Department of Biology

Every summer, UW researchers head to northern Botswana to study how large predators, such as lions and African wild dogs, are affected by climate change and other shifts in their environment. UW News asked a few team members to describe their plans for this summer.

Two biologists at UW believe they have found a nontoxic method to control burrowing ghost shrimp. Jennifer Ruesink, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Mary Brunkow graduated from UW with a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology in 1983 before pursuing a Ph.D. in the same field at Princeton University. 

A hummingbird darts up to a flower, slips in its long, thin beak and drinks. The whole visit lasts a fraction of a second, and for years scientists assumed the bird simply sucked the sweet liquid up and swallowed. Alejandro Rico-Guevara, associate professor of biology at the UW and curator of birds at the UW Burke Museum, is mentioned.

For decades, scientists have understood that plants can release volatile organic compoundsessentially airborne chemical signalsto attract the natural enemies of the things that eat them, like caterpillars. What we didnt know was exactly how a plant translates the physical act of being eaten into a specific, predator-summoning distress signal. Adam Steinbrenner, an associate professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Bean plants have been recruiting wasps to fight their battles for them since long before anyone noticed. A caterpillar bites down, the plant releases a chemical signal, and predatory wasps come flying in to finish it off. That part biologists already knew. What they couldnt explain was how the plant told the difference between a caterpillar and a rainstorm. Adam Steinbrenner, an associate professor of biology at the UW, is mentioned.

Included in this science round up is a story about how plants call wasps to their defense. Adam Steinbrenner, an associate professor of biology at the UW, is interviewed.

UW researchers examined almost 3,000 science guidelines and assessment questions for any connections to society. Of the approximately 200 elements that had real-world implications, many discussed ethics and public health issues.

Explore recent research from the University of Washington: how climate change is redirecting rivers, what bean plants use to protect themselves from pests, where the water in an atmospheric river comes from and how researchers are making tensegrities tiny.

New research from a University of Washington scientist could give oyster farmers in Willapa Bay a fighting chance at battling burrowing ghost shrimp, little crustaceans that cause big problems. Jennifer Ruesink, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

There is a promising new way to control burrowing shrimp, small marine excavators native to Washington. Jennifer Ruesink, a UW professor of biology, is quoted.

Many animals, from cockroaches to cats, can walk without input from the brain. Yet scientists have struggled to pinpoint the responsible rhythm-generating circuit, or central pattern generator, in the spinal cord in any organism.The UW's John Tuthill, professor of neurobiology and biophysics at the UW, and Bing Brunton, professor of biology, are quoted.

The history of life on Earth often feels like a story about giants. Huge dinosaurs, powerful predators and massive plant-eaters fill our imagination. But that is only part of the picture. Gregory Wilson Mantilla, professor of biology at the UW and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the UW Burke Museum, is quoted.

A single fossil jaw is forcing scientists to rethink the timeline of one of natures most agile hunters. Found in Spain, the tiny bone suggests that the ancestors of modern weasels were already on the move more than six million years ago far earlier than expected. Chris Law, a principal research scientist of biology at the UW and an affiliate curator at the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, is quoted.

Explore recent research from the University of Washington: how sunbirds sip nectar through straw-like tongues, why the Seattle Fault might not pose as great a risk as previously thought, how to gauge landslide dam risk in the PNW, what marine microbes use for making meals and when the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory will spot small inbound asteroids.