Natural Sciences Division

A proposal to build a far-flung set of radio antennas to measure the cosmos is one of 13 far-out concepts to receive seed funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, also known as NIAC. Matthew McQuinn, associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Lisa Dabek (PhD, Psychology, 1994), senior conservation scientist at the Woodland Park Zoo, studies and protects tree kangaroos in the cloud forests of Papua New Guinea. 

"For some people, social media is inconsequential — a cat photo here, a banana slip TikTok there. For others, it’s all-consuming — a helpless catapult into a slurry of anxiety, self-harm and depression...But social media use also differs by race and ethnicity — and there’s far less discussion of that," writes columnist Pamela Paul. Lucía Magis-Weinberg, assistant professor of psychology at the UW, is quoted.

Researchers led by Jiun-Haw Chu, a University of Washington associate professor of physics, and Philip Ryan, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energyâs Argonne National Laboratory, have found a superconducting material that is uniquely sensitive to outside stimuli, enabling the superconducting properties to be enhanced or suppressed at will. This discovery could enable new opportunities for switchable, energy-efficient superconducting circuits.

While the seasons and our genetic dispositions play a role in our ability to feel happiness, our daily actions and choices also have a significant effect, experts say. Milla Titova, assistant teaching professor of psychology at the UW, is quoted.

Milla Titova, assistant teaching professor of psychology and director of the Happiness and Well-Being Lab at the UW, offers strategies for joy this holiday season.

"The toll of my husband’s hearing loss can be invisible—even to me. But a new wave of tech could change everything," writes Seattle Met editor, Allecia Vermillion. Yi Shen, associate professor of speech and hearing sciences at the UW, is quoted.

As several athletic programs announce their move to a new conference, a group of sleep and circadian scientists and physicians dive into the impacts of increased travel on student-athletes. The UW's Horacio de la Iglesia, professor of biology; Dr. Russ Van Gelder, professor of ophthalmology; and Michael Dillon, associate athletic director for health and wellness, are quoted.

UW researchers discovered an “unexpected finding” while studying the effects of alcohol and caffeine on sleep. Frank Song, a doctoral student of psychology at the UW, is quoted.

Early research presented at the leading brain conference suggests that the pandemic changed the brains of teenagers. Patricia Kuhl, professor of speech and hearing sciences at the UW and co-director of the UW Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, is quoted.

Pandemic-related lockdowns were hard on everyone, but a growing body of research suggests they were especially hard on young people. Now a new study scanning adolescent brain seems to be backing some of those suspicions. Patricia Kuhl, professor of speech and hearing sciences at the UW and co-director of the UW Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, is interviewed. [This interview is part of a roundup and begins at 27:05]

Researchers from UW’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences discovered that drinking your morning coffee and then an alcoholic beverage before bed cancels the negative effects on your sleep. Frank Song, a doctoral student of psychology at the UW, is quoted.

Six University of Washington subjects ranked in the top 10, and atmospheric sciences maintained its position as No. 1 in the world on the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects list for 2023. The ranking, released at the end of October, was conducted by researchers at the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, a fully independent organization dedicated to research on higher education intelligence and consultation.

Hunting later at night may force the big cats to surrender their prey to larger carnivores, such as lions and leopards. Kasim Rafiq, a UW postdoctoral researcher in biology, is quoted.

Tweens growing up with social media are inundated with rapidly changing beauty standards and the social pressure to conform to them. Lucía Magis-Weinberg, assistant professor of psychology at the UW, is interviewed.