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UW professors Xiaodong Xu, Cynthia Vinzant, and Shayan Oveis Gharan have been honored by the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their research accomplishments.

Thousands of grasshopper specimens from mountains in Colorado show trends in how the insects changed in size over 65 years. With earlier emergence of spring greenery and earlier summer drought, grasshopper species that emerged early in the year grew larger, while grasshopper species that emerge later in the year grew smaller in size. The study, led by UW biologist Lauren Buckley, shows that changes in insect size can be predicted based on lifecycles and environmental conditions.

The UW department of history presented its 50th anniversary History Lecture Series on Jan. 22, hosted by UW associate professor Joel Walker. The lecture, part of the topic “River Histories,” explained four aspects of the Nile River and its connections to ancient Egypt.  

The Year of the Snake begins Jan. 29. It’s the first time Lunar New Year is a legislatively recognized (though unpaid) holiday in Washington state, thanks to a bill signed into law last March. Chan Lü, associate professor of Asian languages and literature at the UW and coordinator of the UW's Chinese program, is quoted.

Astronomers announced last week that they had completed a decade-long, meticulous effort to assemble a full portrait of our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. The result is a stunning panoramic view that provides the most detailed image yet of the entire galaxy; its science-packed features could revolutionize our understanding of how spiral galaxies across the universe form and evolve. The UW's Zhuo Chen, a postdoctoral scholar of astronomy, and Ben Williams, research associate professor of astronomy, are quoted.

The full image includes some 2.5 billion pixels compiled from observations spanning more than 1,000 orbits around Earth. Ben Williams, research associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Long before the 2024 presidential election took place, scholars at the UW knew that post-election processing would be necessary, regardless of the outcome. So, on Jan. 15, the UW’s Office of Public Lectures held “Autopsy of an Election: What We Lost, What We Won, and How to Fight for the Future,” a talk led by Megan Ming Francis, an associate professor of political science at the UW.

At the turn of the century, 3.8 million people banded together in a real-time search for aliens — with screensavers. The project was called SETI@home. The hope was that with the power of millions of computers, researchers could comb through radio signals hitting Earth from outer space to find a hint of something unusual. James Davenport, research assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is interviewed.

I can be part of this journey that humankind is on," recalls University of Washington astronomer James Davenport. "It was amazing." Now an astronomy professor at the University of Washington, Davenport is still enthralled by the search.

A massive 70-member choir belted out “Hallelujah” to open a Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day service Monday at his former congregation in Atlanta, followed by a stern message from his youngest daughter warning against anti-woke rhetoric. Ralina Joseph, associate professor of communication at the UW, is quoted.