UW atmospheric sciences faculty and graduate students are in Tasmania studying how clouds form over Antarctica’s Southern Ocean.
February 5, 2018
The latest news from the UW
Watery worlds: UW astronomer Eric Agol assists in new findings of TRAPPIST-1 planetary system
A team of astronomers including Eric Agol of the University of Washington has found that the seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 are all made mostly of rock, and some could even have more water — which can give life a chance — than Earth itself. The research was led by Simon Grimm of the University of Bern in Switzerland, and published Feb. 5 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Agol is among about two dozen co-authors. The scientists…
February 1, 2018
Arts Roundup: 12 Ophelias (a play with broken songs), Music of Today, and Faculty Recital with Craig Sheppard
This week in the arts, discover a re-imaged world of Hamlet as part of the School of Drama’s mainstage season, listen to new music by emerging artists, and hear the chair of the UW piano program perform a fugal composition.
UW’s large research vessel, R/V Thomas G. Thompson, gets back to work
After an “extreme makeover” that went from stem to stern on five decks of the ship, the R/V Thomas G. Thompson is ready to get back to work exploring the world’s oceans. The University of Washington’s School of Oceanography, part of the College of the Environment, operates the 274-foot ship, which arrived on campus in 1991. In summer 2016, with funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation and the UW, the vessel headed to a…
January 31, 2018
University of Washington, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory team up to make the materials of tomorrow
The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Washington announced the creation of the Northwest Institute for Materials Physics, Chemistry and Technology — or NW IMPACT — a joint research endeavor to power discoveries and advancements in materials that transform energy, telecommunications, medicine, information technology and other fields.
Reconstructing an ancient lethal weapon
Archaeologists are a little like forensic investigators: They scour the remains of past societies, looking for clues in pottery, tools and bones about how people lived, and how they died. And just as detectives might re-create the scene of a crime, University of Washington archaeologists have re-created the weapons used by hunter-gatherers in the post-Ice Age Arctic some 14,000 years ago. Looking for clues as to how those early people advanced their own technology, researchers also considered what…
January 30, 2018
Official notice: Action on UW Bothell/Cascadia College Campus Master Plan
Notice is given under SEPA, RCW 43.21C.080, that the University of Washington Board of Regents, to the action described below on Jan. 11, 2018. Any action to set aside, enjoin, review or otherwise challenge such action on the grounds of noncompliance with the provisions of Chapter 43.21C RCW (State Environmental Policy Act) shall be commenced on or before Feb. 13, 2018. Description of agency action: Approval by the Board of Regents of the 2017 UW Bothell and Cascadia College Campus…
Depression, anxiety affect more than one-fourth of state’s college students
Nearly one-third of Washington college students have experienced depression in the last year, and more than 10 percent have had thoughts of suicide, according to a new survey of young adults attending schools around the state. The survey of more than 10,000 students at 13 of Washington’s two- and four-year institutions shows the need for mental health services on campus, advocates say, especially as the state Legislature considers two bills that would fund suicide-prevention resources in higher education and…
January 26, 2018
School of Music’s Laila Storch republishes biography of renowned oboist, teacher Marcel Tabuteau
A biography of world-renowned oboe performer and teacher Marcel Tabuteau by the UW School of Music’s Laila Storch has been republished in paperback by Indiana University Press.
January 25, 2018
Dan Berger discusses excesses of incarceration in new book ‘Rethinking the American Prison Movement’
Dan Berger, associate professor in the UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, discusses his new book, “Rethinking the American Prison Movement.”
If you swat mosquitoes, they may learn to avoid your scent
In a published Jan. 25 in Current Biology, University of Washington researchers report that mosquitoes can learn to associate a particular odor with an unpleasant mechanical shock akin to being swatted. As a result, they’ll avoid that scent the next time.
January 24, 2018
Arts Roundup: Watch performances by Garrick Ohlsson, Danish String Quartet, 12 Ophelias, Jazz Innovations, and revisit memories through craft sculptures at ArtVenture
This week in the arts, revisit important memories through craft sculptures, see a re-imagined and contemporized Hamlet, hear a collection of Nordic folk music or student ensembles playing original progressive jazz compositions, and listen to a Seattle favorite return to Meany, bringing piano masterworks to life.
A new ‘atmospheric disequilibrium’ could help detect life on other planets
A University of Washington study has found a simple approach to look for life that might be more promising than just looking for oxygen.
#MemoriesInDNA Project wants to store your photos in DNA for the benefit of science – and future generations
Researchers from the Molecular Information Systems Lab at the University of Washington and Microsoft are looking to collect 10,000 original images from around the world to preserve them indefinitely in synthetic DNA manufactured by Twist Bioscience. DNA holds promise as a revolutionary storage medium that lasts much longer and is many orders of magnitude denser than current technologies.
January 22, 2018
Lab-made hormone may reveal secret lives of plants
By developing a synthetic version of the plant hormone auxin and an engineered receptor to recognize it, University of Washington biology professor Keiko Torii and her colleagues are poised to uncover plants’ inner workings, raising the possibility of a new way to ripen fruits such as strawberries and tomatoes.
Small hydroelectric dams increase globally with little research, regulations
University of Washington researchers have published the first major assessment of small hydropower dams around the world — including their potential for growth — and highlight the incredibly variability in how dams of varying sizes are categorized, regulated and studied.
January 19, 2018
University Faculty Lecture to highlight screening newborns for genetic diseases
For this year’s University Faculty Lecture, University of Washington chemistry professor Michael Gelb will discuss the science behind screening newborns for treatable — but rare — genetic diseases.
UW, TheDream.US announce new scholarship partnership to benefit undocumented students
The University of Washington and TheDream.US announced a new partnership this week that will provide scholarships to qualified undocumented students who graduate from two-year colleges and transfer to the UW.
January 18, 2018
Temporary ‘bathtub drains’ in the ocean concentrate flotsam
An experiment using hundreds of plastic drifters in the Gulf of Mexico shows that rather than simply spread out, as current calculations would predict, many of them clumped together in a tight cluster.
Q&A: Forgotten fish illustrator remembered through first publication
More than three centuries ago, a French monk made thousands of drawings of plants and animals, traveling under the authority of King Louis XIV to the French Antilles to collect and document the natural history of the islands. These drawings were often the first ever recorded for each species and were completed in remarkable detail. The illustrations were nearly lost forever during the tumultuous French Revolution, and the volumes compiled by Father Charles Plumier were discovered by chance, found serving…
How the Elwha dam removals changed the river’s mouth
A new study in the Journal PLOS ONE details what removing the two dams on the Elwha River meant for the nearshore marine ecosystem.
Civil War-era U.S. Navy ships’ logs to be explored for climate data, maritime history
A new grant will let a University of Washington-based project add a new fleet to its quest to learn more about past climate from the records of long-gone mariners. The UW is among the winners of the 2017 “Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives” awards, announced Jan. 4 by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Library and Information Resources. The new $482,018 grant to the UW, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and the National Archives Foundation will support “Seas…
January 17, 2018
Arts Roundup: Performances by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, UW Symphony, Scholarship Chamber Group and more
This week in the arts, watch dancers tell a story of resilience in their final performance of an exciting trilogy, become enchanted by the UW Symphony at Benaroya Hall, and see undergraduate students perform challenging works from the piano and strings repertoire.
Scale-eating fish adopt clever parasitic methods to survive
A small group of fishes — possibly the world’s cleverest carnivorous grazers — feeds on the scales of other fish in the tropics. A team led by biologists at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories is trying to understand these scale-feeding fish and how this odd diet influences their body evolution and behavior.
January 16, 2018
Task interrupted: A plan for returning helps you move on
Get interrupted at work much? Making a quick plan for returning to and completing the task you’re leaving will help you focus better on the interrupting work, according to new research from the University of Washington.
Researchers program biomaterials with ‘logic gates’ that release therapeutics in response to environmental triggers
Drug treatments can save lives, but sometimes they also carry unintended costs. After all, the same therapeutics that target pathogens and tumors can also harm healthy cells. To reduce this collateral damage, scientists have long sought specificity in drug delivery systems: A package that can encase a therapeutic and will not disgorge its toxic cargo until it reaches the site of treatment — be it a tumor, a diseased organ or a site of infection. In a paper published Jan….
A ‘touching sight’: How babies’ brains process touch builds foundations for learning
Touch is the first of the five senses to develop, yet scientists know far less about the baby’s brain response to touch than to, say, the sight of mom’s face, or the sound of her voice. Now, through the use of safe, new brain imaging techniques, University of Washington researchers provide one of the first looks inside the infant’s brain to show where the sense of touch is processed — not just when a baby feels a touch to…
January 11, 2018
Can the president really do that? Two UW law professors give answers in new book
Can the president single-handedly toss out environmental rules designed to combat global warming? Force states like Washington to help enforce federal immigration laws? Fire Robert Mueller? No, no, and not directly, say Lisa Manheim and Kathryn Watts, professors of law at the University of Washington, in a new book. The answers, of course, are more complicated than a word or two. But every news cycle seems to raise a variation of the same question: Can he do that? Manheim and Watts,…
January 10, 2018
Arts Roundup: Trojan Women: A Love Story, Faculty Dance Concert, Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist Concert: Sepideh Raissadat, and performances by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company
This week in the arts, experience a modern portrayal of a classic Greek Tragedy, see the annual Faculty Dance Concert featuring new collaborations with students and guest artists, hear an internationally renowned classical vocalist showcase her work with UW students, and watch dancers tell a story of resilience in the first performance of an exciting trilogy.
January 9, 2018
Mark Richards, former dean at UC Berkeley, named provost at the UW
University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce today named Mark Richards provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. The appointment is effective July 1, 2018. Richards, a geophysicist, is a professor of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he previously served as dean of mathematical and physical sciences from 2002 to 2014, and simultaneously as executive dean of the College of Letters and Science from 2006 to 2014. “Our University is gaining an outstanding…
Public hearing notice: Governing access to public records, copying
The purpose of the hearing is to allow all interested persons an opportunity to present their views, either orally or in writing, on the proposed amendments to WAC 478-276-100, “Governing Access to Public Records, Copying.”
January 8, 2018
UW Reality Lab launches with $6M from tech companies to advance augmented and virtual reality research
The UW Reality Lab is launching with $6 million from Facebook, Google, and Huawei to accelerate innovation in augmented and virtual reality and educate the next generation of researchers and practitioners.
January 5, 2018
UW ranks No. 5 nationally for social science research funding
The University of Washington is ranked fifth among more than 400 U.S. colleges and universities for social science research funding, according to a new report. The Consortium of Social Science Association’s 2018 College and University Rankings for Federal Social and Behavioral Science R&D was released this week. The UW, with $38.6 million in social science funding in fiscal 2016 (the year on which the report was based), has moved up into the top five. Last year, it was…
January 4, 2018
New book ‘City Unsilenced’ explores protest and public space
Jeff Hou, UW professor of landscape architecture, discusses the new book he co-edited with Sabine Knierbein, “City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy.”
January 3, 2018
Space dust, not aliens: Two UW astronomers assist in new research on ‘mysterious’ star
UW astronomers Brett Morris and James Davenport assisted in new research on “Tabby’s Star,” named for Louisiana State University astronomer Tabetha Boyajian.
Arts Roundup: Performances by violinist Itzhak Perlman, Takács Quartet with special guest Erika Eckert, a riveting play — Trojan Women: A Love Story and more
This week in the arts, listen to a duo performance of piano professors, hear the internationally acclaimed Takács String Quartet, promising young pianist Scott Cuellar, immerse yourself in the post-apocalyptic world of Trojan Women: A Love Story, and attend a performance by Grammy and Emmy Award Winning violinist Itzhak Perlman.
Popular exhibit on Latino music debuts as a book: A Q&A with UW faculty authors of ‘American Sabor’
When “American Sabor” opened at what was then the Experience Music Project a decade ago, its University of Washington creators saw it as a chance to celebrate the extensive Latino contribution to popular music. It was a product of years of interviews and research, and an often challenging exercise in collaboration and presentation. But that was just the beginning for Marisol Berríos-Miranda and Shannon Dudley, both ethnomusicologists in the UW School of Music, and Michelle Habell-Pallán, a professor in…
Essay by UW historian Laurie Marhoefer named most memorable of 2017 by The Conversation US
An essay by Laurie Marhoefer, UW assistant professor of history, has been named the most memorable of the year 2017 by the editors and readers of The Conversation US.
December 22, 2017
UW ranks No. 7 among public universities on Kiplinger’s 300 ‘Best College Values’ for 2018
The University of Washington is ranked No. 7 on Kiplinger’s 300 Best College Values for 2018 among public universities, released Dec. 22.
December 21, 2017
UW a leader in supporting Washington’s STEM students
Now serving its sixth cohort of students, the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship has helped more than 8,400 students attend the state’s universities and colleges. The UW has the largest number of scholarship recipients — 1,679 across all three campuses — and has seen more than 1,300 scholars graduate.