Unearthing new discoveries at Honduras’ City of the Jaguar

UW researchers Anna Cohen and Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius are part of a bi-national, multi-agency team excavating the City of the Jaguar in Honduras. Artifacts from the site provide clues about life in the lost city, and how it came to an end.

Global Health professor to New York Times: “Zika virus a ‘a temperature-driven eruption'”

Weather and warm temperatures are playing an important role in the spread of Zika virus, says University of Washington professor Kristine Ebi in a recent New York Times article.

Biology professor advocates for Argentine penguins

The legislature for Chubut province in Argentina has established a new marine protected area off Punta Tombo, which would help preserve the feeding grounds for about 500,000 Magellanic penguins that make their home along this rocky stretch of Argentine coast.

University of Washington biology affiliate associate professor Pablo Garcia Borboroglu says, “This new [marine protected area] designation is an historical accomplishment, since [until now] there is only one protected area in Argentina that is exclusively marine and only 4 percent of the marine surface of the country is currently protected.”

Law 103/15 passed the Chubut legislature with backing from the Global Penguin Society, its co-founder and president Borboroglu and teams of scientists led by Boersma, who provided key data about the penguins from their decades of research at Punta Tombo. The government and the Global Penguin Society agreed to the marine protected area in 2013, and Borboroglu drafted the proposal and designed the protected area. Critically, he also made regular trips to Rawson, the provincial capital, to explain its importance to legislators, answer questions, negotiate details and monitor the bill’s progress.

“This wouldn’t have happened without him,” said UW biology professor Dee Boersma. “The legislature had put off the vote for months, and then on Dec. 3 they voted — and just in the nick of time, too.”

UW expert and international colleagues assess risks to global penguin populations

In the current issue of Conservation Biology, UW Professor Dee Boersma and colleagues around the world outline risks to world penguin populations and urge stakeholders to take action to protect the species. Professor Boersma also directs the UW Center for Penguins as Ocean Sentinels.

Graduate students partner with Peruvian community to build gardens

In poor communities outside Lima, Peru, green space is limited and fresh food is scarce. An interdisciplinary group of UW professors and graduate students aimed to bring change to one community by supporting residents in constructing and cultivating household gardens.

Cross-cultural study examines kids’ understanding of intellectual property

Children from the US, China and Mexico participated in a recently-published study by University of Washington researcher Kristina Olson and colleagues from Yale and the University of Pennsylvania. The group examined children’s reactions to a video where puppets make their own drawing or copy a friend’s drawing. Despite cultural differences, 5 and 6 year-old children from all three countries viewed negatively the puppet who stole his friend’s idea. Read more at UW Today…

Tribal leader to receive Odegaard Award

The 2014 Charles E. Odegaard Award will honor Denny Hurtado, a Skykomish tribal leader whose leadership has positively impacted the K-12 education system and the University of Washington. Together with the wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (Intellectual House) Advisory Committee, Hurtado is working to build a longhouse on the UW campus. Read more at UW Today…