• 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 â 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.
    03/06/2024 | UW News
  • ‘On Our Terms’: Creating community based definitions for DEAI terms

    Many terms in the Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) field are frequently used but rarely understood fully. A 10 part video series, entitled “On Our Terms,” was released by the Burke Museum, aiming to reflect on these DEAI terms and offer community-based definitions.

    02/23/2024 | The Daily
  • UW's Burke Museum working with Native tribes to repatriate Indigenous artifacts

    Museums across Washington state may no longer display some Native artifacts without permission under a new federal rule. The UW's Justice McNeeley, repatriation coordinator and assistant registrar at the Burke Museum; and Sara Gonzalez, associate professor of anthropology and curator of archaeology at the Burke Museum, are quoted.
    02/09/2024 | KUOW
  • Seattle Art Museum removes Native objects amid new federal rules

    The Seattle Art Museum will remove five Native American cultural items from public view, a spokesperson said Thursday. The museum said the items are all of Tlingit origin, a group Indigenous to what is now Southeast Alaska. They include three headdresses, a dagger and a staff. The UW's Justice McNeeley, repatriation coordinator and assistant registrar at the Burke Museum; and Sara Gonzalez, associate professor of anthropology and curator of archaeology at the Burke Museum, are quoted.
    02/05/2024 | The Seattle Times
  • UW researcher slows down hummingbirds to study them — what he found is amazing

    Alejandro Rico-Guevara, assistant professor of biology at the UW and curator of ornithology at the UW Burke Museum, has dedicated his life to looking at hummingbirds in ways other people can’t. What he’s learned changed the world’s understanding of hummingbirds and, at times, has been of great use to humans.
    01/10/2024 | KUOW
  • 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 â Ulumoo Ale, Makell Esteen and Faatui Tuitele â 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.
    01/05/2024 | UW News
  • 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...
    12/11/2023 | UW News
  • 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...
    11/02/2023 | UW News
  • 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.
    10/26/2023 | UW News
  • Kuroshio Odyssey: Maritime Memories, Culture, and Landscapes

    “Kuroshio Odyssey: Maritime Memories, Culture, and Landscapes” is a multipart exhibition blending Taiwanese Indigenous art, artifacts, writing, and cultural workshops. The exhibition started as part of UW doctoral candidate Margaret Yun-Pu Tu’s studies. The Burke Museum of Natural History is mentioned.

    10/25/2023 | The Daily UW
  • National First-Generation College Celebration

    In the College of Arts & Sciences, we are proud to support the success of first-generation students, faculty, and staff, and celebrate their many contributions to our university community.

    10/05/2023 | College of Arts & Sciences
  • New Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science

    Researchers from the University of Washington and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture will be partners in the newly announced $30M NSF Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science.  

    09/08/2023 | Burke Museum
  • Dawg Daze Digest: Planetarium Shows, Art Tours, Trivia, Information Sessions and more!

    Kick off the Autumn quarter and celebrate a return to campus with these can’t-miss recommendations from the College of Arts & Sciences.

    09/08/2023 | College of Arts & Sciences
  • Some hummingbirds are flower robbers -- here's how to spot them

    Big feet and short beaks have evolved in some hummingbirds that allow the birds to mooch nectar without helping the plant by transporting pollen. Alejandro Rico-Guevara, assistant professor of biology at the UW and curator of birds at the UW Burke Museum, is quoted.
    07/31/2023 | Science
  • Archaeologists do a reality check on Indiana Jones

    As the world's best-known fictional archaeologist goes after what may be his last ancient mystery in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," new generations of real-life archaeologists are ready to dig in with 21st-century technologies and sensibilities. Sara Gonzalez, associate professor of anthropology at the UW, is quoted. Peter Lape, professor of anthropology at the UW, is referenced.
    06/30/2023 | GeekWire