Research

Scientists are pioneering novel technology to help ailments of the brain and nervous system. The UW’s Sara Goering, professor of philosophy, and Chet Moritz, associate professor of rehabilitation medicine and of electrical and computer engineering, are interviewed about the ethical concerns of neurotechnology. [This is the second segment of “The Record”]

Ancient food scraps found at Australia’s earliest site of human occupation, in the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory, are helping researchers generate rainfall records dating back 65,000 years. A new study led by the University of Queensland and involving the University of Washington provides a glimpse into the region’s climate at the time when people first entered the Australian continent from the north.

Robert Crutchfield, an emeritus professor of sociology and co-author of a new study has found that Black youth who have police contact at a young age may be more likely to have more contacts with police later in life.

Eric Agol and Victoria Meadows, professors of astronomy, have authored a new study on the TRAPPIST-1 star system.

Concerned it would threaten their cultural preservation, history and treaty rights, 40 tribes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska joined a Jan. 4 lawsuit with Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to stop the federal government from selling the National Archives facility in Seattle and shipping its millions of boxes of records to California and Missouri. Alexandra Harmon, professor emerita of American Indian studies and of history at the UW, is quoted.

A new UW study has found that "prototypical" women who look and act more feminine are more likely to believed when making allegations of sexual harassment.

Researchers at the UW examined 125 years of astronomical observations of a nearby stellar binary called HS Hydrae, and discovered changes to its eclipses.

A University of Washington-led study, involving more than 4,000 people, found that people were more likely to think “prototypical” women — who are conventionally attractive and appear and act feminine — would be harassed. Bryn Bandt-Law, a doctoral student in psychology at the UW, and Cheryl Kaiser, professor of psychology at the UW, are quoted.

Women who don’t fit female stereotypes of look or personality are perceived as less credible when lodging sexual harassment claims, according to a study published Thursday in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Bryn Bandt-Law, a doctoral student in psychology at the UW, and Cheryl Kaiser, professor of psychology at the UW, are quoted.

Anyone who has been stung by a jellyfish might think they know more than enough about cnidocytes, the cells that deliver the sting. But a researcher has found that these cells have much more to tell, including insight into a simple evolutionary mechanism that may enable jellyfish, sea anemones, corals, and their relatives — collectively known as cnidarians — to quickly adapt to new environments. Billie Swalla, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Our primate ancestors might have become “protomusical” to advertise their ability to perform death-defying leaps from tree to tree. David Schruth, a postdoctoral researcher in anthropology at the UW, is referenced.

It’s a moth, it’s a plane, it’s … the Smellicopter, a little drone that senses odors with an onboard moth antenna. Seriously, that’s the scientists’ real name for their creation, a system that monitors the electrical signals sent from the antenna of an actual moth, allowing the drone to lock onto the source of a scent and navigate toward it. The UW’s Melanie Anderson, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, and Thomas Daniel, professor of biology, are quoted.

Department of Statistics faculty are featured in this article about their COVID-19 research.

A 19th-century claim has fueled a 21st-century debate about how a warming climate might reshape animals. One "rule," declaring that animals in warmer regions usually have darker exteriors, whereas those in cooler regions are lighter, is being reconsidered. Lauren Buckley, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Twenty moments from a year like no other — captured through the lenses of UW photographers.