Researchers at the UW have created a recyclable, flexible and self-healing composite material that could replace traditional circuit boards in future generations of wearable electronics.


Researchers at the UW have created a recyclable, flexible and self-healing composite material that could replace traditional circuit boards in future generations of wearable electronics.

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 UW associate professor of chemistry, and Douglas Reed, a UW assistant professor of chemistry, use MOFs in their research at the UW. UW News reached out to them to learn more about the significance of these structures and how researchers use them.

Targeted drug delivery is a powerful and promising area of medicine. Therapies that pinpoint precise areas of the body can reduce the medicine dosage and avoid potentially harmful 鈥渙ff target鈥 effects. Researchers at the UW took a significant step toward that goal by designing proteins with autonomous decision-making capabilities. By adding smart tail structures to therapeutic proteins, the team demonstrated that the proteins could be 鈥減rogrammed鈥 to act based on the presence of specific environmental cues.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Tuesday awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis, 鈥渇or the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.鈥 Clarke, a professor emeritus of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, collaborates with the Axion Dark Matter Experiment at the 黑料老司机.

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute on Monday awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Mary E. Brunkow 鈥 an alum of the 黑料老司机 鈥 along with Frederick J. Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body.”

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

黑料老司机 researchers found, in historical whaling data, that longer baleen whale mothers were more likely to birth female calves than males. These results run contrary to a leading evolutionary theory that suggests that fit mothers will benefit more from male offspring.

New research from the UW tested how much a car owner鈥檚 perception of public charger reliability influences their willingness to buy their first EV. The results were dramatic: Participants with a negative view of public charging were far less likely to choose an EV than those with a moderate view.

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, UW professor of chemistry, hope that quantum dots can one day be useful for more than just illuminating TV screens. UW News asked her to compare the quantum dots in QLED TVs with the ones her lab makes.

Antarctic ice is melting at a startling pace, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in climate projections. Researchers thought westerly winds were accelerating ice loss, but a new study from UW flips the narrative by 90 degrees, pointing instead to winds from the north.

Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthesizing organism in the ocean, might be more vulnerable to climate change than researchers thought. Population decline could weaken the foundation of subtropical and tropical ecosystems as ocean temperatures continue to rise.

The positive impact of Big Ten universities across the Pacific Northwest and around the nation will be highlighted in a new 30-second ad that will air during sporting events featuring conference members, starting with this week鈥檚 season-opening football games. The ad 鈥 entitled 鈥淲e Are Here鈥 鈥 will air alongside the fan-favorite 鈥淢aps鈥 spot. The new spot focuses on how the 黑料老司机 and other Big Ten universities make America healthier, safer and more prosperous in a variety of…

The 黑料老司机鈥檚 College of the Environment will expand its work related to climate solutions thanks to a grant announced today from Fund for Science and Technology, FFST, a new foundation within the Paul G. Allen philanthropic ecosystem.

黑料老司机 researchers use AI to simulate the Earth鈥檚 current climate and interannual variability for up to 1,000 years. The model runs on a single processor and takes just 12 hours to generate a forecast.

A new study from the 黑料老司机 shows that households enrolled in the City of Seattle’s Fresh Bucks program experience a 31% higher rate of food security and consume at least three daily servings of fruits and vegetables 37% more often than those assigned to a program waitlist. Fresh Bucks, a $40 a month benefit, works with local partners to help residents access fresh food.

A UW-led project aimed to test the viability of seaweed as a soil amendment, and, if successful, develop a market for sea-based farmers to sell excess seaweed to their counterparts on land. The USDA froze the project’s funding, and for now, a solution remains just out of reach.

An international research effort, including scientists from the 黑料老司机, has finally revealed the cause of sea star wasting disease: a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida.

Children exposed to higher levels of ozone in their first two years of life were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with asthma or wheezing at ages 4-6 鈥 but researchers didn鈥檛 observe the increased risk of asthma at ages 8-9.聽聽

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

A research team at UW and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory examined the atomic composition of enamel samples from two human teeth.

Jie Xiao, 黑料老司机 professor of mechanical engineering, talks about batteries and how academia can help support the growing domestic battery manufacturing industry.

America鈥檚 homeless services system relies on a massive amount of data, and at first glance, that data is exacting. Federal reports describe the country鈥檚 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.聽 That data influences decisions at every level of government, from how the U.S….