Natural Sciences Division

Statistics professor Jon Wakefield led a team estimating excess deaths due to COVID. The findings caused a stir.

Which group of mammals has the more "primitive" reproductive strategy — marsupials, with their short gestation periods, or humans and other placental mammals, which have long gestation periods? For decades, biologists viewed marsupial reproduction as "more primitive." But University of Washington scientists have discovered that a third group of mammals, the long-extinct multituberculates, had a long gestation period like placental mammals. Since multituberculates split off from the rest of the mammalian lineage before placentals and marsupials had even evolved, these findings question the view that marsupials were “less advanced” than their placental cousins.

New research by scientists at the University of Washington, the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and the University of Cologne indicates that carefully designed cocktails of broadly neutralizing antibodies could help treat HIV while minimizing the risk of the virus evolving to “escape” treatment.

The grant is led by principal investigator Joshua Vaughan, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry.

Seven professors at the University of Washington are among 25 new members of the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2022, according to a July 15 announcement.

Four Dean's Medalists were selected by the College of Arts & Sciences for their varied and impressive work as UW undergraduates. 

The Brown Investigator Award recognizes researchers in chemistry and physics with $2 million to their respective universities. 

Researchers with the World Health Organization explain mistakes in high-profile mortality estimates for Germany and Sweden. The UW's Jon Wakefield, professor of statistics and of biostatistics, and Victoria Knutson, a doctoral student in biostatistics, are quoted.

During her time at the UW, Ava Kloss-Schmidt (BS, Biology, 2022) has surrounded herself with plants — in a lab, in a greenhouse, and on mountaintops.

A novel algorithm developed by University of Washington researchers to discover asteroids in the solar system has proved its mettle. The first candidate asteroids identified by the algorithm — known as Tracklet-less Heliocentric Orbit Recovery, or THOR — have been confirmed by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, according to a May 31 announcement by the B612 Foundation.

The cosmos has reserved for you a moment, in the early hours between May 4 and 5, to just let go and immerse yourself in the Eta Aquarids meteor shower. Jessica Werk, associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

With a gift to Speech & Hearing Sciences, Lacey Berns is creating community for those caring for children facing communication challenges — and honoring her daughter.

When Sam Wasser, professor of biology at the UW, was a young biologist studying baboons in Tanzania, he never imagined he would one day lead an international force cracking down on the smuggling of illegal goods, from elephant ivory to pangolins and timber. Yet fighting transnational criminal organizations is exactly what he’s doing today, all because of his passion for animals.

Astronomers have issued an Earth Day call for environmentalism to be extended more fully to the final frontier, and for companies such as SpaceX and Amazon to dial back their plans for mega-constellations. Meredith Rawls, a research scientist in the UW Department of Astronomy, is quoted.

Patricia Kuhl, co-director of I-LABS and a UW professor of speech and hearing sciences and Yael Weiss-Zruya, a research scientist at I-LABS, explain how their virtual "Research Camp" program has been effective in teaching kids to read in an online setting.