Solutions

September 1, 2013

Pollution pall

For years, scientists regarded the decades of drought in Central Africa that reached an apex in the 1980s as the result of poor agricultural practices and overgrazing. New University of Washington research, however, shows that the drought was caused at least in part by Northern Hemisphere air pollution.

Finding phosphorous

Life on Earth may have never come to exist if not for some meteorites that pelted the planet billions of years ago.

Keeping kids clean and sober

An answer to teen drug use isn’t quite as simple as “just say no.” Many teenagers know they are supposed to say no to tobacco, alcohol and other drugs but they don’t know why.

June 1, 2013

Sediment settlement

Salmon are headed upstream in the Elwha River for the first time in more than a century, but sediment—and lots of it—is headed downstream. The sediment is the result of the largest dam removal project ever undertaken.

Planet unearthed

Using the Kepler telescope, scientists have been looking for Earth-like planets beyond the solar system since 2009. UW associate professor of astronomy Eric Agol has discovered perhaps the most Earth-like planet yet found outside the solar system.

Keeping cool

UW scientists have provided fresh insight into an issue that has vexed civilization since the beginning: how to keep a drink cold on a hot day.

Probing DNA

The University of Washington Adult Medical Genetics Clinic is not only well-established—both UW and Johns Hopkins started the first genetics programs in 1957—but is widely considered the best in the world.

March 1, 2013

Trisomy trials

Certain medical problems experienced by people with Down Syndrome may eventually be helped because of a research breakthrough at the UW.

Solving IBS

The cause and treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome are complex problems that researchers at the UW School of Nursing are systematically addressing.

Future of medicine

The answer to developing a quick fix for a virus? (Or the answers to a whole host of other medical issues?) It might be found in proteins.

Quick implant

Sixty minutes was all it took for Jordan Prutkin, a UW cardiologist, to implant a new, improved kind of defibrillator in Merle Yoney’s chest.

December 1, 2012

More than 'junk'

For decades most scientists thought the bulk of the material in the human genome—up to 95 percent—was “junk DNA.” It now turns out much of this “junk” actually contains the vital instructions that switch genes on and off in all kinds of different cells.

Longer CPR, longer life?

Hospitals that continue CPR longer have better survival rates for patients whose hearts have stopped beating, according to a study led by Zachary Goldberger, Acting Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Harborview Medical Center.

Blind mice see the light

Researchers who injected a new chemical into the eyes of blind mice made the mice sensitive to light, a finding that could hold promise for people with disease that cause blindness.

Smarter on asthma

Researchers at the UW and Seattle Children’s have developed a smartphone app that gives an accurate reading of lung function.

Fibbing on fat

When it comes to reporting whether we’ve lost or gained weight over the previous year, we may not be lying exactly but many of us are guilty of wishful thinking.

Better imaging

Lodespin Labs, a new company founded by UW researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering with support from UW’s Center for Commercialization, may help solve a worrying problem in health care.

September 1, 2012

Stat star

Awards and honors aren’t what it’s about for the School of Public Health’s Daniela Witten, assistant professor in the nation’s No. 1 rated Biostatistics Department. She’s in it for the work.

USDA report off base

If you fill your shopping cart with healthy foods, it will cost you less than if you purchased highly processed “junk” food full of high fat and sugar content, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. Not so, says Adam Drewnowski, professor of epidemiology in the UW School of Public Health.

Tree-sized benefits

Professor James Lutz, UW research scientist in environmental and forest sciences, is the lead author of the largest quantitative study yet on the importance of big trees in temperate forests.