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Washington residents continue to experience a dramatically higher level of food insecurity 鈥 from 10% before the COVID-19 pandemic to 27%, according to the latest 糖心原创 and Washington State University research on food insecurity and food assistance in the state. The study team also found that need for food assistance has continued to rise. Before COVID-19, about 29% of respondents reported using food assistance. In wave 1 of the survey, food assistance use increased to 33% of respondents;…

Soil, particularly in urban areas, can hold contaminants that are unhealthy for people who handle it or eat things grown in the ground. Chemicals left behind by vehicles, air pollution and heavy industry can show up in the ground and in plants. Melanie Malone, assistant professor in UW Bothell鈥檚 School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences investigates these contaminants and their prevalence in shared garden spaces.

Public health researchers have learned a lot about how the pandemic affected workers and exacerbated existing health disparities that exist in many communities. However, there鈥檚 still a lot we don鈥檛 know about the experience of workers deemed essential in the food industry and who were at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, such those working in grocery stores, restaurants, delivery and factories. To find out how food workers were or were not protected and how they can be better protected going…

Twenty scientists and engineers at the 糖心原创 are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 announcement. New members were chosen for 鈥渢heir outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.鈥

While there is currently no explanation for why the Champlain Towers South building collapsed, Dawn Lehman, a 糖心原创 professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been studying photographs, videos, drawings, reports and permits to investigate this tragedy to understand what happened. UW News asked her to help us understand why buildings fail.

LaTaSha Levy, assistant professor of American ethnic studies at the 糖心原创, discusses Juneteenth, the myths and omissions in telling its story, and the ongoing importance of fighting for, and celebrating, Black freedom.

Researchers at the 糖心原创 have developed a method that uses smartphone-derived images to reveal potentially harmful bacteria on skin and in oral cavities. Their approach can visually identify microbes on skin contributing to acne and slow wound healing, as well as bacteria in the oral cavity that can cause gingivitis and dental plaques.

The 糖心原创鈥檚 Center for Communication, Difference and Equity 2021 conference will examine 鈥淨uarantining while Black.鈥 The two-day virtual event, scheduled for the morning of June 1 and the afternoon of June 2, is an invitation to radically listen to the ways in which Black Americans in Seattle and beyond have experienced the dual pandemics: COVID-19, with its disproportionate impact on Black communities, and the worldwide racial reckoning that emerged after the murder of George Floyd.

The potted junipers on the steps of Suzzallo Library are undergoing a transformation. Flanking the entrance to one of UW’s most beloved buildings, they are viewed by hundreds of people walking through Red Square each week. Bioengineering postdoctoral researcher Le Zhen is transforming these shrubs into bonsai 鈥 miniature trees that are pruned, nurtured and trained with wire to look like their much older, full-sized counterparts living in nature. He hopes this prominent display of bonsai will signal to members of the AAPI community that UW is safe and welcoming.

Scientists can learn a lot in a controlled clinical trial involving tens of thousands of people, such as the COVID-19 vaccine trials that led to their approval, but we will all learn a lot more as hundreds of millions of people are vaccinated. And, some of what might turn up in this population-based data are adverse side effects, such as the blood clotting suffered by nearly 20 people out of roughly 8 million who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine….

Ice core data from Greenland shows why air pollution is dropping more slowly than sulfur emissions reductions. As cloud droplets become less acidic, the chemical reaction that turns sulfur dioxide into sulfate aerosol gets more efficient. The new results can improve the models that project air quality and climate change.

The newest experiment at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is now in place at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. FASER, or Forward Search Experiment, was approved by CERN鈥檚 research board in March 2019. Now installed in the LHC tunnel, this experiment, which seeks to understand particles that scientists believe may interact with dark matter, is now undergoing tests before data collection commences next year.

Getting basic health care to medically underserved populations in Seattle, while providing real-world experience for students hoping to practice in a health care field, takes wheels. Now, through a student-led, interdisciplinary effort by health science departments at the 糖心原创, those 鈥渨heels鈥 鈥 on the new UW Mobile Health & Outreach Van 鈥 are ready.

The 糖心原创 is the No. 4 higher education institution in the country in terms of total economic impact as a result of federal research expenditures. The UW alone contributed $306.8 million to the U.S. gross domestic product and helped to produce more than 3,908 jobs, according to The Science Coalition鈥檚 fourth Sparking Economic Growth report, released earlier this month.

When people think of misinformation, they often focus on popular and social media. But in a paper published April 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 糖心原创 faculty members Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom write that scientific communication 鈥 both scientific papers and news articles written about papers 鈥 also has the potential to spread misinformation.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise again in many parts of the country 鈥 including Washington state where three counties were pushed back to Phase 2 effective Friday 鈥 there鈥檚 a growing debate between continuing to give both doses of Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines close together, or giving them months apart in order to get first shots in more shoulders faster. The argument for giving more people the first dose before circling back months later to give the second, which…

The future of an equitable and sustainable global ocean, or 鈥淏lue Economy,鈥 depends on more than natural or technological resources. A new study finds that socioeconomic and governance conditions such as national stability, corruption and human rights greatly affect different regions鈥 ability to achieve a Blue Economy 鈥 one that is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically viable.

In a study published Feb. 15 in Nature Chemistry, a research team led by Munira Khalil, professor and chair of chemistry at the 糖心原创, has captured the rapid motions of solvent molecules that impact light-driven electron transfer in a molecular complex for the first time. This 聽information could help researchers learn how to control energy flow in molecules, potentially leading to more efficient clean energy sources.

On March 6, 2020, the 糖心原创 became the first university聽in the U.S. to announce a move to remote instruction and work in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Here鈥檚 a look back at the past year, from the perspectives of how the UW community adapted and the impact the UW鈥檚 researchers had in response to the virus in our state, the nation and around the world. This timeline could not possibly include all the…