New hardware lets engineers maintain the plasma used in fusion reactors in an energy-efficient, stable manner, making the system potentially attractive for use in fusion power plants.


New hardware lets engineers maintain the plasma used in fusion reactors in an energy-efficient, stable manner, making the system potentially attractive for use in fusion power plants.

King County has no substantial food deserts, provided one has a car. Take away the car, however, and food deserts — areas where low-income people have limited access to low-cost, nutritious food — appear to fill the county map. New research from the ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½, published in the American Journal of Public Health, shows only about one-third of the vulnerable populations studied could walk to a nearby supermarket, and as few as 3 percent could walk to a low-cost…

Global health researchers are working on cheap systems like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases. A new chemical technique makes medically interesting molecules stick to regular paper — a possible route to building such paper-based diagnostics from paper you could buy at an office-supply store.

UW scientists are teaming with the U.S. Coast Guard to study the new frontier in the Arctic Ocean opened up with the melting ice.

Parents typically are the biggest headaches for coaches in youth sports. In two new books, UW psychology professors share strategies to help parents and coaches work together to help kids get more out of sports.

Race biases are having a strong anti-Obama effect among the least politically partisan voters, according to a study by Anthony Greenwald, a UW psychology professor.

A UW doctoral student in musical composition uses sounds from the Washington Park Arboretum to create music that’s part natural, part imagined.

Two young UW researchers sought to reduce the error rate in DNA sequencing to better pinpoint cells that are mutating.

Findings suggest new ways to study controls of early human development, causes of birth defects, and regeneration of damaged tissue.

As the U.S. presidential election approaches, many voters become voracious consumers of online political news. A new tool tracks whether all those articles really provide a balanced view of the debate – and, if not, suggests some sites that offer opinions from the other side of the political spectrum.

New ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½ research suggests that early microbes might have been widespread on land, producing oxygen before the atmosphere was oxygen-rich.

A tiny digital tag developed at the UW can for the first time see when birds meet in the wild, offering a window into animal social networks. A study in Current Biology used the tags to track the social habits of New Caledonian crows, and found a surprising amount of interaction among the tool-using birds.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $20 million grant over five years in reauthorizing the Center for Enabling New Technologies Through Catalysis based at the ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½.

The scientists were selected for their inventive ideas to transform their field of research and improve the health of the public.

Feeling wheezy? You could call the doctor. Or soon you could use your smartphone to diagnose your lung health, with a new app that uses the frequencies in the breath to determine how much and how fast you can exhale.

Scientists found that the habitat required for ringed seals — animals under consideration for the threatened species list — to rear their young will drastically shrink this century.

Finding that the failed vaccine RV144 did offer some protection against certain HIV viruses suggests a more potent vaccine might be possible.

Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today show that, after increasing since 2008, the poverty rate for the U.S. remained stable at 15 percent between 2010 and 2011. In Washington state, the estimated poverty rate increased from 11.5 percent (774,000 residents) to 12.5 percent (854,000 residents) between 2010 and 2011.

ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½ President Michael Young will be the featured speaker at the UW’s 29th annual Freshman Convocation, which begins at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 23 in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. About 4,800 people are expected to attend this event, which welcomes the entering class. Convocation officially marks the beginning of the academic year, with classes starting Sept. 24. The event will be broadcast live and will be rebroadcast by UWTV. The academic procession will be…

Crows and humans share the ability to recognize faces and associate them with negative and positive feelings. The way the brain activates during that process is something the two species also appear to share.

Findings challenge the assumption that, if a pulse is not restored soon, continuing resuscitation efforts is futile.

New UW research indicates that shortly before an asteroid impact spelled doom for the dinosaurs, a separate extinction triggered by volcanic eruptions killed life on the ocean floor.

An international team of researchers has made headway toward a comprehensive listing of all the working parts of the human genome. More than 30 scientific papers appear today, include major work by UW researchers. The London Museum of Science celebrates with ceiling banners and aerial dancers.

Scientists created comprehensive maps of elusive gene-controlling DNA and a dictionary of the human genome’s programming language

Most genetic changes linked to more than 400 common diseases affect regions of DNA that dictate when genes are switched on or off. Many of these changes affect circuits active during early human development.

Middle school and high school students from the Yakama Nation will have a chance this weekend to peer into space or learn the basics of rocket flight during a daylong festival with scientists from UW and other institutions.

Double flowers – though beautiful – are mutants. UW biologists have found the class of genes responsible in a plant lineage more ancient than the one previously studied, offering a glimpse even further back into the evolutionary development of flowers.

UW researchers have found that a low dose of the sedative clonazepam alleviated autistic-like behavior in mice with a mutation that causes Dravet syndrome in humans.

A new statistical model predicts that by 2100 the number of people older than 85 worldwide will increase more than previously estimated.

Researchers have discovered molecular and protein signatures that predict rapid onset of liver damage in hepatitis C patients following a liver transplant. The markers appeared soon after transplant and well before clinical evidence of liver damage. Such early detection of susceptibility to hepatitis C virus-induced liver injury could lead to more personalized monitoring and treatment options after a transplant. Also, because the markers stem from an underlying pathology occurring at a very basic level, they might reveal why hepatitis C…

American megachurches use stagecraft, sensory pageantry, charismatic leadership and an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity to provide congregants with a powerful emotional religious experience, according to research from the ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½.

A ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½ scientist has proposed an experiment to test cloud brightening, a geoengineering concept that alters clouds in an effort to counter global warming.

A 2010 national survey of laid-off workers shows married moms spent more time between jobs, were less likely to find new jobs and eventually were paid less than married dads.

Forest searches using specially trained dogs improved the probability of finding spotted owls by nearly 30 percent over traditional vocalization surveys.

ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½ researchers used some new techniques this year in hopes of improving the accuracy of their annual prediction of the low point of Arctic sea ice.

David Montgomery, a ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½ geologist, is the author of a new book that explores the long history of religious thinking on matters of geological discovery, particularly flood stories such as the biblical account of Noah’s ark.

Washington state’s housing market continued to improve during the second quarter of 2012 despite a slight drop in existing home sales, according to the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½. Existing home sales during the second quarter of 2012 increased 10.4 percent compared with a year ago, however the seasonally adjusted annual rate dropped 2.6 percent from the first quarter. “The market is clearly stronger than a year ago, but it eased off a bit…

UW medical researchers are launching a study to help determine which of the two most common blood product combinations provide the best outcomes for trauma patients who require massive blood transfusions. Dr. Eileen Bulger, UW professor of surgery and chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center, is the principal investigator for the clinical study. The study will be conducted at 12 Level I trauma centers across the United States, including UW Medicine’s Harborview Medical Center. Bulger and her team will…

Christopher M. Jordan, a first-year law student at the ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½, has been selected by Gov. Chris Gregoire as the UW student regent for the coming academic year. Jordan earned a master’s degree in public administration from the UW’s Evans School of Public Affairs in 2012. He also received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2010. Jordan has worked as an outreach coordinator for the Economic Opportunity Institute and as a legislative intern in the office of Sen….

Researchers have made a major advance in efforts to regenerate damaged hearts. They discovered that transplanted heart muscle cells, grown from stem cells, electrically couple and beat in sync with the heart’s own mucle. The grafts also reduced the incidence of arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms) in a guinea pig model of myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). This finding from ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½-led research is reported in the Aug. 5 issue of Nature. The paper’s senior author, Dr….