College of the Environment
May 21, 2014
Marine apprenticeships give UW undergrads role in animal-ancestor breakthrough

Comb jellies – and not sponges – may lay claim as the earliest ancestors of animals, according to new research in Nature.
May 12, 2014
West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse is under way

The collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has begun, according to computer models using detailed topographic maps. The fast-moving Thwaites Glacier will likely disappear in a matter of centuries, researchers say, raising sea level by nearly 2 feet.
May 7, 2014
Greenland melting due equally to global warming, natural variations

Up to half of the recent warming in Greenland and surrounding areas may be due to climate variations that originate in the tropical Pacific and are not connected with the overall warming of the planet. Still, at least half the warming remains attributable to global warming caused by rising carbon dioxide emissions.
May 6, 2014
UW scientist a lead author on third National Climate Assessment

University of Washington climate scientist Amy Snover is one of two lead authors for the Northwest chapter of the newly published National Climate Assessment.
May 1, 2014
Amphibians in a vise: Climate change robs frogs, salamanders of refuge

Amphibians in the West’s high-mountain areas find themselves caught between climate-induced habitat loss and predation from introduced fish. A novel combination of tools could help weigh where amphibians are in the most need of help.
April 30, 2014
See National Ocean Sciences Bowl put the M (for “marine”) in STEMM

The Super Bowl of high school marine studies, the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, takes place this weekend on the UW campus. The theme of this year’s event is ocean acidification.
April 29, 2014
Benjamin Hall, Eric D’Asaro elected to National Academy of Sciences

Benjamin Hall and Eric D’Asaro are among the 84 new members elected fellows the National Academy of Sciences.
April 23, 2014
Academy of arts and sciences inducting Franklin, Fine

Jerry Franklin and Arthur Fine have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fisheries act, up for reauthorization, subject of UW symposium

The Magnuson-Stevens Act is the subject of this year’s Bevan Series on Sustainable Fisheries.
April 14, 2014
Puget Sound’s rich waters supplied by deep, turbulent canyon

UW oceanographers found fast-flowing water and intense mixing in a submarine canyon just off the Washington coast.
April 11, 2014
Greenland ice cores show industrial record of acid rain, success of U.S. Clean Air Act

Detailed ice core measurements show smog-related ratios leveling off in 1970, and suggests these deposits are sensitive to the same chemicals that cause acid rain.
March 31, 2014
UW experts part of technical team investigating Snohomish County mudslide

A national team jointly led by a University of Washington geotechnical engineer and an engineering geologist will investigate what caused the March 22 mudslide in Snohomish County and what effects the disaster had on the nearby residential communities.
March 27, 2014
Citizen scientists: UW students help state legislator with climate policy

Four graduate students were part of a year-long legislative process in Olympia working to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in Washington state.
March 26, 2014
Decline of natural history troubling for science, society

Seventeen North American scientists outline the importance of natural science and call for a revitalization of the practice.
March 7, 2014
Lifesaving milestone for Washington’s fishing industry

Washington Sea Grant field agents have conducted their 100th Coast Guard-certified Safety at Sea class for tribal and commercial fishers.
March 4, 2014
Polar science this weekend at Pacific Science Center

The 9th annual Polar Science Weekend will bring polar research, art and an actual ice core to the Pacific Science Center.
February 26, 2014
Pine forest particles appear out of thin air, influence climate

German, Finnish and U.S. scientists have discovered how gas wafting from coniferous trees creates particles that can reflect sunlight or promote formation of clouds.
February 24, 2014
Vitamin water: Measuring essential nutrients in the ocean

Oceanographers have found that archaea, a type of marine microbe, can produce B-12 vitamins in the ocean.
February 18, 2014
Embarking on geoengineering, then stopping, would speed up global warming

Carrying out geoengineering for several decades and then stopping would cause warming at a rate more than double that expected due to global warming.
February 14, 2014
UW helps protect $30 million to $40 million in U.S. wood exports to Japan

A recently introduced homebuilding subsidy program in Japan put logs and lumber imported from the U.S. and other countries at a competitive disadvantage.
January 17, 2014
UW seismologists expand stadium monitoring for NFC championship game

UW scientists installed a third seismograph at CenturyLink Field this week after the trial by fire of a website and new monitoring tools during last weekend’s Seahawks game.
January 16, 2014
Soil production breaks geologic speed record

Samples from steep mountaintops in New Zealand shows that rock can transform into soil more than twice as fast as previously believed possible.
January 15, 2014
DNA detectives able to ‘count’ thousands of fish using as little as a glass of water

A mere glass full of water from a 1.2 million-gallon aquarium tank is all scientists really needed to identify most of the 13,000 fish swimming there.
January 9, 2014
Big is not bad: Scientists call for preservation of large carnivores

Despite their scary reputation, carnivores deserve credit for all kinds of ecological services when they eat grazing animals that gobble down young trees and other vegetation that could be holding carbon and protecting streams.
January 6, 2014
‘Future of Ice’ initiative marks new era for UW polar research

The UW’s new “Future of Ice” initiative includes several new research hires, a new minor in Arctic studies and a free winter lecture series.
January 2, 2014
El Niño tied to melting of Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier

A new study in Science, co-authored by the British Antarctic Survey and UW authors, shows that melting of the floating Pine Island ice shelf is tied to global atmospheric patterns associated with El Niño.
December 19, 2013
Sinuous skeletons, glowing blue and crimson, leap from lab to art world

Fish “stripped” to their skeletons and stained for UW research are now part of an art exhibit at the Seattle Aquarium.
December 17, 2013
Hack the planet? Geoengineering research, ethics, governance explored

A special interdisciplinary issue of the journal Climatic Change includes the most detailed description yet of the proposed Oxford Principles to govern geoengineering research, and surveys the technical hurdles, ethics and regulatory issues related to deliberately manipulating the planet’s climate.
December 10, 2013
What climate change means for federally protected marine species

As the Endangered Species Act nears its 40th birthday at the end of December, conservation biologists are coming to terms with a danger not foreseen in the 1970s: global climate change.
December 9, 2013
Astronomers solve temperature mystery of planetary atmospheres

An atmospheric peculiarity the Earth shares with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune is likely common to billions of planets, University of Washington astronomers have found, and knowing that may help in the search for potentially habitable worlds.
November 19, 2013
Paddlers spread pump-out ‘gospel’ to recreational boaters

Washington Sea Grant’s “Pumpout Paddlers” are readying their kayaks for winter paddling to deliver more adapters so boaters have a cleaner, easier way to pump their sewage-holding tanks.
November 18, 2013
Post-shutdown, UW Arctic research flights resume

UW researchers this month are on missions to fly above the Arctic Ocean to measure glacier melt, polar storms and Arctic sea ice.
November 8, 2013
Forest fires and fireside chats: UW students learn about management challenges

An intensive two week field course helped 20 University of Washington students learn firsthand about the challenges of managing dry, fire-prone forests of the Pacific Northwest.
November 6, 2013
Floods didn’t provide nitrogen ‘fix’ for earliest crops in frigid north

Floods didn’t make floodplains fertile during the dawn of human agriculture in the Earth’s far north. Turns out early human inhabitants can mainly thank cyanobacteria. It raises the question of whether modern farmers might reduce fertilizer use by taking advantage of cyanobacteria that occur, not just in the floodplains studied, but in soils around the world.
News Digest: TEDx talk on brainy crows, Town Hall ‘rocks’ tonight

Brainy crows subject of TEDx talk Saturday || Town Hall talk “Stories from My Pet Rocks” tonight
November 4, 2013
More wildfires, earlier snowmelt, coastal threats top Northwest climate risks

A new comprehensive report co-authored by the UW’s Climate Impacts Group looks at what climate change will mean for Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
UW Bothell prof, students present crowd-funded study of coal train emissions

Atmospheric scientist Dan Jaffe tonight will present the first results of a crowd-funded study of train emissions, conducted with four undergraduates from the Seattle and Bothell campuses and funded by public donations.
October 29, 2013
Crashing rockets could lead to novel sample-return technology

This year, in an annual trek to the Nevada desert, UW students deliberately launched rockets from altitude directly into a dry lakebed. These were early tests of a concept that eventually could be used to collect and return samples from an erupting volcano, a melting nuclear reactor or even an asteroid in space.
Redwood trees reveal history of West Coast rain, fog, ocean conditions

Scientists found a way to use coastal redwood trees as a window into historic climate, using oxygen and carbon atoms in the wood to detect fog and rainfall in previous seasons.
October 20, 2013
Global ocean currents explain why Northern Hemisphere is the soggier one

A new study in Nature Geoscience explains a major feature of global precipitation, and shows how a current originating from the poles influences tropical rainfall in Africa and southern India.
Previous page Next page