College of Arts and Sciences

This week, OpenAI launched what its chief executive, Sam Altman, called “the smartest model in the world”—a generative-AI program whose capabilities are supposedly far greater, and more closely approximate how humans think, than those of any such software preceding it. The start-up has been building toward this moment since September 12, a day that, in OpenAI’s telling, set the world on a new path toward superintelligence. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Since 2018 the Zwicky Transient Facility, an international astronomical collaboration based at the Palomar Observatory in California, has scanned the entire sky every two to three nights. As part of this mission, the ZTFâs Bright Transient Survey has been counting and cataloguing supernovae â flashes of light in the sky that are the telltale signs of stars dying in spectacular explosions. On Dec. 4, ZTF researchers â including astronomers at the University of Washington â announced that that they have identified more than 10,000 of these stellar events, the largest number ever identified by an astronomical survey.

Hummingbird bills â their long, thin beaks â look a little like drinking straws. But new research shows just how little water, or nectar, that comparison holds. University of Washington scientists have discovered that the hummingbird bill is surprisingly flexible. While drinking, a hummingbird rapidly opens and shuts different parts of its bill simultaneously, engaging in an intricate and highly coordinated dance with its tongue to draw up nectar at lightning speeds.

Washington had the smallest rightward shift of any state in the 2024 presidential election, an Axios analysis finds — although, after three weeks of vote counting, it's no longer true that the state trended slightly more blue. Victor Menaldo, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

When he isnât lecturing at the University of Washington or pursuing his doctoral studies at the University of California, Davis, Tory Johnston (Quinault) co-hosts a global Indigenous radio show, Sounds of Survivance.

The UW’s Molecular Engineering and Materials Center and Center for Integration of Modern Optoelectronic Materials on Demand, in collaboration with partner institutions, have been selected for NSF Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) awards totaling $13.6 million to broaden participation and access to materials science resources, education, training, and career opportunities at minority-serving institutions.   

"Climate policy should not become associated with halted mobility, dark and cold buildings, and spoiled food in refrigerators. An important collective (as opposed to household) level response to outages is to strengthen grid resilience via undergrounding power lines," write the UW's Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science.

"Imagine you are a blue whale swimming up the California coast, as you do every spring. You are searching for krill in the Santa Barbara Channel, a zone that teems with fish, kelp forests, seagrass beds and other undersea life, but also vibrates with noise from ship traffic. Suddenly, the noise gets louder," writes Anna Nisi, a postdoctoral scholar of biology at the UW.

Ship strikes are a leading threat to large whales, with global shipping routes overlapping 92% of their habitats, a new study finds. But protecting whales in the most dangerous collision hotspots would require action over just 2.6% of the ocean’s surface, researchers conclude, potentially saving thousands of whales with minimal disruption to global trade. Briana Abrahms, assistant professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Scientists eavesdropped on orcas and found ship sounds may hide fish from the endangered killer whales. Jennifer Tennessen, senior research scientist in biology at the UW Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, is quoted.

A new study led by the University of Washington has for the first time quantified the risk for whale-ship collisions worldwide for four geographically widespread ocean giants that are threatened by shipping: blue, fin, humpback and sperm whales. In a paper published online Nov. 21 in Science, researchers report that global shipping traffic overlaps with about 92% of these whale speciesâ ranges. Only about 7% of areas at highest risk for whale-ship collisions have any measures in place to protect whales from this threat. These measures include speed reductions, both mandatory and voluntary, for ships crossing waters that overlap with whale migration or feeding areas.

In the aftermath of the 2024 election, Democrats are confronting a possible existential threat: The erosion of support among important demographic groups, particularly Latinos. Sophia Jordán Wallace, professor of political science at the UW, is interviewed.

Exciting. Confusing. Inspiring. Intimidating. Being a first-generation college student can bring many challenges and emotions. If you are a first-gen student, know that you are in good company. Here, ten UW Arts & Sciences students/alumni who've been in your shoes offer their thoughts on surviving — and thriving — as a first-generation student at the UW. 

"As a professor, I agree with my colleagues who have noticed the declining literacy of American students at elite universities. However, I am not sure if the schools are entirely to blame," writes Ione Fine, professor of psychology at the UW.

Democrats faced heavy losses nationwide on Election Day, with many districts turning away from the party as Republican Donald Trump won another term as president. Experts say Democratic leaders should take pointers from U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Victor Menaldo, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.