Natural Sciences Division

Two years ago, biochemist Roy Black had an intriguing theory about the origins of life. One problem: he had nowhere to test it.

A University of Washington penguin researcher, one of the top in the world, is getting global attention for a novel idea she has to help save one of the most charismatic animals of all: Penguins.

The Kepler space telegraph hit the skids in May after its precision-pointing system failed. But engineers have given it a new way to steady its aim, along with hope for a new NASA mission.

The mystery of how the surface of Mars, long dead and dry, could have flowed with water billions of years ago may have been solved by research that included a University of Washington astronomer.

Because the ivory trade is illegal, its size worldwide is hard to pin down. Samuel K. Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, calculated it was worth $264 million from 2000-2010.

Anti-poaching advocates will have to contend with the voracious appetite for accessories and art made from ivory in Asia - especially in China, which represents the largest market for illegal tusks and carvings, said Samuel Wasser

"I think the sex difference in stereotype strength says something about the extent to which gender stereotypes are established in girls early in life but reinforced pretty continuously thereafter," said Tony Greenwald

The University of Washington's Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics is about to go hunting. Their quarry: A theorized-but-never-seen elementary particle called an axion.

Researchers from the University of Washington Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences and Temple University have found the first evidence revealing a key aspect of the brain processing that occurs in babies to allow learning by observation.

Recent work done at UW's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences found babies' brains were activated in specific areas while watching adults.

Alcohol may not be the social lubricant everyone thinks it is, according to University of Washington health psychologist Jason Kilmer.

In a letter to the editor, Eliot Brenowitz, professor of biology, comments on the intelligence of birds.

Undersea life is often plagued by disease outbreaks, according to University of Washington marine ecologist Robert Paine, even though their causes are seldom identified.

There are many ways genetic engineering can produce food that is unsafe to eat. But the human diet has always been fraught with the same kind of risks, said Toby Bradshaw, a plant geneticist and chairman of the Biology Department at the University of Washington.

UW's Conservation Canines are at it again. Learn more about their work with orcas.