This RSS news feed from uwnews.org, the University of Washington Office of News and Information, includes the last 40 in the Science category. http://uwnews.org/apps/uwnews/public/rss.aspx?q=uwnByCategoryName&categoryName=Science&numToShow=40 http://uwnews.org/images/uwnewslogo_small.jpg http://uwnews.org/ uwnews.org, the University of Washington Office of News and Information (c)2009 University of Washington News and Information | http://uwnews.org | uwnews@u.washington.edu | 206-543-2580 Bob Roseth | roseth@u.washington.edu Ken Fine | kenfine@u.washington.edu Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:26 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Computer scientists at the UW are using Android, the open-source mobile operating system championed by Google, to transform a cell phone into a flexible data-collection tool. Their free suite of tools, named Open Data Kit, is already used by organizations around the world that need inexpensive ways to gather information in areas with little infrastructure. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53209 Science Technology Health and Medicine Environment Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53209 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:57:42 GMT For the first time, a group of scientists working in the Kuril Islands off the east coast of Russia has documented the scope of tsunami-caused erosion and found that a wave can carry away far more sand and dirt than it deposits. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53117 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53117 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:02:21 GMT Biologists for the first time have documented a second breeding season during the annual cycle of five songbird species that spend summers in temperate North America and winters in tropical Central and South America. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53093 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53093 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:53:49 GMT UW scientist instrumental in important step to convert methane gas to a liquid, giving the potential of making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52992 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52992 Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:45:45 GMT It may take a village to raise a child, and apparently it takes at least two adult birds to teach a young song sparrow how and what to sing. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52899 Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52899 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:42:18 GMT New research on the Kitsap Peninsula, at the west edge of Washington state's Puget Sound, finds evidence that land was raised at least 6 feet by ancient earthquakes. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52822 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52822 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:52:49 GMT University of Washington leaders today officially broke ground on a molecular engineering building. The underground instrumentation space that minimizes vibrations and electromagnetic interference will be the largest such lab space on the West Coast. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52619 Campus Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52619 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:57:41 GMT During the next six years Operation Ice Bridge will use aircraft to conduct what NASA says is the largest airborne survey ever made of ice at the Earth's polar regions. Flights over Antarctica, with University of Washington oceanographer Seelye Martin as chief scientist, start Oct. 15. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52616 Environment Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52616 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:42 GMT Tiny organisms known as archaea play a central role in the planet's nitrogen cycle, according to new research. Experiments suggest archaea play a key ecological role in upper- and deep-ocean ecosystems. This could affect global climate model calculations. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52221 Science Environment Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52221 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 GMT The UW was among nine research institutions from around the world that collaborated on the first successful demonstration of multiple biomedical robots operated from locations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. UW engineers also helped develop the standard protocol used in the tests. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52044 Science Technology Health and Medicine Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) and Lindsay Sheppard (lindsay.sheppard@sri.com) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52044 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:58:53 GMT University of Washington researchers at the UW Medicine Eye Institute have successfully used gene therapy to cure color blindness in adult monkeys. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52015 Health and Medicine Science Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52015 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:00:00 GMT Using tourist photos downloaded from the Web, computer scientists created a digital version of Rome in about a day. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51970 Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51970 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:33:59 GMT A University of Washington Seaglider operated for 9 months and 5 days in the Pacific Ocean, an endurance record more than double what any other autonomous underwater vehicle has accomplished on a single mission. During that time it propelled itself a distance equivalent to crossing the Atlantic Ocean from New England to Europe, without periods of drifting with currents and while continually diving to collect data. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51901 Science Environment Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51901 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:32:53 GMT For the first time researchers have run an electrical circuit entirely off power in trees. The findings suggest a new power source for wireless sensors. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51869 Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51869 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:57:00 GMT The University of Washington is slated to receive approximately $126 million -- of which $35 million is stimulus money -- to begin installing nearly 500 miles of fiber-optic and power cable and seven science nodes on the seafloor off the Pacific Northwest. The cabled observatory will give scientists new ways to study the processes that influence global climate, store human-generated fossil fuel carbon, cause ocean acidification, support major fish stocks and threaten coastlines with storms and tsunamis. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51819 Environment Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51819 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:50:00 GMT Researchers led by a UW chemist have found a way to train tiny semiconductor crystals, called nanocrystals or quantum dots, to display new magnetic functions at room temperature using light as a trigger. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51638 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51638 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:00:00 GMT A new organic material lets both positive and negative charges flow efficiently. It permits a simpler design of organic electronics, using a single material for transporting positive and negative charges. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51503 Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51503 Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:16:20 GMT University of Washington researchers have found a way to measure exactly how much electrical current is carried by tiny bubbles and channels that form inside nanoscale solar cells, paving the way for development of more efficient materials. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51232 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51232 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:35:00 GMT A team of engineers and medical experts has been able to illuminate brain tumors by injecting fluorescent nanoparticles into the bloodstream. The tiny particles can safely cross the blood-brain barrier, an almost impenetrable barrier that protects the brain from infection. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51245 Health and Medicine Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51245 Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:27:46 GMT Twenty one fisheries management researchers and marine ecologists - many of whom have been at odds with each other in the past over the state of the world's fisheries - have collaborated on a groundbreaking paper that puts forth a common way to look at fish abundance and exploitation. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51229 Environment Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51229 Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:25:31 GMT A likely comet collision on Jupiter last week caused a minor sensation, but new research shows that similar impacts on Earth are most likely not responsible for any of the planet's mass extinctions. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51186 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51186 Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:00:00 GMT UW scientists say Seattle area bracing for triple-digit temperatures this week. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51162 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51162 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:51:55 GMT For the first time, researchers combine nanoparticles used for medical imaging and therapy in one tiny package. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51016 Science Technology Health and Medicine Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51016 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:41:00 GMT Private information scattered all over the Internet and impossible to control. A new system, called Vanish, puts an expiration date on electronic text. Electronic communication sent using Vanish -- such as e-mail, Facebook posts and chat messages -- would have a brief lifetime and then self-destruct. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50973 Technology Science Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50973 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:00:00 GMT Beyond the immediate distress, dental pain may portend future medical problems. It may be a warning that the high-glycemic diet that led to dental problems in the short term may, in the long term, lead to potentially serious chronic diseases. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50669 Science Health and Medicine Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50669 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:02:00 GMT The rain band near the equator that determines the supply of freshwater to nearly a billion people throughout the tropics and subtropics has been creeping north for more than 300 years. If the band continues to migrate at just less than a mile a year, which is the average for all the years it has been moving north, then some Pacific islands near the equator may be starved of freshwater by midcentury or sooner. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50686 Science Environment Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50686 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:19:19 GMT University of Washington engineers used a novel underwater manufacturing technique to build biomimetic cilia. The hairlike appendages mix tiny volumes of liquid to speed up biomedical reactions. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50683 Technology Science Health and Medicine Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50683 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:13:44 GMT New research shows that, at least for some insects, wings that flex and deform, something like what happens to a heavy beach towel when you snap it to get rid of the sand, are the best for staying aloft. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50656 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50656 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:07:00 GMT Archaeologists have used stone tools to answer many questions about human ancestors in both the distant and near past and now they are analyzing the origin of obsidian flakes to better understand how people settled and interacted in the inhospitable Kuril Islands. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50505 Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50505 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:04:08 GMT A team of graduate students and faculty advisors in the UW's aeronautics and astronautics department are available today to show off the rocket they built from scratch. The team leaves tomorrow for Utah, where the rocket will compete to carry a 10-pound payload to 10,000 feet. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50499 Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50499 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:00:00 GMT Weaving chitosan, found in the shells of crabs and shrimp, with an industrial polyester creates a promising new material for biomedical applications, including the tiny tubes that support repair of a severed nerve. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50407 Technology Science Health and Medicine Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50407 Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:50:00 GMT New calculations indicate that, in nearby star systems, tidal forces exerted on planets by their parent star's gravity could limit what is regarded as a star's habitable zone and change the criteria for planets where life could potentially take root. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50350 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50350 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:32:35 GMT A team of astronomers and astrobiologists has devised a technique to tell whether small Earth-like planets orbiting other suns harbor liquid water, which in turn could tell whether they might be able to support life. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49976 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49976 Tue, 26 May 2009 10:00:00 GMT In a new book, University of Washington paleontologist Peter Ward suggests that Earth is ultimately inhospitable to life, and that life itself might be the primary reason. Rather than the nurturing idea of the Gaia hypothesis, he invokes the darker Medea from Greek mythology. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49831 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49831 Wed, 20 May 2009 15:41:36 GMT Through sophisticated statistical analyses and advanced computer simulations, researchers are learning more about the genomic patterns of human population structure around the world. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49745 Health and Medicine Science Leila Gray (leilag@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49745 Thu, 14 May 2009 16:00:09 GMT There has been recent disagreement about the snowpack decline in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but new research leaves little doubt that a warmer climate has a significant effect on the snowpack, even if other factors keep year-to-year measurements close to normal for a period of years. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49664 Science Environment Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) and Stephanie Kenitzer (kenitzer@dc.ametsoc.org) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49664 Tue, 12 May 2009 17:55:37 GMT The space shuttle Atlantis, leaving Monday for the Hubble Space Telescope, will be piloted by UW engineering graduate Gregory C. Johnson. The shuttle will carry a camera that UW astronomers helped build, which will replace Hubble's existing camera. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49455 Science Technology Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) and Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49455 Wed, 06 May 2009 15:45:00 GMT A UW geologist is debunking the recent notion that 'chevrons,' large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world's coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49190 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49190 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:00:00 GMT The University of Washington has surpassed its 2-year-old world record for operating a glider under the ice, this time by successfully operating one of its seagliders for six months as it made round trips hundreds of miles in length under the ice at Davis Strait. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49154 Science Environment Technology Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) and Peter West (pwest@nsf.gov) and Dena Headlee (dheadlee@nsf.gov) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49154 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:00:49 GMT Astronomers have found hundreds of extrasolar planets in the last two decades, and new research indicates they might have found even more except for one thing - some planets have fallen into their stars and simply no longer exist. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49159 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49159 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:56:37 GMT Scholars have recently questioned whether ancient Indus inscriptions code for language. A UW computer scientist used statistics to show that the 4,500-year-old Indus symbols' pattern follows that of other spoken languages. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49046 Technology Science Arts and Humanities Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49046 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT By combining nanoparticles with a scorpion venom compound already being investigated for treating brain cancer, University of Washington researchers found they could cut the spread of cancerous cells by 98 percent, compared to 45 percent for the scorpion venom alone. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48796 Health and Medicine Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48796 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:52:00 GMT New research shows the sleep disruption associated with jet lag and shift work occurs in two separate but linked groups of neurons below the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48866 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48866 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT The University of Washington will apply cloud computing to analyze climate simulation results and astronomical images. The new grants are part of a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Google and IBM that brings cloud computing to U.S. universities. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48747 Science Technology Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48747 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:05:07 GMT If Mark Twain were alive today he might rephrase his frequently cited observation about everyone talking about the weather but not doing anything about it to say, "Everyone reads or watches weather forecasts, but many people don't understand them." http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48740 Science Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48740 Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:37:06 GMT Baby Steps is a multimedia system that combines sentimental snapping with medical record-keeping. The experimental product feels like a fun toy for parents, but researchers found in a pilot study that parents who used it regularly collected twice as much medically relevant information about their child's developmental progress. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48536 Science Technology Health and Medicine Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48536 Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:23:47 GMT A nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summer may happen three times sooner than scientists have estimated. New research says the Artic might lose most of its ice cover in summer in as few as 30 years instead of the end of the century. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48419 Science Environment Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48419 Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:00:45 GMT A new, not-so-secret recipe uses artist-grade ceramics powder for 3-D printing. Ceramics objects can now be printed for about 3 percent the cost of commercial printing mixes. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48302 Science Technology Arts and Humanities Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48302 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:45:46 GMT The planet Mars has a moon named Deimos, so it seems only appropriate that the ocean observatory MARS in Monterey Bay have its own DEIMOS. This DEIMOS, however, is an underwater acoustic package designed to monitor movements of fish and zooplankton. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48087 Science Environment Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48087 Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:00:17 GMT Lizards living in tropical forests could be in serious peril from rising temperatures associated with climate change. In fact, those forest lizards appear to tolerate a much narrower range of survivable temperatures than do their relatives at higher latitudes and are actually less tolerant of high temperatures. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47732 Science Environment Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47732 Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:01:08 GMT