Technology

Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the UW, says that the lack of access Facebook gives researchers and others to data makes it difficult to assess how information is spreading on the social media platform. [Segment starts at 24:35]

"A GoFundMe campaign is a poor — and unfair — substitute for functional social programs. The crowdfunding business, to which hundreds of thousands of people turned for help with rent and other basic needs during the pandemic, may well be a platform for 'inspiring acts of kindness,' but every donation also dictates who is being left behind," write Nora Kenworthy, associate professor of nursing and health studies at UW Bothell, and Mark Igra, a graduate student in sociology at the UW.

It's official — NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is back in action after a computer anomaly suddenly shut down the 32-year-old system for a month. And in celebrating its comeback, Hubble released two spectacular new images on Monday showing the depths of the universe. The images were captured as part of a program at the University of Washington.

Facebook’s back-and-forth with the Biden administration got ugly over the weekend. The social network scrambled to respond to the president’s striking accusation that the company is “killing people” for allowing the spread of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

After one of the cryptocurrency market’s worst routs, a growing band of disgruntled traders are organizing to pressure — with a combination of social media and legal threats — the online exchange Binance to compensate them for their losses. Tim Leung, professor of applied mathematics at the UW, is quoted.

Seattle-based health data company Truveta today announced $95 million in fresh funding and the addition of three new participating health care systems, bringing its total to 17. Tyler McCormick, associate professor of statistics and of sociology at the UW, is quoted.

The Internet Association once brokered deals on tech legislation. But its role has shrunk amid the industry’s divides and changes under a new CEO. Margaret O’Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

A new sociology course explores self-tracking technology that captures our daily routines.

Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, discusses Amazon's climate pledge.

Twenty-seven years to the day after founding Amazon in a Bellevue garage, Jeff Bezos has relinquished control of his company. Bezos’ trusted deputy, Andy Jassy, steps into his new role as Amazon’s CEO Monday. The UW's Margaret O'Mara, professor of history, and Jeff Shulman, professor of marketing, are quoted.

As a tourist destination, the moon doesn’t have a lot to offer: no beaches, no museums, no oxygen. On the other hand, it does have the virtue of being the moon. When will common folk, not just the super-rich, get to make the trip? Scott Magelssen, professor of theatre history at the UW, is quoted.

While some social scientists, journalists and activists have been raising concerns about how social media is affecting our democracy, mental health and relationships, we haven’t seen biologists and ecologists weighing in as much. That’s changed with a new paper published in the prestigious science journal PNAS earlier this month, titled “Stewardship of global collective behavior.” The UW’s Joe Bak-Coleman, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for an Informed Public, and Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology, are interviewed.

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.

New updates to the Sephardic Studies Digital Collection, a "virtual bookshelf" with more than 140,000 pages of published Ladino works.

Our ability to confront global crises, from pandemics to climate change, depends on how we interact and share information. Social media and other forms of communication technology restructure these interactions in ways that have consequences. Unfortunately, we have little insight into whether these changes will bring about a healthy, sustainable and equitable world. As a result, researchers now say that the study of collective behavior must rise to a “crisis discipline,” just like medicine, conservation and climate science have done, according to a new paper published this month.