Technology

Twenty-seven years to the day after founding Amazon in a Bellevue garage, Jeff Bezos has relinquished control of his company. Bezos’ trusted deputy, Andy Jassy, steps into his new role as Amazon’s CEO Monday. The UW's Margaret O'Mara, professor of history, and Jeff Shulman, professor of marketing, are quoted.

As a tourist destination, the moon doesn’t have a lot to offer: no beaches, no museums, no oxygen. On the other hand, it does have the virtue of being the moon. When will common folk, not just the super-rich, get to make the trip? Scott Magelssen, professor of theatre history at the UW, is quoted.

While some social scientists, journalists and activists have been raising concerns about how social media is affecting our democracy, mental health and relationships, we haven’t seen biologists and ecologists weighing in as much. That’s changed with a new paper published in the prestigious science journal PNAS earlier this month, titled “Stewardship of global collective behavior.” The UW’s Joe Bak-Coleman, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for an Informed Public, and Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology, are interviewed.

Researchers warn that phony satellite imagery could become a common and dangerous mode of disinformation. Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.

New updates to the Sephardic Studies Digital Collection, a "virtual bookshelf" with more than 140,000 pages of published Ladino works.

Our ability to confront global crises, from pandemics to climate change, depends on how we interact and share information. Social media and other forms of communication technology restructure these interactions in ways that have consequences. Unfortunately, we have little insight into whether these changes will bring about a healthy, sustainable and equitable world. As a result, researchers now say that the study of collective behavior must rise to a “crisis discipline,” just like medicine, conservation and climate science have done, according to a new paper published this month.

Recording memories, reading thoughts and manipulating what another person sees through a device in their brain may seem like science fiction plots about a distant and troubled future. But a team of multi-disciplinary researchers say the first steps to inventing these technologies have already arrived. They want to put in place safeguards for our most precious biological possessions: our mind. Sara Goering, professor of philosophy at the UW, is quoted.

In a paper published online last month, Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, employed AI techniques similar to those used to create so-called deepfakes to alter satellite images of several cities. Zhao and colleagues swapped features between images of Seattle and Beijing to show buildings where there are none in Seattle and to remove structures and replace them with greenery in Beijing.

The Defense Innovation Unit, an organization within the U.S. Department of Defense focused on adopting commercial technology, is building an Uber-like app called “Gig Eagle” to match part-time service members possessing private sector experience with program managers. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

HBO Max’s sci-fi series "Made for Love" reveals the dangers of a controversial new technology. Sara Goering, professor of philosophy at the UW, is quoted.

Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, explains how a shortage of charging stations may limit the potential of electric vehicles.

It appears satellites from a SpaceX launch danced in the night sky over western Washington Tuesday, catching the attention of stargazers once again. People shared photos and videos on social media just after 9 p.m. Tuesday showing a long streak of lights moving through the sky. James Davenport, research assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is interviewed.

Imagine a world where high-speed internet blankets every corner of the globe, transforming the way people access health care, education and entertainment. That’s the promise of up-and-coming satellite broadband — an ambitious and controversial plan to connect far reaches of the planet. Saadia Pekkanen, professor of international studies at the UW, is interviewed on the “2025: Tomorrow, Today” podcast.

Techniques such as “location spoofing” and deepfake geography present significant risks for our increasingly connected society. Because of this, a team of researchers at University of Washington are working to identify ways to detect these fakes, as well as proposing the creation of a geographic fact-checking system. Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.

While the concept of “deepfakes,” or AI-generated synthetic imagery, has been decried primarily in connection with involuntary depictions of people, the technology is dangerous (and interesting) in other ways as well. For instance, researchers have shown that it can be used to manipulate satellite imagery to produce real-looking — but totally fake — overhead maps of cities. Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.