July 31, 2012
When a University of Washington researcher listened to the audio picked up by a recording device that spent a year in the icy waters off the east coast of Greenland, she was stunned at what she heard: whales singing a remarkable variety of songs nearly constantly for five wintertime months. Listen to the bowheads repeat their other-worldly song as they cross the Fram Strait. Bowhead whale song 1 Bowhead whale song 2 Kate Stafford, an oceanographer with UW’s Applied Physics…
July 27, 2012
Welcome back to 1950 for an installment of Lost and Found Films, old footage promoting a play festival that aims for a Norman Rockwell feel, with maybe a little Twain thrown in. Lost and Found Films is an occasional UW Today series where readers help identify historic bits of film unearthed from the UW Audio Visual Materials Library provided by film archivist Hannah Palin. They range from shadowy black and white snippets to thoughtfully produced color home-movie style productions like…
Seattle researchers will be part of the new federal initiative to engineer 3-dimensional chips containing living cells and tissues that imitate the structure and function of human organs. These tissue chips will be used for drug safety testing. Tissue chips merge techniques from the computer industry with those from bioengineering by combining miniature models of living organ tissues onto a transparent microchip. Ranging in size from a coin to a house key, the chips are lined with living cells and…
July 26, 2012
The first U.S. cabled ocean observatory reached a milestone on July 14 with the installation of a node 9,500 feet deep off the coast of Oregon. Like a giant electrical outlet on the seafloor that also provides Internet connectivity, the node was spliced into a network of cable segments totalling some 560 miles that were laid in the summer of 2011. Six more of these primary nodes — each about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle — are being installed…
A chemical that temporarily restores some vision to blind mice has been discovered. Its discoverers are working on an improved compound that may someday allow people with degenerative blindness to see again. Read the paper in Neuron News release on earlier study A team of UW Medicine researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Munich, conducted the study. Their findings appear in the July 26th issue of the journal Neuron. The approach could eventually help those with…
July 25, 2012
July 24, 2012
Do you have what it takes to be an ethical hacker? Can you step into the shoes of a professional paid to outsmart supposedly locked-down systems? Now you can at least try, no matter what your background, with a new card game developed by University of Washington computer scientists. “Control-Alt-Hack” gives teenage and young-adult players a taste of what it means to be a computer-security professional defending against an ever-expanding range of digital threats. The game’s creators will present it…
Options, changes for campus dining Summertime always brings some new twists to eating on campus, and this year is no different, as Housing & Food Services brings some changes and additions in mid-August, while some established things remain. The $6.50 “all you care to eat” option has returned for UW faculty and staff at 8 at McMahon Hall, and come Aug. 17 that deal will be offered at the reopening Eleven 01 Café in Terry Hall as well. Mobile dining…
July 23, 2012
A memorial for R.L. “Bob” Morgan, 57, an expert in “identity management” for UW Information Technology, will be held in Kane Hall 225 (the Walker-Ames Room) at 11 a.m. Sunday, July 29. He died July 12 during cancer treatment at UW Medical Center. Besides his work in identity management, which provides the foundation for safe access to digital resources such as email and online banking, he also was recognized internationally for his work in “federated identity,” a more secure approach…
Yiddish has more than 3 million speakers worldwide, but fewer than 150,000 people still speak Ladino. A new organization is gathering Ladino source materials before they are lost forever.
Bill Daniell, a researcher in the UW School of Public Health, says there’s not good data on how many people eat fish from the polluted Duwamish River, but doing so raises health concerns.
Jay Z. Parrish, University of Washington assistant professor of biology, has been named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
July 20, 2012
U.S. News latest hospital rankings UW Medicine’s two academic medical centers are ranked the best in the region and the state of Washington in U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 edition of America’s Best Hospitals. UW Medical Center holds the No. 1 rank and Harborview Medical Center is No. 2 out of 35 hospitals in the Seattle metropolitan area and more than 100 hospitals in the state. In addition, UW Medicine’s Valley Medical Center is ranked No. 4 in the metro…
Mechanical engineering students last weekend braved uncharted waters as they paddled to the finish line at the annual Milk Carton Derby at Green Lake, in what they believe is the world’s first boat made using a 3-D printer.
July 19, 2012
Seattle is showcasing the work of more than 30 area organizations at an exhibit at Seattle Center through Aug. 19. Global Health Exhibit at Seattle Center Dates: Now – Aug. 19, 2012 Time: Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Location: Seattle Center, Next Fifty Plaza World Vision donated a mock village that has been turned into the Global Health Experience Exhibit in the Next 50 Plaza at Seattle Center. The exhibit introduces global health challenges and success to the public…
Chronic pain affects approximately 100 million Americans and costs up to $635 billion in medical treatment and lost productivity each year. Yet pain management often is not taught in many health professional schools. Recognizing the need to change this, the National Institutes of Health have selected 12 schools to develop pain curricula, and the UW has been named the lead site. The center will receive $300,000 to start, with the potential for further funding. The curricula will advance the assessment,…
Here in another slow summer week, the School of Art takes the lead with art by students, faculty — and former faculty as well. Plus, there are continuing exhibits on campus well worth investigating. Exhibit: “Tangible Competitive Intangibles,” through Aug. 4. An invitational show in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery featuring the work of artists who have taught in the School of Art. These include Carol Adleman, Tina Aufiero, Carrie Bodle, Erin Burns, Michael Cepress, Claudia Fitch, Rumi Koshino, Perri Lynch, Anne Petty, Maria…
July 18, 2012
A soils and ecosystem scientist who studies natural resources sustainability has been named the director of the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. Thomas H. DeLuca is currently professor of natural resources and geography at Bangor University, Wales, where he holds the chair in environmental sciences sponsored jointly by the university and the U.K.’s National Environmental Research Council. “We couldn’t be happier that Tom will join us to lead the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. Tom…
The University of Washington is about to become the first university in the United States to provide classes for university credit using a massive open online course learning platform. UW is planning courses that will be made available in multiple ways, tailoring innovative options to match consumer needs. Free, non-credit versions will use the Coursera platform, providing access to high-quality education for anyone. In addition, enhanced, instructor-led versions will result in UW credit and/or certificate credentials when successfully completed. “Increasing…
July 17, 2012
A group of Washington high-school students will arrive at the University of Washington campus this week for the annual DO-IT Scholars Summer Study program. It’s the 20th anniversary of the summer program, which has now helped launch the careers of hundreds of students from Washington and beyond who have a wide range of disabilities. DO-IT Scholars, July 17-27 DO-IT stands for Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology. The students learn about challenging careers in fields including science, technology, engineering and mathematics….
July 16, 2012
In evaluating whether to allow Truvada® to be prescribed for HIV prevention the FDA reviewed evidence from two studies. The largest was conducted by the UWs International Clinical Research Center.
July 13, 2012
Robert J. Naiman has received the highest award given by the Ecological Society of America, the world’s largest society of professional ecologists.
Students in the UW’s new 3-D printing club plan to enter tomorrow Milk Carton Derby at Green Lake with what they believe is the world’s first 3-D printed boat, made from more than 150 recycled, melted and extruded milk cartons.
The public is invited to an open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday July 21 at the facility, which has one of the regions strongest concentrations of MSspecialists.
July 12, 2012
A new professional development program aims to nurture neuroscientists who are underrepresented minorities as they enter faculty positions.
“The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl,” opening July 14, explores the world of vinyl records from the 1960s to the present through sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, photography, video, performance and — of course — sound.
July 11, 2012
The UW International Clinical Research Center played a key role in examining Truvada’s effectiveness for HIV prevention. The center’s director Connie Celum talks about the impact of the findings in a Q & A.
UW researchers found that the decline in milk production due to climate change will vary across the U.S., since there are significant differences in humidity and how much the temperature swings between night and day across the country.
July 10, 2012
Experts have thought that multiracial adolescents use drugs and engage in violence more than their single-race peers. But in a new study, researchers find that mixed-race adolescents are more similar to their white counterparts than previously believed.
July 9, 2012
A senior class in Aeronautics & Astronautics won a national competition with the students’ detailed plan to travel to the moon, establish a mining outpost and jettison the product back to Earth.
ITHS helps scientists accelerate the translation of their discoveries into applications for improving the health of the public. The latest award is for $65 million.
July 8, 2012
DNA from cystic fibrosis patients with and without chronic infections points to unsuspected mutation.
July 6, 2012
As scientists around the world celebrated the detection of what appears to be the long-sought Higgs boson, University of Washington physicists took satisfaction in knowing they played a significant part in it.
July 5, 2012
Researchers have long believed that the longer days and calmer seas of spring set off an annual bloom of plants in the North Atlantic, but UW scientists discovered that warm eddies fuel the growth three weeks before the sun does.
July 3, 2012
UW’s first Explosive Detection K-9 Kali has helped locate handguns and taken part in numerous bomb sweeps, including when President Obama visited this area earlier this year.
Ansu Tucker, who was a Hubert H. Humphrey fellow at the Evans School of Public Affairs from 2004 to 2005, is now a key figure in the government of Sierra Leone.