Joe Janes goes back to the fifteenth century and the work of Johannes Gutenberg for this installment in his series of podcasts, Documents that Changed the World.
Research
In Bangladesh as elsewhere, women are empowered by working outside the home. But new research from the University of Washington shows such work can also increase the threat of domestic violence for some Bangladeshi wives. The study brings to light how the South Asian nation is seeing a change in relations within the household, with both positive and negative consequences for women. The findings come from a research paper by Rachel Heath, UW assistant professor of economics, released by the…
UW researchers find the flash flood was set off by a string of unusual weather events similar to those that caused catastrophic U.S. floods in the 1970s.
The approach could lead to cell therapy treatments for some of the blood-forming disorders that accompany the common genetic condition.
George Lovell, UW associate professor of political science, is the author of “This Is Not Civil Rights: Discovering Rights Talk in 1939 America,” published in October by University of Chicago Press. He answered a few questions about his book for UW Today. What is the basic concept behind “This is Not Civil Rights”? The book examines more than 1,000 citizen complaint letters regarding rights from the late years of the Great Depression along with replies written by federal government officials….
The latest Document that Changed the World: The 18 ½-minute gap in President Richard Nixon’s White House tapes.
An autism intervention program that emphasizes social interactions improves cognitive skills and brain responses to faces, the first demonstration that an intensive behavioral intervention can change brain function in toddlers with autism.
Jack Turner, UW assistant professor of political science, is the author of “Awakening to Race: Individualism and Social Consciousness in America,” published this month by University of Chicago Press. He answered a few questions about his book for UW Today. What’s the central concept behind “Awakening to Race”? The book addresses the challenge of racial justice by asking, “What does it mean to be a self-aware human being? What does it mean to be awake to reality?” In part, it…
The University of Washington marked the start of the data-gathering phase of the UW Smart Grid Project with an event featuring Washington’s two US Senators.
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.
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.
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.
Researchers investigating the long-term consequences of child abuse have identified some protective factors that can improve the health of victims during their adulthood.
Rankings released by National Taiwan University places the UW fourth among the world’s universities and first among American public universities in scientific research.
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.
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.
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 only about one-third of the vulnerable populations studied could walk to a nearby supermarket, and as few as 3 percent could walk to a low-cost…
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Two young UW researchers sought to reduce the error rate in DNA sequencing to better pinpoint cells that are mutating.
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?
Findings suggest new ways to study controls of early human development, causes of birth defects, and regeneration of damaged tissue.
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.
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.
The newly-opened Northwest Census Research Data Center in the University District will provide qualified researchers with access to restricted data.
New University of Washington research suggests that early microbes might have been widespread on land, producing oxygen before the atmosphere was oxygen-rich.
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 results surprised author Melissa Martinson, an assistant professor at the UW’s School of Social Work, who expected income to have less of an effect…
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.
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.
The scientists were selected for their inventive ideas to transform their field of research and improve the health of the public.
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.
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.
Finding that the failed vaccine RV144 did offer some protection against certain HIV viruses suggests a more potent vaccine might be possible.
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 history. Publication ceased in 1979 following Mao’s fall from favor and death but started again sporadically in 1993. Documents that Changed the World A podcast…
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.
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.
Findings challenge the assumption that, if a pulse is not restored soon, continuing resuscitation efforts is futile.
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.