Latest News from: University of Washington

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16-Nov-2005 1:25 PM EST
Charter Schools Serving More Urban and Disadvantaged
University of Washington

America's charter schools serve a larger percentage of minority and low-income students than do the nation's traditional public schools, according to a comprehensive new study of the growing charter movement.

Released: 16-Nov-2005 1:50 PM EST
Book Tells How Black, White Migrants Changed America
University of Washington

Two parallel, but largely separate migrations of more than 20 million black and white Americans in the 20th century transformed politics, culture and religion in the United States.

Released: 9-Nov-2005 1:00 AM EST
When It Comes to Babies Learning Language, the Eyes Have It
University of Washington

Infants begin pulling off an amazing feat sometime in the final three months of their first year of life. They learn an important social interaction by following the gaze of an adult, a step that gives babies a big boost in understanding language.

Released: 31-Oct-2005 6:00 AM EST
Book Expands Biological Classifications to Account for 'Alien' Life
University of Washington

In a new book, a University of Washington paleontologist puts forth an expanded "tree of life," or biological classification system, to account for a variety of life forms, including 'alien' life, that would not fit in the current system.

21-Oct-2005 8:40 AM EDT
Researchers Find Gland That Tells Fruit Flies When to Stop Growing
University of Washington

University of Washington biologists studying the physiology of Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, have discovered an organ that assesses the size of the juvenile and signals when it has reached a critical weight to begin metamorphosis into an adult.

Released: 20-Oct-2005 8:45 AM EDT
Who People Live with Gives Different Picture of Immigrants in U.S.
University of Washington

Immigrants are more dispersed and far more entwined with American-born people when measured by the households in which they live rather than counted individually on the traditional basis of census tracts.

Released: 28-Sep-2005 2:00 PM EDT
Children Whose Parents Smoke Twice as Likely to Begin Smoking
University of Washington

Twelve-year-olds whose parents smoked were more than twice as likely to begin smoking cigarettes daily between the ages of 13 and 21 than were children whose parents didn't use tobacco, according to a new study that looked at family influences on smoking habits.

Released: 28-Sep-2005 12:30 PM EDT
Universe Evolution Favored Three and Seven Dimensions
University of Washington

Physicists who work with a concept called string theory envision our universe as an eerie place with at least nine spatial dimensions, six of them hidden from us, perhaps curled up in some way so they are undetectable. The big question is why we experience the universe in only three spatial dimensions.

Released: 27-Sep-2005 3:10 PM EDT
Penguin Chicks Exposed to Human Visitors Experience Spike in Stress Hormone
University of Washington

Newly hatched magellanic penguin chicks in breeding grounds with a large number of human visitors show a significant spike in levels of a stress-related hormone compared to chicks hatched in areas not visited by humans.

Released: 26-Sep-2005 1:00 PM EDT
Public to See Live Broadcast for First Time of Surreal Seafloor Off Washington
University of Washington

The first ever live video broadcasts from the Juan de Fuca Ridge on the seafloor 200 miles off the Washington and British Columbia coast are planned Sept. 28 and 29.

Released: 6-Sep-2005 2:15 PM EDT
Symbols Can Help Children Control Impulses, Get More of What They Want
University of Washington

Researchers investigating how self-control develops in young children found that abstract symbols can lead the youngsters toward a more optimal decision than when they have to make a choice with tangible objects such as candy.

Released: 6-Sep-2005 1:25 PM EDT
Academics, Industry Experts Launch Internet Innovation Symposium
University of Washington

Can academics and corporations work together to identify important emerging technologies and shorten the time it takes for these technologies to develop into the Internet's next billion dollar market segments? Experts gathering in Seattle next week think so.

19-Aug-2005 4:30 PM EDT
Chemistry Method Uses 'Test Tubes' Far Smaller than the Width of a Hair
University of Washington

Using a water droplet 1 trillion times smaller than a liter of club soda, a University of Washington scientist is conducting chemical analysis and experimentation at unprecedented tiny scales.

Released: 18-Aug-2005 9:00 AM EDT
School-Funding Loopholes Leave Poor Children Behind
University of Washington

The major funding arm of President Bush's No Child Left Behind program is hampered by serious loopholes that prevent the money from reaching schools with disadvantaged children.

Released: 15-Aug-2005 11:20 AM EDT
Emotional, Not Factual, Ads Win Skeptical Consumers
University of Washington

Naysayers of advertisements are more accepting of aesthetically appealing commercials than ones that provide product information, according to a new study.

10-Aug-2005 1:55 PM EDT
Warming Most Evident at High Latitudes, but Greatest Impact Will Be in Tropics
University of Washington

The impact of global warming has become obvious in areas such as Alaska, Siberia and the Arctic, but a University of Washington ecologist says the most serious impact in the next century likely will be in the tropics.

Released: 8-Aug-2005 12:35 PM EDT
Model Gives Clearer Idea of How Oxygen Came to Dominate Earth's Atmosphere
University of Washington

A new model offers plausible scenarios for how oxygen came to dominate Earth's atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago, and why it took at least 300 million years after bacterial photosynthesis started producing oxygen in large quantities.

Released: 8-Aug-2005 11:40 AM EDT
Hurricane Research Project Ultimately Could Improve Forecasting
University of Washington

A collaborative research team next week is to begin one of the largest hurricane research projects ever undertaken to better understand dramatic, rapid changes in tropical storm intensity that have baffled forecasters for years.

25-Jul-2005 11:10 AM EDT
Amazon Source of 5-Year-Old River Breath
University of Washington

The rivers of South America's Amazon basin are "breathing" far harder "“ cycling the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide more quickly "“ than anyone realized.

Released: 15-Jul-2005 8:50 AM EDT
Teaching Effective Parenting Skills Best Tool for Serious Child Conduct Problems
University of Washington

Training adults to have more effective parenting skills is the most potent tool available and should remain the standard of care in treating preadolescents with serious behavior problem. And the same treatment works as well for girls as it does for boys.

Released: 11-Jul-2005 2:50 PM EDT
Native Lore Tells the Tale: There's Been a Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
University of Washington

Stories of two-headed serpents and epic battles between Thunderbird and Whale, common among Northwest native peoples, are rooted in the region's seismic history. New research found stories that could relate to events hundreds of years ago.

5-Jul-2005 3:55 PM EDT
Trio of Plant Genes Prevent 'Too Many Mouths'
University of Washington

A signaling pathway required for plants to grow to their normal size appears to have an unexpected dual purpose of keeping the plant from wallpapering itself with too many densely clustered stomata.

20-Jun-2005 1:40 PM EDT
Chickadees' Alarm Calls Carry Information About Size, Threat of Predators
University of Washington

The alarm call of the black-capped chickadee carries a surprising amount of information about a predator's size and the threat it poses.

Released: 13-Jun-2005 10:00 AM EDT
Tough Child Support Laws May Deter Single Men from Becoming Dads
University of Washington

States that are strict in enforcing child support have up to 20 percent fewer unmarried births than states that are lax about getting unmarried dads to pay, researchers found.

Released: 13-Jun-2005 8:50 AM EDT
Global Experts Stage Talks on Nuclear Showdown -- Inside North Korea
University of Washington

Scholars are completing what is believed to be the first broadly international academic conference ever to be held on North Korean soil. The topic is the long-stalled Six-Party talks on nuclear arms.

Released: 6-Jun-2005 2:20 PM EDT
Soil Emissions Are Much-Bigger-than-Expected Component of Air Pollution
University of Washington

Nitrogen oxides from huge fires and fossil fuel combustion are a major component of air pollution. But new research shows that, in some area, nitrogen oxides from the soil are far greater than expected and could play a much larger role in seasonal air pollution than previously believed.

Released: 17-May-2005 11:55 AM EDT
Enterprising Students Vie for Seed Money, Chance to Cultivate, Grow Their Ideas
University of Washington

Finalists for the Center for Technology Entrepreneurship's Business Plan Competition are some of the most eclectic and promising teams in its eight-year history.

2-May-2005 4:10 PM EDT
Earth's Reflectivity a Great Unknown in Gauging Climate Change Impacts
University of Washington

Earth's climate is being changed substantially by greenhouse gases, but some leading climate scientists say data are too scarce on how much energy the planet reflects into space. They are calling for restoration of programs to study Earth's albedo.

Released: 27-Apr-2005 9:05 AM EDT
Alaskan Puzzles, Monitoring Provide Insight About North Pacific Salmon Runs
University of Washington

The University of Washington Alaska Salmon Program, the world's longest-running effort to monitor salmon and their ecosystems, has received nearly $2.4 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to expand its sampling scope and sophistication.

Released: 26-Apr-2005 4:35 PM EDT
South Asia Disaster Shows Tsunamis Are an Ongoing Threat to Humans
University of Washington

The tsunami that devastated south Asia coastlines and killed more than 200,000 people last December is a powerful reminder of just how dangerous those waves can be to humans, and a University of Washington scientist says it should be used to help people prepare for the next one.

Released: 19-Apr-2005 6:00 AM EDT
How Precisely Gene Expression Signals Are Copied in DNA Replication
University of Washington

A group of University of Washington researchers has devised a method that combines DNA sampling and mathematical modeling to find out how accurately patterns of methylation, a process that can control how genes are expressed, are copied during DNA replication.

Released: 18-Apr-2005 4:00 PM EDT
When It Comes to Salmon Sex, Size Sometimes Doesn't Matter
University of Washington

The ones that stay and the ones that stray are biological puzzles among Pacific salmon, of whom the vast majority -- but not all -- travel thousands of miles to sea and back to the streams where they hatched.

11-Apr-2005 9:20 AM EDT
Low Oxygen Likely Made 'Great Dying' Worse, Greatly Delayed Recovery
University of Washington

New University of Washington research suggests a sharp decline in atmospheric oxygen levels was likely a major reason for elevated extinction rates and a very slow species recovery, lasting millions of years, during the "Great Dying" some 251 million years ago.

Released: 5-Apr-2005 6:00 PM EDT
Pairs of Seagliders Set Endurance Records
University of Washington

Two ocean-diving gliders were retrieved late last month near Kauai after setting a world record by traveling a quarter of the way across the Pacific Ocean. Two other gliders have set another world endurance record with a deployment of 193 days as of early April.

Released: 31-Mar-2005 9:20 AM EST
Immigration Has Become Hallmark of America's Image at Home, Abroad
University of Washington

Even though the American government and people have not always embraced immigrants, the image of the United States as a land of opportunity and refuge has become the focal point of the nation's identity at home and around the world.

Released: 31-Mar-2005 9:20 AM EST
Separate Genes Influence Speed, Accuracy in Decoding Written Words in Dyslexia
University of Washington

Researchers trying to tease out the genetic bases of dyslexia have discovered a location on chromosome 2 that may contain one or more genes that contribute to the reading disorder and make it difficult for people to rapidly pronounce psuedowords.

Released: 29-Mar-2005 12:00 PM EST
Continents, Colleges Converge at UW Global Business Challenge
University of Washington

Undergraduate teams from around the globe will gather April 4-9 for the Business School's seventh annual Global Business Challenge. The competition gives teams 48 hours to solve a business case and present conclusions to a panel of corporate judges.

Released: 28-Mar-2005 9:00 AM EST
Cuba's State-Run Baseball League Doesn't Go to Bat for Players
University of Washington

Cuba touts its state-run baseball system as superior, but a study finds that Cuba exploits its players, while offering its fans less-even competition than in the market-driven United States.

Released: 25-Mar-2005 9:20 AM EST
Fewer Fish Discarded After Individual Transferable Quotas Offered
University of Washington

Contradicting previous assumptions, new fisheries research shows that allocating catch among vessels reduces the amount of fish discarded at sea. The findings come at a time when individual transferable quotas are being considered for the U.S. West Coast.

Released: 24-Mar-2005 12:40 PM EST
Researchers Call for Expanding the Repertoire in Studying Birdsong
University of Washington

It's time for researchers who study songbirds as models for understanding the human brain and how humans acquire language to begin singing a different tune and study a wider variety of species, say a pair of leading scientists.

18-Mar-2005 1:00 PM EST
Ice Core 'Dipstick' Indicates West Antarctic Ice Has Thinned Less than Believed
University of Washington

New research using a thousand-meter ice core shows a key section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet probably never contained as much ice as scientists originally thought it did, so it couldn't have contributed as much as believed to higher sea levels 20,000 years ago.

Released: 21-Mar-2005 12:30 PM EST
Black Holes Could be Most 'Perfect,' Low-Viscosity Fluid
University of Washington

Physicists using string theory have determined that the fluid of a black hole in 10 dimensions, similar to a quark-gluon plasma in three spatial dimensions, could be the lowest-viscosity fluid.

Released: 16-Mar-2005 11:50 AM EST
Evidence of Dark Energy in Our Galactic Neighborhood
University of Washington

An international team of researchers using data from powerful computer models and observations from the Hubble Space Telescope has found evidence of dark energy right in our own cosmic neighborhood.

Released: 15-Mar-2005 9:20 AM EST
Answer from 'Dusty Shelf' Aids Quest to See Matter as It Was Just After Big Bang
University of Washington

Two University of Washington physicists using a quantum mechanics technique say scientists might have already succeeded in creating a state of matter that hasn't existed since a fraction of a second after the big bang.

1-Mar-2005 5:40 PM EST
Hydrogen and Methane Provide Raw Energy for Life at 'Lost City'
University of Washington

Gases produced at the Lost City hydrothermal vent field and the organisms that make their living off them are so different from so-called black-smoker hydrothermal vents that they may provide a whole new avenue for looking for the earliest life on Earth and for life on other planets.

25-Feb-2005 1:40 PM EST
Acting Techniques May Help Doctors Empathize with Their Patients
University of Washington

A patient-physician relationship characterized by genuine empathy has become increasingly important for physicians and their patients as the world of modern medicine becomes increasingly fragmented.

Released: 28-Feb-2005 11:30 AM EST
Tiny Flies Could Lead to Understanding Potential for Non-embryonic Stem Cells
University of Washington

It has long been thought that cells that regenerate tissue do so by regressing to a developmentally younger state. Now two University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that cells can regenerate without becoming "younger."

Released: 23-Feb-2005 3:00 PM EST
Sexual Banter in Workplace May Have Its Benefits
University of Washington

A little sexual banter in the workplace isn't necessarily a bad thing. According to a new study, sexualized encounters in some work situations actually can contribute to building camaraderie on the job.

15-Feb-2005 1:20 PM EST
More than Half of High School Seniors Employed, Mostly Minimum-Wage
University of Washington

The common perception that most American teenagers go to school, engage in extracurricular activities such as sports and hang out with their friends is missing one crucial and time-consuming element -- work.

Released: 17-Feb-2005 11:30 AM EST
International Business Plan Competition Measures 'Social Return' on Investment
University of Washington

In the UW's first Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition, students have been asked to explain how they'll improve the quality of life and reduce poverty in developing countries. Their plans have to show social and financial returns on investments.



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