Research

"Hostage-taking has been frequently used by both states and insurgent groups as a means to extract funds or concessions from more powerful states," writes Michael Blake, professor of philosophy and of public policy and governance at the UW.

Generative AI is changing how people work, complete assignments, date, and create. But the massive computer systems powering AI consume vast amounts of water and emit tons of carbon. Even with green initiatives by big companies, the scale of the impact is expected to increase. Adrienne Russell, professor of communication and co-director of the UW Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy, is quoted.

The return of the humpback whale to greater numbers than observed in decades is part of a larger revival of marine mammals in the Salish Sea. Briana Abrahms, assistant professor of biology at the UW, is mentioned.

Researchers from the University of Washington and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture will be partners in the newly announced $30M NSF Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science.  

A discovery like this could change how we think about life in this solar system by providing clues into how it operates in others. Peers question whether the evidence is sufficiently extraordinary to prove this extraordinary claim. Don Brownlee, professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

A new study from the University of Washington and Cornell University shows researchers more likely to write scientific papers with co-authors of the same gender, a pattern that can’t be explained by varying gender representations across scientific disciplines and time. Carole Lee, associate professor of philosophy, is quoted.

A particle physics experiment decades in the making — the Muon g-2 experiment — looks increasingly like it might set up a showdown over whether there are fundamental particles or forces in the universe that are unaccounted for in the current Standard Model. On Aug. 10, the international team of scientists behind Muon g-2 — pronounced “g minus 2” — released the world’s most precise measurement yet of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Calculating the muon’s magnetic moment at a high precision will indicate whether it is interacting solely with the particles and forces known today, or if unknown particles or forces are out there.

As marine heat waves continued to simmer along the East Coast and beyond, a mass of warm water twice the size of Alaska quietly arrived on the Pacific Northwest's coastal shores. The UW's Julia Parrish, professor of biology and of aquatic and fishery sciences is quoted.

A skyscraper-size asteroid was revealed in year-old telescope data thanks to a new algorithm that could change the way near-Earth objects are discovered. Mario Juric, professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

"Climate change has emerged as an important issue for the younger generation—that is, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996). Public opinion polls suggest that these cohorts are more worried about climate change and more supportive of climate policies," write the UW's Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science.

A special algorithm designed to spot dangerous near-Earth asteroids appears to be so good it has spotted its very first one during an initial test. The UW's Mario Jurić, professor of astronomy, and Ari Heinze, research scientist in astronomy, are quoted.

A new technique for finding potentially hazardous asteroids before they find us has chalked up its first success. Ari Heinze, research scientist in astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn't take long for them to spout falsehoods. Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it's now a problem. Emily Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Big feet and short beaks have evolved in some hummingbirds that allow the birds to mooch nectar without helping the plant by transporting pollen. Alejandro Rico-Guevara, assistant professor of biology at the UW and curator of birds at the UW Burke Museum, is quoted.

An asteroid discovery algorithm — designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky — has identified its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth’s vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on. The roughly 600-foot-long asteroid, designated 2022 SF289, was discovered during a test drive of the algorithm with the ATLAS survey in Hawaii. Finding 2022 SF289, which poses no risk to Earth for the foreseeable future, confirms that the next-generation algorithm, known as HelioLinc3D, can identify near-Earth asteroids with fewer and more dispersed observations than required by today’s methods. That is important because, though scientists know of more than 2,000 near-Earth asteroids, they estimate that another 3,000 await discovery!