New research solves nagging issues in the theory of how cold dark matter let the universe evolve into the galaxy-rich cosmos we see today.
Author: Vince Stricherz
I spent more than 20 years as a reporter and editor in broadcast, print and wire service news, and have been covering physical sciences at UW for more than a decade. I currently cover Earth and space sciences, chemistry and physics, and also handle some editing duties for UW Today and the Faculty & Staff Insider Web pages.
For most of a decade, scientists have documented unfelt and slow-moving seismic events, called episodic tremor and slip, showing up in regular cycles under the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state and Vancouver Island in British Columbia.
Scientists discover more small seismic tremor events in a megathrust earthquake zone in western Washington and British Columbia.
Scientists are hunting for sites in the Seattle area for specially designed seismographs to record moderate to strong urban earthquakes
Scientists say effects of climate change greater than expected and getting more serious
Biologists for the first time have documented a second breeding season during the annual cycle of five songbird species that spend summers in temperate North America and winters in tropical Central and South America.
Tsunamis are among the most-devastating natural calamities.
Tsunamis are among the most-devastating natural calamities.
Biologists document a second breeding season for songbirds that spend summers in temperate North America and winters in the tropics.
Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have taken an important step in converting methane gas to a liquid, potentially making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals.
For nearly two decades scientists have known about the Seattle fault and have been refining their understanding of the danger it presents to the Puget Sound region if it ruptures in a major earthquake.
UW scientist instrumental in important step to convert methane gas to a liquid, giving the potential of making it more useful as a fuel.
New research finds evidence that ancient earthquakes rased land at least 6 feet on the west edge of Washington state’s Puget Sound.
That palm tree magnet commemorating your last vacation is programmed for a simple function – to stick to your refrigerator.
Researchers have found a way to train tiny semiconductor crystals to display magnetic functions at room temperature using light as a trigger
Scientists have debated how many mass extinction events in Earth’s history were triggered by a space body crashing into the planet’s surface.
Researchers the world over are striving to develop organic solar cells that can be produced easily and inexpensively as thin films that could be used to generate electricity.
Researchers have found a way to measure exactly how much electricity is carried by tiny structures that form inside nanoscale solar cells.
New research shows that comet collisions most likely are not responsible for any of the mass extinctions in Earth’s history.
Western Washington is braced for unusually hot weather this week, but University of Washington scientists say this could be one for the record books, with Seattle experiencing historic triple-digit readings.
Most scientists who create models trying to understand the mechanics and aerodynamics of insect flight have assumed that insect wings are relatively rigid as they flap.
New research shows that, at least for some insects, wings that flex and deform, something like what happens to a heavy beach towel when you snap it to get rid of the sand, are the best for staying aloft.
As astronomers gaze toward nearby planetary systems in search of life, they are focusing their attention on each system’s habitable zone, where heat radiated from the star is just right to keep a planet’s water in liquid form.
New calculations indicate that, in nearby star systems, tidal forces exerted on planets by their parent star’s gravity could limit what is regarded as a star’s habitable zone and change the criteria for planets where life could potentially take root.
Since the early 1990s astronomers have discovered more than 300 planets orbiting stars other than our sun, nearly all of them gas giants like Jupiter.
A team of astronomers and astrobiologists has devised a technique to tell whether small Earth-like planets orbiting other suns harbor liquid water, which in turn could tell whether they might be able to support life.
In the past 50 years it has become commonplace to think of Earth as a nurturing place, straining mightily to maintain equilibrium so that life might continue and flourish.
In a new book, University of Washington paleontologist Peter Ward suggests that Earth is ultimately inhospitable to life, and that life itself might be the primary reason. Rather than the nurturing idea of the Gaia hypothesis, he invokes the darker Medea from Greek mythology.
There has been sharp disagreement in recent years about how much, or even whether, winter snowpack has declined in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon during the last half-century.
There has been recent disagreement about the snowpack decline in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but new research leaves little doubt that a warmer climate has a significant effect on the snowpack, even if other factors keep year-to-year measurements close to normal for a period of years.
When the space shuttle Atlantis blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
When the space shuttle Atlantis blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
A persistent school of thought in recent years has held that so-called “chevrons,” large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world’s coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean.
During the last two decades, astronomers have found hundreds of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
A UW geologist is debunking the recent notion that ‘chevrons,’ large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world’s coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean.
During the last two decades, astronomers have found hundreds of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
Jet lag is the bane of many travelers, and similar fatigue can plague people who work in rotating shifts.
Jet lag is the bane of many travelers, and similar fatigue can plague people who work in rotating shifts.
In 1982 Dee Boersma began making friends with the Magellanic penguins who hang out at Punta Tombo on Argentina’s southern Atlantic Coast, and data from that first research season was compiled in her UW lab the following spring.
From geckos and iguanas to Gila monsters and Komodo dragons, lizards are among the most common reptiles on Earth.