The two-party system is broken. There’s too much money in politics. Special interests don’t represent the people. These refrains about American democracy are widespread and, to some extent, hard to disagree with. But there’s a seldom-discussed tweak to the election process that may help it run a little smoother: move the goalposts. Using game theory, [...]

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Go public. That's what Cliff Mass learned from his professor, famed astronomer Carl Sagan, as an undergraduate at Cornell University. Sagan shared his science with everyday Americans by writing books and giving talks. Mass, now a UW professor and local weather personality, has done both of those things, as well as appeared on local radio for nearly two decades. But he's found his greatest reach via a modern avenue: blogging.

Don’t eat your vegetables because they’re good for you. Eat them because they’re good. That’s the advice of marketing professor Nidhi Agrawal, who researches consumer psychology. She says whole foods are losing a branding battle against unhealthy alternatives that pitch themselves as flavorful and fun. “The primary association with healthy things should not be health. [...]

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For design professor Karen Cheng, art is equal parts creativity and critical thinking. "Mostly, I solve problems," said Cheng, who teaches in the School of Art + Art History + Design. "There's a famous designer who said he thought of himself as a doctor who needs patients — the sicker the better. I feel that way, too." Since 2010, she’s worked on UW Medicine’s Code Blue forms, which are filled out when someone has a heart attack in the hospital, and she currently has a grant from the Royalty Research Fund to help people sort their garbage better on the UW campus.

It's like a magic trick. With the flick of a switch, Cole DeForest and his lab can transform human cells. It starts with a group of stem cells that have the potential to become any other type of cell found in the human body. Most labs manipulate these cells with temperature, pH, or chemical factors, but DeForest and his team use light-based chemistry.

History professor Scott Kurashige hasn't always had a passion for the past. "When I was in high school, history was probably my least favorite subject," said Kurashige, who teaches in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Bothell. "After 10th grade European history — where I learned next to nothing — the AP teacher banned me from taking 11th grade U.S. history. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me." It meant he wouldn't have the chance to test out of taking U.S. history in college. And after he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, he ended up majoring in the subject.

The school year doesn’t start until the end of September, but class is already in session for Anthony Gill. For the past five years, the political science professor has taught in the Early Fall Start program, which lets incoming freshmen earn five credits before their first quarter. Gill's course is called Introduction to Political Economy. "We teach basic economic reasoning for political scientists," he said. "And we play a lot of games and have a lot of fun doing it."

Start with a question. For centuries, that’s what the scientific method has told us to do. Then, research that question and turn it into a hypothesis to either prove or debunk. But the power of today’s technology has jumbled up the order of that classical approach. Thanks to computers and the Internet gathering endless amounts of information, massive sets of “big data” are often compiled before any questions are posed.

Show of hands: Who here hates math? You won't need a calculator to see that the number is big. One survey found that a third of Americans would rather clean their bathrooms than do a math problem, and more than half of children polled said they would rather eat broccoli. Are some people just not meant to ace algebra? Are they destined to despise digits? Allison Hintz wants to put a big, red ‘X’ through that way of thinking.

After two decades as a performer and five years of studying and teaching dance, Wilson Mendieta is moving into the director's chair. This fall, the triple-threat UW lecturer will take over the Musical Theater Program, which trains undergrads to sing, dance, and act. Faculty members come from the School of Drama, School of Music, and Dance Program. Mendieta has been a central figure in the program since its launch in 2013, teaching modern dance, ballet, jazz technique, choreography, and a capstone course.

Cell phones and dashboard cameras capture shootings and chokeholds. Jumbled storylines lead to suspensions and resignations. Protestors clash with police. The world watches. But what about all the people who get quietly handcuffed, charged with a crime, and sent away to prison? How do their conditions fit into a larger movement like Black Lives Matter?

Where you live can say a lot about your health. “Neighborhoods are one way that people are sorted, if you will, into areas that have varying access to infrastructure and services that promote health,” said Wendy Barrington, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing. Barrington first came to the UW for the Ph.D. program in epidemiology in 2007. Her dissertation explored how the neighborhoods in which people live and work can affect their stress levels and obesity rates.