It鈥檚 a dizzyingly busy time for scientists searching for life on distant planets. To date, astronomers have and are searching the atmospheres of the most promising worlds for chemicals that might be byproducts of life. are particularly interested in atmospheres like Earth鈥檚 that trap enough heat to support liquid water on the planet鈥檚 surface, which scientists consider the key factor in determining whether a planet can support life as we know it. 

But scientists also want to distinguish between habitable and inhabited worlds. To do that, they need to know what sorts of atmospheric conditions on a planet can be explained without life, so that they can identify planets with atmospheres that can only be explained by life鈥檚 influence.

To provide that planetary baseline, 黑料老司机 researchers built a complex virtual Earth with one crucial tweak: no life.

in The Planetary Science Journal, the researchers simulated the Earth鈥檚 geochemical systems for 5 billion years 鈥� from its formation 4.5 billion years ago through roughly 500 million years in the future. The simulation modeled the exchange of chemicals between the core, mantle, crust, surface and atmosphere over time. It accurately predicted 19 planetary properties like heat flow through the mantle, but left out the influence of life on those systems. The simulation can be generalized to predict how an atmosphere might evolve on any rocky planet, and can help pinpoint evidence of life in atmospheres that don鈥檛 fit the model.

鈥淭his model can help us see how habitable but non-living planets might mimic living planets,鈥� said lead author , who completed this research as a UW doctoral student of astronomy and is now a postdoctoral fellow at UC Riverside. 鈥淲hen we interpret observations of an exoplanet’s atmosphere, this tool will help us determine the probability that what we observe indicates life on the surface.鈥�

Gilbert-Janizek鈥檚 work builds on a model developed in the lab of senior author , a UW associate professor of astronomy. Earlier versions of the model simulated the core, mantle, crust and stellar radiation, but did not include the surface or atmosphere. 

A planet鈥檚 atmosphere is shaped by many nonbiological factors, including heat and gases from the interior and from the planet鈥檚 star. But the atmosphere of a distant planet is also where astronomers hope to spot explicit evidence of life.

There are many ways that life might change an atmosphere: On Earth, plants and animals pump steady streams of oxygen and methane into the sky. Those two elements destroy each other when they mingle. Thus, an alien astronomer studying our planet might suspect that something alive is replenishing the supply of both gases.

That logic led human astronomer Gilbert-Janizek to add surface and atmosphere modeling to the existing Earth simulation, completing the picture of how chemicals move through all of the Earth鈥檚 systems. 

The result is a model that can be tuned to study any rocky exoplanet that astrobiologists find interesting. Researchers can plug in basic details about that planet and run the simulation to see whether the model can reproduce the observed atmosphere without the influence of life. If they can鈥檛 get a match, the planet in question gets even more interesting.

鈥淒r. Gilbert-Janizek’s work represents an exciting step toward understanding where life can exist in the universe,鈥� Barnes said. 鈥淎fter more than a decade of work by many scientists, Dr. Gilbert-Janizek has finally completed a model of the Earth that simultaneously reproduces properties of Earth’s core, mantle, surface and atmosphere. That calibration gives us confidence that future simulations of exoplanets will be accurate.鈥�  

Gilbert-Janizek says the new and improved model can also help inform the design of future telescopes built to study distant planets, like the proposed . 

鈥淩ealizing the ambitious goals of a telescope like the Habitable Worlds Observatory requires decades of work across many generations of scientists,鈥� Gilbert-Janizek said. 鈥淚鈥檓 so grateful to join this lineage and one day pass the torch to the next generation so that we can continue chipping away at this question of whether or not we are alone in the universe.鈥�

Other UW co-authors include former astronomy doctoral students , now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma and , now a high school teacher in the Seattle area.

A complete list of co-authors is .

This research was funded by NASA.

For more information, contact Gilbert-Janizek at sgilbert@ucr.edu or Barnes at rory@astro.washington.edu.

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Scientists may add a new dwarf planet to the official roster of our solar system.

The distant, icy body, provisionally dubbed 2026 ED138, orbits our system beyond Pluto. It was spotted earlier this month by a scientist combing through data from the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the . Initial measurements place ED138 among the largest dwarf planet candidates ever discovered beyond Neptune; if confirmed, it would join the five dwarf planets recognized by the : Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake.

The results were presented at a press conference today by , a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and by , a 黑料老司机 professor of astronomy and leader of Rubin鈥檚 solar system team. Holman first spotted the candidate and Juri膰 contributed additional observations.

鈥淚f confirmed as a dwarf planet, ED138 would join a very small family of worlds,鈥� Holman said. 鈥淩ubin will image the whole southern sky again and again for 10 years, so any others hiding in the places earlier surveys skipped are now within reach.鈥�

鈥淔inding an object this big, roughly 1,000 kilometers across, is something that happens maybe once in a generation,鈥� Juri膰 said. 鈥淚t’s the largest trans-Neptunian object found in about 20 years, and Rubin turned it up while we were still commissioning the telescope.”

On the evening of Oct. 13, Holman was running data collected by Rubin earlier in 2026 through a search code he developed with colleague Kevin Napier. The code is built to look at billions of detections of moving objects, compare them and find the detections that correspond to the same object. Using this method, Holman uncovered ED138, and he immediately noticed that its brightness and distance indicated that it is unusually large.

鈥淢y first reaction was one of excited disbelief,鈥� Holman said. 鈥淥bjects like this are very rare, so I immediately started checking whether I or the code had done something wrong.鈥�

To remove any doubt, Juri膰 searched through Rubin鈥檚 catalogs and images and found 20 more observations, going back to March 2026. The team also spotted ED138 in archival images from other surveys going all the way back to 2016, allowing the team to trace more than ten years of ED138’s orbit. 

ED138 is currently at a distance of about 46 astronomical units (), where 1 au is the average distance between the Earth and the sun. For reference, dwarf planet Pluto orbits at an average distance of 40 au. This classifies ED138 as a trans-Neptunian object () 鈥� objects that orbit the sun at a distance greater than Neptune鈥檚.

Scientists study the size, composition and orbital trajectories of TNOs to understand how the solar system formed, how the giant planets migrated over time and how smaller objects have been scattered throughout this evolution. 

Not all TNOs are considered dwarf planet candidates, with the distinction being in the size and shape of the object. To be a dwarf planet an object needs to be massive enough for its own gravity to pull it into a round shape. Based on ED138鈥檚 distance, brightness and estimated surface reflectivity, the team estimates that its size is between 600 and 1,500 kilometers; icy bodies this large are expected to be round. Further observations are needed to measure its exact size and confirm its nature as a dwarf planet. 

ED138 was found in a region of sky close to the plane of the Milky Way 鈥� a crowded area filled with millions of stars. To most telescopes, ED138 has been lost among the myriad background sources, which is likely why it was not discovered until now. Rubin Observatory鈥檚 regular and continuous monitoring of the entire Southern Hemisphere sky, combined with powerful algorithms that sift through millions to billions of points of light to identify those corresponding to small moving objects, enabled the team to spot ED138 within the crowded field.

ED138 joins the rapidly growing sample of solar system objects discovered by Rubin since it began collecting early data in preparation for the (LSST), which began in June 2026. In April, before LSST formally began, the Rubin solar system team announced observations of over , which included roughly 380 new TNOs. At the time, the team called this large submission 鈥渢he tip of the iceberg鈥� and expressed their excitement for the discoveries to come once LSST began. With the discovery of ED138, those hopes are coming to fruition.

鈥淩ubin is giving us an unprecedented capacity to explore the sky through a combination of speed, depth, and precision,鈥� Juri膰 said. 鈥淎nd the discovery is just the beginning: Once we identify a new object, we can search back months, and sometimes even decades, finding it in images where nobody knew to look. This ability to both discover and 鈥榩recover鈥� objects is transforming how quickly and accurately we can determine their orbits and understand the distant solar system.鈥�

The public can interact with this discovery on , an interactive web-based app that provides an intuitive way to explore the structure of our cosmic backyard in three dimensions and in real time.

Operations of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Office of Science.

For more information, contact Mario Juri膰 at mjuric@uw.edu.

This story was adapted from a press release by NOIRlab. More images and video clips are available on the .

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It all started with Halley’s Comet.

was a toddler in 1986, the last time the was visible to the naked eye. One night, her family kept her up late to try and spot it above their home in East Taunton, Massachusetts.

鈥淚 was fussy and tired until they pointed up,鈥� Levesque recalled, 鈥渁nd then all of a sudden I just went, 鈥榃丑辞补鈥�.鈥�

Levesque鈥檚 career interests followed a trend after that.

鈥淧eople would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I would say, 鈥榃ell, I’m going to be a ballerina or an astronomer,鈥� or 鈥業’m going to be a firefighter or an astronomer,鈥� or 鈥榓 violinist or an astronomer鈥�,鈥� she said.

Levesque鈥檚 childhood infatuation stuck. Today she is a professor of astronomy at the 黑料老司机 who studies 鈥渂ig and weird stars.鈥� She鈥檚 authored two textbooks on and , as well as general-interest on astronomy. And in 2027, she will become the next editor-in-chief of the American Astronomical Society鈥檚 portfolio of academic journals, making her the first woman to serve at the helm of six of astronomy鈥檚 busiest and most prestigious research outlets.

鈥淚 published my very first research paper in The Astrophysical Journal more than 20 years ago as an undergrad,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淭he AAS Journals have played such an enormous role in the history of astronomy and in so many of our careers, and my predecessors have established an incredibly high standard of care and commitment in how the journals are run. I鈥檓 excited and honored to become the next steward of that legacy.鈥�

Levesque became interested in stars as a child, and she carried her enthusiasm through to a degree in physics from MIT. Her first research project there brought her to the in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she studied 鈥� a star so large that one would engulf Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter if it were placed where our sun is.

鈥淚 got really interested in these huge, unstable stars 鈥� they die explosive, spectacular deaths as supernovae, and leave behind mysterious things like black holes,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淲e tend to think of stars as just big round balls of gas. But when you look closer, they turn into these brain-bending objects that stretch our ability to comprehend the universe.鈥�

From MIT, Levesque hopscotched to a doctoral program at the University of Hawaii, a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado, Boulder and then, in 2015, an appointment at the UW. Along the way, her taste in stars has only gotten stranger: At the UW she studies hypothesized oddities called (TZOs), which are red supergiants with for cores. While in Colorado, Levesque and collaborators . Today, much of her work at the UW is dedicated to finding more possible TZOs and understanding how they might form 鈥� though their existence still isn鈥檛 a sure thing.

鈥淲e could absolutely be wrong,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淥ther researchers have published papers since our initial discovery arguing that TZOs couldn鈥檛 possibly be stable, or that the star we found wasn鈥檛 actually a TZO. Still others have published papers saying, 鈥榃e looked closer at your candidate and we think it really is a TZO.鈥� So it’s a subject of debate, which I think is great. If we made a mistake, I desperately want someone to find it.鈥�

Levesque has been involved with the American Astronomical Society Journals for 10 years. She鈥檚 currently serving as a science editor, which entails running the journals鈥� peer review process, matching submissions with reviewers and shepherding drafts through to publication.

鈥淕etting involved with the journals has been a great way to support the astronomy community on a large scale,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淭he AAS Journals are such a great resource in our field, so working with them is really impactful. Plus, it helps me keep tabs on the latest science.鈥�

The editor-in-chief role, though, is a much larger proposition.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big job,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淚t is essentially a full-time position. But I like the idea of getting to devote so much of my time and attention to this.鈥�

When she officially steps into the role next fall, Levesque will navigate a critical and chaotic moment for academic research and publishing. She sees twin challenges ahead for the journals: remaining solvent in the dicey landscape of federal funding, and managing a firehose of paper submissions unleashed with the help of artificial intelligence.

鈥淲e鈥檙e certainly seeing lots of papers that are auto-generated junk,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 also a huge uptick in people simply being able to do research faster or to write down their research faster. We鈥檙e figuring out how to manage the influx of papers and deciding what constitutes appropriate use of AI.鈥�

Levesque betrays no intimidation about juggling her faculty position with the new leadership role at the journal. She鈥檚 letting friends and family be overwhelmed on her behalf.

鈥淲hen I tell people that I’m moving into this role, there’s sort of this look of like, 鈥極h my gosh, you鈥檙e going to be dealing with funding disasters and AI is going to upend everything, isn鈥檛 this terrifying?鈥欌�� Levesque laughed. 鈥淚n this landscape, the AAS Journals are more important than ever. It鈥檚 never been easier to generate and share information, but it’s also never been harder to trust information. Publishing is a crucial part of how our field shares trustworthy science, so for me it鈥檚 worth the effort.鈥�

For more information, contact Levesque at emsque@uw.edu.

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Recent recognition of the 黑料老司机 includes a Berkeley prize recognizing research on ancient galaxies, a 2026 Marconi Society Paul Baran Young Scholar Award for a doctoral student, and an NSF CAREER Award supporting research on the brain circuits that drive social behavior.

UW astronomer is part of team that receives Berkeley prize for study of ancient galaxies

, UW postdoctoral scholar in astronomy, is part of a team of astronomers who received the 2027 Lancelot M. Berkeley鈥揘ew York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy.听

Khullar is one of 60 astronomers who make up the UNCOVER team, an international collaboration built to study tens of thousands of galaxies, black holes and star clusters. The Berkeley Prize recognized the UNCOVER team for its work using the to study galaxies behind 鈥淧andora鈥檚 Cluster,鈥� a massive galaxy cluster. The large mass of this cluster causes it to act as a powerful magnifying glass, bending the light from faraway background galaxies.听

Deep imaging and spectroscopy of this gravitational lens have enabled the UNCOVER project team to identify and characterize distant galaxies from some of the earliest stages of our universe.听

鈥淭his team award is a genuine recognition of the incredible work that this new collaboration has conducted, spearheaded by early career astronomers,鈥� Khullar said. 鈥淚 am fortunate to have played a small part in contributing to studying the first galaxies in the universe which have paused star formation 鈥� systems called quiescent galaxies.鈥�

Awarded annually since 2011 by the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the Berkeley prize recognizes research that advances the field of astronomy. The prize includes a monetary award and an invitation to give the closing plenary lecture at the AAS winter meeting in January.

This story was adapted from a press release by AAS.

UW doctoral student receives 2026 Marconi Society Paul Baran Young Scholar Award听

, a doctoral student in the UW Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, was , which recognizes exceptional early-career researchers advancing the future of information and communications technology.听

A researcher in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering鈥檚 Mobile Intelligence Lab, Itani works with , a UW professor of computer science and engineering, to develop AI-powered听 devices that give users greater control over what they hear. The technology could allow someone wearing earbuds or hearing aids to amplify specific voices or sounds they want to focus on while reducing unwanted background noise.听

That ability could听make听 listening听more customizable, from following a conversation in a crowded restaurant to better distinguishing important sounds in noisy environments. Itani and his collaborators are currently advancing systems designed to enable this kind of real-time 鈥渟uperhuman鈥� hearing on earbuds and hearing aids.听

鈥淚 feel like I鈥檝e hit a niche that鈥檚 going to be so transformational,鈥� Itani said, noting that the technology could eventually reach billions of devices. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to change the way we hear the world.鈥�听

Because of that potential reach, Itani said he feels a responsibility to continue advancing the technology and its ability to听impact听people鈥檚听 lives.听

Itani and his collaborators have also launched听Hearvana听AI to commercialize their research. He and his fellow honorees will be formally recognized at the Marconi Awards Gala & Institute Forums, held Nov. 4鈥�6 in San Francisco.听听

UW assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience receives NSF CAREER Award to study brain circuits driving social behaviors听

Sama Ahmed, UW assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, received a 2026 National Science Foundation CAREER Award of more than $1.4 million.听

The NSF CAREER Award is the agency鈥檚 most prestigious honor for early-career faculty, recognizing those with the potential to become academic leaders in both research and education.听

With the award, Ahmed and his team will study the brain circuits behind “proceptivity” 鈥� the active behaviors animals use to pursue and engage potential mates. Using fruit flies, the most complex organism with a fully mapped brain and a species with well-studied social behaviors, the researchers will use advanced genetic and imaging tools in the Ahmed Lab to watch how different neural networks in the brain talk to each other in real time.听

Instead of looking at how the brain does one thing at a time, Ahmed鈥檚 team tracks how the nervous system switches between responding to external social cues and actively generating social behaviors. Understanding how the brain juggles these competing choices helps researchers understand how more complex brains 鈥� including our own 鈥� prioritize information and decide when to act.听

鈥淚’ve always wanted to understand how our brains generate and respond to social signals,鈥� Ahmed said, adding that the CAREER Award opens a new way for his lab to investigate that question.听

The project will also provide research training opportunities for high school, undergraduate and graduate students and support the development of open-source computational tools and STEM modules focused on coding and automated behavioral tracking. The award will also allow Ahmed to create a new Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE), where students will use technologies such as听connectomics听and optogenetics to investigate questions that, as Ahmed put it, 鈥渘obody has answered yet.鈥�听

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黑料老司机 researchers are leading and collaborating on four research projects as part of Phase 1 in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) , a national initiative to build an AI-for-science ecosystem which accelerates breakthroughs in energy, discovery science and national security.听

The DOE awarded a total of 278 Genesis Mission awards for projects that involve more than 300 participating institutions, including DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration national laboratories, universities and companies. As part of the Genesis Mission, awardees will have access to the Genesis Mission Platform, which includes AI frameworks, advanced AI models from industry partners, and high-performance computing resources across DOE鈥檚 National Laboratories and partner facilities.听

“The Genesis Mission represents the kind of bold, collaborative approach needed to accelerate the complex scientific and technological breakthroughs required in our rapidly changing world,” said UW Vice Provost for Research . “Its emphasis on bringing together diverse expertise and cutting-edge technology with strategic partnerships highlights the important role universities play in driving innovation for the nation.”听

The UW-supported Genesis projects span disciplines including advanced sensing technologies, protein design for microelectronic applications, and astronomy data infrastructure, demonstrating the broad potential of AI to accelerate scientific discovery.听

, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a Genesis award to develop neuromorphic terahertz imaging technology for next-generation augmented reality systems. 听

“Neuromorphic terahertz imagers, or brain-inspired imaging in the terahertz band, give us superhuman vision to see through optically obscured media in real time by combining sensing and computation in a single piece of hardware. The Genesis Mission award supports our research in developing the hardware for the neuromorphic terahertz imager, as well as creating a digital twin of the entire system to train imaging models before implementing them on the actual hardware. This is an important step for future terahertz imaging systems on augmented reality hardware,” Naghavi said. 听

Building on research conducted in UW’s , the project brings together collaborators at Texas A&M University, the University of Utah, ChipNexus and NVIDIA to integrate sensing and computation directly within imaging hardware. By reducing the amount of data that must be transferred between sensors and processors, the technology could enable lightweight, low-cost augmented reality headsets capable of seeing through visually obscured materials in real time while operating with far lower power consumption than conventional systems.听听

, director of the , and his colleagues are contributing to two Phase I Genesis Mission projects that apply advances in protein design and artificial intelligence to challenges beyond traditional biomedical applications.听

One project, BIND (Biophysics-Informed Learning of Coordination for Metalloprotein Design), led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, seeks to develop an AI framework for designing selective metal-binding proteins. The project leverages quantum chemistry, structural biology, machine learning and high-throughput experimentation to advance the computational design strategies of next-generation rare earth element binders. 听These advancements will catalyze change in critical mineral recovery, radionuclide management and environmental monitoring, while advancing DOE priorities in predictive biosystems design. 听

The second project, led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will develop an AI-guided loop for the design, fabrication and evaluation of microelectronic devices. The team will leverage proteins designed to assemble on van der Waals substrates to modulate their properties and organize charge carriers within the synthesized hybrid materials, integrating deep-learning protein models with AI-guided material synthesis and characterization, device fabrication and measurements, and circuit-level performance evaluation to create an iterative design process that improves molecules, materials, and device design. 听

Both IPD projects demonstrate how UW-developed protein design technologies are expanding into new areas of chemistry, materials science, and advanced manufacturing. 鈥淭he Genesis Mission award provides necessary support to develop data that will vastly improve our models, an essential next step in delivering advances for key global challenges,鈥� Baker said.听听

, director of the and founding director of the and , a researcher at DiRAC, are partnering with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to help develop infrastructure that will make it easier for astronomers to combine and analyze data from a wide range of observatories and scientific instruments. 听

Their project will expand data formats and analysis platforms to support images, spectra, data cubes and other forms of astronomical data while enabling seamless access to information distributed across cloud and high-performance computing systems. The goal is to remove technical barriers that often slow scientific discovery and make large, multimodal datasets more accessible for AI research. 听

“We want the plumbing to be boring so the astronomy can be spectacular,” Caplar said.听

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Most of the stars in sit neatly on a flat plane. But the space around our galaxy is much more chaotic. Rogue bands of stars called 鈥溾�� orbit the Milky Way much like planets in our solar system orbit the sun.

Astronomers have long been fascinated by the possibility that stellar streams could indirectly reveal the presence of , that mysterious theorized substance that doesn鈥檛 interact with light or normal matter 鈥� except via gravity. However, a new 黑料老司机 study casts doubt on a leading theory linking dark matter and stellar streams, and raises new questions about both galactic phenomena.

鈥淒ark matter makes up most of the mass in the universe and forms the scaffolding that galaxies grow on, but we still don’t know what it is,鈥� said co-author , a UW assistant professor of astronomy. 鈥淭he Milky Way is one of the best laboratories we have for figuring that out, and stellar streams are one of the sharpest tools inside it.鈥�

in The Astrophysical Journal.

A stellar stream forms when a group of stars crashes into a galaxy and becomes ensnared by its gravity. As the stars orbit the galaxy, its gravity stretches the cluster into a . Most galaxies host stellar streams, though the Milky Way鈥檚 are the most visible to astronomers. 

In our galaxy, most stellar streams we can see are irregular 鈥� gaps and kinks interrupt an otherwise uniform smear of stars. Many astronomers believe that those irregularities could signal the gravitational tug from small clumps of dark matter, called subhalos. If there are indeed subhalos sprinkled throughout the galaxy, studying the aberrations in stellar streams could teach us about the composition of dark matter.

The new study was an effort to understand the role that the host galaxy 鈥� rather than the dark matter clumps within it 鈥� plays in shaping stellar streams. Astronomers simulated four Milky Way-sized galaxies without any dark matter clumps, then peppered them with roughly 15,000 stellar streams. After five billion simulated years, the team observed irregularities in nearly every stellar stream.

鈥淚n our simulations, the host galaxies alone caused the same kinds of irregularities that we observe in real stellar streams,鈥� said lead author , a UW postdoctoral scholar in astronomy. 鈥淣ow that we can predict what the host galaxy does on its own, we can start isolating the part that dark matter is responsible for.鈥�

The cause of the irregularities was the structure of the galaxies themselves. In each simulated galaxy, stars were spread somewhat unevenly across the disc, creating areas of greater and lesser density to mimic the composition of a real galaxy like ours. As the simulated streams of stars passed through denser regions of space, they were bent and torn by the irregular gravitational landscape.

Arora expected the host galaxies to impart some irregularities on the streams, but the sheer number caught him off guard.

鈥淲e found that almost all of the streams had some sort of structural variation,鈥� Arora said. 鈥淪o this idea that streams are naturally thin and smooth wasn’t really necessarily true.鈥�

The simulation generated wiggles, kinks, spurs, branches, gaps and clumps; some streams were totally torn apart by the gravitational froth of their host galaxies. Streams orbiting closer to the galactic core were thrown into dense clumpy regions of space more often, where they acquired more irregularities. Out of the 15,000 streams spread across the four host galaxies, only 70 remained perfectly smooth after five billion years. 

The results might seem disheartening, but the UW team believes they chart a clear and exciting course for the future of dark matter research. Arora wants to include dark matter clumps in the next simulation to see whether they produce stellar stream irregularities that are distinct from those caused by the host galaxy alone. 

There may also be opportunities to check simulations against new observations: the is , which will help astronomers build a taxonomy of stream features and 鈥� hopefully 鈥� discover fingerprints of dark matter.

鈥淪adly there’s no magic wand to reveal the structure of dark matter,鈥� said , a research assistant professor of astronomy at the UW. 鈥淪treams are complex systems, but they’re still the most interesting way to study the dark matter close to home.鈥� 

Co-authors from the UW astronomy department include , a postdoctoral fellow; , an undergraduate student; and and , graduate students.

A complete list of co-authors is .

This research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

For more information, contact Arora at arora125@uw.edu.

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A new study using data from NASA鈥檚 found that star formation in the nearby Andromeda galaxy has undergone a 500-million-year decline, with an even steeper drop in the last 40 million years. Andromeda, a spiral galaxy comparable in size to our Milky Way, is close enough to be seen with the unaided eye from areas with dark skies. Located about 2.5 million light-years from Earth, practically our cosmic backyard, Andromeda is close enough for astronomers to examine its stellar populations in detail and learn about the past of galaxies like our own.

July 27 in .

To reach this conclusion, the researchers combined data from two Hubble surveys: the and the . Together, these two surveys mapped two-thirds of the disk of Andromeda in ultra-sharp detail. In total, the team measured about 200 million individual stars across the galaxy, giving them a detailed picture of Andromeda鈥檚 past activity.

鈥淲e need to measure the individual stars because they are the fossil record of the galaxy鈥檚 formation,鈥� said , a research professor of astronomy at the 黑料老司机 and a co-author on the study. 鈥淗ubble is the only telescope that can give you high enough spatial resolution in the blue part of the spectrum over a large enough area to be able to do that in Andromeda.鈥�

Massive stars are bluer and short-lived, while less massive stars are redder and longer-lived. As a result, areas that have experienced recent star formation tend to have a larger fraction of blue stars, while areas with less recent star formation typically have a redder population. The team divided the Andromeda images into thousands of squares, spanning 300 light-years on each side, and determined the history of star formation within each parcel to gain a comprehensive view of the galaxy鈥檚 past.

Previous research showed the Andromeda galaxy experienced a dramatic burst of star formation about 2 billion years ago, likely due to a past interaction or merger with another galaxy. Since that time, star formation has been steadily declining.

This movie, created from an analysis of data from NASA鈥檚 Hubble Space Telescope, demonstrates how the rate of star formation in the Andromeda galaxy has declined over the past 500 million years. Brighter colors indicate where star formation was highest during a given time. Credit: Visualization: Tobin Wainer (UW); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI); Video: NASA, ESA, STScI, Gregory Bacon (STScI)

Astronomers measure the rate of star formation in terms of the mass, or amount of gas and dust, converted into stars per year. The researchers calculated that, 500 million years ago, Andromeda formed stars at a rate of about one solar mass per year. However, the formation rate dropped to about half that by 40 million years ago. The current rate has plummeted even farther, to about one-fifth the mass of our Sun per year.

The team also examined whether that decline was consistent across the galaxy or concentrated in certain areas. They found that much of the recent star formation has occurred in a star-forming ring located about 32,000 light-years from the galaxy鈥檚 center. As a result, much of the decline they measure is driven by decreasing activity within that ring.

The decline is likely to be a natural winding down from its previous, more active state.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just like after running a marathon, sometimes you鈥檝e got to take a bit of a breather,鈥� said lead author , a UW graduate student in astronomy.听

The team also investigated whether there was any connection between the decrease of activity in Andromeda and its proximity to the satellite galaxy Messier 32, or M32. The M32 galaxy is separated from Andromeda by about 16,000 light-years in the plane of the sky; however, its 3D location in space is uncertain. As a result, astronomers are unsure if or when it might have interacted with Andromeda in the past.

鈥淥ne of the major motivations for this program was to probe potential interactions between M32 and Andromeda鈥檚 disk,鈥� said co-author , a UW postdoctoral scholar in astronomy.

Survey data from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury allowed the team to study the history of star formation in Andromeda near M32. They found that this area showed signs of decreased star formation compared with other regions. The timing of this decrease, which this study finds began roughly 60 million years ago, could help constrain when the M32 galaxy interacted with Andromeda鈥檚 disk.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 explicitly say that we are seeing a decrease in star formation because of M32. But it鈥檚 right there, and it鈥檚 definitely the most likely suspect,鈥� Wainer said.

The team plans to continue analyzing the Hubble data and combine it with data from ground-based observatories to gain additional insights into the history of Andromeda.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a strong scientific value to this archival data,鈥� said co-author , a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California Santa Cruz. 鈥淎ndromeda is important because it鈥檚 a neighbor that is close enough that we can see it in great detail while also getting a global perspective.鈥澨�

An even greater global perspective is likely to come from NASA鈥檚 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope after it launches as early as Sunday, Aug. 30. Roman鈥檚 gigantic field of view can cover at least 100 times as much area as Hubble at near-infrared wavelengths in a single observation. A newly approved will image the entirety of Andromeda鈥檚 disk and areas of its surrounding halo, allowing astronomers to measure hundreds of millions of stars and enabling groundbreaking new science.

Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.听

UW co-authors include , professor emerita of astronomy and , and , former UW graduate students in astronomy.

A complete list of co-authors is .

This research was funded by NASA.

For more information, contact Wainer at tobinw@uw.edu.

This story was adapted from a press release by .

Source

Researchers at the 黑料老司机 and partners at Carnegie Mellon University are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy’s on a new project to help scientists use artificial intelligence to better understand the universe.

Modern astronomy is producing more data than ever before. Powerful telescopes 鈥� like the 鈥� and other instruments around the world are collecting detailed information about billions of stars, galaxies and other cosmic objects. These observations help researchers investigate some of the biggest mysteries in science, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy, how the universe evolved over time and what it is made of.

But there is a challenge: Much of the data from those projects is stored in different formats, housed at different institutions and difficult to combine. As a result, scientists often spend significant time preparing data before they can begin analyzing it.

鈥淭he scientific opportunities and the data analysis challenges are incredible,鈥� said , head of physics at Carnegie Mellon University.

The new effort, led by Mandelbaum and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 , will create a shared data service to allow researchers to seamlessly access and combine information from multiple astronomy experiments. Rather than moving massive datasets from one location to another, the system will allow the data to remain where it is stored while making it available through a central platform.

鈥淎 new generation of telescopes and surveys will each change the way we understand our universe,鈥� said co-investigator , a UW professor of astronomy and director of the eScience Institute. 鈥淏ut it is when we bring these data together to look at the universe from a unified perspective that these discoveries will be truly transformative.鈥�

The data infrastructure developed as part of this project will be available to the astronomical community at the SLAC-hosted Rubin Observatory鈥檚 U.S. Data Facility and via the American Science Cloud, which integrates the nation鈥檚 most advanced high-performance computing systems, scientific facilities, data resources and production capabilities into a single, coordinated AI-driven system. The project extends the UW鈥檚 investments in Rubin Observatory and the UW , which are supported by Charles and Lisa Simonyi and led by and .听

The infrastructure also will support a growing area of AI known as foundation models. These AI systems are trained on large and diverse datasets, enabling them to recognize patterns and connections that might otherwise go unnoticed.

In astronomy, foundation models could help researchers analyze many different types of observations at once, including images, measurements of light from distant objects and records of how those objects change over time. By bringing these data sources together, scientists hope to uncover new insights about the universe more quickly and efficiently.

Ultimately, the team hopes to transform the vast collections of astronomical data being gathered today into a long-lasting scientific resource, helping researchers answer some of humanity’s most fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and makeup of the universe.

Other UW co-investigators include , a research scientist and engineer in astronomy. Other co-investigators include , director of engineering for the LINCC project and , senior staff scientist at SLAC and at Stanford鈥檚/SLAC鈥檚 Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology.

Additional modeling will be provided by Francois Lanusse of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Their work is an extension of the Schmidt Sciences-supported LINCC Frameworks program, a partnership led jointly by CMU and the UW.

This story was adapted from a press release by .

Source

Come curious. Leave inspired.

Wherever you are, the 黑料老司机 offers opportunities to learn and connect with the ideas, people, and research shaping our world. This summer, visit campus for the latest exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, or join us from anywhere through recorded lectures, podcasts, virtual experiences, and more. As a public university, we’re proud to share the knowledge, creativity, and discoveries of the UW with communities near and far.

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If You’re in Seattle:

SUMMER EVENTS:

July 7 | (Arboratum Foundation)
Meet Seattle-based author, journalist, and photographer Roddy Scheer and learn about his new book, Wild Seattle: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around the Emerald City.

July 11 | (Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies)
Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the 黑料老司机 for a day packed with labor history, organizing strategies, and labor research with the Seattle labor community. How are racism and capitalism related, and how have workers confronted them, past and present? Come ready to learn, discuss, and organize!

July 22 – 26 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Assembly is a new invitational contemporary art fair organized by a cohort of Seattle’s leading galleries. Founding members include Traver Gallery, led by School of Art + Art History + Design alum Sarah Traver (BFA ’02), and Greg Kucera Gallery. The fair鈥檚 inaugural edition will take place at the West Canal Yards. It will bring together galleries from across the Western US with their curatorial programs, artists, and collectors.

July 23 – 26 | 听(ArtsUW)
Seattle Art Fair, a one-of-a-kind showcase for the vibrant arts community of the Pacific Northwest, and a leading destination for the best in modern and contemporary art, returns for its tenth edition. The Fair brings together the region鈥檚 strong collector base, the Pacific Northwest鈥檚 top museums and institutions, and an array of innovative public programming.

Through July 24 – Book Club | The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (UW Alumni Association)
Readers鈥� Choice! Bundle up for an historical mystery set in 18th-century Maine. The body of a local man is found in the frozen Kennebeck River. Martha Ballard, the local midwife, suspects that this death is not an accident 鈥� and her detailed diaries of local life are full of clues. Will she weather the scandals unleashed by her pursuit of the truth? Inspired by historic events!

July 25 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Walk around the 黑料老司机 campus with Dr. Susan Pavel to learn more about native plants and how you can use them to dye textiles. In this workshop, learn about the native plants around the Burke Museum and how they can be used. Hear about the dyeing process and see samples of native plant dyes. Leave this workshop with the information to do your own natural dyeing at home! Takeaways include: a sample card of a natural dye from a native plant.

August 6 |听(Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Admission to the Burke Museum is FREE, and the museum is open until 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month. Get closer to the daily work happening in the Burke Museum鈥檚 visible collections storage, labs, and workrooms during Free First Thursday.

August 27 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Celebrate the opening of new exhibitions featuring newly acquired prints by Helen Frankenthaler, collection objects that explore the politics of the everyday, a solo exhibition by artist Joiri Minaya, and the unveiling of a new mural project! Plus music and drinks!

SEPTEMBER EVENTS:

September 14 | (Philosophy)
Drawing on care ethics and relational philosophy, Karen S. Emmerman develops relational vegan ecofeminism, a framework that takes animals’ moral standing seriously while also acknowledging the emotional, cultural, and familial stakes woven into human traditions. Rather than treating veganism as a simple matter of ethical prioritization, Emmerman shows that refusing a grandmother’s lovingly prepared chicken soup, or rejecting a family hunting tradition, carries profound relational weight. These moments produce 鈥渕oral remainders鈥� of lingering hurt, regret, or estrangement that persists even when we make the best ethical choice. Emmerman’s book is a ground-breaking exploration of what happens when caring deeply about animals places us in conflict with the people we love. She’ll be joined in conversation by Amy Reed-Sandoval.听Free.

September 16 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
In this event, David B. Williams will be in conversation with local journalist Mary Ann Gwinn, about his new book. Blending human and natural history into a vivid portrait of one of North America鈥檚 most dynamic landscapes, In the Range of Fire and Ice is a lively, groundbreaking exploration of Washington鈥檚 Cascade Range. Drawing on conversations with anthropologists, park rangers, ecologists, and climate scientists, as well as firsthand experience, award-winning author David B. Williams brings readers into the mountains to uncover stories etched in the landscape over millennia.

September 17 | (Philosophy)
UW Prof. Colin Marshall is joined by UW Assoc. Prof. Jos茅 Jorge Mendoza for a lively conversation about Marshall’s new book, Just Hear Me Out. In Just Hear Me Out, Marshall describes a persuasive method that is both effective and ethical. Rather than share a flurry of tips on how to win friends and influence people, Marshall invites us to take up persuasion as fundamentally civil work, good for both our conscience and our communities. Real-world persuaders such as Jane Addams, Daryl Davis, and Fred Rogers show us an ethical route, he argues, to changing hearts through patience, respect, and compassion. Hosted at the University Bookstore. Free.

September 24 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Samuel Elwitt (1834-1919) was a prolific and highly accomplished Tsimshian carver from the Kitselas First Nation. Partially paralyzed from an early age, Elwitt worked as a full-time artist and relied on carving and painting as his primary source of income for his entire life. Despite a multitude of Elwitt鈥檚 spoons, model poles, bowls, and headdresses being present in some of the world鈥檚 most notable museums, including the British Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Canadian Museum of History, and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, most Northwest Coast scholars have never heard of this pivotal artist. This presentation by Vancouver-based museum anthropologist and writer Christopher W. Smith retraces his efforts over the last 18 years to untangle the historic intersectional discrimination and inconsistent museum cataloguing practices that led to this important artist being left out of the Northwest Coast art historical canon. In his presentation, Smith will share key biographical details on Elwitt, historic photos, notable works, and the defining features of Elwitt鈥檚 unique carving and painting styles with the audience. Smith will also discuss the important roles that formal attribution, archival research, and online museum databases have played in the return of this information back to Elwitt鈥檚 home community and descendants. Free.

September 24 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Every night for almost two decades, artist Clare Johnson has drawn and written on a post-it to save a small piece of each ending day. Currently including over 6,500 sticky notes and growing nightly, this sprawling yet deeply intimate work honors what normal communication can鈥檛鈥攁ll the separate times held within ourselves, endlessly overlapping, collapsing, and refocusing. As part of Art + Culture Week and in conjunction with the exhibition Day-to-Day: Rhythm, Routine, Resistance, join Johnson at the Henry for a talk and hands-on activity exploring personal histories and practices of everyday making. Free.

September 25 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Join in for an introduction to a moving meditation called Qi Gong. Participants will learn a practice called T鈥檃i Chi Chih, which is a series of 19 movements and one closing posture. Benefits of Qi Gong include improved balance, increased energy, and greater mental clarity. Free.

September 30 | (Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the 2026 MFA Show at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. The exhibition runs from September 30 through November 7. Free.

September 30 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Authors Spencer Greening and Rachel Greening discuss their new book, Gyetk: Coastal Fusion and Ancestral Knowledge from a Ts鈥檓syen Kitchen.听Gyetk (pronounced gy-e-tk and meaning 鈥渢o feed the people鈥�) immerses readers into the rich food traditions, knowledge, and relationships that have sustained the Ts鈥檓syen (Tsimshian) people for millennia along the Pacific Northwest Coast. Drawing from the authors鈥� lived experiences practicing a land-based lifestyle, as well as their backgrounds in Indigenous food sovereignty, health and well-being, and cultural research, Gyetk weaves together modern culinary fusion, traditional knowledge, and scholarly insight. Through 60 beautifully photographed recipes, the book follows the Ts鈥檓syen seasonal round, weaving together ancestral foodways, traditional ecological knowledge, dietetic perspectives, and thoughtful harvesting practices 鈥� inviting readers to feast in relationship with the natural world.

(Biology)
Wednesdays, noon to 4 pm / 2nd and 4th Saturdays, 10 am – 2 pm
For nearly 70 years, the Biology Greenhouse at the 黑料老司机 has played a vital role in research and teaching. Whether focusing on plant-pollinator interactions, paleoclimatology, or other biological questions, the teaching collection has enhanced and inspired UW biological research. Visit the 4 Collection rooms and browse through an amazing diversity of plant species from around the world. Free.

EXHIBITIONS:

Opening July 5 | 听(Henry Art Gallery)

By the age of thirty-two, Helen Frankenthaler (1928鈥�2011) had established herself in a white male-dominated art world as one of the leading American Abstract Expressionist painters of the twentieth century. Her distinctive 鈥渟oak-stain鈥� technique鈥攁pplying thinned paint onto unprimed canvases on the floor to produce watercolor-like effects鈥攊ntroduced chance as an integral part of her artistic process. Printmaking, a technical process involving chemistry, collaboration, and repetition, might appear at odds with the spontaneity and physicality of her painting.

Opening July 11 |
(Henry Art Gallery)
This exhibition brings together contemporary artworks across media that explore the poetics and politics of everyday life. Using the day-to-day as both material and subject, these works explore how the ordinary and seemingly incidental can become a powerful source for artistic inquiry, critical reflection, and imagination.

Opening July 18 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Richard Learoyd’s (U.K., b. 1966)听large-scale photograph of a dead grey reef shark in the Henry鈥檚 permanent collection. This photograph draws from lineages of scientific photography and still life across media, resulting in a picture that surfaces entanglements between traditions of imaging and practices of extraction from land, people, and other living creatures. Reflections from members of the UW community across Art History, Anthropology, and Marine Biology will examine these intersecting histories and contexts.

Opening July 25 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Joiri Minaya (b.1990, New York City; raised in the Dominican Republic) is a multidisciplinary artist who examines the Tropics as a constructed place and identity. As both performer and saboteur, Minaya challenges misrepresentations that reduce tropical geographies and their inhabitants to imagined fantasies of the colonial imagination. In her work, she reclaims Afro-Indigenous narratives of resistance, ancestral knowledges, and regenerative practices鈥攅specially those rooted in plant and botanical traditions.

Through August 30 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Journey through the seasonal cycle of weaving, from gathering materials and spinning wool to dyeing with natural ingredients and weaving intricate designs. Along the way, learn firsthand from weavers and gain insight into the deep cultural and scientific knowledge embedded in every strand. Related Article by the Seattle Times:

As you enter the exhibit, you鈥檒l see baskets, tumplines, and raw materials 鈥� all part of the first phase of the weaving process: gathering. Ancestral weavings 鈥� some on loan and returning to Coast Salish territory for the first time in a century 鈥� are displayed alongside contemporary creations by the co-curators.

(Henry Art Gallery)
ojo|-|o虂l谦虂 (pronounced oh-ho hol-ohn) is an exhibition of recent and newly commissioned work by Din茅 artist Eric-Paul Riege (b. 1994, Na鈥檔铆zhoozh铆 [Gallup, New Mexico]) that includes sculpture, textile, collage, and video, activated by moments of performance. Across this work, Riege combines customary Din茅 practices of weaving, silversmithing, and beading with contemporary cultural forms, exploring Din茅 cosmology, the history of Euro-American trading posts in and adjacent to the Navajo Nation, and the notion of 鈥渁uthenticity鈥� as a value marker of Indigenous art and craft.

ART AROUND SEATTLE:

Volunteer Park: (Henry Art Gallery)
The title, Soft Services, is a phrase drawn from the artist鈥檚 research and interviews with members of the activist community, in reference to the care efforts made during the height of the AIDS crisis. At the time, the rare opportunity arose to use the Ryan White (CARE Act) monies towards “soft services”鈥攁spects of support deemed assistive but not strictly necessary and as such not covered by traditional healthcare (massage, meal trains, dog walking, etc.) Through this installation, Bass explores the notion of what true care means, what we define as essential versus optional, and who has access to it, questions of heightened importance at this moment of crisis and recovery.

Judkins Park Sound Transit: 听(School of Art + Art History + Design)
鈥淎 Walk in the Neighborhood,鈥� a public art installation by Barbara Earl Thomas, 鈥�73, 鈥�77, is the culmination of 12 years of creative development. It features illustrated glass panels that serve as dividers and windbreaks on the terminal platform. The imagery features people and elements from the neighborhood rendered in Thomas鈥檚 cut-paper style.

Through August 8 | ARTS at King Street Station: 听(School of Art + Art History + Design)
Vivian Cho is a visual designer and animator based in Seattle whose work includes themes of identity, nature, and digital nostalgia. Their practice is driven by curiosity and a love for experimentation, often exploring ways to synthesize 2D and 3D digital art with analog techniques. A recent graduate of the 黑料老司机鈥檚 Visual Communication Design program, Vivian has previously worked as a motion design intern at Netflix and a visual designer at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Currently, they are a staff designer at ARCADE NW Publishing, while also continuing to develop their independent practice and personal design and animation projects. Related article by 黑料老司机 Magazine: .

Engage with the 黑料老司机 from Anywhere:

SUMMER READS:

听(Department of English)
Discover the latest books and creative achievements from the Department of English faculty.

(Department of English)
From captivating novels and memoirs to poetry, scholarship, and more, this collection showcases the breadth of alumni publications.

PODCASTS:

(Communication)
Lost Credits is a podcast that emerged from a single question: what happened to all of the Black girls that used to occupy our screens? Each episode invites listeners into the quest of two friends to find answers. Hosts Dr. Timeka Tounsel (UW Communication associate professor) and Dr. Ashleigh Greene Wade (Digital Studies, University of Virginia) draw on their expertise as Black feminist media scholars to offer fascinating insights about popular culture and the inner workings of Hollywood. Together, they examine Black girls鈥� representation in late-twentieth-century and new-millennium entertainment media. With equal doses of fan criticism and educational content, Lost Credits is designed for Black culture enthusiasts as well as students and teachers.

(School of Art + Art History + Design)
UW Professor Karen Cheng joins host and Design alum Jason Tselentis (MFA 2004), Head of Design at Winthrop University, to discuss Working Girl (1988). They discuss the cinematography, Harrison Ford鈥檚 character, and other movies that would pair well with Working Girl for a potential double feature.

Ways of Knowing, Season 2 (College of Arts & Sciences)
Faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences are facilitating critical conversations in the classroom and the sound booth! The second season of 鈥淲ays of Knowing,鈥� a podcast collaboration with The World According to Sound, spotlights eight Arts & Sciences faculty members whose research shapes our knowledge of the world in real time鈥攆rom digital humanities to mathematics to AI.

(Astronomy)
Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have announced that they discovered a new subatomic particle. Roughly four times more massive than a standard proton, this short-lived piece of matter called 螢cc鈦�(Xi-cc-plus) is like an extra-heavy proton, researchers say. Physicist Hassan Jawahery joins Host Flora Lichtman to unpack how the particle was found, and what its discovery means for theoretical physics. Then, astronomer Eric Bellm describes a new alert system that could flag potentially significant changes in the southern night sky in real time. On its first night of testing at the Rubin Observatory in Chile, the system fired off 800,000 alerts.

听(Jackson School of International Studies)
Launched in 2021 with UW Professor Daniel Bessner and writer Derek Davison, 鈥淎merican Prestige,鈥� the winner of the 2025 Signal Awards 鈥渟ilver鈥� medal, offers an in-depth analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs, and has featured guests such as actor Morgan Spector and HuffPost senior diplomatic correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed.

(Biology)
This is a podcast centered around the humans who study the myriad biological processes that shape our world, specifically, the humans who are students and faculty in the Department of Biology at the 黑料老司机. They are scientists who study everything from the ways cells move through complex tissues to ancient communities of long-extinct mammals, from the ways plants interact with their surroundings to the ways bats fly and hummingbirds feed. Plunge into the vast world of biology, where students share paths to becoming scientists and the lessons they have learned along the way.

Podcast:听听(School of Drama)
A lively and opinionated cultural history of the Broadway Musical that tells the extraordinary story of how Immigrants, Jews, Queers, African-Americans, and other outcasts invented the Broadway Musical, and how they changed America in the process. In Season One, host David Armstrong traces the evolution of American Musical Theater from its birth at the dawn of the 20th Century, through its mid-century 鈥淕olden Age鈥�, and right up to its current 21st Century renaissance; and also explores how musicals have reflected and shaped our world 鈥� especially in regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, and equality.

STREAMING 2025-26 LECTURES AND PERFORMANCES:

The World (Cup) Comes to Seattle Lecture Series (Jackson School of International Studies)
The Global Sports Lab hosts an online series of talks and discussions featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Men鈥檚 World Cup in Seattle.

• 
  Presented by Sean Jacobs, Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School, and Martha Saavedra, former Associate Director of the Center for African Studies at UC Berkeley.
• 
  Presented by C茅sar Wazen, Director of the International Affairs Office at Qatar University.
• 
  Presented by Mary V. Harvey, Chief Executive at the Center for Sport and Human Rights; Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, Board Member of the SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee, Chief Business Officer of Seattle Reign Football Club, and Chief Operating Officer of Seattle Sounders Football Club; Leo Flor, Chief Legacy Officer of the SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee; and Anita Ramasastry, Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law and Director of the Sustainable International Development Graduate Program at the 黑料老司机 School of Law.
• 
  Presented by Niki Akhavan, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Media and Communication Studies at The Catholic University of America.
• 
  Presented by Teresa Mosqueda, Councilmember of the Metropolitan King County Council, and Anita Ramasastry, Barer Chair and Professor of Law at the 黑料老司机.
• 
  Presented by St茅phane Mourlane, Senior Lecturer, Aix-Marseille University; Yvan Gastaut, Lecturer, University of C么te d鈥橝zur; and Paul Dietschy, Professor, Marie and Louis Pasteur University.
• 
  Presented by Abdullah Al-Arian, Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University in Qatar.
• 
  Presented by Jen Barnes, Co-Chair of the Pride+ Match Impact Committee with SEA2026 and founder and CEO of both Rough & Tumble Pub and Salmon Bay FC.

听(Physics)
Building on the Department’s longtime commitment to public scholarship, the lecture series brings renowned scientists to UW to offer free lectures on exciting advances in physics with the goal of fostering an appreciation of science and technology in our community:

• 
  Nobel laureate David鈥疊aker discusses advanced protein design software and its use in developing molecules to address challenges in medicine, technology, and sustainability.
• 
  Dr. John Martinis, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, presents 鈥淧rehistoric quantum bits: experiments testing the fundamental physics of superconducting quantum devices.鈥�

听(History)
Incarceration is a hotly debated topic in the United States, a country that has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world. Looking at the practice from a historical perspective, what can incarceration teach us about who we were and who we are now? What might histories of incarceration, and the histories of those who have been incarcerated, tell us about power dynamics, belonging, exclusion, struggle, and hope across societies in the past and present? The 2026 History Lecture Series explores the practice of incarceration, tracing its evolution from antiquity to our modern world.

(Communication)
Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and the cofounder of the fact-checking site FactCheck.org and its science subsite, SciCheck. In this lecture, Dr. Jamieson argues that scientists and science communicators would be well served by using a 鈥渕ental models鈥� approach to simultaneously increase consequential knowledge and reduce public susceptibility to misconceptions about controversial climate and health findings. By engaging audiences with visual, verbal, or animated models, this approach fosters an understanding of science that audiences can draw on to recognize and reject consequential misconceptions.

(Department of English)
Nationally-acclaimed poet and critic Ange Mlinko lecture, 鈥淲hen Poets Say Nothing,鈥� addresses the use of a negative mode in poetry, called apophasis or the apophatic. Her title itself is a clever pun that operates on several levels. Poets have always been accused of saying nothing much, of course. William Butler Yeats describes this accusation as a professional hazard; to be a poet is to 鈥淸b]e thought an idler by the noisy set / Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen / The martyrs call the world.鈥� On a different level, though, it is equally true that poets themselves invoke the negative to create distinct artistic and intellectual effects from those of positive language. As Mlinko noted, the apophatic is historically connected to theology, with figures from the ancient world, such as Saint Augustine of Hippo, urging that a correct human understanding of God must always be tempered by humility. Humans cannot understand the divine, writes Augustine; if you think you understand something, you can be sure it is not God. Poets say nothing when nothing is precisely the thing that needs to be said.

(Department of Psychology)
Dr. Cynthia Berg presents a perspective on self- and social-regulation that guides her work across the lifespan. In addition to talking about transition points across the lifespan where coordination of self- and social-regulation are linked to diabetes outcomes 鈥� across adolescence, in young adulthood, and in late adulthood 鈥� she identifies interventions that help to optimize the coordination of self- and social-regulation.

(School of Art + Art History + Design)
Visual Communication Design faculty members Karen Cheng, Annabelle Gould, Chad P. Hall, and Kristine Matthews give a series of short presentations reflecting on the designers, projects, and ideas that have shaped their practices and design values鈥攆rom their time as students through their early careers. Their selections ranged from foundational texts on typography to inventive works, such as annual reports that document a designer鈥檚 year through charts and graphs. Watch the presentation recording to learn from these creative influencers.

UW School of Music Performances
Performances and more from the 黑料老司机 School of Music.

Browse the full list of the UW School of Music’s

By bringing top minds from around the world to the 黑料老司机 to teach and speak to the public, the UW Graduate School鈥檚 Office of Public Lectures takes big ideas and discoveries into the community and brings the community into scholarly life.

• 
  This talk invites audiences to explore five distinct perspectives on the political and cultural impact of the tournament鈥攐ffering a more nuanced, thought-provoking look at what the World Cup means for Seattle and the world.
• 
  From winning two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup championship to enduring a career-ending concussion that left her 鈥渢emporarily totally disabled鈥� and forced her to pawn her Olympic medals, Briana Scurry delivers a raw and inspiring account of resilience. With unflinching candor, she guides audiences through the soaring highs and devastating lows of her journey鈥攕haring a story of triumph, adversity, and ultimate redemption. Along the way, Scurry reflects on soccer’s global influence and the enduring significance of the World Cup, offering a deeply personal perspective on the sport that shaped her life and legacy.
• 
  Based on Alexis Pauline Gumbs鈥� forthcoming book of poetic indexes, this interactive poetic lecture explores the life, teaching, and artwork of color theorist Alma Thomas. Engaging themes of audience, intimacy, abstract expressionist art, and the dynamic relationship between Black women鈥檚 creativity and the process of being Earth, the lecture invites participants into a rhythmic dialogue of form, meaning, and presence.
• 
  In the shadow of an empire, in a world on fire, what if we could imagine 鈥� and build 鈥� otherwise? Crip feminist technoscience teaches us how to wield disabled, mad, neuroexpansive, crip, sick people鈥檚 wisdom as a vital tool for surviving now and thriving then. Disabled people know intimately how to strategically leverage legal and policy tools and know precisely the limitations of these tools and frameworks.
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  Healthcare can be challenging for anyone鈥攂ut for older LGBTQ individuals, the barriers are often deeper and more complex. This engaging talk explores how thoughtful, inclusive communication can transform healthcare experiences, making every person feel truly seen, heard, and respected. Join us to learn how the words we choose and the ways we listen can foster trust, reduce disparities, and build a system that cares for everyone with dignity.
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(Simpson Center for the Humanities)
The Katz Distinguished Lectures Playlist offers a rich, ever-growing archive to explore from anywhere, inviting you to engage with a wide range of thought-provoking topics.

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  Why do we turn to the past in order to confront the crises of the present? Michael Rothberg approaches this question from the perspective of “comparison controversies,” which occur when impassioned public debates emerge from provocative historical comparisons. Since October 7, 2023, political speeches, protests, magazine articles, and social media posts have generated controversy by connecting recent events in Israel and Gaza to the Holocaust. In this talk, Rothberg will consider post-October 7 examples in relation to a larger context of comparison controversies and a longer trajectory of Holocaust memory to reflect more generally on the possibilities and pitfalls of historical analogy.
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  The production and promotion of so-called 鈥淎I鈥� technology involves dehumanization on many fronts: the computational metaphor valorizes one kind of cognitive activity as 鈥渋ntelligence,鈥� devaluing many other aspects of human experience while taking an isolating, individualistic view of agency, ignoring the importance of communities and webs of relationships. Meanwhile, the purpose of humans is framed as labeling data or as interchangeable machine components. Data collected about people is understood as 鈥済round truth鈥� even while it lies about those people, especially marginalized people. In this talk, Bender will explore these processes of dehumanization and the vital role that the humanities have in resisting these trends by painting a deeper and richer picture of what it is to be human.

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What will Rubin Observatory discover that no one鈥檚 expecting? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn and answer cosmic queries about the Vera Rubin Observatory, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and our next big tool to uncover more about the universe with Zeljko Ivezic, Director of Rubin Observatory Construction.

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From a mountaintop in Chile, under clear dark skies, the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF鈥揇OE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially begun the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (). The 10-year survey will create the most comprehensive, cinematic record of the universe in history. Over the next decade, Rubin will observe the entire southern sky every few nights to create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of our universe.听

鈥淭he decision to officially begin the LSST was made after a period of system optimization and a careful operational review of technical readiness, data system performance and scientific validation,鈥� said , a 黑料老司机 professor of astronomy and head of LSST. 鈥�The 黑料老司机 Rubin team played a central role in optimizing the observatory and helping prepare it for the start of full survey operations.鈥�

The Simonyi Survey Telescope鈥檚 unique design combines enormous light-collecting power, the ability to move rapidly across the sky and a wide field of view. The attached 3,200-megapixel camera 鈥� the largest digital camera in the world 鈥� is now capturing a new, detailed image approximately every 40 seconds. Using a telescope with this speed and sensitivity, Rubin is capable of catching faint objects and fleeting events with reliability and consistency every night.

Over the next decade, Rubin will illuminate a treasure trove of discoveries: pulsating stars, supernova explosions, the fossil record of galaxies, clues to the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, and entirely new phenomena we鈥檝e never seen before. Some cosmic processes unfold slowly, unpredictably or incredibly rarely, which is why a 10-year survey is essential. By returning to each point in the sky about 800 times over a decade, Rubin data will provide the scientific community with deep, time-rich views needed to uncover subtle events, capture moving objects and study the accelerating expansion of the universe.

This milestone follows the Rubin First Look event that took place in June 2025, which was followed by final commissioning work, an operational readiness review and the beginning of the alert stream.

Each night, Rubin collects approximately 10 terabytes of data and produces as many as seven million alerts of changes in the night sky. These alerts stream to : automated systems that sort and classify these changes so scientists can act quickly. UW researchers led by , research associate professor of astronomy, developed the alert pipeline.

鈥淎stronomers have already used Rubin’s public alerts to discover and follow up hundreds of transient phenomena during the early optimization period,鈥� Bellm said. 鈥淲e can expect many more exciting discoveries with the start of the full survey.鈥�

Not only is Rubin helping to unlock the mysteries of the distant universe, it is also the most powerful solar system discovery machine ever built. By taking about a thousand images every night, Rubin is compiling a detailed census of our solar system, including millions of asteroids and comets. In just a month and a half, during early optimization surveys, Rubin discovered over 11,000 never-before-seen asteroids, including 33 near-Earth objects and 380 trans-Neptunian objects.

When the LSST is complete, the final dataset will contain billions of objects with trillions of measurements, all accessible through regular data releases. This is the first time so much astronomical data will be available to so many people, opening the door to new kinds of discovery by both scientists and the public. Rubin invites anyone in the world to engage with its data and explore the dynamic universe in ways never before possible.

鈥淚t is amazing and humbling to be here at this time and place as we start the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, after more than two decades of incredible work by our dedicated team,鈥� said Bob Blum, director of Rubin Observatory at NSF NOIRLab. 鈥淩ubin Observatory is for everyone; the LSST will change how we do astronomy and astrophysics, allowing researchers anywhere to participate in cutting-edge science.鈥�

Visit to follow the status of the LSST in real time.

Rubin Observatory is jointly operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC. Observatory operations听are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Office of Science.

For more information, contact Ivezi膰 at ivezic@astro.washington.edu.

This story was adapted from a press release by .

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