Traumatic head injury is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in young adults, and at present there is no treatment to prevent or cure it.
December 20, 2012
The latest news from the UW
UW geneticist gets the Hollywood treatment
December 19, 2012
American Academy of Pediatrics issues policy statement on pesticide exposure in children
Chronic low levels of pesticides are detrimental to children’s health: evidence suggests they may induce neurodevelopmental and behavioral problems, birth defects, asthma and cancer.
Lost and Found Films: ‘Governor’s Day, 1941’
The University of Washington prepares for war in “Governor’s Day,” the latest installment of the Lost and Found Films series.
Composting confusion rampant in UW waste bins, study finds
A study of waste bins at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus revealed that 88 percent of the contents in trash bins could have been recycled or composted. Most – 72 percent – of what didn’t belong in trash bins turned out to be compostable items, such as food, carry-out containers and paper coffee cups.
December 18, 2012
Eerie photos show ‘flowers’ made of Arctic ice
Burke Museum exhibit explores the impact of plastics
Ecological avatars predict species invasions
Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service gives $1.15 million to transform education of dentists
Under new dean Dr. Joel Berg the school has launched a plan to revamp its clinical education and curriculum.
December 17, 2012
Plumes across the Pacific deliver thousands of microbial species to West Coast
Microorganisms – 99 percent more kinds than had been reported in findings published just four months ago – are hitching rides in the upper troposphere from Asia.
Aging, end-of-life expert offers advice for coping with holiday blues
The holidays can be a time of sadness and loneliness, and UW’s Wendy Lustbader has advice on how to deal with these issues.
December 14, 2012
Jewish condition, ‘new’ anti-Semitism observed in Edward Alexander’s ‘The State of the Jews’
Edward Alexander, professor emeritus of English, discusses his new book, “The State of the Jews: A Critical Appraisal.”
U-Village’s glassybaby assists UW Medical Center cancer patients
Art business owner created White Light Fund to defray incidental costs, like car fare, for people receiving cancer treatment.
December 13, 2012
Energy Dept. funds UW project to turn wasted natural gas into diesel
The U.S. Department of Energy this month awarded $4 million to a team, led by UW chemical engineers, that aims to develop bacteria to turn the methane in natural gas into diesel fuel for transportation.
Arts Roundup: Medieval music and ‘Plastics Unwrapped’ at the Burke
Medieval chanting in Mary Gates Hall and a major new exhibit on plastics at the Burke Museum come to campus this week.
Massive shifts reshape the health landscape worldwide
Giving library pests the cold shoulder
UW librarians acted quickly to eliminate bedbugs in books last August.
Dark Ages scourge enlightens modern struggle between man and microbes
Discoveries reported today help explain how the stealthy agent of Black Death avoids tripping a self-destruct mechanism inside germ-destroying cells.
December 12, 2012
Intracranial pressure monitoring for traumatic brain injury questioned
Researchers in United States and Latin America re-examine standard of care for severe head injury.
News Digest: Parties go green, share of Race to Top money, Honor: Anna Karlin, Early Entrance info session, Saturday classes for K-8 students and teachers
Going green at holiday parties || Dream Project named in $40 million federal Race to the Top grant || Anna Karlin new fellow || Early Entrance info session Jan. 10 || Registration opens Jan. 7 for Saturday classes for K-8 students, teachers
Award recognizes UW oceanographer’s talent for engaging public
The American Geophysical Union has presented its top prize for engaging the public in science to UW’s John Delaney.
December 11, 2012
Documents that Changed the World: ‘Robert’s Rules of Order’
Joe Janes of the UW Information School visits the arcane world of parliamentary procedure in the latest entry to his Documents that Changed the World podcast series.
December 10, 2012
Armbrust shares $35 million to investigate tiniest ocean regulators
Oceanographer Ginger Armbrust has received a multi-million dollar award to spend as she wishes on her research into ocean microbes and their role in regulating ocean environments and our atmosphere.
Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
A British philosopher once suggested the possibility that our universe might be a computer simulation run by our descendants. A team of physicists at UW has devised a potential test to see if the idea has merit.
December 7, 2012
UW Bothell celebrates opening of sports and recreation complex – with video
UW Bothell celebrated the grand opening Thursday of the $3.3 million, 2.5 acre sports and recreation complex.
Crowdsourcing site compiles new sign language for math and science
The ASL-STEM Forum is a crowdsourcing project, similar to Wikipedia or the Urban Dictionary, that creates a new sign language for the latest scientific and technical terms.
Greenland ice sheet carries evidence of increased atmospheric acidity
Research suggests rising atmospheric acidity is probably why levels of the isotope nitrogen-15 in Greenland ice samples dropped around the time of the Industrial Revolution.
December 6, 2012
Arts Roundup: Art, plays, the University Symphony — and ‘Pippin’ continues
The University Symphony and the Undergraduate Theater Society’s popular production of “Pippin” lead this week’s busy UW arts schedule.
Moths wired two ways to take advantage of floral potluck
Moths are able to enjoy a pollinator’s buffet of flowers because of two distinct “channels” in their brains, scientists have discovered.
Tipsy? UW expert’s tips for reining in holiday drinking
The omnipresence of alcohol at holiday gatherings and the social ease that a little buzz provides make it hard to limit ourselves. UW’s Dennis Donovan offers advice for how to drink moderately, and treatment approaches he’s used with people recovering from alcohol problems.
December 4, 2012
Crowdsourcing the cosmos: Astronomers welcome all to identify star clusters in Andromeda galaxy
Astronomers are inviting the public to search Hubble Space Telescope images of the Andromeda galaxy to help identify star clusters and increase understanding of how galaxies evolve. The new Andromeda Project, set to study thousands of high-resolution Hubble images, is a collaboration among scientists at the University of Washington, the University of Utah and several other partners. “It’s an amazing opportunity to discover something new,” said Julianne Dalcanton, UW astronomy professor. “Anyone can look at these beautiful Hubble images and…
Scientists find oldest dinosaur – or closest relative yet
Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs.
‘Fiscal cliff’ challenge explored in ‘Congress and the Politics of Problem Solving’
UW political scientist John Wilkerson and coauthor explore the challenges of the “fiscal cliff” in their book, “Congress and the Politics of Problem Solving.”
December 3, 2012
Russian Far East holds seismic hazards that could threaten Pacific Basin
The Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands, long shrouded in secrecy by the Soviet government, are a seismic and volcanic hotbed with a potential to trigger tsunamis that pose a risk to the rest of the Pacific Basin.
November 30, 2012
Electrically spun fabric offers dual defense against pregnancy, HIV
Electrically spun cloth with nanometer-sized fibers show promise as a cheap, versatile platform to simultaneously offer contraception and prevent HIV. New funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will further test the system’s versatility and feasibility.
November 29, 2012
Rules devised for building ideal protein molecules from scratch
These principles could allow scientists to custom-make, rather than re-purpose, protein molecules for vaccines, drugs, and industrial and environmental uses.
AAAS names 11 UW researchers as fellows
Eleven University of Washington researchers are among 702 new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
News Digest: Faculty Senate vice chair nominations due, carbon efficient cities subject of book
Nomination deadline Monday for vice chair of Faculty Senate || ‘The Carbon Efficient City’ discusses sustainable development
Arts Roundup: Music galore, plus ‘Pippin’ and choirs combine for holiday CarolFest
Music — and musical theater — rule this packed week in UW arts. Take your pick from choirs and choruses, jazz, percussion, world music and campus bands, the musical “Pippin” and the opera “Die Fledermaus.”
International study provides more solid measure of shrinking in polar ice sheets
Climatologists have reconciled their measurements of ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland during the past two decades. A second article looks at how to monitor and understand accelerating losses from the planet’s two largest continental ice sheets.