NewsFlash: College of Engineering in the Media | Vol. 3, No. 6 | September 29, 2009 | A publication of the College of Engineering and uwnews.org, the UW Office of News and Information

CoE NewsFlash | Vol. 3, No. 6 | September 29, 2009

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).

Sept. 11, 2009 | EE Times
'Tree power' attempts to harvest bio-energy

Trees can be used to power circuits, but their voltage is too small to charge conventional batteries. UW electrical engineers Babak Parviz and Brian Otis and undergraduate Carlton Himes recently demonstrated a nanoscale "boost converter" that integrates the ultra-low-voltage potentials generated by trees.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Electrical circuit runs entirely off power in trees | Sept. 8, 2009

Sept. 14, 2009 | Scientific American Podcast
Tree electricity runs nano-gadget

A report in the journal IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology shows that maple trees generate a small but measureable amount of electricity, which can power tiny devices.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Electrical circuit runs entirely off power in trees | Sept. 8, 2009

	Sept. 10, 2009 \| U.S. News & World Report (via National Science Foundation) Electrical circuit runs entirely off power in trees You've heard about flower power. What about tree power? It turns out that it's there, in small but measurable quantities. SOURCE MATERIAL Electrical circuit runs entirely off power in trees \| Sept. 8, 2009

Sept. 23, 2009 | New Scientist
Entire cities recreated from Flickr photos

Computer scientists Sameer Agarwal and Steve Seitz and colleagues were able to create a simulation of Rome using 150,000 images harvested from the photo-sharing Web site Flickr to build a virtual model of the city within a day.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Rome was built in a day, with hundreds of thousands of digital photos | Sept. 15, 2009

Sept. 24, 2009 | National Geographic News
Flickr photos help build 3D Rome in a day

It turns out you can build Rome in a day—all you need are thousands of photos posted online and a whole lot of computing power.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Rome was built in a day, with hundreds of thousands of digital photos | Sept. 15, 2009

Sept. 17, 2009 | Popular Science
Algorithm generates a virtual Rome in 3D from 150,000 Flickr users' photos

They came, they saw, they took pictures. And thanks to them -- about 150,000 Flickr users -- a team of computer scientists built Rome in a day.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Rome was built in a day, with hundreds of thousands of digital photos | Sept. 15, 2009

Sept. 1, 2009 | IEEE Spectrum
Augmented reality in a contact lens

A new generation of contact lenses built with very small circuits and LEDs promises bionic eyesight, writes electrical engineer Babak Parviz in a feature article.

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

Sept. 1, 2009 | The New York Times (via ReadWriteWeb)
Your cyborg eye will talk to you
Just as many of us are getting used to augmented reality applications for cellphones and digital cameras, Babak Amir Parviz and his University of Washington students are taking it one step further. The group is working on a human machine interface where LEDs are embedded into contact lenses in order to display information to the wearer.

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

Sept. 21, 2009 | Reuters
Future nears with bionic lens

UW electrical engineers are developing a new contact lens that could someday monitor your health and even display the Internet in front of your eye. Electrical engineer Babak Parviz and graduate student Andy Lingley show off the technology.

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

Sept. 1, 2009 | Discover magazine
The device that will keep your mini laptop from melting

As computers get smaller, keeping them cool has become a major problem. San Jose company Tessera uses "ionic wind" technology developed by electrical engineer Alexander Mamishev. Tests show it can remove the same amount of heat from a laptop as a conventional fan — but more quietly and using half the power.

RELATED MATERIAL
Tiny ion pump sets new standard in cooling hot computer microchips | Aug. 23, 2006

Sept. 24, 2009 | New Scientist
Bugs to reveal songbird social lives

Call it Twitter for tweeters. The latest social networking technology, small solar-powered electronic tags developed by electrical engineer Brian Otis and graduate student Jayson Bowen, is small and lightweight enough to be attached to songbirds. It aims to find out which songbirds spend time together and reveal how they learn their tunes.

Aug. 31, 2009 | Christian Science Monitor
How we're losing our privacy online
From personal photos circulated inadvertently on Facebook to ‘Web bugs’ that monitor our buying habits, the Internet is exposing the private us to the public more than any technology in history. A program called “Vanish,” being developed at the University of Washington, makes e-mail messages unreadable after a period of time.

SOURCE MATERIAL
This article will self-destruct: A tool to make online personal data vanish | July 21, 2009

	Sept. 9, 2009 \| The (UK) Guardian The battle is on against Facebook and co to regain control of our files Our use of social networking, as well as iPhones and Kindles, relinquishes control of how we delete files – we need that back. The UW's Vanish prototype is one way to do that. SOURCE MATERIAL This article will self-destruct: A tool to make online personal data vanish \| July 21, 2009

Sept. 2, 2009 | CBS News (via CNET)
New call for cell phone safety research

Are cell phones safe? For years, studies have provided conflicting conclusions. Today, there is still no clear answer. But experts agree on one thing: more research is needed to find out the answer. Bioengineer Henry Lai is quoted.

RELATED MATERIAL
Exposure to low-level magnetic fields causes DNA damage in rat brain cells, researchers find | Feb. 18, 2004

Sept. 9, 2009 | Wired
Study reveals how much cellphone radiation you're getting

The Environmental Working Group measured the radiation emission profiles of more than 1,200 cell phone models. Bioengineer Henry Lai, who has researched the issue in the past, reviewed EWG’s report and says the group is on the right track.

RELATED MATERIAL
Exposure to low-level magnetic fields causes DNA damage in rat brain cells, researchers find | Feb. 18, 2004

Sept. 22, 2009 | EE Times
Medical electronics seeks role in health care debate

Many medical electronics experts are advocating for new ways to monitor health at home as a way to lower health-care costs. "Our vision since 1997 has been to develop an ultrasound device people could buy for $499 at Costco," said bioengineer Yongmin Kim.

Sept. 23, 2009 | Reuters
Visualizing cancer cells in 3D

Mechanical engineer Eric Seibel has developed a microscope that is able to visualize cells in three dimensions, an advance his team hopes will lead to earlier detection of cancer.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Cancer diagnosis: Now in 3-D | Feb. 9, 2009

Aug. 5, 2009 | Popular Science
Scientists paint brain tumors with nanoparticles for more precise removal

Brain cancer is a classic double whammy: the extremely invasive form of cancer is both deadly and difficult to treat. Fortunately, there's a promising solution on the table: tumor painting. UW materials scientist Miqin Zhang can illuminate mouse brain tumors (and thus distinguish them from surrounding tissue in MRIs and optical imaging) by injecting fluorescent nanoparticles into the rodents' bloodstream.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Nanoparticles cross blood-brain barrier to enable 'brain tumor painting' | Aug. 3, 2009

Aug. 30, 2009 | NanotechWire.com
New nanoparticles could revolutionize therapeutic drug discovery
A new nanoparticle agent, which Dr. Zhang and her colleagues describe in the journal Cancer Research, is made up of an iron oxide nanoparticle coated with a biocompatible polymer that enables it to breach the normally impermeable layer of cells that separates the brain’s blood supply from the rest of the body.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Nanoparticles cross blood-brain barrier to enable 'brain tumor painting' | Aug. 3, 2009

Sept. 1, 2009 | Time magazine
Decoding the ancient script of the Indus Valley

Recent studies by computer scientist Rajesh Rao and colleagues have employed computer modeling to prove that the Harappan script communicated language. Their results have reinvigorated attempts to crack what is one of the lingering puzzles of ancient history.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Computers unlock more secrets of the mysterious Indus Valley script | Aug. 3, 2009

Sept. 1, 2009 | Popular Science
30-second science: Unscrambling alphabet soup

Some scholars consider the ancient pictograms of the Indus Valley in South Asia to be random. Not so, says computer scientist Rajesh Rao.

SOURCE MATERIAL
Indus script encodes language, reveals new study of ancient symbols | April 23, 2009

Sept. 30, 2009 | Down to Earth magazine
Earliest jigsaw

The undeciphered script of the Indus Valley people holds the key to a question with sharp political overtones: were people of the Indian subcontinent’s earliest recorded civilization Aryans or Dravidians? Or neither?

RELATED MATERIAL
Indus script encodes language, reveals new study of ancient symbols | April 23, 2009

	Sept. 15, 2009 \| The Seattle Times McGinn's no-tunnel campaign counts on fewer cars If Mike McGinn beats Joe Mallahan in the Seattle mayor's race this fall, he will consider that a mandate to fight the $4.2 billion bored-tunnel plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Civil engineer Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington State Transportation Center, is quoted.

Sept. 17, 2009 | Seattle Metblogs
OneBusAway has a new, free iPhone app

UW graduate students Brian Ferris and Kari Watkins have now added a smart new iPhone application that improves the already great experience with OneBusAway. If you have an iPhone and take the bus ever, get it.

RELATED MATERIAL
Bus left you waiting in the cold? Use your cell phone to track it down | Feb. 10, 2009

Sept. 19, 2009 | The Everett Herald
How might tidal energy affect marine life? PUD gets grant to find out
The Snohomish County PUD received a $600,000 federal grant to study marine life and the potential impacts of underwater turbines. PUD officials plan to work with mechanical engineer Brian Polagye and other UW researchers to study aquatic species in Admiralty Inlet -- and the potential acoustic impacts if hydrokinetic turbines are placed there.

RELATED MATERIAL
Underwater turbines could turn Puget Sound's tides into electricity | May 10, 2007

	Sept. 24, 2009 \| Arizona Daily Star Arizona's water future is cloudy At a conference of water and climate scientists put on by the University of Arizona, water managers said the future seems even more uncertain than the past. Civil engineer Dennis Lettenmaier noted that predictions for Colorado River flow by 2050 range from 6 percent to 40 percent reductions.

Sept. 25, 2009 | Puget Sound Business Journal: TechFlash blog
Hands on: UW students get Kindles for pilot project

More than 30 UW computer science graduate students who are participating in a pilot project to test Amazon's electronic book are just receiving their devices. A local tech reporter sits in on a Kindle DX orientation, and films incoming CSE graduate students Juliette Bernstein and Adrian Simpson talking about their expectations for the electronic reader.

Sept. 14, 2009 | KOMO News
Test run: Kindle enters UW classrooms

There will be no more pencils, no more books for 40 computer science graduate students heading back to University of Washington for fall semester. Instead, there will be Kindle.

Sept. 2, 2009 | CNN
Powerful earthquake kills 34 in Jakarta; dozens feared buried

A 7.0-magnitude tremor jolted the Indonesian island of Java on Wednesday, killing at least 34 people and injuring more than 300. HCDE professor Beth Kolko was on the 13th floor of an office building in Jakarta when she felt the quake. "It seemed pretty mild at first," said Kolko. "Then it got very intense, very quickly."

Sept. 16, 2009 | Puget Sound Business Journal: TechFlash blog
Washington at top of the pack in new venture capital study
A new report from the National Venture Capital Association tries to assess the impact of venture capital on the nation's economy. The report singles out Washington state, saying it attracted nearly $1 billion in venture capital in 2008 while its venture-backed companies grew employment and revenue faster than those of any other state – including California. The first reason cited by the study is that Washington hosts top-flight research institutions such as the UW.

Sept. 11, 2009 | Xconomy
UW’s Tadayoshi Kohno on computer security and how to think like the bad guy

Tadayoshi Kohno spends his career looking at life through the eyes of a criminal, and he’s teaching University of Washington students to do the same. Xconomy's Rachel Tompa chats with him about the "security mindset."

Sept. 16, 2009 | SeattlePI.com
Geek of the Week: Marty Stepp, UW's rapping lecturer

Geek of the Week is back with rapping computer science lecturer Marty Stepp. Stepp says he first knew he was a geek when he was upset about the bad Wi-Fi reception in his mother's womb.

If you have a newsworthy result about one month from publication, presentation or demonstration, please contact Hannah Hickey, hickeyh@uw.edu. Notice of student and faculty awards and grants is also welcome.