UW News

News releases


March 20, 2013

Some Alaskan trout use flexible guts for the ultimate binge diet

A dolly varden trout swims under dozens of sockeye salmon

The stomach and intestines of certain Dolly Varden trout double to quadruple in size during month-long, salmon-egg-eating binges in Alaska each August. It’s the first time researchers have documented such fish gut flexibility in the wild.


March 19, 2013

Tenfold boost in ability to pinpoint proteins in cancer cells

Lab image of cells

New research offers a more comprehensive way to analyze a cell’s unique behavior, revealing patterns that could indicate why a cell will or won’t become cancerous.


March 13, 2013

Innocence Project Northwest wins right to DNA testing for felons serving time in community

A gavel, law book and scales of justice.

Felons who serve part of their prison sentence in the community may now have the right to publicly funded DNA testing.


UW places highly in ranking of graduate programs by US News

A large 'W' is at the north entrance to the UW campus.

US News & World Report recently published its national ranking of graduate programs.


March 11, 2013

Remote clouds responsible for climate models’ glitch in tropical rainfall

photo of cloudy sea

One of the most persistent biases in global climate models is due to poor simulation of cloud cover thousands of miles to the south.


March 7, 2013

Tracking sediments’ fate in largest-ever dam removal

aerial photo of plume

Any day now, the world’s largest dam-removal project will release a century’s worth of sediment . For geologists, it’s a unique opportunity to study natural and engineered river systems.


March 4, 2013

United States lags behind many developed countries on key health measures

Dr. Christopher Murray in Tanzania

A public symposium on the Global Burden of Diseases study will be held on campus Monday, March 11.


‘True grit’ erodes assumptions about evolution

Large cliff of white ashy material surrounded by rock cliffs when two researchers working the face

New work in Argentina where scientists had previously thought Earth’s first grasslands emerged 38 million years ago, shows the area at the time covered with tropical forests rich with palms, bamboos and gingers. Grit and volcanic ash in those forests could have caused the evolution of teeth in horse-like animals that scientists mistakenly thought were adaptations in response to emerging grasslands.


February 27, 2013

Contaminated diet contributes to phthalate and bisphenol A exposure

The 3D chemical structure of bisphenol A.

People are exposed to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals even if they eat an organic diet and do not store, prepare or cook in plastic containers.


February 26, 2013

Michael B. Bragg selected as dean of UW College of Engineering

UW engineering buildings

Michael B. Bragg, professor and interim engineering dean at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as dean of the UW College of Engineering.


February 21, 2013

Using amount of fish caught as measure of fisheries health is misleading

An illustration of the fish population argument in Nature.

Do changes in the amount of fish caught necessarily reflect the number of fish in the sea? “No,” say UW researchers in a “Counterpoint” commentary in Nature.


February 19, 2013

UW selects Jeffrey Riedinger as vice provost for global affairs

Jeffrey Riedinger has been named vice provost for global affairs at the University of Washington


Mutant champions save imperiled species from almost-certain extinction

Gloved had holds plate with dozes of tiny wells of reddish orange hue

Species facing widespread and rapid environmental changes can sometimes evolve quickly enough to dodge the extinction bullet. UW scientists consider the genetic underpinnings of such evolutionary rescue.


Three faculty members named Sloan Research Fellows

Three faculty members named Sloan Research Fellows


February 18, 2013

Mussels cramped by environmental factors

Drawing of wave with menancing face and startled mussels on shore

The fibrous threads helping mussels stay anchored are more prone to snap when ocean temperatures climb higher than normal.


February 15, 2013

Firing range lead exposure reduced with UW workplace health expertise

UW’s Field Research and Consultation Group in Environmental and Occupational Health assess ventilation systems and airborne lead levels in firing ranges, and offer advice on lowering exposure.


February 13, 2013

European satellite confirms UW numbers: Arctic Ocean is on thin ice

Chuchki Sea ice

New satellite observations confirm a University of Washington analysis that for the past three years found accelerated declines in the volume of Arctic sea ice.


February 12, 2013

Get off my lawn: Song sparrows escalate territorial threats – with video

Song sparrow singing in his territory.

UW researchers have discovered a hierarchical warning scheme in which territorial song sparrows use increasingly threatening signals to ward off trespassing rivals.


February 11, 2013

Noisy classroom simulation aids comprehension in hearing-impaired children

Student wears hearing aid in class

A new report by a UW researcher showed about a 50 percent increase in speech comprehension in background noise when children with hearing impairments followed a three-week auditory training regimen.


February 7, 2013

Washington housing recovery strengthened in fourth quarter 2012

A house for sale.

Washington state’s housing market continued to improve during the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the UW’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.


February 6, 2013

New director named for Northwest Center for Public Health Practice

Pediatrician Tao Kwan-Gett will head a center that provides training, research, evaluation and communication services to public health organizations across six states.


Smartphones, tablets help UW researchers improve storm forecasts

pressurenet_barometer

Atmospheric scientists are using pressure readings from some new smartphones and tablet computers to improve short-term thunderstorm forecasts. A weather station in every pocket would offer an unprecedented wealth of data.


February 5, 2013

Scholars urge Supreme Court to keep Voting Rights Act provisions ensuring equal access

Voters cast ballots in the 2012 election.

Political science and law scholars from the UW and elsewhere file a brief saying the Supreme Court should fully uphold the Voting Rights Act in a case out of Shelby County, Alabama.


February 1, 2013

School of Dentistry launches Center for Global Oral Health

Dental tools on board the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The new center will promote collaborations in dental research and education, including faculty and student exchanges, with partners around the world.


January 31, 2013

Cyclone did not cause 2012 record low for Arctic sea ice

Satellite image of Arctic cyclone

A huge Arctic cyclone in August was not responsible for the historic minimum seen soon after in Arctic sea-ice extent.


January 29, 2013

More sex for married couples with traditional divisions of housework

Photo of husband and wife sharing chores

Married couples who divide chores in traditional ways have more sex than couples who share so-called men’s and women’s work.


Beer’s bitter compounds could help brew new medicines

A humulone molecule is superimposed on a hops vine and a glass of beer.

A UW researcher has determined the precise configuration of substances derived from hops that give beer its distinctive flavor, a finding that could lead to important new pharmaceuticals.


January 24, 2013

Astronomy to go: UW readies new portable planetarium

The University of Washington astronomy department is readying a traveling planetarium to take to schools for outreach — and collaboration — in Seattle and beyond. It may look like a carnival bouncy house or an inflatable igloo, but the portable planetarium is in fact an innovative tool for teaching and spreading interest in astronomy. The…


Organic ferroelectric molecule shows promise for memory chips, sensors

Image of electric response

A paper in Science describes an organic crystal that shows promise as a cheap, flexible, nontoxic material for the working parts of memory chips, sensors and energy-harvesting devices.


January 23, 2013

Better outlook for dwindling black macaque population in Indonesia

a group of black macaques in Indonesia

Hunting and habitat loss harm the critically endangered Sulawesi black macaque, but new research shows the population has stabilized in the past decade.


January 22, 2013

Brain structure of infants predicts language skills at 1 year

One year old baby with experimenters

Researchers at UW’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences have found that the anatomy of certain brain areas – the hippocampus and cerebellum – can predict children’s language abilities at 1 year of age.


January 17, 2013

Early signals warn of prolonged sports concussion symptoms

A play from the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl.

Researchers found little correlation between loss of consciousness and duration of concussion symptoms.


January 16, 2013

High school athletes take lead from coaches in reporting concussive symptoms

New laws in many states require school athletes to be taught about concussion, but education alone is ineffective if it does not translate into students reporting possible symptoms.


January 15, 2013

International study: Where there’s smoke or smog, there’s climate change

Scientists taking snow samples in Greenland.

A new international assessment found that soot, or black carbon, is a major contributor to global warming — second only to carbon dioxide.


January 14, 2013

Salmon runs boom, go bust over centuries

Mountains surround lake, stream in Alaska

Salmon runs are notoriously variable: strong one year, and weak the next. New research shows that the same may be true from one century to the next.


Potential harvest of most fish stocks largely unrelated to abundance

Big eye tuna on ice

Fisheries managers should sharpen their ability to spot environmental conditions that hamper or help fish stocks, and not assume that abundance translates to sustainable harvest.


January 10, 2013

Multiple sclerosis study reveals how killer T cells learn to recognize nerve fiber insulators

Misguided killer T cells may be the missing link in sustained tissue damage in the brains and spines of people with multiple sclerosis, research in immunologist Joan Goverman’s lab suggests.


Life possible on extrasolar moons

Exomoons, or moons orbiting planets outside the solar system, might be as good candidates for life as exoplanets, research shows.


January 7, 2013

University of Washington selects Azita Emami as dean of School of Nursing

Headshot of Azita Emami

Azita Emami, dean of the College of Nursing at Seattle University, will be the new dean of the UW School of Nursing.


January 2, 2013

While in womb, babies begin learning language from their mothers

Baby with image of vowels

Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought.



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