UW News

News releases


October 10, 2011

Research shows how life might have survived ‘snowball Earth

New research indicates that simple life in the form of photosynthetic algae could have survived a “snowball Earth” event, living in a narrow body of water with characteristics similar to todays Red Sea.


October 7, 2011

Babies show sense of fairness, altruism as early as 15 months

A new study by a UW psychologist presents the first evidence that a basic sense of fairness and altruism appears in infancy


October 6, 2011

Turning slash piles into soil benefit

Students of the University of Washington have teamed up on a startup that promises to turn slash piles of forest refuse into biochar, a commodity for sale to landscapers, farmers and gardeners.


October 5, 2011

UW is 25th best university in world in Times ranking

The University of Washington was ranked 25th best university in the world and the fifth-ranked American public university, according to The Times Higher Education Rankings


October 3, 2011

Community effort brings lasting drop in smoking, delinquency, drug use

Tenth graders in towns using Communities That Care, a prevent system developed by UW School of Social Work researchers, were less likely to have tried drinking or smoking and showed less delinquent behavior.


September 28, 2011

Making justice known: Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal

Seventeen years ago, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans, mostly members of the Tutsi tribe, were massacred in only 100 days. Now, as remaining court judgments are rendered, “Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal” presents a record of what has been done with an interactive website that brings together video interviews with judges, lawyers, interpreters, investigators and other personnel.


NW biofuels coming of age with $80 million in separate projects led by UW, WSU

The University of Washington and Washington State University are leads for two separate grants of $40 million each that will use Pacific Northwest woody biomass to expand whats been a Midwest-centric biofuels industry into Washington, Oregon, Idaho, western Montana and northern California.


September 26, 2011

Returning genetic results to study participants will be addressed nationally

Holly Tabor, a UW and Seattle Children’s bioethics scholar, is among the experts in law, medicine and ethics to receive a NIH grant Sept. 26 to look at if, when and how the results of genome studies should be told to research participants.


Dieter Fox to co-lead new Intel Science and Technology Center

UW computer scientist Dieter Fox will co-lead an Intel Science and Technology Center that will focus on “pervasive” computing, which aims to incorporate computing and sensing into everyday devices and environments.


September 22, 2011

Model provides successful seasonal forecast for the fate of Arctic sea ice

Relatively accurate predictions for summer sea ice extent in the Arctic can be made the previous autumn, but forecasting more than five years into the future requires understanding of the impact of climate trends on the ice pack.


September 20, 2011

Visionary innovator wins MacArthur ‘genius’ award

Shwetak Patel, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering and electrical engineering who explores how people and computers interact, has been named one of this years MacArthur Fellows.


Proton-based transistor could let machines communicate with living things

Materials scientists at the University of Washington have built a novel transistor that uses protons, creating a key piece for devices that can communicate directly with living things.


September 19, 2011

Gamers succeed where scientists fail

The structure of a retrovirus enzyme had stumped scientists for more than a decade. With the game Foldit, players quickly made an accurate model of the enzyme. The model opens doors to AIDS drug design.


September 16, 2011

Design for living: ‘Making Healthy Places discusses benefits of blending civic planning with public health

A new book titled “Making Healthy Spaces: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being and Sustainability” suggests that viewing the built environment as a human habitat can promote health, sustainability and more equitable access for people of all abilities.


September 15, 2011

President Young announces new chief of staff, office reorganization

University of Washington President Michael K. Young announced today the appointment of Jack Johnson to a new chief of staff position in his office, effective Oct. 24.


September 14, 2011

Salmon and other fish predators rely on ‘no guts, no glory survival tactic

The phrase “no guts, no glory” doesnt just apply to athletes who are striving to excel. Salmon and other fish predators take the adage literally.


Katze lab signs contract with Revalesio to study novel approaches to viral diseases

Revalesio, a pioneering biotechnology company based in Tacoma, recently signed an 18-month contract with the Katze lab at the University of Washington to bring hope to sufferers of influenza, HIV and hepatitis C.


September 13, 2011

Census estimates show increase in U.S. poverty but not in Washington state

Preliminary data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today show that the poverty rate for the U.S. increased from 14.3 percent to 15.1 percent from 2009 to 2010. However, the rate in Washington State remained essentially unchanged at 11.5 percent, or 774,000 residents.


UW is top-ten public, US News says

The UW was tied for 10th among public universities in the latest US News and World Report ranking of undergraduate programs.


September 12, 2011

New study quantifies use of social media in Arab Spring

After analyzing more than 3 million tweets, gigabytes of YouTube content and thousands of blog posts, a new study finds that social media played a central role in shaping political debates in the Arab Spring.


Findings on blood pressure and heart disease genetic risk include UW research contributions

An international consortium has identified 28 blood-pressure influencing regions on the human genome. UW scientists played key roles in analyzing the massive amounts of data collected for the study.


September 6, 2011

Gene defect that predisposes people to leukemia discovered

Those at risk of acute myeloid leukemia because of family history may soon obtain tests to detect the genetic error before symptoms emerge. Clinical trials are under way to learn the best way to monitor and treat people with the GATA2 mutation.


August 31, 2011

UW anthropologist explores Seattles Dumpster diving community – with video

A UW anthropology graduate student is studying the economics of food production, food waste and how social networks of Dumpster divers can help provide food for those in need.


August 29, 2011

Bilingual babies vocabulary linked to early brain differentiation

Researchers at UWs Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences are investigating the brain mechanisms that contribute to infants prowess at learning languages, with the hope that the findings could boost bilingualism in adults, too.


August 25, 2011

Ocean acidification science, societal needs meld in new training program

Students already knowledgeable about the science behind ocean acidification and warming will learn more about the challenges those ocean changes pose for tribes, shellfish growers and other sectors of society – as well as helping seek solutions ¬– under a just-announced National Science Foundation grant of $3 million.


August 24, 2011

Scented laundry products emit hazardous chemicals through dryer vents

The researcher who used chemical sleuthing to uncover whats in scented products now has turned her attention to the air wafting from household laundry vents. Air from laundry machines using the top-selling scented liquid detergent and dryer sheet contains hazardous chemicals, including two that are classified as carcinogens.


August 22, 2011

UW joins national push to sequence human genome on the cheap

UW is one of eight institutions funded August 22 by the National Human Genome Research to revolutionize DNA sequencing. Jay Shendure, whose lab is noted for several breakthroughs in genomic technology, will head the UW project.


UW ranked 16th in world in recent study

A major international study recently ranked the University of Washington as the 16th best university in the world.


Less depression for working moms who expect that they ‘cant do it all

A UW sociologist reports less depression symptoms among working moms who expect that they will have to forego some aspects of their career or parenting to achieve a work-life balance.


August 17, 2011

Model shows polar ice caps can recover from warmer climate-induced melting

New UW research indicates that even if Earth warmed enough to melt all polar sea ice, the ice could recover if the planet cooled again.


August 16, 2011

UW researchers to host landmark hepatitis C conference in Seattle Sept. 8-12

Seattle, one of the world leaders in hepatitis C research and treatment, will be hosting a landmark conference on hepatitis C Sept. 8-12 involving 800 people, including the discoverer of the virus affecting more people than HIV.


Poverty rates the same as in mid-1960s, but far more kids are poor

Fewer seniors but more children are poor since the War on Poverty began more than 40 years ago. Also, despite persistent efforts in both the public and private sectors, poverty rates in the U.S. have remained stubbornly the same since the mid-1960s.


August 15, 2011

UW Medicine study finds caffeine guards against certain ultraviolet-induced skin cancers at molecular level

Caffeine guards against certain skin cancers at the molecular level, according to a study appearing online August 15, 2011, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


Younger siblings of children with autism have one in five chance of autism diagnosis

Parents of a child with an autism spectrum disorder face a 19 percent chance of having additional children diagnosed with the disorder, according to a new study co-authored by the UW Autism Center.


August 9, 2011

Study of abalone spawning could have implications for human reproduction

A UW biologist is among scientists who for the first time have been able to study interactions between individual sperm and eggs of red abalone in conditions similar to its ocean surroundings, work that could have implications for improving fertilization in humans.


August 8, 2011

An abnormally warm decade is part of the new ‘normal’

On July 1, the 30-year average temperatures used to determine “normal” changed, dropping the decade of the 1970s and adding the decade of 2001 through 2010. As a result, normal temperatures are now a bit warmer.


August 3, 2011

Univ. of Washington faculty experts available to discuss 9/11 issues

University of Washington professors in law, political science, communication and international studies are available to discuss issues related to the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 disaster.


University of Illinois selects UWs Phyllis Wise as Urbana-Champaign chancellor

The University of Illinois today announced the appointment of Phyllis M. Wise, provost and executive vice president at the University of Washington, as its next vice president of the university and chancellor at Urbana-Champaign.


Web search is ready for a shakeup, says UW computer scientist

On the 20-year anniversary of the World Wide Web, computer scientist Oren Etzioni has written a two-page commentary in the journal Nature that calls on the international academic and business communities to take a bolder approach when designing how people find information online.


August 2, 2011

UW Medicine highlighted in Healthcare Equality Index 2011

UW Medicine health system is proud to be included as a leader in the Healthcare Equality Index 2011, an annual report published by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.



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