Environment

It's in the genes: Research pinpoints how plants know when to flower

Scientists believe they've pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants "know" when to flower. Understanding how flowering works in a simple plant should lead to a better understanding of how the same genes work in more complex plants such as rice and wheat.

Inaugural Conservation Remix aims to foster creative thinking about environment

Conservation Remix, a daylong event June 2 organized by UW staff with Conservation Magazine and biology, offers an eclectic mix of topics for discussion – from designing superefficient buildings that generate their own energy to controlling invasive species by eating them.

Nearly one-tenth of hemisphere's mammals unlikely to outrun climate change

A safe haven could be out of reach for 9 percent of the Western Hemisphere's mammals, and as much as 40 percent in certain regions, because the animals just won't move swiftly enough to outpace climate change, according to new research from the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

New research brings satellite measurements and global climate models closer

UW researchers have discovered a problem with a climate record that is often cited by climate change skeptics.

Increasing speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level

Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland's contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century might be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible, a new study shows.

Handful of heavyweight trees per acre are forest champs

Big trees three or more feet in diameter accounted for nearly half the biomass measured at a Yosemite National Park site, yet represented only 1 percent of the trees growing there.

Wind pushes plastics deeper into oceans, driving trash estimates up (with video)

Decades of research into how much plastic litters the ocean, conducted by skimming only the surface, may in some cases vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris in the oceans, according to a University of Washington oceanographer publishing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

UW awards six Husky Green Awards for 2012

Winners of the third annual Husky Green Awards were announced Friday during Earth Day activities.

Annual campus Earth Day events April 20 during HuskyFest

The annual campus observation of Earth Day Friday, April 20, coincides this year with HuskyFest.

Space weather forecast: Sunspotty, with an increasing chance of solar storms

Electrical engineering professor John Sahr gives his read on the increase in solar activity, and how it relates to his research.

Bigger, bolder, greener: The 2012 UW Environmental Innovation Challenge (with video)

The fourth Environmental Innovation Challenge was the biggest yet. The winning team proposes to replace concrete lane dividers with ones made from recycled rubber tires. Other student teams presented their prototypes for emergency shelters, rooftop gardens, nonstick cookware and other green businesses.

Web tool, phone app pinpoint tsunami dangers, quick getaway routes

A new online portal and smartphone app lets Washington and Oregon residents enter the addresses of their homes, schools, workplaces or kids' day care centers to check if they're in harm's way should a tsunami hit. The tool, being publicized on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku tsunami, was developed by researchers at the Applied Physics Laboratory.

D.C. cherry trees: Blooms won't wait in warming world, UW research finds

Cherry trees in full bloom in our nation's capital could be as much as four weeks earlier by 2080 depending on how much warming occurs. So says an analysis conducted at the University of Washington that relied on the UW's own cherry trees as one test of a computer model used in the project.

Bellingham roadway with recycled toilets is world's first official 'Greenroad'

Greenroads, a rating system developed at the University of Washington to promote sustainable roadway construction, awarded its first official certification to a Bellingham project that incorporates porcelain from recycled toilets.

Facilities Services receives $1 million for energy conservation

Facilities Services is continuing a long-standing energy conservation partnership with Seattle City Light in an agreement for the utility to fund energy conservation initiatives on campus.

UW played major role in telling story of Japan quake

From Seattle to Japan, University of Washington faculty had an important role in providing information about the aftermath of the March 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.

UW students to design alternative-fuels vehicle for EcoCAR 2 competition

Over the next three years, a team of UW students will convert a 2013 Chevy Malibu into a fuel-efficient, low-emissions vehicle that still meets consumer demands for a driver-friendly car. The UW is one of 15 schools participating in the EcoCAR 2 contest, sponsored by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Kids can explore icy worlds with scientists at Polar Science Weekend (with video)

Learn about polar bears and penguins. Center a two-foot tusk on your forehead and imagine you’re a narwhal exploring your icy-ocean home. For these activities and more, grab the kids and head for Polar Science Weekend, March 1 to 4, sponsored by the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory and Pacific Science Center.

Stop putting the squeeze on tiger territory, says UW alum, now chief scientist with World Wildlife Fund

The plight of the tiger – none of the world’s 350 protected areas in the tiger’s range is large enough to support a viable population – is the subject of the UW’s “Sustaining our World” lecture March 1. Eric Dinerstein, the World Wildlife Fund’s chief scientist and a UW alum, will speak on "All Together Now: Linking Ecosystem Services, Endangered Species Conservation and Local Livelihoods” at 6 p.m., in Kane 220.

AAAS Notebook: Faculty views range across natural world, human health, more

Last week’s American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Vancouver, BC, included 11 speakers from the University of Washington on topics including marine protected areas, the myth of black progress, women’s reproductive health and how undergraduates learn best.

 


Explore the UW