While the majority of the world just wants to swat mosquitoes, three 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers find these insects fascinating. They told 窪蹋勛圖厙 News what it’s like to study mosquitoes and why these critters are actually really important.


While the majority of the world just wants to swat mosquitoes, three 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers find these insects fascinating. They told 窪蹋勛圖厙 News what it’s like to study mosquitoes and why these critters are actually really important.

The U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, which triggered hundreds of retaliatory missiles from Iran. The war is now entering its third week, with Iran reporting more than 1,200 civilians have been killed. Aria Fani, a professor of Persian and Iranian studies at the 窪蹋勛圖厙, researches modern Iranian and Afghan histories. He spoke with 窪蹋勛圖厙 News about the U.S.-Israeli strikes, the impact on Iranians and more.

The peer review process in scientific publishing has reached a critical point where there are too many manuscript submissions and not enough peer reviewers. 窪蹋勛圖厙 News asked Carl Bergstrom, 窪蹋勛圖厙 professor of biology, and Kevin Gross, North Carolina State University professor of statistics, to describe this self-perpetuating cycle and potential interventions.

Last December was the warmest on record for Washington, according to the Washington State Climate Office. Now many plants in our gardens are beginning to bud, even though it’s only February. 窪蹋勛圖厙 News asked Takato Imaizumi, 窪蹋勛圖厙 professor of biology, to talk about the mechanisms behind blooming and how warmer winters might impact flowering plants.

A recent documentary about the breeding habits of antelopes in India includes the story of how engaging with artists and local communities can help researchers share the importance of their work. 窪蹋勛圖厙 News asked Vivek Hari Sridhar, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor of biology and one of the leaders of the project, for details about the project and the documentary.

窪蹋勛圖厙 News spoke with Lauren Buckley, 窪蹋勛圖厙 professor of biology, to learn about “functional resurvey” experiments and what they can tell us about how organisms change over time.

New research led by the 窪蹋勛圖厙 suggests that two different climate transitions millions of years ago fueled the diversification of carnivoran body plans.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Oct. 8 awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal-organic frameworks,” or MOFs. Both Dianne Xiao, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 associate professor of chemistry, and Douglas Reed, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor of chemistry, use MOFs in their research at the 窪蹋勛圖厙. 窪蹋勛圖厙 News reached out to them to learn more about the significance of these structures and how researchers use them.

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute on Monday awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Mary E. Brunkow an alum of the 窪蹋勛圖厙 along with Frederick J. Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body.” Brunkow received her bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology from the 窪蹋勛圖厙 in 1983. 窪蹋勛圖厙 News spoke with Martha Bosma, professor and chair…

窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers discuss their study which surveyed 166 gamers about how video games sparked meaningful changes in their lives.

In a new study, a team of scientists determined the minimum natural habitat on agricultural land that will allow insect pollinators including bumble bees, solitary bees, hoverflies and butterflies to thrive. 窪蹋勛圖厙 News reached out to co-author Berry Brosi, 窪蹋勛圖厙 professor of biology, to learn more about these results and how habitat is important to two types of bees native to Washington.

In her new book, Katharina Reinecke explores how “digital culture shock” manifests in the world, in ways innocuous and sometimes harmful.

Quantum dots, which are 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, are unique materials that generate very specific colors of light. Researchers, including Brandi Cossairt, 窪蹋勛圖厙 professor of chemistry, hope that quantum dots can one day be useful for more than just illuminating TV screens. 窪蹋勛圖厙 News asked her to compare the quantum dots in QLED TVs with the ones her lab makes.

窪蹋勛圖厙 doctoral student Brett Halperin interviewed picketing film workers about AI during the 2023 strikes.

Two 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers are developing treatments that aim to simultaneously treat cancer and improve patients’ quality of life. For World Cancer Day, 窪蹋勛圖厙 News asked them to discuss their novel materials and how these materials can treat both the cancer and the patient.

窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers created a method for training AI systems both for large language models like ChatGPT and for robots that can better reflect users diverse values. It predicts users preferences as they interact with it, then tailors its outputs accordingly.

Jie Xiao, 窪蹋勛圖厙 professor of mechanical engineering, talks about batteries and how academia can help support the growing domestic battery manufacturing industry.

窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor Sheng Wang discusses BiomedParse, an AI medical image analysis model that works across nine types of medical images to better predict systemic diseases. Medical professionals can load images into the system and ask the AI tool questions about them in plain English.

Before the results of the 2024 election start rolling in, 窪蹋勛圖厙 News asked three 窪蹋勛圖厙 professors of political science to discuss whats on their minds heading into the final hours.

Americas homeless services system relies on a massive amount of data, and at first glance, that data is exacting. Federal reports describe the countrys unhoused population in granular detail, listing precisely how many people are experiencing homelessness in each city along with detailed demographic data. Want to know how many people ages 55-64 slept outside in Spokane last year? A spreadsheet confidently provides the answer: just one. That data influences decisions at every level of government, from how the U.S….

窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers collaborated with people at multiple institutions to collect pre-storm data and place sensors to measure storm surge levels and wave height during Hurricane Helene’s landfall.

The Remote Hub Lab allows students to access physical engineering equipment from anywhere in the world. A primary focus of the lab is to use a process called “digital twinning,” to create virtual models that mirror real-world systems, which enables students to experiment, learn and innovate in a risk-free, cost-effective environment.

Niloofar Mireshghallah, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 postdoctoral scholar, discusses why math and reasoning have so challenged artificial intelligence models and what the public should know about OpenAIs new release.

Young adults with psychosis tend to use cannabis at extremely high rates, and their symptoms can be exacerbated by long-term marijuana use. A team of 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers is focused on this particular group.

A study led by 窪蹋勛圖厙 researcher Diana Ceballos is most comprehensive study to date of the specific fragrance chemical mixtures found in nail salon air, and will allow researchers to further study the potential health risks.

Several common injuries seem to haunt women’s sports. Jenny Robinson, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor, is interested in designing better methods to help female athletes train to prevent and recover from injuries.

Two 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers are investigating how to mitigate the effects of climate change on common road pavements, such as asphalt and concrete.

A major outbreak of a new strain of bird flu formally named Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 has killed millions of wild birds and infected poultry, dairy cattle, domestic cats and a small number of humans.窪蹋勛圖厙 experts explain how bird flu evolves and what it could mean for humans.

But in her new book Log Off: Why Posting and Politics (Almost) Never Mix, Katherine Cross, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 doctoral student in the Information School, argues that social media has limited political value.

Franziska Roesner, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 associate professor, and collaborators will present two papers that mine real-world data to help understand TikTok’s personalized its recommendation algorithm and its impact.

New research from the 窪蹋勛圖厙 shows the brains response to viewing errors in both the syntax (form) and semantics (meaning) of code appeared identical to those that occur when fluent readers process sentences on a word-by-word basis, supporting a resemblance between how people learn computer and natural languages.

As researchers explore potential applications for AI, they have found scenarios where AI could be really useful but there’s not enough data to accurately train the algorithms. Jenq-Neng Hwang, 窪蹋勛圖厙 professor of electrical and computer and engineering, specializes in these issues.

Sandy Littletree, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor in the Information School, discusses the importance of working Indigenous ways of knowing into libraries, archives and data repositories.

New research from the 窪蹋勛圖厙 examines how three wellness Instagram influencers profited from anti-vaccine misinformation.

Alzheimer’s disease and Type 2 diabetes are part of a family of amyloid diseases that are characterized by having proteins that cluster together. 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers have demonstrated more similarities between the two diseases.

Mike Teodorescu, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor in the Information School, proposes that private enterprise standards for fairer machine learning systems would inform governmental regulation.

Robots in warehouses and even around our houses struggle to identify and pick up objects if they are too close together, or if a space is cluttered. This is because robots lack what psychologists call “object unity,” or our ability to identify things even when we can’t see all of them. Researchers at the 窪蹋勛圖厙 have developed a way to teach robots this skill.

A team 窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers have published a guide explaining language models, the technology that underlies chatbots.

A team led by researchers at the 窪蹋勛圖厙 developed 11 actions a robotic arm can make to pick up nearly any food attainable by fork. This allows the system to learn to pick up new foods during one meal.

Five 窪蹋勛圖厙 experts comment on the current El Ni簽o, its effect on Pacific Northwest winter weather, as well as on regional and global ocean temperature trends.