Environment

  • The worlds rarest penguins dont avoid heat they embrace it

    These birds have evolved to withstand the equatorial sun and shelter in volcanic rocks along a subtropical coastline. After 50 years, biologist Dee Boersma, professor of biology at the UW, continues to learn new things about the species.
    04/21/2025 | National Geographic
  • WA prepares to defend climate policies against Trumps latest order

    President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday to find ways to block climate laws across the country, putting Washington in his crosshairs once more. Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.
    04/14/2025 | The Seattle Times
  • These two biologists found purpose and love trying to save Nigeria's bats

    Biologists Benneth Obitte and Inoro Tanshi are exploring Nigerias bat diversity and trying to save it. Tanshi, postdoctoral researcher in the UW Department of Biology, is quoted.
    04/11/2025 | Science
  • Bonobo calls are more like human language than we thought

    Bonobos grunts, peeps and whistles may share an advanced linguistic property with human language. Shane Steinert-Threlkeld, assistant professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.
    04/04/2025 | Scientific American
  • House GOP members fight for Biden-era energy spending, including in WA

    Believe it or not, Republicans love renewable energy. How its packaged matters, though. Just dont mention climate change. Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.
    03/27/2025 | The Seattle Times
  • House GOP members fight for Biden-era energy spending, including in WA

    Believe it or not, Republicans love renewable energy. How its packaged matters, though. Just dont mention climate change. Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.
    03/27/2025 | The Seattle Times
  • Cloaked in color: UW-led research finds some female hummingbirds evolve male plumage to dodge aggression

    Trickery by female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds results in reduced aggression from other hummingbirds and increased access to nectar resources.
    03/20/2025 | UW News
  • WA scientists plan to publish report on nature that Trump canceled

    After President Donald Trump canceled a report on the state of nature in the United States, the scientists working on it many from the Seattle area say theyll continue their work and build on it. Phil Levin, professor of practice in environmental and forest sciences at the UW; Dr. Howard Frumkin, professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health sciences at the UW; Devon Pena, professor of anthropology at the UW and Josh Lawler, professor of environmental and forest sciences at the UW, are quoted.
    02/18/2025 | The Seattle Times
  • WA scientists plan to publish report on nature that Trump canceled

    After President Donald Trump canceled a report on the state of nature in the United States, the scientists working on it many from the Seattle area say theyll continue their work and build on it. Phil Levin, professor of practice in environmental and forest sciences at the UW; Dr. Howard Frumkin, professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health sciences at the UW; Devon Pena, professor of anthropology at the UW and Josh Lawler, professor of environmental and forest sciences at the UW, are quoted.
    02/18/2025 | The Seattle Times
  • Grasshopper size changes suggest how to predict winners and losers under climate change

    Thousands of grasshopper specimens from mountains in Colorado show trends in how the insects changed in size over 65 years. With earlier emergence of spring greenery and earlier summer drought, grasshopper species that emerged early in the year grew larger, while grasshopper species that emerge later in the year grew smaller in size. The study, led by UW biologist Lauren Buckley, shows that changes in insect size can be predicted based on lifecycles and environmental conditions.
    02/03/2025 | UW News
  • Why a new telescope may help the search for alien life in space

    At the turn of the century, 3.8 million people banded together in a real-time search for aliens with screensavers. The project was called SETI@home. The hope was that with the power of millions of computers, researchers could comb through radio signals hitting Earth from outer space to find a hint of something unusual. James Davenport, research assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is interviewed.
    01/22/2025 | NPR
  • Panorama of our nearest galactic neighbor unveils hundreds of millions of stars

    The Hubble Space Telescope has generated the most comprehensive survey yet of the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest galactic neighbor to the Milky Way. The new mosaic of about 2.5 billion pixels yields new clues to the galaxy's history. UW astronomers presented the findings Jan. 16 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
    01/16/2025 | UW News
  • Whale, ship collisions around the globe could be helped by slower speeds, study shows

    Giant ships that transport everything from coffee cups to clothes across the ocean are often so large they cant tell when they collide with a whale. Now, research out of the Northwest could help these massive vessels avoid collisions with whales around the world. Anna Nisi, a postdoctoral scholar of biology at the UW, is quoted.
    01/13/2025 | KUOW
  • Part of your body has likely traveled outside the galaxy, scientist says

    The carbon that is a key component of the human body and all other lifeforms on Earth may have traveled outside the galaxy after being created before returning on a cosmic "conveyor belt," an author of a new study has suggested. Samantha Garza, a doctoral student of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.
    01/07/2025 | Newsweek
  • Grieving orca Tahlequah that mourned dead calf in 2018 loses another baby

    The southern resident killer whale, known as Tahlequah, has now lost another calf in what the Center for Whale Research called devastating news. Samuel Wasser, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.
    01/06/2025 | The Washington Post