The latest news from the UW

What was found by three graduate students — Kirsten Lorentzen of the University of Washington and Robin Millan and Jason Foat of the University of California at Berkeley — has scientists scrambling for an explanation: an intense stream of X-rays, occurring in seven bursts, each separated by only a few minutes and lasting for a total of half an hour. The evidence was clear that the high energy bursts came not from outer space, but from the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

University of Washington President Richard L. McCormick has appointed a committee to advise him in the search for a new dean of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

Just as millions of American college students are about to rate the teaching abilities of their professors this month, a pair of University of Washington researchers say such evaluations are flawed and often misused.

Many former workers at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state may be affected by asbestos, beryllium and noise pollution exposure that occurred during their employment.

It’s every patient’s worst nightmare: the thought of undergoing surgery with inadequate anesthesia; of feeling the cut of the surgeon’s knife, but being unable to tell anyone that you’re not completely unconscious

People who are resistant to the hormone leptin may become obese due to difficulties receiving bloodborne messages that tell their brain to reduce food intake or burn off excessive weight.

For the past three weeks, engineering students at the University of Washington have been exploring the “distant planet” of Sram using remote-controlled robots.

Medical News from the University of Washington

Individual neurons, or brain cells, do not just relay information from one point to another, according to a group of researchers from across the United States who discussed new insights into the process of hearing at a symposium held last month at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Instead, they said, each neuron could be compared to a tiny computer that compiles information from many sources and makes a decision based on that information

The impact of multiple births on a family is not additive, it’s exponential. Few parents are prepared for the enormous emotional, physical and financial demands that accompany this phenomenon. To help couples deal with this huge change in their lives, University of Washington Medical Center hosts “Expecting Multiples,” a series of classes for families expecting twins or more.

Reflecting the emergence of a new research discipline combining human genetics and pathology, the University of Washington School of Medicine will establish a Center for Molecular Genetic Pathology.

Experiments to understand single-bubble sonoluminescence — where a pinpoint of light and extreme temperatures are created inside a tiny bubble when liquids are bombarded with high-pitched sound waves — have earned the University of Washington’s Tom Matula a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

It isn’t pretty on the streets of Seattle, or any big city, if you are a homeless adolescent. But recent research shows life on the street may be an improvement over what many children face at home.

Surgical students soon will be able hone their skills with simulators that for the first time present a realistic feel of performing surgery thanks to a research project under way at the University of Washington. The project also could improve patient care by leading to the development of instruments that enhance surgeons’ sense of touch.

This presentation will cover the highlights of the Mars Pathfinder mission and the design and control of the Sojourner vehicle. It will include pictures taken by the lander and rover, video clips of mission operations, a video containing eight rover movies showing sojourner navigating its way across the Martian surface and a 3-D animated playback of data collected by Sojourner.

The latest research on thyroid disease, wildlife populations, beryllium exposure and Columbia River contamination in the Hanford reach area are among topics to be addressed during a two-day conference Dec. 3 and 4 in Richland, Wash.

All 38 of Washington’s public colleges and universities have proposed that the state establish a $500 million public-private partnership to enhance the quality of higher education in Washington.

The proposition that the Earth’s little understood inner core is a frozen yet white hot globe of curiously laid out iron crystals, spinning independently of the rest of the planet, has been given a boost by a University of Washington researcher.

A clinical trial performed by University of Washington researchers shows that administering an anti-arrhythmia medication, amiodarone, offers considerable promise in helping to resuscitate cardiac arrest victims.

A newly established endowed professorship — the first for the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine — will further enhance the already strong links between the academic department and practicing physicians throughout the region.

A postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of University of Washington geneticist Dr. Mary-Claire King has succeeded in cloning a gene which, when mutated, causes an inherited form of deafness.

The National Science Foundation has appointed University of Washington Professor Mark Haselkorn to coordinate its external efforts to address the year 2000 computer problem.

First it was the Chinese, then the Egyptians who more than 3,000 years ago began studying and predicting the weather. Then in the 16th and 17th centuries meteorology became a science with the invention of instruments to measure the elements. Now a supercomputer is ushering in a new era of high-precision local weather forecasting.

Seattle adults seeking a drug-free treatment as an alternative for dealing with depression are needed for a University of Washington study testing two new psychological treatments to deal with the disorder.

Stumps of long-dead western red cedar trees are revealing new details of a cataclysmic earthquake along North America’s west coast more than 100 years before the arrival of the first European occupants.

Medical News from the University of Washington

A new study indicating that portions of bird brains enlarge in response to social, as well as other environmental, factors adds to the mounting evidence showing that the brains of higher animals change over time.

Some women who become glucose intolerant late in pregnancy may develop gestational diabetes and give birth to larger than normal babies with a tendency to become obese. Now a new study of genetically normal rats indicates that the effect of overfeeding extends for at least three generations and may explain health trends beginning to be seen in human populations in the American Southwest, Japan, Australia and some Pacific islands.

Seattle-based world leaders in the fight against cancer today announced that they are forming a new, combined clinical cancer program. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington (UW), and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center are creating the new program, called the “Cancer Care Alliance,” to speed the development of new knowledge of, and treatment for, various cancers.

Dr. Nancy Woods, associate dean for nursing research and director of the University of Washington School of Nursing’s Center for Women’s Health Research, is the first recipient of the Vivian O. Lee Women’s Health Award.

Maria Root, a psychologist and associate professor of American Ethnic Studies, is looking for 60 pairs of adult siblings in Washington state and the Portland, Ore., area to participate in a study that will explore how people of mixed ancestry develop their racial identity and how they viewed themselves when they were growing up.

The University of Washington’s main campus 1997 Autumn Quarter enrollment is 35,367, including 853 students in the Evening Degree Program instituted in autumn 1990.

It may well be the “biggest” honor ever bestowed upon a UW researcher: A Seattle-based shipping company will christen its newest vessel, a 25,000-barrel oil barge, the “Bonnie R.” in honor of Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.

It looks like El Niño, it feels like El Niño, and if you are watching fish stocks, reservoir levels or farm production, you would say it is El Niño.

The Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and a University of Washington sport psychologist are teaming up to hold a series of 10 workshops across Washington to train at least a thousand coaches and make participation in youth athletics a more positive experience for youngsters, parents and coaches.

Youth sports should be a rewarding, positive experience for children. But all too often these activities aren’t and become a childhood nightmare filled with emotional abuse and negativity.

In an effort to make maximum use of a scarce resource, University of Washington Medical Center is now offering split-liver transplants — an effort that could save up to 26 more lives each year.

The University of Washington admissions office is moving to a more active mode in working with prospective students and high schools throughout the state of Washington.

The University of Washington and 13 university-area community groups have transmitted to the City of Seattle a draft agreement governing future development by the UW on the university’s Seattle campus.

University of Washington researchers will play a leading role in a $20 million effort to identify and mitigate potential earthquake hazards in urban areas along the Pacific coast.