窪蹋勛圖厙

Skip to content

Research

Scientists at the 窪蹋勛圖厙 have discovered that nighttime air pollution coming primarily from car exhaust and power plant emissions is responsible for a major drop in nighttime pollinator activity. Nitrate radicals (NO3) in the air degrade the scent chemicals released by a common wildflower, drastically reducing the scent-based cues that its chief pollinators rely on to locate the flower. The findings, published Feb. 9 in Science, are the first to show how nighttime pollution creates a chain of chemical reactions that degrades scent cues, leaving flowers undetectable by smell. The researchers also determined that pollution likely has worldwide impacts on pollination.

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.

窪蹋勛圖厙 researchers introduced the Thermal Earring, a wireless wearable that continuously monitors a users earlobe temperature. Potential applications include tracking signs of ovulation, stress, eating and exercise. The smart earring prototype is about the size and weight of a small paperclip and has a 28-day battery life.

Holly Barker, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 teaching professor of anthropology, and three current members of the 窪蹋勛圖厙 football team Ulumoo Ale, Makell Esteen and Faatui Tuitele are studying how the skills they develop to maximize their chances of victory on the field have applications outside the stadium. Their work, which is ongoing, is showing that the research methods and analytical abilities of student-athletes are applicable in academic and research settings, as well as jobs in a variety of fields.

Two 窪蹋勛圖厙 professors teamed up to study how climate change will affect predator-prey interactions in snowy landscapes. Together with a group of researchers, the two measured snow properties that led to a “danger zone,” where prey would sink but predators would not.

Researchers led by Jiun-Haw Chu, a 窪蹋勛圖厙 associate professor of physics, and Philip Ryan, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energys Argonne National Laboratory, have found a superconducting material that is uniquely sensitive to outside stimuli, enabling the superconducting properties to be enhanced or suppressed at will. This discovery could enable new opportunities for switchable, energy-efficient superconducting circuits.

With several university athletic programs around the country including the 窪蹋勛圖厙 announcing moves to new conferences that will likely increase travel for student-athletes, a group of sleep and circadian scientists and physicians have published a white paper describing the significance of repeated, chronic jet lag on student-athlete health and performance both in academics and in sports, and suggesting strategies to reduce the consequences of travel across time zones.

New research from Andrew Hafenbrack, associate professor of management and organization in the 窪蹋勛圖厙 School of Business, and other institutions examines the impact of leadership style on prospective Black employees who apply for jobs in less-diverse companies.

Currently, more than half of all cervical cancers diagnosed in the United States are in people who are overdue for screening or have never been screened. In a new study, researchers report that mailing HPV test kits significantly increased cervical cancer screening rates.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of declining phytoplankton in the North Atlantic may have been greatly exaggerated. Analysis of a Greenland ice core going back 800 years shows that atmospheric chemistry, not dwindling phytoplankton populations, explains the recent ice core trends.

A team led by researchers at the 窪蹋勛圖厙 has developed deep-learning algorithms that let users pick which sounds filter through their headphones in real time. Either through voice commands or a smartphone app, headphone wearers can select which sounds they want to include from 20 classes, such as sirens, baby cries, speech, vacuum cleaners and bird chirps.

There are more than 200 species of noctilionoid bats, mostly in the American tropics. And despite being close relatives, their jaws evolved in wildly divergent shapes and sizes to exploit different food sources. A paper published Aug. 22 in Nature Communications shows those adaptations include dramatic, but also consistent, modifications to tooth number, size, shape and position. For example, bats with short snouts lack certain teeth, presumably due to a lack of space. Species with longer jaws have room for more teeth and, like humans, their total tooth complement is closer to what the ancestor of placental mammals had.

Supervisors are traditionally associated with higher status markers such as age, education and tenure than their subordinates. But its increasingly common to see those dynamics reversed, which is the focus of a new study from Jessica Huisi Li, 窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor of management and organization.

A project led by the 窪蹋勛圖厙 used genetic sleuthing to study how salmon were affected by two major culvert replacements near the city of Bellingham. One project, a major upgrade under Interstate-5, had a big impact, while the other old culvert may have been less of a barrier to fish. Authors from the 窪蹋勛圖厙 and NOAA are studying the use of eDNA in future environmental impact reporting.

The 窪蹋勛圖厙s animal facilities on the Seattle campus underwent a routine, unannounced inspection by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) between Sept. 12 and 14. The inspection identified four non-compliant items, all of which had previously been self-reported by the 窪蹋勛圖厙 and rectified before the inspection took place.

In a paper published Sept. 6 in Physical Review Letters, an international team of researchers in the United States, Germany and France reported that a distinctive strategy they have used shows real promise to be the first approach to measure the mass of the neutrino. Once fully scaled up, their collaboration Project 8 could also reveal how neutrinos influenced the early evolution of the universe as we know it.

Public scrutiny of Purdue Pharmas role in the opioid crisis increased sharply in the years after the state of Kentucky filed a lawsuit against the company. New research from David Tan, 窪蹋勛圖厙 associate professor of management, examines the ensuing behavior of competing prescription opioid companies.

Astronomers with the International Astronomical Union are trying to understand how the brightness and transmissions of the BlueWalker3 satellite will interfere with Earth-based observations of the universe and what can be done to minimize these effects as more of these satellites are launched.