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Research


October 18, 2012

2012 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Brian Kobilka will speak at UW Oct. 23

The Stanford University faculty member will talk about a group of cell membrane receptors that are crucial for emotion, behavior, memory, vision, motion and many other activities. About 40 percent of medications act via these receptors.


October 17, 2012

Scientists building crowdsourced encyclopedia to further Puget Sound recovery

Representatives of the Encyclopedia of Earth and the Encyclopedia of Life will be on the University of Washington campus Wednesday, Oct. 24, for the public launch of an encyclopedia unique to Puget Sound.


Living Voters Guide adds fact-checking by Seattle librarians for 2012 election

The Living Voters Guide, created by the UW and presented with Seattle’s CityClub, just won a regional award and has been updated for the 2012 election. This year the guide has expanded to include a California edition, and the Washington guide will include fact-checking of selected points by Seattle Public Library staff.


October 16, 2012

Marriage, education can help improve well-being of adults abused as children

child looks out of window

Researchers investigating the long-term consequences of child abuse have identified some protective factors that can improve the health of victims during their adulthood.


October 11, 2012

UW research ranks fourth among world universities

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

Rankings released by National Taiwan University places the UW fourth among the world’s universities and first among American public universities in scientific research.


Documents that Changed the World: The AIDS Memorial Quilt

Can a quilt be a document? Certainly, says Joe Janes in his podcast about the AIDS Memorial Quilt — the latest in his series called Documents that Changed the World.


Mug handles could help hot plasma give lower-cost, controllable fusion energy

New hardware lets engineers maintain the plasma used in fusion reactors in an energy-efficient, stable manner, making the system potentially attractive for use in fusion power plants.


October 8, 2012

‘Food deserts’ abound in King County for those without cars, UW study shows

Fresh fruits and vegetables.

King County has no substantial food deserts, provided one has a car. Take away the car, however, and food deserts — areas where low-income people have limited access to low-cost, nutritious food — appear to fill the county map. New research from the University of Washington, published in the American Journal of Public Health, shows…


October 4, 2012

Misconduct is a major factor in retracted research

A graph depicting retracted research papers.

New UW research shows that 2,047 research papers that have been retracted since 1977, misconduct—blatantly falsified data or data manipulation— was the cause in 41 percent of the cases.


October 3, 2012

‘Pivotal Tuesdays’: Historian Margaret O’Mara examines key presidential elections

Margaret O’Mara, associate professor of history, will explore crucial 20th century presidential races in four public lectures through October called “Pivotal Tuesdays: Four Presidential Elections That Made History.”


October 2, 2012

Sticky paper offers cheap, easy solution for paper-based diagnostics

Fluorescent image of a Husky

Global health researchers are working on cheap systems like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases. A new chemical technique makes medically interesting molecules stick to regular paper — a possible route to building such paper-based diagnostics from paper you could buy at an office-supply store.


October 1, 2012

Among voters lacking strong party preferences, Obama faces 20 percent handicap due to race bias

The presidential seal

Race biases are having a strong anti-Obama effect among the least politically partisan voters, according to a study by Anthony Greenwald, a UW psychology professor.


September 28, 2012

Duplex-sequencing method could lead to better cancer detection and treatment

Some of the members of the Loeb lab who worked on the duplex sequencing: Dr. Lawrence Loeb, Dr. Scott Kennedy, Dr. Michael Schmitt, and Dr. Jesse Salk.

Two young UW researchers sought to reduce the error rate in DNA sequencing to better pinpoint cells that are mutating.


Documents that Changed the World: The Internet Protocol, 1981

It’s a global communication platform to some and just “a series of tubes” to others, but there’s no question the Internet was revolutionary. But how exactly does it work, and how did it get started?


September 27, 2012

Dynamics of DNA packaging helps regulate heart formation

Findings suggest new ways to study controls of early human development, causes of birth defects, and regeneration of damaged tissue.


Browser plug-in helps people balance their political news reading habits

Screenshot of Balancer tool

As the U.S. presidential election approaches, many voters become voracious consumers of online political news. A new tool tracks whether all those articles really provide a balanced view of the debate – and, if not, suggests some sites that offer opinions from the other side of the political spectrum.


September 26, 2012

Singing whales and Noah’s flood: Summer stories you may have missed

twin planets what you missed over the summer

From reports on new planets to singing whales, American megachurches and ethical computer hacking, UW News and Information published some interesting stories during the summer.


Treasure trove of restricted social science data now available to Pacific Northwest researchers

The newly-opened Northwest Census Research Data Center in the University District will provide qualified researchers with access to restricted data.


September 23, 2012

Large bacterial population colonized land 2.75 billion years ago

New University of Washington research suggests that early microbes might have been widespread on land, producing oxygen before the atmosphere was oxygen-rich.


September 20, 2012

Low income linked to poorer health in both U.S. and England, despite different health systems

Although the English are generally healthier than Americans, both countries grapple with large health inequalities. A new study suggests that in both countries, health and wealth are tightly linked. The study, published online Sept. 20 in the American Journal of Public Health, links income level with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma and other health conditions….


The original Twitter? Tiny electronic tags monitor birds’ social networks

New Caledonian crow with UW tag

A tiny digital tag developed at the UW can for the first time see when birds meet in the wild, offering a window into animal social networks. A study in Current Biology used the tags to track the social habits of New Caledonian crows, and found a surprising amount of interaction among the tool-using birds.


September 18, 2012

Center for Chemical Innovation receives NSF reauthorization of $20 million

chemistry buildings at UW

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $20 million grant over five years in reauthorizing the Center for Enabling New Technologies Through Catalysis based at the University of Washington.


Local scientists chosen for NIH High Risk High Rewards program

The scientists were selected for their inventive ideas to transform their field of research and improve the health of the public.


App lets you monitor lung health using only a smartphone

Feeling wheezy? You could call the doctor. Or soon you could use your smartphone to diagnose your lung health, with a new app that uses the frequencies in the breath to determine how much and how fast you can exhale.


September 17, 2012

Shrinking snow depth on Arctic sea ice threatens ringed seal habitat

a ringed seal looks out from its snow cave

Scientists found that the habitat required for ringed seals — animals under consideration for the threatened species list — to rear their young will drastically shrink this century.


September 14, 2012

Researchers come a step closer to finding HIV vaccine

Photo of two vials of RV 144 vaccine tested against HIV

Finding that the failed vaccine RV144 did offer some protection against certain HIV viruses suggests a more potent vaccine might be possible.


September 13, 2012

Documents that Changed the World podcasts: Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’

For the latest installment of  his Documents that Changed the World podcast series, Joe Janes takes a look at a small book that had a huge impact. “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung,” also known as Mao’s “Little Red Book,” was published in 1965 and became one of the most widely printed and distributed books in…


September 12, 2012

UW celebrates opening of new Molecular Engineering & Sciences Building

Molecular Engineering & Sciences Building

The UW’s new Molecular Engineering and Sciences Building opens this fall with a series of kick-off events focused on this emerging area of research. The associated Institute will focus on research applications in medicine and clean energy.


September 10, 2012

Crows react to threats in human-like way

Crows react to one of two masks

Crows and humans share the ability to recognize faces and associate them with negative and positive feelings. The way the brain activates during that process is something the two species also appear to share.


September 6, 2012

Hospitals that make longer attempts at resuscitation have higher survival rates

Findings challenge the assumption that, if a pulse is not restored soon, continuing resuscitation efforts is futile.


September 5, 2012

Dinosaur die out might have been second of two closely timed extinctions

A giant ammonite fossil in Antarctica

New UW research indicates that shortly before an asteroid impact spelled doom for the dinosaurs, a separate extinction triggered by volcanic eruptions killed life on the ocean floor.


Encyclopedia of DNA elements compiled; UW a key force in Project ENCODE

An international team of researchers has made headway toward a comprehensive listing of all the working parts of the human genome. More than 30 scientific papers appear today, include major work by UW researchers. The London Museum of Science celebrates with ceiling banners and aerial dancers.


Millions of DNA switches that power human genome’s operating system are discovered

Scientists created comprehensive maps of elusive gene-controlling DNA and a dictionary of the human genome’s programming language


Researchers unlock disease information hidden in genome’s control circuitry

Most genetic changes linked to more than 400 common diseases affect regions of DNA that dictate when genes are switched on or off. Many of these changes affect circuits active during early human development.


September 4, 2012

Gardener’s delight offers glimpse into the evolution of flowering plants

Double flowers – though beautiful – are mutants. UW biologists have found the class of genes responsible in a plant lineage more ancient than the one previously studied, offering a glimpse even further back into the evolutionary development of flowers.


August 29, 2012

From UW to Mars, sundial has an important role

With the recent landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, for the third time a timepiece assembled at the University of Washington has found a home on the Red Planet.


August 28, 2012

Documents that Changed the World podcasts: John Snow’s cholera map, 1854

John Snow's cholera map, 1854.

One well meant life, the other death by cholera. this Documents that Changed the World podcast is about a map used to unlock the mystery of plague contagion.


August 22, 2012

Low-dose sedative alleviates autistic-like behavior in mice with Dravet syndrome mutation

artists concept of brain cell-to-cell signaling

UW researchers have found that a low dose of the sedative clonazepam alleviated autistic-like behavior in mice with a mutation that causes Dravet syndrome in humans.


August 20, 2012

Model shows dramatic global decline in ratio of workers to retired people

A new statistical model predicts that by 2100 the number of people older than 85 worldwide will increase more than previously estimated.


Molecular and protein markers predict liver transplant failure in hepatitis C patients

Surgeons performing a liver transplant at UW Medical Center

Researchers have discovered molecular and protein signatures that predict rapid onset of liver damage in hepatitis C patients following a liver transplant. The markers appeared soon after transplant and well before clinical evidence of liver damage. Such early detection of susceptibility to hepatitis C virus-induced liver injury could lead to more personalized monitoring and treatment…



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