Tag Archives: university of washington

Multiple Sclerosis Study Reveals How Killer T Cells Learn to Recognize Nerve Fiber Insulators

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2013Healtharsenal, autoimmune disorders, autoimmune encephalitis, autoimmune reactivity, axons, blood vessels, body, brain, branched tentacles, cancer, cd4+ t cell, cd8 t cells, central nervous system, chronic multiple sclerosis, corticosteroids, cytoxic t cells, degeneration of axons, electrical impulse conductors, electrical wire, fight disease, generalized immunosuppressants, humans, infection, inflamed lesions, inflammatory response, inflammatory situation, insulation, joan goverman, killer t cells, laboratory models, lesions, luca castelli, methotrexate, mouse model, multiple sclerosis, myelin protein, myelin sheath, nerve cell projections, nerve fibers, no cells, oligodendrocytes, pathogens, peptides, proteins, qingyong ji, spines, support cells, symptoms, tip dendritic cells, tissue damage, transmit signals, university of washington, white blood cells

Misguided killer T cells may be the missing link in sustained tissue damage in the brains and spines of people with multiple sclerosis, findings from the University of Washington reveal. Cytoxic T cells, also known as CD8+ T cells, are white blood cells that normally are in the body’s arsenal to fight disease.

Multiple sclerosis is characterized by inflamed lesions that damage the insulation surrounding nerve fibers and destroy the axons, electrical impulse conductors that look like long, branching projections. Affected nerves fail to transmit signals effectively. (more…)

‘The Philosophical Child’: A book for when your child asks, ‘Why are we here?’

By Guest PostJanuary 10, 2013Generalambassador, blog, cascadia community college, children, co inquirer, david shapiro, jana mohr lone, meaning of childhood, michael rosenthal, natural philosopher, Nature, new book, philosophical discussion, philosophical self, question, sara goering, the philosophical child, university of washington

Children are natural philosophers, says Jana Mohr Lone of the University of Washington Department of Philosophy.

Lone, an affiliate faculty member and director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children, says she wrote her new book, “The Philosophical Child,” to help parents, teachers and other adults conduct conversations with children about life’s mysteries.

The center was founded in 1996 and became affiliated with the UW in 1999. In 2008, Lone started writing a blog titled “Wondering Aloud: Philosophy with Young People,” that she still maintains, often analyzing children’s books for their philosophical content. (more…)

Piranha Kin Wielded Dental Weaponry Even T. Rex Would Have Admired

By Guest PostDecember 27, 2012Nature, Scienceamazon river, american alligator, american university, ancient relative, anecdotes, armored fish, barracuda, bite, bite force, black piranha, blacktip shark, bull shark, c caracharias, c leucas, c limbatus, cairo, carcharodon megalodon, carnivorous fishes, customized force gage, dunkleosteus terrelli, earth, egypt, extinct mega predators, extinct piranhas, fossilized jaw, george washington university, guillermo orti, hammerhead shark, history, hyperbole, jaw forces, jaw muscles, jorge porto, justin grubich, largest piranha, mega bites, megapiranha paranensis, piranha infested waters, piranha like ability, piranhas, prehistoric, s mokarran, serrasalmus rhombeus, skeleton, soft tissue, stephanie crofts, steve huskey, t rex, teeth, tendons, tyrannosaurus rex, university of washington, western kentucky university, whale eating sharks, white sharks

Taking into consideration its size, an ancient relative of piranhas weighing about 20 pounds delivered a bite with a force more fierce than prehistoric whale-eating sharks, the four-ton ocean-dwelling Dunkleosteus terrelli and – even – Tyrannosaurus rex.

Besides the force of the bite, Megapiranha paranensis appears to have had teeth capable of shearing through soft tissue the way today’s piranhas do, while also being able to pierce thick shells and crack armoring and bones, according to Stephanie Crofts, a University of Washington doctoral student in biology. (more…)

Plumes across the Pacific Deliver Thousands of Microbial Species to West Coast

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Environmentaerobiology, aerosol, air pollution, aircraft, asia, atmospheric particle, bacterial, balloons, biomass, cascade mountains, central oregon, dale griffin, daniel jaffe, david j smith, dilution, DNA, dust, dust plume, earth, ecosystem, fungal, global wind circulation, harmless, hilkka timonen, kevin perry, michael roberts, michele birmele, microorganism, molecular method, mount bachelor, NASA, North America, old classification, pacific ocean, peter ward, plume event, pollutant, traditional paradigm, trans pacific trip, troposphere, university of utah, university of washington, west coast

A surprising number of microorganisms – more than 100 times more kinds than reported just four months ago – are leaping the biggest gap on the planet. Hitching rides in the upper troposphere, they’re making their way from Asia across the Pacific Ocean and landing in North America.

For the first time researchers have been able to gather enough biomass in the form of DNA to apply molecular methods to samples from two large dust plumes originating in Asia in the spring of 2011. The scientists detected more than 2,100 unique species compared to only 18 found in the very same plumes using traditional methods of culturing, results they published in July. (more…)

God as a Drug: The Rise of American Megachurches

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2012Culture, Generalamerican christians, american megachurche, atmosphere, charismatic leadership, charismatic pastor, christianity, denver, drug, emotional energy, evangelical revivalism, god, holy spirit, hybrid, james wellman, kate stockly meyerdirk, katie e corcoran, message, multisensory mélange, rise, ritual chains, rob bell, rock music, san diego megachurch, sense, sensory pageantry, spiritual growth, spirituality, stagecraft, stereotyped, university of washington, vision

American megachurches use stagecraft, sensory pageantry, charismatic leadership and an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity to provide their congregants with a powerful emotional religious experience, according to research from the University of Washington.

“The megachurches movement is one of the leading indicators of how American Christians exercise their faith these days, so therefore they should be understood,” said James Wellman, associate professor of American religion at the University of Washington. “And our study shows they’re doing a pretty effective job for their members, based on self-reports, contrary to public opinion that tends to pass them off as a type of consumerist religion. In fact, their members speak eloquently of their spiritual growth.” (more…)

Crowd Funding on Campus: UW Scientists Raise Money for Research Online

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2012Education, Environment, Science, Technologyacidification, alaska, cindy wu, climate change, crowdsourcing, david eaton, dee boersma, denny luan, Environment, internet, karen boenker, kickstarter, kiki jenkins, lauren kuehne, microcredit, microryza, new york, online campaign, pacific oysters, petridish, rachel aronson, rockethub, university of washington

When Rachel Aronson travels this month to Alaska, she and a local research assistant will interview people who are in danger of being displaced by climate change. She will also send about 100 postcards to her funders.

Aronson is among a growing number of University of Washington students, faculty and staff who are using online campaigns to pay for their research. Crowdsourcing uses the Internet to broadcast a question and pool the answers; crowd funding uses the Internet to post an idea and ask people to pony up money to make it a reality. (more…)

Division of Labor Offers Insight into the Evolution of Multicellular Life

By Guest PostAugust 8, 2012Scienceann dornhaus, avida, beacon center, beacon researchers, ben kerr, charles ofria, communication system, digital organism, evolution, evolution platform, evolutionary history, genetic material, heather goldsby, human economies, michigan state university, multi celled, multicellular life, organism, single celled, university of arizona, university of washington

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Dividing tasks among different individuals is a more efficient way to get things done, whether you are an ant, a honeybee or a human.

A new study by researchers at Michigan State University’s BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action suggests that this efficiency may also explain a key transition in evolutionary history, from single-celled to multi-celled organisms.

The results, which can be found in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrate that the cost of switching between different tasks gives rise to the evolution of division of labor in digital organisms. In human economies, these costs could be the mental shift or the travel time required to change from activity to another. (more…)

‘Documents that Changed the World’: A podcast series from Joe Janes

By Guest PostAugust 5, 2012Culture, Media, Politicsaids quilt, andrew brink, Barack Obama, bayeux tapestry, bill of rights, birth certificate, british broadcasting corp, change, credit card, declaration of independence, documents, elastic, france, history, joe janes, john snow, magna carta, mickey mouse, mystery of cholera, phrase, physician, podcast, president, steamboat willie, storytelling, the jazz singer, unabomber manifesto, university of washington, websters dictionary, world

The phrase occurred to Joe Janes out of the blue one day and immediately appealed to him. From there, ideas began to flow quickly.

Janes, associate professor in the University of Washington Information School, had been a fan of the British Broadcasting Corp. radio series “A History of the World in 100 Objects” and thought those shows effectively blended history and storytelling.

He got to wondering, what if he took a similar approach to information, telling about the twists and turns of history — through documents? (more…)