On and Off the Ave
A collection of newsworthy items from the pages of Columns.
A revolution in electro-optic modulators developed at the UW and University of Southern California will permit real-time communication in many computer uses. "You won't have to wait for you computer to download even the largest files," says Chemistry Professor Larry Dalton. Improved medical sensing devices, better radar systems and safer trnasportation systems may also result from these new polymeric electro-optic modulators, called "opto-chips." The findings were released in the April 7 issue of Science. In the photo above, a research associate at USC works with the chips in a "cleanroom," which is lit with yellow light to prevent premature chemical reactions used to alter the chips.
  
Photographers were not the only ones to record the implosion of the Kingdome on March 28. The UW and U.S. Geological Survey installed 200 seismometers to record shock waves from thousands of tons of falling concrete. Scientists were able to record the implosion from just south of Mt. Baker to near Olympia. They hope the recordings will give them a better picture of the Seattle Fault, a line discovered in the early 1990s that runs from Bainbridge Island through an area near the Dome to the Cascade foothills. While a new stadium rises on the site of the Dome, the Seattle Seahawks will play in Husky Stadium. The photos above show the progress of the implosion from different locations.
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THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON ALUMNI MAGAZINE