One of the moons in our solar system that scientists think has the potential to harbor life may have a far more dynamic ocean than previously thought. If the moon Europa is tilted on its axis even slightly as it orbits the giant planet Jupiter, then Jupiter’s gravitational pull could be creating powerful waves in Europa’s ocean.
Author: Sandra Hines
‘Tis the season and the waters of Puget Sound are “flush” with holiday spices and flavorings.
‘Tis the season and the waters of Puget Sound are “flush” with holiday spices and flavorings.
Undergraduate students returned to the University of Washington this fall in numbers well above what was expected, resulting in the Seattle campus having about 1,100 students more than predicted and authorized under the state budget for the UW.
September is considered one of the good-weather months in Denmark Strait, between Greenland and Iceland.
A rhodie from China that can grow 2 ½ foot leaves when mature, a fuchsia from New Zealand that hugs the ground and produces red berries, and a monkey-puzzle tree from a lineage that goes back to Chile — a country with no monkeys — are a few of the unusual plants one sees strolling the just-opened Pacific Connections Garden.
A report on the log-truck industry just delivered to the state Legislature indicates that the number of traffic accidents involving log trucks declined 11 percent while collisions for all commercial trucks increased by 15 percent in Washington between 2004 and 2006.
A report on the log truck industry just delivered to the state legislature indicates that the number of traffic accidents involving log trucks declined 11 percent while collisions for all commercial trucks increased by 15 percent in Washington between 2004 and 2006.
Like a deep-sea bloodhound, Sentry — the newest in an elite group of unmanned submersibles able to operate on their own in demanding and rugged environments — has helped scientists pinpoint optimal locations for two observation sites of a pioneering seafloor laboratory being planned off Washington and Oregon.
In time for the start of the Olympics, a kind of academic Olympics has been conducted by one of China’s largest universities and the results show University of Washington ranked 16th among 500 universities around the world.
Well inside the Arctic Circle, scientists have found black smoker vents farther north than anyone has ever seen before.
The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, known for work on plant systematics and botanical collecting, is getting into the ecosystem restoration business.
Inside the Arctic Circle, scientists have found black smoker vents farther north than anyone has ever seen before. Dissolved sulfide minerals that solidify when vent water hits the icy cold of the deep sea have, over the years, accumulated around the vents in what is one of the most massive hydrothermal sulfide deposits ever found on the seafloor.
The collapse of the Sacramento River chinook salmon run may be another lesson on the importance of coming to grips with the biocomplexity behind successful salmon runs.
A veteran executive of Seattle’s high-tech community has been named to lead UW TechTransfer, the unit that commercializes the results of University of Washington research.
The University of Washington Board of Regents today approved the creation of a College of the Environment, a unit with the potential to be one of the nation’s largest programs focused on environmental science, policy and management.
University of Washington record-holding, ocean-observing robots that operate at sea for months at a time — traveling thousands of miles at the behest of operators on land directing activities via a satellite phone network — will be commercially produced by iRobot under a licensing agreement announced this week.
The discovery in the last decade of new suites of microorganisms capable of using various forms of nitrogen — discoveries that have involved a number of University of Washington researchers — is one reason to rethink what we know about the nitrogen cycle.
The discovery in the last decade of new suites of microorganisms capable of using various forms of nitrogen — discoveries that have involved a number of UW researchers — is one reason to rethink what we know about the nitrogen cycle.
The UW Board of Regents last week received a preliminary blueprint for a new college that will position the UW to be the leader in environmental research and education, and to better resolve complex regional, national and international environmental challenges, according to Provost Phyllis Wise.
Ignatius Rigor would be the first to say he’s no expert on polar bears, their listing as a threatened species last week or the policies of George W.
Some have estimated that 25 percent of the Earth’s remaining oil and gas may be buried in the seafloor under the Arctic Ocean.
The University of Washington Board of Regents today received a preliminary blueprint for a new college that will position the UW to be the leader in environmental research and education, and to better resolve complex regional, national and international environmental challenges, according to Provost Phyllis Wise.
would wreak havoc with organisms that build protective outer shells. But a new finding shows at least three species of coccolithophores – single-celled algae that are major players in the ocean’s cycling of carbon – are responding to ocean acidification by building thicker cell walls and plates of chalk.
Scientists have feared that gradual acidification of the world’s oceans would wreak havoc with organisms that build protective outer shells.
In a pair of companion papers in Science Express this week, scientists investigate the role of surface meltwater on accelerating the flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet and outlet glaciers and conclude that, while surface melt plays a substantial role in ice sheet dynamics, it may not produce large instabilities.
A fish that would rather crawl into crevices than swim, and that may be able to see in the same way that humans do, could represent an entirely unknown family of fishes, says a UW fish expert.
A fish that would rather crawl into crevices than swim, and that may be able to see in the same way that humans do, could represent an entirely unknown family of fishes, says a University of Washington professor.
Quincy Jones, a distinguished musician, composer, producer, arranger and conductor for more than six decades, will be the University of Washington commencement speaker June 14 in Husky Stadium.
In addition to being home to intense geological and climatological change, Alaska’s Glacier Bay hosts one of the richest cold water marine environments including a great diversity of top-level marine predators, such as seabirds and marine mammals.
In addition to being home to intense geological and climatological change, Alaska’s Glacier Bay hosts one of the richest cold-water marine environments including a great diversity of top-level marine predators, such as seabirds and marine mammals.
Smash ice, turn your tongue into a salinometer to experience how saltiness differs in the world’s oceans, explore an igloo and field camp, predict polar climate, dive into the world of oceanographic moorings and get your hands on real scientific instruments during the third annual Polar Science Weekend today through Sunday at Pacific Science Center.
The most extensive sampling for zooplankton ever in Puget Sound and the first measurements for acidification of the Sound’s waters — something of concern because it’s happening in the open ocean and could affect the skeletons and shells of creatures large and small here in the Sound — were among the tasks last week on the UW’s vessel Thomas G.
Hydrocarbons — molecules critical to life — are routinely being generated by the simple interaction of seawater with the rocks under the Lost City hydrothermal vent field in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.
Hydrocarbons — molecules critical to life — are being generated by the simple interaction of seawater with the rocks under the Lost City hydrothermal vent field in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.
Diatoms — some of which are so tiny that 30 can fit across the width of a human hair — are so numerous that they are among the key organisms taking the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Universities have a huge role to play in raising public awareness about climate change,” says LuAnne Thompson, University of Washington associate professor of oceanography and lead organizer of the UW events being conducted as part of Focus the Nation, a national teach-in on global warming solutions for America.
Diatoms — some of which are so tiny that 30 can fit across the width of a human hair — are so numerous that they are among the key organisms taking the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the Earth’s atmosphere.
“In the next few years, we as a nation will make, or fail to make, critical decisions regarding global warming pollution and clean technology investments.