Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture
April 15, 2025
ArtSci Roundup: May 2025
From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this May. Innovation Month April 30 | An Evening with Christine Sun Kim (Public Lecture)…
December 19, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: January 2025
From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this January. Featured: Global Connections Through January | Teamsters, Turtles, and Beyond: The Legacy of…
December 5, 2024
That’s no straw: Hummingbirds evolved surprisingly flexible bills to help them drink nectar
Hummingbird bills — their long, thin beaks — look a little like drinking straws. But new research shows just how little water, or nectar, that comparison holds. University of Washington scientists have discovered that the hummingbird bill is surprisingly flexible. While drinking, a hummingbird rapidly opens and shuts different parts of its bill simultaneously, engaging in an intricate and highly coordinated dance with its tongue to draw up nectar at lightning speeds.
November 21, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: December 2024
From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this December. Open Exhibits Henry Art Gallery Through March 2025 | Overexposures: Photographs from the…
November 8, 2024
Miniature backpack-like tags offer insight into the movement of hummingbirds
A team led by scientists at the University of Washington and the University of Aberdeen attached tiny “backpack” trackers to hummingbirds in the Colombian Andes to learn more about their movements. As they report in a paper published Oct. 10 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, the tracking system will aid conservation efforts in this region by revealing the previously hidden movements of hummingbirds and other small animals.
October 24, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: November 2024
From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this November. Election & Democracy Events November 7 | Trust on the Ballot: Voting in…
October 10, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: Election Events, Meany Hall Performances, Artist Panel and more
This week, attend the Conversation on Race, Gender, & Democracy lecture at Kane Hall, check out performances at Meany Hall, learn from a panel of artists at Henry Art Gallery, and more. Election & Democracy Events October 14, 6:30 – 8:00 pm | The 2024 Election: A Conversation on Race, Gender, & Democracy featuring Dr. Christina Greer, Kane…
September 19, 2024
Over 8 years, UW Population Health Initiative has turned ideas into impact
In just eight years, the UW Population Health Initiative has funded 227 innovative, interdisciplinary projects. With the Initiative now a third of the way into its 25-year vision, UW News checked in with three projects that recently received funding to scale their efforts.
May 23, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: 53rd Psychology Research Festival, Undergraduate Senior Essay Symposium, Design Show, and more
This week, attend the 53rd Annual Psychology Research Festival, check out the Department of Classics’ Undergraduate Senior Essay Symposium, a Design Show from graduating seniors in the School of Art + Art History + Design, and more. May 27 – 31, UW Innovation Month Innovation Month is a campus-wide celebration of the innovative work that…
May 9, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: Katz Distinguished Lecture, DXARTS Spring Concert, MFA Dance Concert and more
This week, attend the Katz Distinguished Lecture Series with Winnie Wong, check out the DXARTS Spring Concert, be wowed away from the MFA Dance Concert, and more. May 13 – 17, UW Innovation Month Innovation Month is a campus-wide celebration of the innovative work that happens everywhere at UW, every day, across disciplines. It highlights…
March 21, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: Calder Quartet, Psychology Colloquium, Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice and more
This week, attend the Psychology Loucks Colloquium, visit the Henry Art Gallery for Martine Gutierrez’s Monsen Photography Lecture, hear from Ashleigh Greene Wade on “Where Can We Be? Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice” and more. March 27, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | TALK | Arctic Ambitions: Navigating Arctic Security Challenges, Husky Union Building Join…
March 6, 2024
Scientists CT-scanned thousands of natural history specimens, which you can access for free
Natural history museums have entered a new stage of discovery and accessibility — one where scientists around the globe and curious folks at home can access valuable museum specimens to study, learn or just be amazed. This new era follows the completion of openVertebrate, or oVert, a five-year collaborative project among 18 institutions to create 3D reconstructions of vertebrate specimens and make them freely available online. The team behind this endeavor, which includes scientists at the University of Washington and its Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture, published a summary of the project March 6 in the journal BioScience, offering a glimpse of how the data can be used to ask new questions and spur the development of innovative technology.
February 29, 2024
ArtSci Roundup: First Wednesday Concert Series, Book Talks, Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist Concert and more
This week, enjoy the First Wednesday Concert Series in Allen Library, be awed by Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist Concert with Shoji Kameda, attend book talks, and more. March 4, 2:30 – 4:30 pm | Annual Graduate Student Invited Lecturer | Know Your Place, Know Your Calling: Geography, Race, and Kant’s ‘World-Citizen’, Denny Hall Graduate students in the…
January 5, 2024
Husky football players take their skills from the field to the classroom and beyond
Holly Barker, a University of Washington teaching professor of anthropology, and three current members of the UW football team — Ulumoo Ale, Makell Esteen and Faatui Tuitele — are studying how the skills they develop to maximize their chances of victory on the field have applications outside the stadium. Their work, which is ongoing, is showing that the research methods and analytical abilities of student-athletes are applicable in academic and research settings, as well as jobs in a variety of fields.
December 11, 2023
New faculty books: Story and comic collection, Washington state fossils, colonial roots of intersex medicine
Three new faculty books from the University of Washington cover wide-ranging topics: life in the Rio Grande Valley, fossils of Washington state and the colonial roots of contemporary intersex medicine. UW News talked with the authors to learn more. Collection highlights life in Rio Grande Valley “Puro Pinche True Fictions” is a collection of short…
December 6, 2023
ArtSci Roundup: Pints for Puget Sound, Many Messiahs music performance, Native Art Markets, and more
This week, roam the Burke Museum galleries at night to check out their special exhibit We Are Puget Sound, enjoy the Many Messiahs performance by talented musicians, check out the Native Art Markets, and more. December 11, 7:00 pm | Degree Recital: Chiao-Yu Wu, piano, Brechemin Auditorium The School of Music presents a degree recital…
November 2, 2023
ArtSci Roundup: UW Pandemic Project Radical Listening Session, National First-Generation College Celebration, and more
This week, attend the UW Pandemic Project’s Radical Listening Session to honor each individual’s lived pandemics experiences, head to Meany Hall for Garrick Ohlsson’s piano performance, celebrate Diwali with the Burke Museum, and more. November 7, 4:30 – 6:00pm | Sharon Stein, “The University and Its Responsibility for Repair: Confronting Colonial Foundations and Enabling Different…
October 26, 2023
Fruit, nectar, bugs and blood: How bat teeth and jaws evolved for a diverse dinnertime
There are more than 200 species of noctilionoid bats, mostly in the American tropics. And despite being close relatives, their jaws evolved in wildly divergent shapes and sizes to exploit different food sources. A paper published Aug. 22 in Nature Communications shows those adaptations include dramatic, but also consistent, modifications to tooth number, size, shape and position. For example, bats with short snouts lack certain teeth, presumably due to a lack of space. Species with longer jaws have room for more teeth — and, like humans, their total tooth complement is closer to what the ancestor of placental mammals had.
October 12, 2023
ArtSci Roundup: Frontiers of Physics Lecture, a conversation with Bridgerton author, Archaeology Day at the Burke, and more
This week, attend the Frontiers of Physics Lecture, listen to a conversation with Julia Quinn the author of the Bridgerton series, head to the Burke Museum to celebrate International Archaeology Day, and more. October 17, 7:30pm | Frontiers of Physics Lecture | More perfect than we imagined: A physicist’s view of life, Kane Hall Among the most…
June 1, 2023
ArtSci Roundup: 2023 Awards of Excellence, Graduation, Dino Lecture, Summer Reads and more
This week and summer, honor the 2023 Awards of Excellence recipients, visit the newly renovated Jacob Lawrence Gallery to see the works of design students, add one of College of Arts & Sciences Dean Dianne Harris’ favorite books to your summer reading list, learn about the largest animals to ever roam the earth at the…
April 27, 2023
Video: Tiny, fierce hummingbirds are also an evolutionary delight for UW, Burke researcher
Many of us are familiar with the hummingbirds that visit feeders, plants and gardens around us. But these small creatures are unusual in the ways they push the limits of biology, says Alejandro Rico-Guevara, UW assistant professor biology and curator of ornithology at the Burke Museum. He and his students study hummingbirds and other birds…
April 14, 2023
ArtSci RoundUp: Learn Korean through K-Pop, Discussions on Public University Prospects, Poetry Lecture and more
This week, explore the idea of reconstructed public universities with Christopher Newfield, engage with leaders from the Makah Nation in Washington State on exercising sovereignty, discover the singer in you by learning Korean through K-Pop, and more. April 18, 5:30 PM | HU Tai-Li Memorial Lecture and Film Screening with Scott Simon, Burke Museum The…
April 13, 2023
Africa’s grassy habitats emerged 10+ million years earlier than previously thought
A pair of studies published April 14 in the journal Science paint a new picture about apes, ancient Africa and the origins of humans. Many scientists had once hypothesized that the first apes to evolve in Africa more than 20 million years ago ate primarily fruit and lived within the thick, closed canopy of a nearly continent-wide forest ecosystem. Instead, the new research indicates that early apes ate a leafy diet in a more arid ecosystem of varyingly open woodlands with abundant grasses.
March 31, 2023
ArtSci Roundup: Faculty Concerts, Women’s Liberation Movement Book Talk, Dover Quartet and more
This week, head to Meany Hall for the Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet performance, learn about Seattle’s radical women’s liberation movement of the 60s and 70s from Barbara Winslow, celebrate Arab American Heritage Month and more. April 4, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Energy Security in Europe: Current and Future Challenges, Thomson Hall and Zoom…
March 10, 2023
ArtSci Roundup: Health and Houselessness, BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, Angela Hewitt, and more
This week, listen in to the “Health and Houselessness in Seattle” conversation, head to the Burke Museum for some cherry blossom activities, witness Angela Hewitt’s famous piano talent, and more. March 14, 7:30 PM | “Health and Houselessness in Seattle” with Josephine Ensign and Anna Patrick, The Wyncote NW Forum Home to over 730,000…
January 9, 2023
Warming oceans have decimated marine parasites — but that’s not a good thing
Save the … parasites? Analyzing 140 years of parasite abundance in fish shows dramatic declines, especially in parasites that rely on three or more host species. The decline is linked to warming ocean temperatures. Parasitic species might be in real danger, researchers warn — and that means not just fewer worms, but losses for the entire ecosystem.
December 15, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: January Preview
Start the new year with lectures, performances, exhibitions and more.
December 2, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: How to Write a DEI Statement in Only 50 Years, Frankenstein Book Chat, School of Music concerts, and more
Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.
November 22, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Gender & Protests in Iran panel; Languages of Angels performance; Belonging, Queer Relationality, & Black Women’s Labor talk, and more
Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.
November 10, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Book Talk with Cathy Davidson, Poetry with Ricardo Ruiz, Jazz Innovations with School of Music faculty and students, and more.
Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.
November 3, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Assessing the 2022 Midterm Election Results With Implications for the Next Two Years and for 2024, Empires Strick Back: Football and Colonialism, and more
Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.
November 2, 2022
Study reveals how ancient fish colonized the deep sea
A new University of Washington-led study reports that throughout Earth’s ancient history, there were several periods of time when many fish actually favored the cold, dark, barren waters of the deep sea instead of shallow ocean waters that are warm and full of resources.
October 28, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Democracy and the 2022 Midterm Elections, Hafu ハーフ film screening, and more!
Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.
October 27, 2022
Bats are everywhere, but they get special attention around Halloween
These nocturnal flying mammals live in cities and rural areas and in most climates around the world – and maybe even in your own backyard.
Sharlene Santana, a University of Washington professor of biology and curator of mammals at the Burke Museum, explains that there are over 1,400 species of bats spanning an incredible diversity.
October 21, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Miha Sarani exhibition opening, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman conversation, and more
Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.
October 14, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Grammy winner Morris Robinson, Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest, and more!
Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.
September 7, 2022
These female hummingbirds evolved to look like males — apparently to evade aggression
1 in 5 adult female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds look like males. New research from the University of Washington shows that this is a rare case of “deceptive mimicry” within a species: Females with male-like plumage are trying to pass themselves off as males, and as a result receive a benefit in the form of reduced aggression from males.
July 25, 2022
New study challenges old views on what’s ‘primitive’ in mammalian reproduction
Which group of mammals has the more “primitive” reproductive strategy — marsupials, with their short gestation periods, or humans and other placental mammals, which have long gestation periods? For decades, biologists viewed marsupial reproduction as “more primitive.” But University of Washington scientists have discovered that a third group of mammals, the long-extinct multituberculates, had a long gestation period like placental mammals. Since multituberculates split off from the rest of the mammalian lineage before placentals and marsupials had even evolved, these findings question the view that marsupials were “less advanced” than their placental cousins.
June 7, 2022
ArtSci Roundup: Monsen Photography Lecture: Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Dino Lecture: The Last of the Dinosaurs, and Celebrating Pride Month
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! Monsen Photography Lecture: Paul Mpagi Sepuya June 17, 6:00 – 7:00 PM | Henry Art Gallery The Henry Art Gallery is excited to welcome Paul Mpagi Sepuya as this year’s Monsen Photography Lecture speaker. This annual lecture brings key makers and thinkers in photographic…
Burke Museum receives national award
The Burke Museum at the University of Washington in Seattle today announced it is one of six recipients of the 2022 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities. The award is given by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Burke Museum is the only institution in Washington to be selected.
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