Environment
May 13, 2013
New report released on health impacts of Duwamish River cleanup
The UW report recommends ways to protect the health of Native American tribes and others affected by the cleanup.
Using earthquake sensors to track endangered whales
Oceanographers are using a growing number of seafloor seismometers, devices that record seafloor vibrations, to carry out inexpensive and non-invasive studies of endangered whales.
May 8, 2013
News digest: Recyclemania results, professor speaks on career journey, Honor: Rodney Ho
UW outcompetes PAC-12 schools in Recyclemania || MIT engineering professor to speak on research, career journey || Pharmaceutical science association recognizes Rodney Ho
May 6, 2013
UW research vessel Clifford A. Barnes marks its 1,000th cruise
This week marks the 1000th cruise for the UW’s Clifford A. Barnes research vessel, a converted tugboat that has spent decades exploring Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest waters and is now reaching the end of its UW career.
April 29, 2013
Dinosaur predecessors gain ground in wake of world’s biggest biodiversity crisis — with photo gallery
Newly discovered fossils reveal a lineage of animals thought to have led to dinosaurs taking hold in Tanzania and Zambia, many millions of years before dinosaur relatives were seen in the fossil record elsewhere on Earth.
Grocery delivery service is greener than driving to the store
New University of Washington research shows it’s much more environmentally friendly to leave the car parked at home and opt for groceries delivered to your doorstep.
April 25, 2013
Keeping beverages cool in summer: It’s not just the heat, it’s the humidity
Drops forming on the outside of your drink don’t just make the can slippery. Experiments show that in hot, humid weather, condensation heats a drink more than the surrounding air.
April 23, 2013
A greener concrete? UW-led coalition seeks to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint
Concrete is used to build streets, bridges, buildings, dams and driveways — and it lasts a very long time — but what if concrete could be made with a 50 percent smaller carbon footprint?
April 22, 2013
News Digest: Husky Green Awards, oceanbound on Earth Day, join Trash-in Wednesday, spring-clean your inbox
Husky Green Awards announced at kick-off || Expedition oceanbound on Earth Day || Annual ‘UW Trash-In’ event Wednesday || Tips to spring-clean your inbox
April 15, 2013
Preparing to install the world’s largest underwater observatory
Engineers at the UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory are under pressure to build and test parts for installation this summer in the world’s largest deep-ocean observatory off the Washington and Oregon coasts.
April 12, 2013
Tsunami debris could be found in Washington’s annual beach cleanup
The annual beach cleanup may turn up new items from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan more than two years ago and sent objects to the Washington coast.
April 11, 2013
Space-age domes offer a window on ocean acidification
At Friday Harbor Labs, students are conducting a three-week study on the effects of ocean acidification using a strategy that’s midway between a controlled lab test and an open-ocean experiment.
April 10, 2013
Burke Museum Herbarium launches new wildflower app
The “Washington Wildflowers” app, out this week, includes information for more than 870 common wildflowers, shrubs and vines.
April 3, 2013
UW group part of national report, meeting on adaptation to climate change
The UW’s Climate Impacts Group is part of a national report and first-ever national meeting on adapting to the effects of a changing climate.
April 2, 2013
Book focuses on 1969 fight to save America’s premier fossil beds
Book Q and A: To allow buildings on 34 million year-old fossils would be like using the Dead Sea Scrolls to wrap fish in, proclaimed the lawyer defending land that would eventually become Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
March 28, 2013
Volunteers use historic U.S. ship logbooks to uncover Arctic climate data
A volunteer project enlists citizen scientists to transcribe climate observations buried in historic logbooks of U.S. ships that spent time in the Arctic.
March 20, 2013
Some Alaskan trout use flexible guts for the ultimate binge diet
The stomach and intestines of certain Dolly Varden trout double to quadruple in size during month-long, salmon-egg-eating binges in Alaska each August. It’s the first time researchers have documented such fish gut flexibility in the wild.
March 18, 2013
UW students create, harvest fog in campus ‘hoop house’
University of Washington students have been testing low-cost materials capable of harvesting water from fog.
March 11, 2013
Long-term relationships, access to data drive sustainability institutions’ success
Successful sustainability initiatives need to be grounded in long-standing relationships among scientists, local communities and decision-makers, UW’s Lisa Graumlich told a session on sustainability science at AAAS.
Remote clouds responsible for climate models’ glitch in tropical rainfall
One of the most persistent biases in global climate models is due to poor simulation of cloud cover thousands of miles to the south.
March 7, 2013
Tracking sediments’ fate in largest-ever dam removal
Any day now, the world’s largest dam-removal project will release a century’s worth of sediment . For geologists, it’s a unique opportunity to study natural and engineered river systems.
March 5, 2013
News Digest: UW students speak at Town Hall, nominations due, celebrate Philosophy in Schools program, tobacco cessation help
UW Science Now kicks off at Town Hall tonight || Celebrating UW Women nominations due March 11 || Nominations sought for fourth annual Husky Green Awards || Grade-school students take on philosophy in panel discussion || Hall Health Center expands tobacco cessation program
March 4, 2013
‘True grit’ erodes assumptions about evolution
New work in Argentina where scientists had previously thought Earth’s first grasslands emerged 38 million years ago, shows the area at the time covered with tropical forests rich with palms, bamboos and gingers. Grit and volcanic ash in those forests could have caused the evolution of teeth in horse-like animals that scientists mistakenly thought were adaptations in response to emerging grasslands.
February 28, 2013
Changes in cloud distribution explain some weather patterns
Regional cloud changes may be as important for climate change as the overall amount of cloud cover.
February 27, 2013
Contaminated diet contributes to phthalate and bisphenol A exposure
People are exposed to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals even if they eat an organic diet and do not store, prepare or cook in plastic containers.
Bundle up for Polar Science Weekend at Pacific Science Center
The annual Polar Science Weekend, featuring many UW students and faculty, takes place tomorrow through Sunday at Pacific Science Center.
February 25, 2013
UW undergraduates embark on three-week research cruise off Japan
Eleven UW undergraduates leave today on an unusually ambitious research and teaching expedition to study the Kuroshio Current off Japan.
February 21, 2013
Using amount of fish caught as measure of fisheries health is misleading
Do changes in the amount of fish caught necessarily reflect the number of fish in the sea? “No,” say UW researchers in a “Counterpoint” commentary in Nature.
February 20, 2013
Searchable by cell phone or GPS unit, interactive map for arboretum being created
UW Botanic Gardens is digitizing 55 years of handwritten plant records and creating an interactive GIS map for the Washington Park Arboretum.
February 19, 2013
Mutant champions save imperiled species from almost-certain extinction
Species facing widespread and rapid environmental changes can sometimes evolve quickly enough to dodge the extinction bullet. UW scientists consider the genetic underpinnings of such evolutionary rescue.
February 18, 2013
Mussels cramped by environmental factors
The fibrous threads helping mussels stay anchored are more prone to snap when ocean temperatures climb higher than normal.
February 15, 2013
Firing range lead exposure reduced with UW workplace health expertise
UW’s Field Research and Consultation Group in Environmental and Occupational Health assess ventilation systems and airborne lead levels in firing ranges, and offer advice on lowering exposure.
February 13, 2013
European satellite confirms UW numbers: Arctic Ocean is on thin ice
New satellite observations confirm a University of Washington analysis that for the past three years found accelerated declines in the volume of Arctic sea ice.
February 12, 2013
Get off my lawn: Song sparrows escalate territorial threats – with video
UW researchers have discovered a hierarchical warning scheme in which territorial song sparrows use increasingly threatening signals to ward off trespassing rivals.
February 6, 2013
Smartphones, tablets help UW researchers improve storm forecasts
Atmospheric scientists are using pressure readings from some new smartphones and tablet computers to improve short-term thunderstorm forecasts. A weather station in every pocket would offer an unprecedented wealth of data.
January 31, 2013
Cyclone did not cause 2012 record low for Arctic sea ice
A huge Arctic cyclone in August was not responsible for the historic minimum seen soon after in Arctic sea-ice extent.
January 23, 2013
Greenland ice core shows Antarctica vulnerable to warming
A UW scientist’s work aided a Greenland ice study that could indicate where Earth is headed with climate change.
January 15, 2013
International study: Where there’s smoke or smog, there’s climate change
A new international assessment found that soot, or black carbon, is a major contributor to global warming — second only to carbon dioxide.
January 14, 2013
Salmon runs boom, go bust over centuries
Salmon runs are notoriously variable: strong one year, and weak the next. New research shows that the same may be true from one century to the next.
Potential harvest of most fish stocks largely unrelated to abundance
Fisheries managers should sharpen their ability to spot environmental conditions that hamper or help fish stocks, and not assume that abundance translates to sustainable harvest.
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