In his book “The Sovereign Trickster,” University of Washington history professor Vicente L. Rafael examines the authoritarian rule of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and tries to make sense of a global shift to the political right.


In his book “The Sovereign Trickster,” University of Washington history professor Vicente L. Rafael examines the authoritarian rule of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and tries to make sense of a global shift to the political right.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. School of Art + Art History + Design Graduation Exhibitions Ongoing| Jacob Lawrence Art Gallery Join the School of Art + Art History + Design for a series of graduation exhibitions for students receiving Bachelor of Arts degrees in Art. Graduation Exhibition 1: April 6 – 16 Graduation Exhibition 2:…

New research from the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Network, which includes the University of Washington, finds that the amygdala, an area of the brain critical for interpreting emotions, grows too rapidly in infants who go on to develop autism.

LaTaSha Levy, assistant professor of American ethnic studies at the University of Washington, and Elizabeth Porter, interim dean of the UW School of Law, offer perspectives on the nomination and confirmation process of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In France, a political controversy arose when a gender-neutral pronoun was added to a respected dictionary. This controversy made a new volume co-edited by the UW’s Louisa Mackenzie especially relevant. It describes how nonbinary French speakers are changing their language to reflect their identity.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Donna Huanca: MAGMA SLIT Opens April 2 | Henry Art Gallery Bolivian-American artist Donna Huanca creates work that destabilizes the male gaze while exploring femme and indigenous, specifically Andean, narratives and mark-making. Huanca’s installations encompass painting, sculpture, and live performance, and are characteristically created for, and integrated with, the…

Inspired by how dandelions use the wind to distribute their seeds, a University of Washington team has developed a tiny sensor-carrying device that can be blown by the wind as it tumbles toward the ground.

In a new perspective paper, University of Washington professors Emily M. Bender and Chirag Shah respond to proposals that reimagine web search as an application for large language model-driven conversation agents.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Re/frame: Orange March 17, 12:00 PM | Online Orange can symbolize power, danger, excitement, and enlightenment. In different contexts, orange evokes images ranging from a bountiful fall harvest to a fiery explosion of energy. How does color affect the way we feel? How many different applications can one…

A new study by the University of Washington and Indiana University finds that the growing use of anti-racist terms shows how Black Lives Matter has shifted the conversation around racism, raising awareness of issues and laying the foundation for social change.

Laada Bilaniuk is a professor of anthropology at the whose expertise is Ukrainian culture and society. The daughter of Ukrainian Americans, she shares insights on the Ukrainian people who are resisting, how the conflict relates to the use of language and the perspective of the local Ukrainian community.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band March 8, 7:30 PM | Meany Hall The UW Wind Ensemble (Timothy Salzman, director) performs music by Joseph Schwantner, Joaquín Rodrigo, and William Bolcom. The Symphonic Band (Shaun Day, director) performs music by Joan Tower, Jan Van der Roos, and Frank Ticheli. $10…

Washington counties that rely more on revenue from court-imposed fines and fees also sentence more women to incarceration, a study by the University of Washington finds.

Alexes Harris, professor of sociology at the University of Washington, discusses her team’s five-year, eight-state study of legal financial obligations, and their findings that court-imposed fines and fees perpetuate inequality.

Scientists at the University of Washington and Emory University report that an antibiotic sprayed on orchard crops to combat bacterial diseases slows the cognition of bumblebees and reduces their foraging efficiency. The study, published Feb. 9 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, focused on streptomycin, an antibiotic used increasingly in U.S. agriculture during the past decade.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Don’t Miss Before it Closes! Lauren Williams: Wake Work* Through March 5 | The Jacob Lawrence Gallery What happens in the wake of state violence, particularly against Black people in the United States? Absence and erasure challenge the imagination in Lauren Williams: Wake Work*, an exhibition created as part of…

An international research team, including scientists from the University of Washington, has established a new upper limit on the mass of the neutrino, the lightest known subatomic particle. In a paper published Feb. 14 in Nature Physics, the collaboration — known as the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment or KATRIN — reports that the neutrino’s mass is below 0.8 electron volts, or 0.8 eV/c2. Honing in on the elusive value of the neutrino’s mass will solve a major outstanding mystery in particle physics and equip scientists with a more complete view of the fundamental forces and particles that shape ourselves, our planet and the cosmos.

Two faculty members at the University of Washington have been awarded early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellows, announced Feb. 15, are Brianna Abrahms, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, and Yulia Tsvetkov, an assistant professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Voice Division Recital February 22, 4:00 PM | Brechemin Auditorium Students of Thomas Harper and Carrie Shaw perform works from the vocal repertoire. Free | More info Borden Lecture in Theoretical Chemistry: Dr. Martin Head-Gordon February 23, 4:00 PM | Johnson 102 and Online via Zoom For the Borden…

A team led by scientists at the University of Washington and special agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has used genetic testing of ivory shipments seized by law enforcement to uncover the international criminal networks behind ivory trafficking out of Africa. The genetic connections across shipments that they’ve uncovered exposes an even higher degree of organization among ivory smuggling networks than previously known. The paper, published Feb. 14 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, incorporates results from DNA testing of more than 4,000 African elephant tusks from 49 different ivory seizures made in 12 African nations over a 17-year period.

Samson Jenehke, a University of Washington professor in both the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Anna Karlin, a UW professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, announced Feb. 9 by the academy.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Charles Yu at Benaroya Hall February 15, 7:30 PM | Benaroya Hall & Online Shawn Wong, Professor of English, will moderate the Q&A at the upcoming lecture with celebrated author Charles Yu (HBO’s “Westworld;” “How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe”). Interior Chinatown is a deeply…

The International Astronomical Union has launched the Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference to coordinate collaborative multidisciplinary international efforts with institutions and individuals — including researchers at the University of Washington’s DiRAC Institute — to help mitigate the negative impacts of satellite constellations on ground-based optical and radio astronomy observations as well as humanity’s enjoyment of the night sky.

Across the globe, endangered species are at risk for illegal poaching. African elephants are sought out for their ivory, rhinoceros for their singular horns, and armadillo-like pangolins for their protective, brittle scales. Add to that list valuable and environmentally sensitive trees illegally harvested throughout the world where entire ecosystems are being deforested and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that is devastating oceans. These illicit markets, estimated at $1 trillion annually, cause enormous environmental impacts and have the potential to unleash new, deadly pathogens.

New research led by scientists at the University of Washington indicates that a common mosquito species — after detecting a telltale gas that we exhale — flies toward specific colors, including red, orange, black and cyan. The mosquitoes ignore other colors, such as green, purple, blue and white. The researchers believe these findings help explain how mosquitoes find hosts, since human skin, regardless of overall pigmentation, emits a strong red-orange “signal” to their eyes.

New research from the University of Washington shows that people in states with higher medical debt and lower rates of insurance coverage are more likely to try to raise money but less likely to succeed.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Inequity at Boiling Point February 9, 4:00 PM | Online via Zoom Join us in conversation with Somini Sengupta, an award-winning New York Times foreign correspondent, on what she’s learned as a journalist covering the human toll of global warming. Sponsored by The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies in…

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. UW Symphony February 4, 7:30 PM | Meany Hall David Alexander Rahbee leads the University Symphony in a program of music by Klengel, Mahler, Pärt, and Schubert. With graduate student conductors Daren Weissfisch and Rylan Virnig. $10 | Buy tickets & more info 2022 History Lecture Series: Capitalism…

Four current faculty members and the incoming executive director of the UW’s Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture have been named AAAS Fellows, according to a Jan. 26 announcement by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are among 564 new fellows from around the world elected in 2021, who are recognized for “their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements” in science and engineering.

University of Washington researchers report that yeast cells can actively regulate a process called phase separation in one of their membranes. During phase separation, the membrane remains intact but partitions into multiple, distinct zones or domains that segregate lipids and proteins. The new findings show for the first time that, in response to environmental conditions, yeast cells precisely regulate the temperature at which their membrane undergoes phase separation.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Small Island Big Song: Our Island January 29, 7:30 PM | The Great Hall and online In partnership with the UW Taiwan Studies Arts & Culture Program, Town Hall Seattle is thrilled and honored to serve as the first stop on Small Island Big Song’s 2022 U.S. and European…

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Re/frame: Illumination January 20, 12:00 – 1:00 PM | Online Light allows us to perceive our surroundings, it shows us the path ahead, and it focuses our attention. It evokes emotions and sensations, bringing us comfort, highlighting tension, or provoking playfulness, to name a few. Join the Henry Art…

Like humans, wild animals often return to the same places to eat, walk on the same paths to travel and use the same places to raise their young. A team led by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Wyoming has reviewed the scientific literature and found that, while “consistent” behavior may be beneficial when environmental conditions don’t change very fast, those benefits may not be realized in the ever-changing world dominated by humans.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Virtual Artist Panel: The Work of Collaboration with Barbara Earl Thomas, Derrick Adams, Janelle Iglesias, and Lisa Iglesias January 13, 6:00 PM | Online This virtual panel is hosted by the National Nordic Museum, in partnership with the Henry Art Gallery. On the occasions of M(other) Tongues: Bodhild and…

In 2019, University of Washington researchers witnessed the consequences of an extreme heat event in Argentina at one of the world’s largest breeding colonies for Magellanic penguins. On Jan. 19, temperatures at the site in Punta Tombo, on Argentina’s southern coast, spiked in the shade to 44 C, or 111.2 F. As the team reports in a paper published Jan. 4 in the journal Ornithological Applications, the extreme heat wave killed at least 354 penguins, based on a search for bodies by UW researchers in the days following the record high temperature. Nearly three-quarters of the penguins that died — 264 — were adults, many of which likely died of dehydration, based on postmortem analyses.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Restoring Public Trust in Higher Education January 6, 6-7:30 PM | Online Recent studies show a trend of declining trust in higher education among Americans of both major political parties – but is this trend warranted? The 8th annual UW Impact Legislative Preview brings leaders from the worlds…

New research led by the University of Washington shows how discontinuing a Native American mascot can stoke racism among a team’s surrounding community.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Relax toward the end of the quarter by visiting on-campus museums and watching recorded events. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Diana Al-Hadid: Archive of Longings Through February 6 | Henry Art Gallery Diana Al-Hadid’s work explores the interplay between the female body and the European art canon; Syrian, Muslim, and immigrant histories and…

A team at the University of Washington and the University of Bern has computationally simulated more than 200,000 hypothetical Earth-like worlds all in orbit of stars like our sun. As they report in a paper accepted to the Planetary Science Journal and submitted Dec. 6 to the preprint site arXiv, on these simulated exoplanets, one common feature of present-day Earth was often lacking: partial ice coverage. About 90% of these potentially habitable hypothetical worlds lacked partial surface ice like polar caps.

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend concerts, lectures, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Gospel Choir December 6, 7:30 PM | Meany Hall Phyllis Byrdwell, School of Music alumni and Minister of Music at Mount Zion Baptist Church of Seattle leads the 100-voice gospel choir in songs of praise, jubilation, and other expressions of the Gospel tradition….