2013
UW honored for quality, efficiency and service by national organization
The University of Washington was one of two universities that received national recognition for “best practices that have broad impact within the higher education community.”
Diversity graduation requirement for UW undergraduates approved
A long-time student-led effort to pass a diversity course requirement for all University of Washington undergraduates has come to fruition.
May 30, 2013
Transportation fuels from woody biomass promising way to reduce emissions
Two processes that turn woody biomass into transportation fuels have the potential to exceed current Environmental Protection Agency requirements for renewable fuels.
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