Research
July 19, 2011
Race matters when recruiting, retaining undergraduate women engineers
A new study of female engineering students perceived challenges finds significant differences between black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian-American and white women. The findings could help institutions better attract and retain particular underrepresented student populations.
Gene therapy delivered once to blood vessel wall protects against atherosclerosis in rabbit studies
A one-dose method for delivering gene therapy into an arterial wall in rabbits effectively protects the artery from developing atherosclerosis despite ongoing high blood cholesterol. In the future, researchers hope to test whether this gene-delivery method works in heart bypass grafts.
July 14, 2011
UW will lead $18.5 million effort to create mind-machine interface
The National Science Foundation today announced an $18.5 million grant to establish an Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering based at the UW. The interdisciplinary center will combine neuroscience and robotics to develop new rehabilitation technologies.
July 13, 2011
Pivotal UW study in Africa finds HIV medications prevent HIV infection
Work in Africa conducted by the UW’s Clinical Research Center is bringing new hope that taking a daily AIDS drug might keep an uninfected person from getting the AIDS virus.
Office of Research introduces new ‘Required Training website
University researchers like those at the UW are often required to attend trainings, but they may not always be aware of it. Thats why the Required Training site was constructed in consultation with UW researchers and training providers to identify those courses directly applicable to the conduct of research.
Wood products part of winning carbon-emissions equation, researchers say
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow, so forests have long been proposed as a way to offset climate change. But rather than just letting the forest sit there for a hundred or more years, the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere could be quadrupled in 100 years by harvesting regularly and using the wood in place of fossil-fuel intensive steel and concrete.
Atomic structure discovered for a sodium channel that generates electrical signals in living cells
Sodium channels are pores in the membranes of excitable cells – such as brain nerve cells or beating heart cells – that emit electrical signals. Researchers have obtained a high-resolution crystal structure showing all the atoms of this complex protein molecule and how they relate in three-dimensions.
July 12, 2011
Wireless power could cut cord for patients with implanted heart pumps
A new system to send electricity over short distances has been shown to reliably power a mechanical heart pump. The system could free patients from being tethered to a battery or external power source, lowering their chance of infection and improving their quality of life.
July 7, 2011
Hubble makes one millionth science observation
Earlier this week, NASAs Hubble Space Telescope logged its one millionth science observation during a search for water in an exoplanets atmosphere 1,000 light years away, according to a UW faculty member conducts theoretical interpretation of data from the Hubble.
July 5, 2011
Rose-colored beer goggles: Social benefits of heavy drinking outweigh harms
A study by University of Washington psychologists shows some people continue to drink heavily because of perceived positive effects, suggesting a new direction for programs targeting binge drinking.
June 29, 2011
Genetic factor linked to long-term success of leg bypass surgery
Outcomes of bypass surgery to repair blocked arteries in the legs tend to be better in the roughly one-in-five people who have inherited a specific genetic variation from both parents, according to a study presented at the Vascular Annual Meeting in Chicago on June 18.
High-performing charter schools can help close achievement gap, report finds
Evidence shows that urban school districts can help close the achievement gap by drawing upon the experiences of high-performing charter schools, according to a new white paper from the UWs Center on Reinventing Public Education.
June 27, 2011
Seattle survey: Block watches and individual cop recognition promote good opinions of police
A new survey shows that Seattle residents who know or recognize a police officer in their neighborhood and have participated in a block watch or similar program are more likely to regard police positively. And its especially true about people of color.
Two talks with teens leads to less marijuana use for at least a year
Brief, voluntary conversations with a health educator led to up to a 20 percent decrease in marijuana use for teenagers who frequently used the drug.
June 22, 2011
Historians team up for UW Press book ‘Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West
Bruce Hevly and John Findlay teamed up on this history of the Central Washington facility built by the federal government during World War II to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Caribou in Albertas oil sands stressed by human activity, not wolves
New research suggests that, in the Athabasca Oil Sands in northern Alberta, human activity related to oil production and the timber industry could be more important than wolves in the decline of the caribou population.
June 21, 2011
Diabetic kidney disease on the rise in America, despite improved diabetes care
Better glucose, lipid and blood pressure control in the diabetic population over the past 20 years has not reduced the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease in the United States.
New 3-D computer models improve building design and construction
A recent report shows that building information modeling is challenging and changing the construction industry, including the ways mechanical contractors organize teams and technology.
Ocean measurements by UW will be part of just-launched satellite mission
With the launch earlier this month of NASAs satellite Aquarius, more than half a dozen University of Washington researchers are involved in projects to calibrate data from space with actual measurements of ocean salinity.
June 20, 2011
Bacteria develop restraint for survival in a rock-paper-scissors community
New research shows that in some structured communities, organisms increase their chances of survival if they evolve some level of restraint that allows competitors to survive as well, a sort of “survival of the weakest.”
June 19, 2011
Atmospheric carbon dioxide buildup unlikely to spark abrupt climate change
New research lends support to recent studies that suggest abrupt climate change is the result of alterations in ocean circulation uniquely associated with ice ages, not from atmospheric carbon dioxide.
June 17, 2011
UW part of physics collaboration that finds new type of neutrino conversion
An international physics collaboration that includes the University of Washington has observed a previously unseen type of neutrino “oscillation,” or transformation, that could help explain the lack of antimatter in the universe.
June 16, 2011
Boost for plant scientists, including UW prof, comes at critical time
Keiko Torii, professor of biology, is among 15 of the “nations most innovative plant scientists” selected to share $75 million for fundamental plant science research.
June 15, 2011
Life expectancy in most U.S. counties falls behind worlds healthiest nations
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s most current county-level analysis of life expectancy in America finds large disparities nationwide. Women fare worse than men, and people in Appalachia, the Deep South, and Northern Texas live the shortest lives.
June 13, 2011
Perkins Coie awards grant for nanoengineering patch to repair heart attack damage
The law firm Perkins Coie has presented its $20,000 “Award for Discovery” to Deok-Ho Kim, UW assistant professor of bioengineering and a regenerative medicine researcher. Kim works on pre-conditioning stem cells to try to create longer-surviving patches for heart muscle repair.
June 9, 2011
Scientists find recent snowpack declines in the West nearly unprecedented
The snowpack decline of the last 50 years in the Rocky Mountains is highly unusual in context of the past 800 years, according to findings published June 10 in “Science.”
Physicists hit on mathematical description of superfluid dynamics
A century after the discovery of superfluids, scientists using a powerful supercomputer have devised a theoretical framework that explains the real-time behavior of superfluids.
June 7, 2011
Corpse flower blooms overnight Wednesday
An Amorphophallus titanum, also known as a corpse flower in its native Sumatra and elsewhere because of its foul odor, has bloomed at the University of Washington botany greenhouse. Visit weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. while the bloom lasts.
June 2, 2011
Revamped bio course improves performance – especially among educationally disadvantaged students – in spite of budget cuts
Students overall performed better – and educationally disadvantaged students generally made even greater strides than everyone else – in an introductory biology course at the University of Washington where recent budget woes doubled class sizes for the course, cut lab times and reduced the number of graduate teaching assistants.
June 1, 2011
New journal looks at an old problem: aging
Dr. Warren Ladiges, professor of comparative medicine, has become the chief editor of a new scientific journal, “Pathobiology of Aging & Age-related Diseases.” The journal will publish research on aging in mammalian models.
May 31, 2011
Code green: Energy-efficient programming to curb computers power use
A new system called EnerJ helps computer programmers go green, allowing them to cut a program’s energy consumption by as much as 50 percent.
May 22, 2011
Scientists find odd twist in slow ‘earthquakes:’ tremor running backwards
UW scientists find that in an unfelt, weeks-long seismic phenomenon called episodic tremor and slip, the tremor can suddenly reverse direction and travel back through areas of the fault that it had ruptured in preceding days.
May 18, 2011
China fossil shows bird, crocodile family trees split earlier than thought
A fossil of a creature that died about 247 million years ago, originally thought to be a distant relative of both birds and crocodiles, actually came from the crocodile family tree after it had already split from the bird family tree, a UW researcher has found.
May 17, 2011
Real nature beats technological stand-ins for human well-being
In a new book, a University of Washington psychologist argues that to flourish, humans need exposure to the natural world.
May 16, 2011
Sporadic mutations identified in children with autism spectrum disorders
UW genome scientists have identified several sporadic mutations in children with autism spectrum disorder. By analyzing the protein-coding portions of the genome in 20 individuals with the disorder and in their parents, the researchers found 21 newly occurring mutations.
Digital imaging software creates a ‘Google Earth view of the bladder
A more automated approach to bladder exams could be cheaper, more comfortable and more convenient. The system would use the UWs ultrathin laser endoscope, which is like a thin piece of cooked spaghetti, in combination with software that automatically creates a 3-D panorama of the bladder interior.
May 13, 2011
Scientists design new anti-flu virus proteins using computational methods
Scientists have demonstrated the use of computational methods to design new antiviral proteins not found in nature, but capable of targeting specific surfaces of flu virus molecules. The researchers created a protein that disabled the part of the 1918 pandemic flu virus involved in invading respiratory tract cells.
May 11, 2011
Risking one's neck for better grog: Mutinies reveal tipping points for collective unrest
UW sociologists are studying naval records of mutinies as a way to see how modern-day ill-treatment toward subordinates can lead to violence.
New United Nations world population projections based on UW research
The world population could reach 10.1 billion people by the year 2100, according to a statistical model for future fertility developed by UW statisticians.
May 10, 2011
Razing Seattles viaduct doesnt guarantee nightmare commutes, model says
University of Washington statisticians used a computer model to study the effect of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct on commuter travel times. They found that relying on surface streets would likely have less impact on travel times than previously reported, and that effects on commute times are not well known.
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