NewsFlash: College of Engineering in the Media | Vol. 1, No. 11 | Jan. 31, 2008 | A publication of the College of Engineering and uwnews.org, the UW Office of News and Information

UW College of Engineering NewsFlash | Vol. 1, No. 11 | Jan. 31, 2008

NewsFlash is a monthly email of press items featuring our College's researchers. For a more complete and regularly updated list of COE media coverage, see In the Media.

Click on a headline to read that article on the web. Some links may require a subscription or no longer be active.

NewsFlash is a service of the UW College of Engineering and the UW Office of News and Information. If you have a newsworthy result about one month from publication, presentation or demonstration, please contact Hannah Hickey at (206-543-2580, hickeyh@uw.edu).

Jan. 30, 2008 | The Seattle Times
UW researchers scope out future, create world's smallest endoscope

It's one of the world's smallest devices for probing a human body: a tiny laser scanner the size of a Tylenol, tethered to an optical fiber, used to scope out cancer in the esophagus. It was developed by mechanical engineer Eric Seibel and about 15 collaborators at the UW.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides | Jan. 24, 2008

Jan. 25, 2008 | CBC News
Pill-sized camera can be swallowed for cancer scan

Mechanical engineer Eric Seibel has developed a tiny camera that fits inside a pill, with the goal of allowing patients who swallow it to be assessed for warning signs of esophageal cancer.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides | Jan. 24, 2008

	Jan. 25, 2008 \| United Press International Camera in a pill takes picture of insides
	U.S. researchers are developing a new, more easily swallowed camera in a pill that offers more than a fly-by view. SOURCE MATERIAL Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides \| Jan. 24, 2008

Jan. 22, 2008 | The Economist
Eyeing up a new technology

A “bionic” eye lens developed by UW electrical engineer Babak Parviz points to a completely new way of building microelectronic circuits.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision | Jan. 17, 2008

	Jan. 25, 2008 \| Technology Review How to build a bionic eye
	UW electrical engineer Babak Parviz has created an electronic contact lens that could be used as a display or a medical sensor. SOURCE MATERIAL Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision \| Jan. 17, 2008

Jan. 21, 2008 | MSNBC
Vision of future seen in bionic contact lens

Thumper has seen the future. UW electrical engineer Babak Parviz has created the prototype for a bionic contact lens — recently tested on rabbits — that includes light-emitting diodes, basic wiring for electronic circuits and even a tiny antenna.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for superhuman vision | Jan. 17, 2008

Jan. 16, 2008 | The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Perks make Google office hardly feel like work

It's amazing that Google employees can get any work done. The Calif.-based Internet search giant pulled back the covers on a new perk-filled office in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. UW computer scientists Ed Lazowska and Brian Bershad are quoted.

	Jan. 16, 2008 \| The Seattle Times Google touts Fremont engineering office, links to UW
	A gang of local politicos, venture capitalists, computer science profs and reporters gathered at Google's swank new Fremont engineering office this morning to check the place out. Seattle site director Brian Bershad, a former UW prof, said the UW and Google share values of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.

Jan. 24, 2008 | The Seattle Times
Riders pack bus in record numbers

King County Metro buses handled some 110 million boardings last year, nearly a 7 percent increase since 2006. It is the largest increase in at least a decade, officials said. Civil engineer Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center, is quoted.

Jan. 14, 2008 | Technology Review
Growing new hearts from old

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have taken a big step toward making replacement organs with the recipients' cells. Bioengineer Buddy Ratner is quoted.

Jan. 16, 2008 | Minnesota Public Radio
To grow an organ

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have taken a big step toward making replacement organs with the recipients' cells. Bioengineer Buddy Ratner is quoted.

Jan. 12, 2008 | New Scientist
Did life begin on a radioactive beach?

Did life on Earth begin on a radioactive beach? That's the claim of UW astrobiology doctoral student Zach Adam, who says that life's ingredients could have emerged from the radioactive sand grains of a primordial beach laced with heavy metals and pounded by powerful tides.

Jan. 8, 2008 | IEEE Spectrum
Learning from Katrina

Hurricane Katrina can teach engineers a lot about the unintended impact of technology as well as what can be done to prepare for the next catastrophe. Electrical engineer Denise Wilson introduces a series of videos about the lessons engineers can learn from the storm.

RELATED MATERIAL
Weathering the storm: Students rebuild after Katrina, Uweek | Jan. 18, 2007

	Jan. 26, 2008 \| The San Francisco Chronicle Antoni Kazimierz Oppenheim dies
	Antoni Kazimierz Oppenheim, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley and a leader in the field of high-speed combustion processes, died Jan. 12. Former UW Dean of Engineering J. Ray Bowen, one of Oppenheim's first doctoral students, is quoted.