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Research


March 18, 2013

UW students create, harvest fog in campus ‘hoop house’

Facutly members examines creen of green matting in haze of fog

University of Washington students have been testing low-cost materials capable of harvesting water from fog.


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.


March 11, 2013

Long-term relationships, access to data drive sustainability institutions’ success

College of the Environment logo and Mount Rainier

Successful sustainability initiatives need to be grounded in long-standing relationships among scientists, local communities and decision-makers, UW’s Lisa Graumlich told a session on sustainability science at AAAS.


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 8, 2013

Spring move-in slated for new UW Medicine South Lake Union research building

Occupying the seven-story facility will be labs for kidney research, vision sciences, immunology, rheumatology, and infectious disease investigations.


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 6, 2013

UW nautilus expedition may have spied new species

A University of Washington research team has captured color photographs of what could be a previously undocumented species of chambered nautilus, a cephalopod mollusk often classified as a “living fossil,” in the waters off American Samoa in the South Pacific. “This is certainly a new taxon, but we are not sure if it is a…


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 28, 2013

Changes in cloud distribution explain some weather patterns

A cumulonimbus cloud formation.

Regional cloud changes may be as important for climate change as the overall amount of cloud cover.


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 25, 2013

Eric Ames’ new book focuses on filmmaker Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog making Encounters at the End of the World.

Eric Ames, UW associate professor of Germanics, discusses his new book about filmmaker Werner Herzog.


February 21, 2013

Drugs to slow aging are a matter of when, not if

A 94-year-old woman reads.

Evidence suggests it will someday be possible to slow down aging and delay the onset of diseases common in the elderly.


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.


Documents that Changed the World: A papal resignation

Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square, Rome, in 2007.

A new episode in the podcast series about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and other famous resignations.


February 19, 2013

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 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

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 4, 2013

Ralina Joseph studies multiraciality in new book ‘Transcending Blackness’

"Transcending Blackness," by Ralina L. Joseph.

Ralina Joseph, UW associate professor of communications, discusses her book, “Transcending Blackness: From the New Millennium Mulatta to the Exceptional Multiracial.”


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 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.


News Digest: Explore global food law Feb. 8, Honor: Nina Isoherranen

Explore global food law at Feb. 8 UW conference || Nina Isoherranen honored for early-career achievement


Pioneer of human values in technology design to give University Faculty Lecture

Drumheller Fountain and Gerberding Hall on the UW campus.

Information School professor Batya Friedman will give the University Faculty Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7 in Room 130 of Kane Hall.


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

Greenland ice core shows Antarctica vulnerable to warming

A core section of Greenland ice.

A UW scientist’s work aided a Greenland ice study that could indicate where Earth is headed with climate change.


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 18, 2013

Documents that changed the world: The fraudulent ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’

The cover the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Joe Janes investigates the 1900-era anti-Semitic manifesto “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”


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.


A family’s lost story found, and the Sephardic Studies Initiative

Devin Naar with 1910-1920 wedding announcement

For Devin Naar, the Sephardic Studies Initiative is not just a valuable historical archive, it has also been a personal journey revealing an untold family story from World War II.


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.



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