Researchers at the University of Washington have weighed correlations between the use of fringe loans and self-assessments of health status. (UW School of Public Health Illustration)
For some low-income workers, short-term fringe loans — coming from payday lenders and check cashing services — are a fact of life. But that doesn’t mean they feel good about taking out those loans.
In a newly published study, University of Washington researchers report that people who use fringe loan services, or don’t have access to a bank account, are more likely to say they feel less healthy.
A smartphone is powered up using a laser-based charging system. The charging laser and guard lasers are normally invisible to the human eye, but red beams have been inserted in place of the guard beams for demonstration purposes. (University of Washington Photo / Mark Stone)technol
Engineers at the University of Washington have demonstrated that it’s possible to charge up your smartphone using laser beams.
Perhaps the deeper question is, why?
If laser charging can be conducted quickly and safely, that would mark a big step toward freeing up mobile devices ranging from phones and tablets to drones and laptops.
The beaming system is described in a paper published online in the Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies. It can deliver a steady 2 watts of power to a 15-square-inch area from a distance of 14 feet, or from up to 40 feet away with further modifications.
“The beam delivers charge as quickly as plugging in your smartphone to a USB port,” co-lead author Elyas Bayati, a UW doctoral student in electrical engineering, said today in a news release. “But instead of plugging your phone in, you simply place it on a table.”
University of Washington researcher Lee Organick (foreground) and Microsoft researcher Yuan-Jyue Chen (background) work in the Molecular Information Systems Lab. (UW Photo / Dennis Wise)
Scientists from the University of Washington and Microsoft are improving their system for preserving digital data in strands of synthetic DNA — and they’re giving you the chance to participate.
For the experiment described in the paper, text files as well audio, images and a high-definition music video featuring the band OK Go were first digitally encoded, and then converted into chemical coding — that is, adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine, which make up the ATCG alphabet for DNA base pairs.
University of Washington rigged up an experimental setup to capture an image of flowers through a metalens (mounted on a microscope slide) and visualize it through a microscope. (UW Clean Energy Institute Photo / Matt Hagen)
Imagine a camera that captures pictures on a flat surface, without any need for a glass lens.
Such cameras already exist, thanks to exotic materials known as metasurfaces. They’re not yet ready for prime time, but a new approach that relies on heavy-duty computational processing could soon get them there.
University of Washington researchers show how it could be done in a paper published last week by the journal Science Advances. If the technique can be commercialized, it could turn metasurface-based lenses, or metalenses, into the next big thing in ultrathin cameras and microscopes.
A new collaboration between the University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Lab will support the development of new materials for a wide spectrum of applications. (PNNL via YouTube)
The University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are joining forces on a new research venture that spans 200 miles to advance the frontiers of materials science.
The venture — known as the Northwest Institute for Materials Physics, Chemistry and Technology, or NW IMPACT — will be co-located at UW’s campus in Seattle and PNNL’s campus in Richland, Wash. Eventually, NW IMPACT will involve at least 20 joint UW-PNNL appointments for existing researchers, and at least 20 UW graduate students in UW-PNNL collaborations.
UW President Ana Mari Cauce and PNNL Director Steven Ashby formally launched the program on Jan. 31 during a ceremony at the Richland campus.
University of Washington oceanographer Ginger Armbrust boards the newly refurbished R/V Thomas G. Thompson at a university dock. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)
The University of Washington’s biggest research ship is getting loaded up with scientists, supplies and an underwater robot after an extensive multimillion-dollar makeover that’s designed to add 25 more years to its current quarter-century of operation.
And the crew of the 274-foot R/V Thomas G. Thompson can hardly wait to set sail.
“It’s been a long 18 months in the shipyard,” Brian Clampitt, one of the UW crew’s able-bodied seamen, told GeekWire today. “We’re looking forward to getting back to work.”
Clampitt and his mates never stopped working during the refit, most of which was done at Vigor Marine’s Seattle shipyard. But the crew’s duties on land can’t compare with getting back to the sea.
“We’re a bunch of sailors. We’re dying to get underway,” said Jenny Nomura, one of the crew’s marine technicians.
A mosquito flies on the end of a tether during an experiment to study responses to a swat-like shock. (Kiley Riffell Photo via University of Washington)
Does it do any good to swat at a mosquito if you miss? Yes, according to a newly published study.
A novel experiment conducted primarily by biologists at the University of Washington found that mosquitoes seem to associate the shock of the swat with the swatter’s scent, and learn to stay away.
“Once mosquitoes learned odors in an aversive manner, those odors caused aversive responses on the same order as responses to DEET, which is one of the most effective mosquito repellents,” senior author Jeff Riffell, a UW biology professor, said in a news release.
“Moreover, mosquitoes remember the trained odors for days,” he said.
An artist’s conception shows the light of an alien star shining through a planet’s atmosphere. (NASA Goddard via YouTube)
Is the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere of an alien world the only sure-fire sign that life is present? Not necessarily: Scientists say the chemical signature of biological activity is likely to be more subtle, involving a mix of gases that might seem out of whack.
In a paper published today in Science Advances, researchers say future observatories such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope should look for the signature of atmospheric gases that would be in disequilibrium if it weren’t for biological processes.
The study’s lead author, Joshua Krissansen-Totton of the University of Washington, says looking for oxygen alone shouldn’t be the sole strategy in the search for life on extrasolar planets.
“This idea of looking for atmospheric oxygen as a biosignature has been around for a long time. And it’s a good strategy — it’s very hard to make much oxygen without life,” he said in a news release. “But we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. Even if life is common in the cosmos, we have no idea if it will be life that makes oxygen. The biochemistry of oxygen production is very complex and could be quite rare.”
This cutaway view shows the protein design for a synthetic nucleocapsid known as I53-50-v1. (Nature / UW Graphic / Butterfield, Lajoie et al.)
University of Washington researchers have taken a page from the viral playbook to create microscopic assemblies for packaging genetic material — with the goal of using the system for targeted drug delivery.
The assemblies, known as synthetic nucleocapsids, work like viruses to protect their payloads as they enter cells. They can even evolve over time. That may sound like the start of a science-fiction novel, but the authors emphasize that their plot doesn’t have a scary ending.
“Our nucleocapsids are not viruses, because they have no way to get into cells, out of cells, or replicate on their own without our direct intentional assistance,” they said in an email sent to GeekWire by UW biochemist Marc Lajoie.
Among the dignitaries cutting the ribbon for the University of Washington’s Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems are institute director Karl Böhringer; Nena Golubovic, physical sciences director for IP Group; Mike Bragg, dean of the UW College of Engineering; and Jevne Micheau-Cunningham, the institute’s deputy director. (UW Photo / Kathryn Sauber)
University of Washington officials used a scaled-up scissors this week for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that celebrated scaled-down science: the opening of the Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems, or NanoES.
The institute, housed in the $87.8 million Nano Engineering and Sciences Building, will focus on nanoscale frontiers in energy, materials science, computation and medicine.
“The University of Washington is well-known for its expertise in nanoscale materials, processing, physics and biology — as well as its cutting-edge nanofabrication, characterization and testing facilities,” Karl Böhringer, the institute’s director, said in UW’s account of the Dec. 4 opening reception. “NanoES will build on these strengths, bringing together people, tools and opportunities to develop nanoscale devices and systems.”
