December 3, 2013
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.
Will we of the early 21th century be remembered for Internet memes like Grumpy Cat? “Going Viral,” a new book by Karine Nahon and Jeff Hemsley of the UW Information School explores the nature of virality and impacts of virality.
The overall purpose of the project, called UW-SHARE, is to obtain a benchmark, pre-ACA picture of health-care use, health, health-related attitudes, and access to health insurance.
New research indicates that a phenomenon called “quantum entanglement” could be intrinsically linked with the creation of wormholes.
December 2, 2013
UW faculty and staff have until Dec. 6 to contribute to this year’s UW Combined Fund Drive, part of Washington state’s workplace giving campaign.
November 26, 2013
A city-wide contest to locate as many of Seattle’s automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs, netted far more than expected. The challenge arose from the need to map and monitor these devices, which can save the lives of people suffering an out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest.
The holiday season kicks off in full force with a variety of arts events to enjoy, including the School of Music’s annual CarolFest is on Dec. 4.
The newly designed University of Washington vehicle license plate is now available for sale from the state Department of Licensing.
Five University of Washington researchers are among new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
“StormReady” status ups UW’s ability to cope with weather extremes || Ryan Calo blogs for Forbes || First Green Seed Fund proposals due Dec. 3 || Ease Net access at 5,500 institutions with “eduroam”
November 25, 2013
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.
New dashboards for exploring trends are bringing about a culture change in strategic decision-making at the university
November 24, 2013
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
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.
David Barash, a UW psychology professor, is an evolutionary biologist, unapologetic atheist, and self-described Jewbu. In his latest book, “Buddhist Biology: Ancient Eastern Wisdom Meets Modern Western Science,” Barash examines the overlap between Buddhism and biology.
November 20, 2013
The Dec. 12 Regular Meeting of the Board of Regents has been cancelled. The Regents will hold a Special Meeting with the WSU Board of Regents on Friday, Nov. 29, at 9:30 a.m. in the Jim Houston Stadium Boardroom at Husky Stadium. The agenda is available online. The 2014 Board of Regents schedule has been announced and is available online.
This week slows down as the campus prepares for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. However, don’t miss your last chance to see School of Drama’s “Fifth of July” or venture to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture to explore their new exhibit “Elwha: A River Reborn.”
Digital activism is usually nonviolent and tends to work best when social media tools are combined with street-level organization, according to new research from the University of Washington.
Nominations are due in December and coming months for this year’s University of Washington Awards of Excellence categories.
November 19, 2013
Washington Sea Grant’s “Pumpout Paddlers” are readying their kayaks for winter paddling to deliver more adapters so boaters have a cleaner, easier way to pump their sewage-holding tanks.
November 18, 2013
He only came to get the iconic footage through a series of coincidences and later regretted what he had done. It was the last film Abraham Zapruder would ever shoot.
UW researchers this month are on missions to fly above the Arctic Ocean to measure glacier melt, polar storms and Arctic sea ice.
Faculty & Staff Insider asked this year’s Faculty Senate chair, Jack Lee, professor of mathematics, to discuss some of the the issues it is likely to tackle in the coming year.
November 14, 2013
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.
Recent research suggests that young Americans might be less creative now than in decades past, even while their intelligence — as measured by IQ tests — continues to rise. But new research from the UW Information School and Harvard University hints that the dynamics of creativity may not break down as simply as that.
November 13, 2013
It’s a packed week in the arts, with an event option for every day. DXARTS and the School of Music offer an electro-acoustic concert, the UW World Series presents “Café Variations” in collaboration with the School of Drama, the Burke Museum of History and Culture has its Meet the Mammals day, and more.
Nominations for Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate are being sought.
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 12, 2013
The UW, along with the University of California, Berkeley, and New York University, are partners in a new five-year, $37.8 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that aims to accelerate the growth of data-intensive discovery across many fields.
November 8, 2013
The Board of Regents will hold a Regular Meeting on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. in the UW Tower Board Room (22nd Floor).
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
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.
This week there is a smattering of events with a highlight being the School of Drama’s “Fifth of July,” directed by Professor Valerie Curtis-Newton. Also, if Mongolian music suits your fancy, you’re in luck because the vibrant young ensemble, AnDa Union makes their Seattle debut on the Meany stage. JewDub Talks 7 p.m., Nov. 7 | UW Tower Auditorium Short lectures on big ideas in Jewish history and culture. This year’s faculty speakers will discuss: “Are you Jewish or are…
November 6, 2013
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.
Brainy crows subject of TEDx talk Saturday || Town Hall talk “Stories from My Pet Rocks” tonight
Washington state’s housing market continued to strengthen in the July-September quarter, registering the fifth consecutive quarterly improvement in home sales activity, according to the UW’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies.
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.
Ten Shakespeare scholars, students and actors, most from the University of Washington, will discuss the Bard’s life and work at Seattle’s ACT Theatre on Nov. 14 — and verily, they’ll be quick about it.
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 5, 2013
The School of Music has lured Bill Frisell, one of modern jazz’s premier guitarists, to a position on the faculty.