Science
January 10, 2014
Trial to test using ultrasound to move kidney stones
A clinical trial in Seattle is testing a technique developed at the UW that uses low-power ultrasound to reposition kidney stones.
January 9, 2014
Scientists to observe seismic energy from Seahawks’ ’12th man’ quakes
University of Washington seismologists this week installed two strong-motion seismometers at CenturyLink Field in Seattle to augment an existing station in recording shaking from “earthquakes” expected on Saturday during the NFC divisional game between the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is preparing a special website at www.pnsn.org/seahawks for the…
Big is not bad: Scientists call for preservation of large carnivores
Despite their scary reputation, carnivores deserve credit for all kinds of ecological services when they eat grazing animals that gobble down young trees and other vegetation that could be holding carbon and protecting streams.
January 8, 2014
Astronomers measure far-off galaxies to 1 percent precision
University of Washington astronomers and colleagues have measured the distance to galaxies six billion light-years away — about halfway back to the Big Bang — to an accuracy of just 1 percent.
Despite declines in smoking rates, number of smokers and cigarettes rises
Population growth since 1980 drives increases in the number of smokers in countries including China and Russia, while Canada, Mexico, and the United States see strong declines
January 7, 2014
On-demand vaccines possible with engineered nanoparticles
University of Washington engineers hope a new type of vaccine they have shown to work in mice will one day make it cheaper and easy to manufacture on-demand vaccines for humans. Immunizations could be administered within minutes where and when a disease is breaking out.
January 6, 2014
‘Future of Ice’ initiative marks new era for UW polar research
The UW’s new “Future of Ice” initiative includes several new research hires, a new minor in Arctic studies and a free winter lecture series.
Book explains astrobiology for a general audience
David Catling’s new book, part of an Oxford University Press series, aims to explain astrobiology to a general audience.
January 2, 2014
El Niño tied to melting of Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier
A new study in Science, co-authored by the British Antarctic Survey and UW authors, shows that melting of the floating Pine Island ice shelf is tied to global atmospheric patterns associated with El Niño.
December 31, 2013
Genetically identical bacteria can behave in radically different ways
When a bacterial cell divides into two daughter cells there can be an uneven distribution of cellular organelles. The resulting cells can behave differently from each other, giving them an evolutionary advantage.
December 26, 2013
Psychiatry’s Jeremy J. Clark receives Presidential Early Career Award
Clark was recognized for his work in the neurobiology of motivated behavior. His award will support investigations of how alcohol exposure during the teen years might lead to chronic alcoholism in adults.
December 19, 2013
Sinuous skeletons, glowing blue and crimson, leap from lab to art world
Fish “stripped” to their skeletons and stained for UW research are now part of an art exhibit at the Seattle Aquarium.
TB bacteria mask their identity to intrude into deeper regions of lungs
Cell surface lipids hide molecular patterns that infection-killing cells might recognize as dangerous.
December 18, 2013
Single bacterial super-clone behind world epidemic of drug-resistant E. coli
Virulent, drug-resistant forms of E. coli that recently have spread around the world emerged from a single strain of the bacteria, not many different strains, as has been widely supposed.
December 17, 2013
Hack the planet? Geoengineering research, ethics, governance explored
A special interdisciplinary issue of the journal Climatic Change includes the most detailed description yet of the proposed Oxford Principles to govern geoengineering research, and surveys the technical hurdles, ethics and regulatory issues related to deliberately manipulating the planet’s climate.
December 12, 2013
New state-funded Clean Energy Institute will focus on solar, battery technologies
A new University of Washington institute to develop efficient, cost-effective solar power and better energy storage systems launched Dec. 12 with an event attended by UW President Michael K. Young, Gov. Jay Inslee and researchers, industry experts and policy leaders in renewable energy.
Scientists discover double meaning in genetic code
Finding a second code hiding in the genome casts new light on how changes to DNA impact health and disease.
December 10, 2013
What climate change means for federally protected marine species
As the Endangered Species Act nears its 40th birthday at the end of December, conservation biologists are coming to terms with a danger not foreseen in the 1970s: global climate change.
December 9, 2013
Astronomers solve temperature mystery of planetary atmospheres
An atmospheric peculiarity the Earth shares with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune is likely common to billions of planets, University of Washington astronomers have found, and knowing that may help in the search for potentially habitable worlds.
December 3, 2013
Signalers vs. strong silent types: Sparrows exude personalities during fights
Like humans, some song sparrows are more effusive than others, at least when it comes to defending their territories. New UW findings show that consistent individual differences exist not only for how aggressive individual song sparrows are but also for how much they use their signals to communicate their aggressive intentions.
‘Spooky action’ builds a wormhole between ‘entangled’ particles
New research indicates that a phenomenon called “quantum entanglement” could be intrinsically linked with the creation of wormholes.
November 26, 2013
AAAS names five UW researchers as fellows
Five University of Washington researchers are among new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
November 25, 2013
Study: Greenhouse gas might have warmed early Mars enough to allow liquid water
The mystery of how the surface of Mars, long dead and dry, could have flowed with water billions of years ago may have been solved by research that included a University of Washington astronomer.
November 24, 2013
How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to generate electrical signals
Filtered from a vast sodium sea, more than 1 million calcium ions per second gush through our cells’ pores to generate charges
November 21, 2013
Studies to probe confluence of human, animal and environmental health in Africa
Grand Challenges Exploration Grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will allow two UW-led teams to study the health determinants people share with other living creatures.
November 18, 2013
Post-shutdown, UW Arctic research flights resume
UW researchers this month are on missions to fly above the Arctic Ocean to measure glacier melt, polar storms and Arctic sea ice.
November 14, 2013
FDA-approved immune-modulating drug unexpectedly benefits mice with fatal mitochondrial defect
Rapamycin, an anti-rejection drug for organ transplant patients, has now been shown to increases survival in and delayed symptoms of Leigh’s syndrome. The drug appears to cause a metabolic switch that bypasses the mitochondrial deficiency.
November 13, 2013
Snow melts faster under trees than in open areas in mild climates
University of Washington researchers have found that tree cover actually causes snow to melt more quickly in warm, Mediterranean-type climates. Alternatively, open, clear gaps in the forests tend to keep snow on the ground longer into the spring and summer. Their findings were published this fall in Water Resources Research.
November 8, 2013
Forest fires and fireside chats: UW students learn about management challenges
An intensive two week field course helped 20 University of Washington students learn firsthand about the challenges of managing dry, fire-prone forests of the Pacific Northwest.
November 7, 2013
Cost-effective method accurately orders DNA sequencing along entire chromosomes
The method may help overcome a major obstacle that has delayed progress in designing rapid, low-cost — but still accurate — ways to assemble genomes from scratch. It also may validate certain types of chromosomal abnormalities in cancer.
November 6, 2013
Floods didn’t provide nitrogen ‘fix’ for earliest crops in frigid north
Floods didn’t make floodplains fertile during the dawn of human agriculture in the Earth’s far north. Turns out early human inhabitants can mainly thank cyanobacteria. It raises the question of whether modern farmers might reduce fertilizer use by taking advantage of cyanobacteria that occur, not just in the floodplains studied, but in soils around the world.
News Digest: TEDx talk on brainy crows, Town Hall ‘rocks’ tonight
Brainy crows subject of TEDx talk Saturday || Town Hall talk “Stories from My Pet Rocks” tonight
Brain may play key role in blood sugar metabolism and diabetes development
Future diabetes treatment approaches might target regulatory systems in both the brain and the pancreas to achieve better blood glucose control, or even put the disease into remission.
A shot in the dark: Detector at UW on the hunt for dark matter
Physicists are using a detector at the UW to search for a particle called an axion, which would be the first physical evidence of the universe’s dark matter.
November 4, 2013
More wildfires, earlier snowmelt, coastal threats top Northwest climate risks
A new comprehensive report co-authored by the UW’s Climate Impacts Group looks at what climate change will mean for Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
UW Bothell prof, students present crowd-funded study of coal train emissions
Atmospheric scientist Dan Jaffe tonight will present the first results of a crowd-funded study of train emissions, conducted with four undergraduates from the Seattle and Bothell campuses and funded by public donations.
October 30, 2013
A first step in learning by imitation, baby brains respond to another’s actions
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery for adults, but for babies it’s their foremost tool for learning. Now researchers from the University of Washington and Temple University have found the first evidence revealing a key aspect of the brain processing that occurs in babies to allow this learning by observation.
Institute of Medicine issues report today on youth concussions
UW injury expert Dr. Fred Rivara was vice chair of the committee. Its report recommends actions to reduce the occurrence and consequences of youth concussions in sports and in the military, and stresses the need to better understand their nature and treatment.
October 29, 2013
Crashing rockets could lead to novel sample-return technology
This year, in an annual trek to the Nevada desert, UW students deliberately launched rockets from altitude directly into a dry lakebed. These were early tests of a concept that eventually could be used to collect and return samples from an erupting volcano, a melting nuclear reactor or even an asteroid in space.
Redwood trees reveal history of West Coast rain, fog, ocean conditions
Scientists found a way to use coastal redwood trees as a window into historic climate, using oxygen and carbon atoms in the wood to detect fog and rainfall in previous seasons.
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