College of Arts and Sciences

A ‘mosquito flight simulator’ reveals a potential weakness in one species that carries malaria. Saumya Gupta, a postdoctoral researcher of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Spraying pesticides can have unintended impacts on important pollinator species. Jeff Riffell, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

An international team led by researchers at the University of Washington has uncovered surprising details about mosquito mating, which could lead to improved malaria control techniques and even help develop precision drone flight. In a paper published Aug. 30 in the journal Current Biology, the team revealed that when a male Anopheles coluzzii mosquito hears the sound of female-specific wingbeats, his eyes âactivateâ and he visually scans the immediate vicinity for a potential mate.

If your exposure to Seattle is limited to postcards and reputation, then you know it for the Space Needle, Mount Rainier, coffee and rain. But today’s Seattle is ever evolving, filled with colorful neighborhoods beyond the museum-studded central districts. The University District, or U District, is home to more pioneering and enduring businesses than just about any other neighborhood. The Burke Museum and Henry Art Gallery are mentioned.

NASAâs upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will look for âfossilsâ of galaxy formation by conducting high-resolution imaging studies. Through a grant from NASA, astronomers are designing a set of possible observations called RINGS â the Roman Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey â that would collect these images, and the team is producing publicly available tools that the astronomy community can use once Roman launches and starts collecting data.

Why denying the science of climate change is no longer politically tenable. Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

"Rather than learn these same painful lessons [of banishment programs] over again, we suggest looking to other successful initiatives that involve skillful regulation of space, enforcement of conduct expectations, and multidepartment coordination rather than banning specific people from parts of the city," write Katherine Beckett, professor of sociology and of law, societies and justice at the UW, and co-author Lisa Daugaard.

The overlap between humans and animals will increase substantially across much of the planet in less than 50 years due to human population growth and climate change, according to a collaborative study by scientists at the University of Michigan, the University of Washington and University College London. By 2070, the overlap between humans and more than 22,000 vertebrate species will rise across nearly 57% of Earthâs land, according to the team.

New research shows that galaxies in denser parts of the universe are usually larger than those that are more isolated. Aritra Ghosh, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

This summer, 14 European reporters came to the U.S. to study the art of narrative journalism with Lauren Kessler, senior affiliate professor of communication. The two-week intensive workshop was sponsored by Forum for Journalism and Media, a Vienna-based nonprofit dedicated to the continued education of working journalists, supported by the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, and hosted by the UW Department of Communications.

A new study has found galaxies with more neighbors tend to be larger than their counterparts that have a similar shape and mass, but reside in less dense environments. In a paper published Aug. 14 in the Astrophysical Journal, the team, which used a machine-learning algorithm to analyze millions of galaxies, reports that galaxies found in denser regions of the universe are as much as 25% larger than isolated galaxies. The findings resolve a long-standing debate among astrophysicists over the relationship between a galaxyâs size and its environment, but also raise new questions about how galaxies form and evolve over billions of years.

This weekend, NASA said to keep your eyes peeled for the peak of the Perseid meteor shower. According to NASA, the Perseid meteor shower runs from July 14 through Sept. 1, but will peak on the night of Sunday, Aug. 11. James Davenport, research assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is interviewed.

"In the face of shrinking populations, many of the world’s major economies are trying to engineer higher birth rates," co-writes Win Brown, an affiliate researcher at the Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology at the UW.

"In the Old Town of Rhodes, a picturesque tourist destination in the Aegean Sea, stands a monument to a dark period in the island’s past. In the former “Djuderia,” the Jewish quarter, a marble obelisk commemorates the deportation of the island’s small but vibrant Sephardic Jewish community to Auschwitz-Birkenau on July 23, 1944," writes Devin Naar, associate professor of history and of Jewish studies at the UW.

"Elon Musk recently pronounced that the next Neuralink project will be a “Blindsight” cortical implant to restore vision...Unfortunately, this claim rests on the fallacy that neurons in the brain are like pixels on a screen. It’s not surprising that engineers often assume that “more pixels equals better vision.” After all, that is how monitors and phone screens work," write Ione Fine and Geoffrey Boynton, professors of psychology at the UW.