research
December 6, 2024
"Kind of a crazy idea"
David Baker, the UW's latest Nobel Prize winner, revolutionized protein design.
October 22, 2024
Building better forests
Dr. Susan J. Prichard is a research scientist with a passion for forest ecology. She tells us about her work with wildfires.
September 13, 2024
Novel approach
With new support of private equity, CoMotion is helping a UW professor's quest to diagnose Alzheimer's earlier.
September 11, 2024
Small town, big dreams
UW's Livable City Year program worked with the city of Snohomish to support their economic development. Next up: Granite Falls and Mukilteo.
November 25, 2023
Probing a mystery
A UW center takes an innovative approach to solving one of medicine’s vexing problems: when organ transplants mysteriously lead to cancer.
1,100 years ago, double earthquake hit Seattle region, researchers prove
Solving a seismic mystery, researchers prove the Northwest was once hit with a double whammy.
November 24, 2023
Rousing research
UW leaders thought having students do research would prepare them to take on the future. It became a national model.
May 28, 2023
Seeps from the deep
A recent UW-led study exploring the seafloor about 50 miles off Newport, Oregon, discovered seeps of warm, chemically distinct liquid shooting up.
Our part for the planet
A UW workshop showcases how climate change innovations on campuses can benefit surrounding communities and beyond.
February 26, 2023
Plant power
Doctoral student Natalia Guayazán Palacios works to understand how plants and microorganisms coexist.
November 27, 2022
Tumor trap
Two interventional cardiologists at the UW Heart Institute were the first to use a basket-shaped, catheter-delivered tool to remove a benign tumor from a heart.
May 29, 2022
Finishing the sequence
UW researchers are contributors to the groundbreaking work of the Human Genome Project.
Better sleep, better work
As the pandemic reshapes how, when and where Americans work, research at the UW suggests we might want to hang on to some of the flexibility we enjoyed over the past two years.
March 5, 2022
Tech can be tricky
A pilot project will establish a public-interest technology clinic to serve local community organizations and governments.
Mental-health advice
The pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of young people. A UW and Harvard University study found that adequate sleep, a daily routine and limited screen time could help.
December 4, 2021
A call to action
Associate Professor Wendy Barrington, '12, brings a passion for health equity to her role as director of the Center for Anti-Racism and Community Health.
Unleashing dogs’ power
The UW’s Conservation Canines calls on dogs’ noses to find answers to pressing environmental questions.
License to innovate
The Washington Research Foundation was founded 40 years ago to capture the value of inventions coming out of the UW.
Fighting the infodemic
Twisted facts, fake news and social media spoofs can turn society upside down. One UW team is working to help us through the infodemic.
June 7, 2021
New law of physics
UW researchers have discovered a new law of fluid mechanics, a branch of physics, that will affect the future of aircraft design.
June 3, 2021
Joy Plein, 1925-2021
Joy B. Plein, ’51, ’57, dedicated her long life to researching, teaching and sponsoring pharmaceutical research at the University of Washington.
June 1, 2021
Speeding up the science
Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson lost their daughter to an uncommon form of cancer. Their philanthropy aims to expand research and bring hope to patients and their families.
May 11, 2021
Evictions continue
Washington landlords are finding ways around the pandemic-related moratoriums on evictions, and this is disproportionately affecting people of color.
March 11, 2021
Aiming at COVID-19
A year after it became one of the first academic labs in the U.S. to develop a COVID-19 test, the UW Medicine Virology Lab continues to innovate in response to the pandemic.
March 9, 2021
Don’t be a spreader
Some advice about the kind of misinformation you may see in the coming months about COVID-19 vaccines and some tools to stop its spread.
March 4, 2021
Floating robots
The UW will soon be deploying a fleet of floating robots in oceans around the world.
Digital dynamo
UW Libraries has undertaken a massive effort to expand access to digital resources and develop programs that teach students and faculty skills for research in a digital age.
December 16, 2020
Firearm study
The UW is researching handgun carrying among rural adolescents, in a three-year, $1.5 million study funded by the CDC.
October 13, 2020
Sweet science
Kennewick native Danielle Reed forages for genetic answers after her research finds that processed food is much too sweet for the average human tastebud.
June 25, 2020
Uneven evictions
Who gets evicted in Washington? It depends on gender and race, a UW study reveals.
June 10, 2020
The ultimate puzzle
Doctoral student Emily Rabe loves puzzles. Now she's working on one with high stakes—one that could have a significant impact on our planet’s health.
June 4, 2020
Her work spans oceans
Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño studies issues such as global environmental change, ocean acidification and microplastics in the ocean.
March 12, 2020
Fishing for arsenic
Researchers study the movement of water and heavy metals’ impact on aquatic life in lakes near Tacoma.
March 10, 2020
Under the influence
What effect does a parent's marijuana use have on kids? We asked a UW researcher.
For an informed public
The UW's Center for an Informed Public is a response to the rise in disinformation and erosion of trust in our most basic societal institutions.
November 24, 2019
Calling all dogs
A UW-led study is recruiting 10,000 canines and their companions for a study of dogs’ health as they age.
September 10, 2019
Protecting life in Cambodia
Climate change threatens fish runs and the livelihood and food resources for millions of Cambodians.
September 8, 2019
Alchemy of collaboration
The fantastic alchemy of collaboration between faculty and students is at the heart of many discoveries.
September 2, 2019
Saving time
Benefits to daylight saving time? Let me shine some light on the ways it makes life better.
June 3, 2019
Energy’s new wave
Converting ocean waves into electricity poses challenges—and promise.
June 2, 2019
World of worry
A new book by UW faculty explores anxiety-provoking topics ranging from food safety to mobile phones and bedbugs.
March 1, 2019
Busier bees
Using teeny, tiny batteries and sensors, insects provide a valuable eye in the sky for agriculture.
Natural elixir
Spending time outside is a sure-fire way to feel better. But researchers still don't know why that is.
November 30, 2018
Tech for mental health
UW Medicine researchers are exploring how a smartphone might help someone manage a severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
August 26, 2018
Sharks spin a tale
Great white sharks dive deep into the Atlantic’s clockwise-spinning warm-water whirlpools.
June 4, 2018
No easy tusk
Marine biologist Kristin Laidre is living her dream of studying narwhals, the mysterious 2,000-pound mammals that are notoriously tricky to find.
December 1, 2015
'Scarface' found
A team of scientists has identified a new species of “pre-mammal” based on fossils unearthed in Zambia’s Luangwa Basin in 2009. Its discoverers include Christian Sidor, UW professor of biology and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum.
Sweet gratitude
Gratitude is universally considered a social good—the warm feeling that results from a kindness received. But it can have a dark side: It can impel us to eat more sweets, according to new research by Ann Schlosser, professor of marketing at the Foster School of Business.
The silent stroke
If a stroke should occur, the unparalleled care at UW Medicine's Harborview Medical Center will give you your best shot.
September 1, 2015
High volume
Recordings by current and former UW researchers in fjords show that melting at glacier edges in the narrow rock-edged canyons are some of the noisiest places in the sea.
Cling like a fish
Scooting around in the shallow, coastal waters of Puget Sound is one of the world’s best suction cups. It’s called the Northern clingfish, and its small, finger-sized body uses suction forces to hold up to 150 times its own body weight.
Space explorers
Fifty years is no time at all for a universe that dates back 13.8 billion. But for those who study the sky, the past five decades have changed everything.
December 1, 2014
Can't weight
Obesity-associated insulin resistance is a major risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. UW researchers are now looking at obesity and its interdependent relationship to the disease.
Phone training
Mobile phones have become second-nature for most people. What’s coming next, say UW researchers, is the ability to interact with our devices not just with touchscreens, but through gestures in the space around the phone.
Toddler logic
Researchers have found that children as young as 2 intuitively use mathematical concepts such as probability to help make sense of the world.
September 1, 2014
Fighter flies
University of Washington researchers used an array of high-speed video cameras operating at 7,500 frames a second to capture the wing and body motion of flies after they encountered a looming image of an approaching predator.
Tide turner
Tidal power holds tremendous potential, especially here in the Evergreen State, because of the sheer volume of water moving in and out of Puget Sound each day.
Robot response
UW electrical engineers have developed telerobotics technology that could make disaster response faster and more efficient.
About everything
Computer scientists from the UW and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle have created the first fully automated computer program that teaches everything there is to know about any visual concept.
June 1, 2014
Mobile medicine
A collaboration between UW Computer Science and Engineering and PATH, a Seattle-area non-governmental organization, has led to a simple, ingenious solution to a dilemma facing women in Sub-Saharan Africa who wish to store breast milk. While medical care and safe water are not always available, most Africans today have smartphones.
March 1, 2014
Lake Mars
The mystery of how the surface of Mars, long dead and dry, could have flowed with water billions of years ago may have been solved by research that included a University of Washington astronomer.
Brain sugar
A growing body of evidence suggests that the brain plays a key role in glucose regulation and the development of type 2 diabetes.
Genetic echo
Researchers led by Dr. John Stamatoyannopoulos have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. This second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease.
Got data. Now what?
At the UW, the best minds are collaborating to ask questions and harness the power of “Big Data” to find answers and seek solutions to advance the common good.
December 1, 2013
Distracted drivers
In Washington state’s first study to examine driver use of electronic devices, UW investigators saw that more than 8 percent of drivers were engaging with such devices behind the wheel, higher than previously estimated.
Brain bonding
UW researchers have performed what they believe is the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface, with one researcher able to send a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motions of a fellow researcher.
Robot bonds
Julie Carpenter, who earned her doctorate in education from the UW in June, isn’t interested in fantasy movie robots. She wants to know something more serious: the social relationship between robots and their operators in the military.
September 1, 2013
The inspiration inquiry
Expanding the boundaries of knowledge in dance, theater and other performing arts requires research of a different stripe.
Career pursuit
Now, thanks to a four-year $6.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Shiu-Lok Hu is part of an international network of scientists dedicated to designing and advancing promising new HIV vaccine candidates to clinical trials.
Wi-Fi lifestyle
Thanks to gesture-recognition technology developed by University of Washington computer scientists, you may soon be able to brew a pot of coffee, shut off your computer, and turn up the stereo with just a few waves of your hands.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hope for broken hearts
Cardiology researchers at the UW are engaged in exciting work to explore whether a patient’s own stem cells can foster the regeneration of damaged heart muscle.
June 1, 2012
Distance diagnostics
Paul Yager, chair of the UW Bioengineering Department, is principal investigator on two grants totaling up to $26 million that aim to move diagnostic medicine away from standard antibody testing to paper.
Autism link
UW researchers were one of three teams of university scientists who found a link between autism spectrum disorder and mutations that occur spontaneously near or during conception.
March 1, 2012
More pressure, less tech
A UW Information School study found that college students—only weeks away from final exams and studying in the library—intentionally pared down their use of information technology devices.
Genome funding
The National Human Genome Research Institute recently announced the establishment of two major programs at UW that will receive about $30 million in funding over four years.
December 1, 2011
Tall order
Thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation, Earth and Space Sciences Professors Bernard Hallet and Howard Conway are trying to determine whether glaciers speed up or slow erosion in the Himalaya.
More talk, less pot
A study shows that a brief, voluntary chat with an adult led to a 20 percent decrease in marijuana use for teens who are frequent users.
Biofuel: a poplar idea
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the University of Washington a $40 million grant to turn woody biomass—mainly poplar trees—into biogasoline and renewable aviation fuel.
September 1, 2011
Boost for Head Start
Two UW College of Education researchers, both with previous classroom experience, are going to find out which teaching and learning practices are best for kids in Head Start.
Gene warfare
In the future, global-health experts may be able to cast a genetic net over mosquitoes to prevent them from spreading malaria to people.
Field test for brains
Pierre Mourad, associate professor of Neurological Surgery, has received a grant of $2,602,379 from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a rugged, field-deployable imaging device for traumatic brain injuries.
June 1, 2011
Hidden cost of transit
Many people are exposed to health and safety issues in the workplace, but how many think about the risk of the commute? Rick Neitzel, research scientist in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, does.