Research

The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies has issued a new report, Puget Sound’s Fight for $15: Family Experiences and Policy Impacts of Increasing the Minimum Wage.

Irika Sinha received numerous awards for her stellar work as a UW undergraduate, including the Dean's Medal in the Natural Sciences.

New insights and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are coaxing, or forcing, proteins to give up their secrets. Scientists are now forging biochemical tools that could transform our world. The UW’s Lexi Walls, a postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry; David Baker, director of the UW Institute for Protein Design; and Longxing Cao, a postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry, are quoted. The UW’s Neil King, assistant professor of biochemistry, and Brooke Fiala, a researcher in the Institute for Protein Design, are mentioned.

Michael Pearce, a UW doctoral student in statistics, and Adrian Raftery, a professor of sociology, discuss the results of their new study.

Mika Ahuvia, associate professor in the Jackson School, discusses her new book.

With the publication of “Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe” 20 years ago, the UW’s Peter Ward, professor of biology, and Donald Brownlee, professor of astronomy, explained why microbial life may be ubiquitous in the universe, but intelligent life may be rare indeed. They are now working on a sequel, tentatively titled “The Rare Earth Hypothesis: Assessing the Frequency of Complex Life in the Cosmos, in the Age of Exoplanet Discovery.”

There's a market for just about anything — and fossils are hot right now. Collectors are paying tens of thousands of dollars for the latest dig, and that's making it difficult for paleontologists to track important finds. The UW's Christian Sidor, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum and professor of biology, is interviewed. [This is the third segment on "The Record"]

Tatiana Toro, professor of mathematics at the UW, will maintain her tenure at the UW during her five-year director term of MSRI, a collaborative mathematics research center based in Berkeley. [This is part of "Tech Moves"]

Researchers warn that phony satellite imagery could become a common and dangerous mode of disinformation. Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.

Mark Igra, graduate student in sociology, explains the results of his new study on digital fund-raising equality.

Mesopotamians turned a community tomb on the Euphrates into a battle monument. Stephanie Selover, adjunct assistant professor of anthropology at the UW, is quoted.

What if math could detect, treat and ultimately prevent cancer? Applied Mathematics Assistant Professor Ivana Bozic wants to find out. Professor Bozic has been selected as the 2021 mathematics recipient of Johnson & Johnson's WiSTEM2D Scholars Award Program, which will provides $150k over three years to support her research.

We may finally know why one of the brightest stars in the sky appeared to become 65% less bright than usual, in an event that astronomers have dubbed the Great Dimming. The star Betelgeuse, which marks the right shoulder of the constellation Orion, rapidly dimmed in late 2019 and early 2020. It now seems this was due to both a cool spot on the star itself and a cloud of dust. Emily Levesque, associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

New images from a massive telescope in Chile have helped solve the mystery of why red supergiant star Betelgeuse suddenly dimmed in late 2019. Emily Levesque, associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is referenced.

During the first several months of the pandemic — when communities locked down, jobs were lost, PPE was scarce and store shelves were cleared — thousands of people turned to online crowdfunding to meet their needs. But a new University of Washington analysis of requests and donations to the popular crowdfunding site GoFundMe, along with Census data, shows stark inequities in where the money went and how much was donated.