Health

The impact of digital technology on teens' mental health is the focus of a new course developed by Lucia Magis-Weinberg in the UW Department of Psychology.

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.

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.

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.

No one can really describe what milk is -- least of all the people who think most often about it. Melanie Martin, assistant professor of anthropology at the UW, is quoted.

A 2,000-year-old collection of medical tools, recently unearthed in Hungary, offer insight into the practices of undaunted, much-maligned Roman doctors. Lawrence J. Bliquez, professor emeritus of classics and art history at the UW, is quoted.

Brain-computer interface technology can benefit people with disabilities by restoring mobility and communication. Sara Goering, professor of philosophy at the UW, says it also allows potentially monetizable access to the center of our thoughts and feelings.

"Health practitioners are increasingly concerned that because race is a social construct, and the biological mechanisms of how race affects clinical outcomes are often unknown, including race in predictive algorithms for clinical decision-making may worsen inequities," writes Anirban Basu, professor of health economics at the UW.

Parents get an endless supply of rules and unsolicited opinions about what to do and what not to do with their kids. But the truth is there's no handbook. Shannon Dorsey, professor of psychology at the UW, is quoted.

All women and girls are susceptible to eating disorders and poor body image, but because of misleading medical terminology, popular-media images, and a lack of overall awareness and training, the issue and remedies are framed almost exclusively around white women. But individuals and organizations are working to shift the discussion and unveil the true complexities of eating disorders, particularly in relation to minoritized communities. Timeka Tounsel, assistant professor of Black studies in communication at the UW, is quoted.

In one of the first studies to explore how COVID-19 specifically affects older infants, researchers from the University of Washington and at institutions at four other locations in the Western and Southern U.S. found that the number of infected people in a household was the factor most closely linked with the infant’s likelihood of being infected.

The University of Washington has joined the Alliance for Therapies in Neuroscience (ATN), a long-term research partnership between academia and industry geared to transform the fight against brain diseases and disorders of the central nervous system. Launched in 2021 by the University of California, San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Genentech — a member of the Roche group — and Roche Holding AG, the ATN seeks to accelerate the development of new therapies for a broad range of brain and central nervous system conditions.

Released last month, “The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain is Different and How to Understand Yours,” is Chantel’s first book, and it arrived with a splash. A small tsunami, really; the highly anticipated text has been described by reviewers as “marvelous,” “hilarious,” “highly accessible,” “charming,” and “the smartest, clearest, and funniest book I’ve ever read about the brain.”