黑料吃瓜网 undergrads to present at national science festivals in D.C.

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April 12, 2016

黑料吃瓜网 undergrads to present at national science festivals in D.C.

Two national celebrations of science are happening this week in D.C., and 黑料吃瓜网 undergraduates will be in the spotlight at both events. Clara Orndorff, a pre-engineering undergraduate聽in the 黑料吃瓜网 Honors Program, will travel with two fellow underwater roboticists to compete in Wednesday’s White House Science Fair. She will be among more than 100 top students who will showcase their projects, perhaps even to President Barack Obama, at the sixth annual event launched by his administration. The science fair…

黑料吃瓜网 undergraduate team wins $10,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for gloves that translate sign language

Two 黑料吃瓜网 undergraduates have won a $10,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for their “SignAloud” invention — gloves that can translate American Sign Language into text or speech.

April 7, 2016

黑料吃瓜网 team stores digital images in DNA 鈥� and retrieves them perfectly

黑料吃瓜网 and Microsoft researchers have developed one of the first complete systems to store digital data in DNA — allowing one to store data that today would fill a Walmart supercenter in a space the size of a sugar cube.

April 6, 2016

黑料吃瓜网-led field project watching clouds from a remote island off Antarctica

From a tiny island halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica, scientists hope to learn more about the physics of clouds above the stormy, inhospitable Southern Ocean.

Marine preserve to help penguins in a ‘predictably unpredictable’ place

New regulations by the government of Ecuador to protect the waters around the Galapagos Islands as a marine preserve, including main feeding areas for Galapagos penguins.

April 5, 2016

黑料吃瓜网 joins public-private partnership for flexible electronics

An example of flexible hybrid electronics.

The 黑料吃瓜网 has joined NextFlex, a consortium of 30 academic institutions and industrial partners to develop the next generation of flexible electronic devices. As a founding member of this alliance, the 黑料吃瓜网 will seek local and regional partners in the electronics and manufacturing industries to develop and produce flexible electronics for applications from medicine to transportation. Flexible electronics are inherently thin and designed to be bent, rolled, folded or incorporated into new technologies or products in ways that…

April 4, 2016

Scientists recommend immediate plan to combat changes to West Coast seawater chemistry

Global carbon dioxide emissions are triggering troubling changes to ocean chemistry along the West Coast that require immediate, decisive actions to combat through a coordinated regional approach, a panel of scientific experts has unanimously concluded.

Bilingual baby brains show increased activity in executive function regions

Many brain studies show that bilingual adults have more activity in areas associated with executive function, a set of mental abilities that includes problem-solving, shifting attention and other desirable cognitive traits. Now new findings reveal that this bilingualism-related difference in brain activity is evident as early as 11 months of age, just as babies are on the verge of producing their first words. “Our results suggest that before they even start talking, babies raised in bilingual households are getting practice…

Global ocean fish populations could increase while providing more food, income

Most of the world’s wild fisheries could be at healthy levels in just 10 years, and global fish populations could greatly increase by 2050 with better fishing approaches, according to a new study co-authored by 黑料吃瓜网 researchers.

March 30, 2016

Tracking ‘marine heatwaves’ since 1950 鈥� and how the ‘blob’ stacks up

A tally of Northern Hemisphere marine heatwaves since 1950 shows that prolonged warm periods have recurred regularly in the past, but are being pushed into new territory by climate change.

March 17, 2016

Galapagos lakes reveal tropical Pacific climate since Biblical times

黑料吃瓜网 oceanographers track 2,000 years of El Ni帽o history, showing that it can shift in strength for centuries at a time.

March 16, 2016

New technique tracks ‘heartbeat’ of hundreds of wetlands

黑料吃瓜网 researchers have developed a new method to track how wetlands in Eastern Washington behave seasonally, which will also help monitor how they change as the climate warms.

March 15, 2016

Medicine, nursing programs top national rankings; dozens more 黑料吃瓜网 programs highly rated

For the 22nd time in the past 23 years, the 黑料吃瓜网聽ranked as the No. 1 primary care medical school聽in the country, according to聽U.S. News & World Report鈥檚 2017 Best Graduate School rankings聽released Tuesday. The rural medicine and family medicine programs have also led the nation since those rankings began in 1992. In a new ranking this year, the 黑料吃瓜网’s doctor of nursing practice program is first among 149 programs nationwide. See聽all 黑料吃瓜网 Medicine and other health sciences graduate…

March 11, 2016

Video contest challenges students to creatively define climate change

The 黑料吃瓜网’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences is hosting its second-annual contest for undergraduate and high school students in Washington to create videos about what climate change means to them, in three minutes or less.

March 9, 2016

Darkening of Greenland ice sheet due mainly to older, melting snow

A study by the 黑料吃瓜网 and others finds that the darkening of the Greenland ice sheet is not due to an increase in wildfires, but is a side effect of a warming climate.

March 4, 2016

黑料吃瓜网 video on clingfish takes top prize at Ocean 180 competition

A 黑料吃瓜网 team won first place in a science communication video contest that culminated during the recent Ocean Sciences Meeting.

March 1, 2016

Ice cores, polar bears and whale sounds at 11th Polar Science Weekend

Investigate a real ice core from Greenland, survey microbes from the coldest parts of the world, explore an Arctic ice camp and meet with polar scientists 鈥� many of whom are from the 黑料吃瓜网. It鈥檚 all part of Polar Science Weekend, returning to Seattle’s Pacific Science Center March 4-6. The three-day event features interactive exhibits and opportunities to talk with top polar scientists who work in some of the most remote and challenging places on Earth. New this…

February 29, 2016

Life or illusion? Avoiding ‘false positives’ in the search for living worlds

New research from the 黑料吃瓜网-based Virtual Planetary Laboratory will help astronomers better identify and rule out "false positives" in the ongoing search for life. Shown is a NASA illustration of Kepler 62E about 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

New research from the 黑料吃瓜网-based Virtual Planetary Laboratory will help astronomers better identify 鈥� and thus rule out 鈥� “false positives” in the search for life beyond Earth.

February 26, 2016

2016 黑料吃瓜网 cherry blossom watch: 100 percent in bloom

Cherry trees in the Quad, March 10, 2016.

The cherry trees in the Quad at 黑料吃瓜网 will likely be in full bloom the week of March 14.

February 25, 2016

Herring fishery’s strength is in the sum of its parts, study finds

Just like a strong financial portfolio contains shares from different companies, the diverse subpopulations of herring from different bays and beaches around Puget Sound collectively keep the total population more stable, a new study finds.

February 23, 2016

For weather forecasting, precise observations matter more than butterflies

Small disturbances, like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, don’t really matter for weather forecasts. More important is boosting the accuracy of observations at larger scales.

Four 黑料吃瓜网 scientists awarded Sloan Fellowships for early-career research

Four faculty members at the 黑料吃瓜网 have been awarded early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellows, announced Feb. 23, include Bingni Brunton, assistant professor of biology; Christopher Laumann, assistant professor of physics; Matthew McQuinn, assistant professor of astronomy; and Emina Torlak, assistant professor of computer science and engineering. The 126 Sloan Fellows for 2016 were nominated by senior colleagues in their field, department or institution. Committees with the Sloan Foundation then examined each…

February 19, 2016

黑料吃瓜网 part of team that drilled first deep ice core at the South Pole

黑料吃瓜网 glaciologists helped drill the first deep ice core at the South Pole, which will provide new clues to Antarctica’s climate history.

Dangerous fishing may be endangered, new study finds

Fishermen place Sablefish pots off the coast of Half Moon Bay, California

A new study of fishing practices found that the “risky” behavior that makes fishing one of the most dangerous lines of work dropped sharply following the adoption of catch shares management in the West Coast fixed gear sablefish fishery.

February 18, 2016

Three 黑料吃瓜网 professors win Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

Three members of the 黑料吃瓜网 faculty have received the 2016 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor given by the U.S. government to early-career scientists and engineers.

February 17, 2016

NASA-funded consortium to support science education in Washington, Oregon and Montana

A new program based at the 黑料吃瓜网 will bring together educational institutions, K-12 teachers and informal education organizations to inspire, teach and recruit the next generation of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The new Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pipeline, or NESSP, has begun a $10 million,聽five-year cooperative agreement with NASA that broadens existing programs and launches new efforts throughout Washington, Oregon and Montana, with a particular focus on underserved and underrepresented communities. “The goal is…

February 12, 2016

Caught in the act: 黑料吃瓜网 astronomers find a rare supernova ‘impostor’ in a nearby galaxy

黑料吃瓜网 astronomers Breanna Binder and Ben Williams have identified a rare type of ‘supernova impostor’ in a nearby galaxy, with implications for how scientists look at the short, complex lives of massive stars.

Rare beluga data show whales dive to maximize meals

Belugas observed among West Greenland sea ice.

As the Arctic continues to change due to rising temperatures, melting sea ice and human interest in developing oil and shipping routes, it’s important to understand belugas’ baseline behavior, argue the authors of a new paper.

黑料吃瓜网 scientists create ultrathin semiconductor heterostructures for new technological applications

An illustration of the strong valley exciton interactions and transport in a 2-D semiconductor heterostructure.

黑料吃瓜网 scientists have successfully combined two different ultrathin semiconductors 鈥� each just one layer of atoms thick and roughly 100,000 times thinner than a human hair 鈥� to make a new two-dimensional heterostructure with potential uses in clean energy and optically-active electronics.

February 11, 2016

Bellingham Bay buoy an opportunity to observe marine waters for Northwest Indian College, world

Preparing to launch the new buoy, named Se鈥檒haem, in Bellingham Bay.

The Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction, through its education partner the 黑料吃瓜网, is deploying an oceanographic observing buoy in Bellingham Bay this week that will allow Northwest Indian College students both hands-on experience with the technology as well as the ability to study the data from their computers, through the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems, NANOOS.

Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einstein’s prediction

For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos.

February 8, 2016

黑料吃瓜网 biology professor is a finalist for top conservation prize

P. Dee Boersma, a 黑料吃瓜网 professor of biology and Wadsworth Endowed Chair in Conservation Science, is one of six finalists for the prestigious Indianapolis Prize for conservation. Boersma is the first 黑料吃瓜网 faculty member nominated for this prize 鈥� the highest honor for animal conservationists 鈥� which has been awarded every other year since 2006.

February 4, 2016

‘On-ramping’ paves the way for women scientists, engineers to return to academia

Pursuing scientific or engineering careers in industry, government or private research after getting a Ph.D. used to be considered a one-way ticket out of academia. But new 黑料吃瓜网 research finds numerous benefits 鈥� to students, researchers and academic institutions looking to diversify their faculty 鈥� in making that return trip easier.

February 2, 2016

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