January 25, 2022
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.
January 24, 2022
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a new test for COVID-19 that combines the speed of over-the-counter antigen tests with the accuracy of PCR tests that are processed in medical labs and hospitals. The Harmony COVID-19 test is a diagnostic test that, like PCR tests for COVID-19, detects genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. But whereas conventional PCR tests can take several hours, the Harmony kit can provide results in less than 20 minutes for some samples and with similar accuracy.
January 20, 2022
With a low supply of and high competition for key nutrients, scientists have puzzled over the vast diversity of microbial species found in the open ocean. A new study shows that time of day is key, with species of marine microbes specializing in different shifts throughout the day and night.
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…
January 19, 2022
The release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for almost a quarter of global warming, is being studied around the world, from Arctic wetlands to livestock feedlots. A University of Washington team has discovered a source much closer to home: 349 plumes of methane gas bubbling up from the seafloor in Puget Sound, which holds more water than any other U.S. estuary.
January 17, 2022
Many nations are calling for protection of 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 from some or all types of exploitation, including fishing. Building off this proposal, a new analysis led by the University of Washington looks at how effective fishing closures are at reducing accidental catch. Researchers found that permanent marine protected areas are a relatively inefficient way to protect marine biodiversity that is accidentally caught in fisheries. Dynamic ocean management — changing the pattern of closures as accidental catch hotspots shift — is much more effective.
January 13, 2022
The UW School of Pharmacy’s Drug Interaction Database — the core research tool from the school’s nonprofit Drug Interaction Solutions team — is celebrating both a national award for innovation and two decades of independent funding through licensing agreements with companies, research institutes and regulatory agencies around the globe.
January 12, 2022
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…
In 2000, the late David Bowie recorded his album “Toy,” which went unreleased due to the financial struggles of his record label. On Jan. 7, it was finally released, and it features Cuong Vu, UW professor of music and chair of the jazz studies department. Vu look back at working with Bowie, the music industry and music education.
January 11, 2022
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.
A team of researchers led by the University of Washington drew upon the field of environmental justice — which primarily has focused on harms to people and public health — and applied its concepts to wildlife management, considering forms of injustice that people, communities and animal groups might experience. Lead author and UW assistant professor Alex McInturff talks with UW News about this work and why it’s significant.
January 6, 2022
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…
January 4, 2022
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.
December 22, 2021
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…
December 17, 2021
New research from an interdisciplinary team at the University of Washington, Duke University and The Nature Conservancy shows how local temperature increases in the tropics – compounded by accelerating deforestation – may already be jeopardizing the well-being and productivity of outdoor workers.
As the year draws to a close, we present highlights from video stories produced by UW News during 2021 — a year where the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact our lives.
December 16, 2021
New research led by the University of Washington shows how discontinuing a Native American mascot can stoke racism among a team’s surrounding community.
December 15, 2021
UW researchers investigated disparities in exposure to six major air pollutants in 1990, 2000 and 2010 by comparing models of air pollution levels to census data. While overall pollutant concentrations have decreased since 1990, people of color are still more likely to be exposed to all six pollutants than white people, regardless of income level, across the continental United States.
December 14, 2021
Using project savings from the construction of the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, the University of Washington will fund dozens of new research projects through the Population Health Initiative’s interdisciplinary grant program. The new grants will fall into three tiers, with funding from $20,000 to $200,000 per award. “We are delighted to have the funding capacity to be able to support the launch of roughly 75 innovative and interdisciplinary projects over the next two years,” said Ali Mokdad, chief…
A new study from the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington explores not only how the pandemic economy impacted donations to, and the operations of, charitable organizations, but also how nonprofits responded to the simultaneous call for racial justice.
December 13, 2021
Researchers are modeling how tsunami debris pushes on a building — either by hitting it or getting lodged on it and creating a dam. They are also looking for patterns in the way floating debris moves around and against rigid shapes. The information may help in designing buildings in coastal communities that can better withstand damage by floating objects in tsunami events.
New research shows that machine learning — computer algorithms that improve themselves without direct programming by humans — can be used to improve forecasts for lightning, one of the most destructive forces of nature.
December 9, 2021
A team led by the UW has developed a new, non-destructive method that images entire 3D biopsies instead of a slice for determining prostate cancer aggressiveness. The 3D images provided more information than a 2D image — specifically, details about the tree-like structure of the glands throughout the tissue.
Who do you talk to when you have a problem? For a student, it’s most likely a friend. Because young people tend to talk first to someone in their peer group, UW’s LiveWell created a Peer Health Education program where trained students teach other students about taking care of themselves and each other.
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…
December 8, 2021
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.
Seismologists used 30 detailed simulations of magnitude-9 slips on the Cascadia Subduction Zone to evaluate how the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system would perform in these events. Results show the alerts generally work well, but suggest that lower alert thresholds provide more timely warnings over the full area that will feel the shaking.
December 6, 2021
Angélica Cházaro is one of six researchers around the country to be named a “Freedom Scholar” by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Foundation.
December 3, 2021
Underwater microphones show that killer whales, or orcas, have spent more time in the Arctic Ocean in recent years. The increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean may give orcas more opportunity to hunt for prey off the west and north coasts of Alaska.
The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health has won top awards in 2021 from state and national design and construction associations for both its architectural design and unique project delivery approach. The building was designed by The Miller Hull Partnership and the general contractor was Lease Crutcher Lewis. The Design Build Institute of America in November gave the Rosling Center its Award of Excellence in the Education Building category, the award for Best in Design and the culminating Project of…
December 1, 2021
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….
November 23, 2021
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend concerts, exhibitions, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Roundtable – Challenging Hegemony: Taiwan, the Baltic, and the EU November 30, 7:00 PM | Online Lithuania’s recent decision to accept a Taiwan Representative Office has created outsized reverberations across Europe, Asia, and the world. With the decision to utilize the name “Taiwan,”…
November 22, 2021
A UW class that normally is about air pollution has pivoted to focus on another airborne health hazard — coronavirus aerosols. As part of the class project, students are designing and building air purifiers and testing how effective they are.
The University of Washington is proud to announce that 50 UW faculty and researchers have been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list from Clarivate.
Children as young as age 6 develop stereotypes that girls aren’t interested in computer science and engineering, according to new research from the University of Washington and the University of Houston.
November 18, 2021
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend lectures, exhibitions, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT. Astria Suparak: Asian futures, without Asians November 30, 6:00 PM | Online What does it mean when so many white filmmakers envision futures inflected by Asian culture, but devoid of actual Asian people? This is the central question posed by artist…
November 17, 2021
A team led by the UW developed a chatbot that could ask emergency department visitors about social needs, including housing, food, access to medical care and physical safety.
Not long after the 2016 general election, faculty at the University of Washington’s Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity (CCDE) recognized a need for students, especially BIPOC students, to talk about their experience of race.
November 11, 2021
The University of Washington’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, held on Thursday at the Medal of Honor Memorial near Red Square, featured music by the Husky Marching Band and a formation of UW Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets.
Outdoor workers in the world’s lower-latitude tropical forests may face a greater risk of heat-related deaths and unsafe working conditions because of deforestation and climate warming, according to a study led by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington and Indonesia’s Mulawarman University. In the study, researchers found that increased temperatures of 0.95 C (1.7 F) in the deforested areas of Berau Regency, Indonesia, between 2002 and 2018 were linked to roughly 118 additional deaths in 2018, and 20 additional…