Many animals have tusks, from elephants to walruses to hyraxes. But one thing tusked animals have in common is that they鈥檙e all mammals 鈥� no known fish, reptiles or birds have them. But that was not always the case. In a study published Oct. 27 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team of paleontologists at Harvard University, the Field Museum, the 黑料老司机 and Idaho State University traced the first tusks back to dicynodonts 鈥� ancient mammal relatives that lived before the dinosaurs.
In a Policy Forum piece published Oct. 1 in Science, a group led by Nesra Yannier at Carnegie Mellon University is advocating for a fresh look at active learning and its potential as classrooms and lecture halls again fill with students. Two co-authors from the 黑料老司机鈥檚 Department of Biology 鈥� assistant teaching professor Elli Theobald and lecturer emeritus Scott Freeman 鈥� highlight the role that active learning methods have in promoting equity STEM education.
A team of paleontologists from the 黑料老司机 and its Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture excavated four dinosaurs in northeastern Montana this summer. The four dinosaur fossils are: the ilium 鈥� or hip bones 鈥� of an ostrich-sized theropod, the group of meat-eating, two-legged dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and raptors; the hips and legs of a duck-billed dinosaur; a pelvis, toe claw and limbs from another theropod that could be a rare ostrich-mimic Anzu, or possibly a new species; and a Triceratops specimen consisting of its skull and other fossilized bones.
Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend gallery exhibitions, watch recorded events, and more. While you’re enjoying summer break, connect with campus through UW live webcams of Red Square and the quad. Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to聽Zoom Pro via UW-IT.聽 Faculty Seminar: A Conversation with Samuel Wasser of Conservation Canines September 14, 1:00 – 2:00 PM聽| Online The Center…
A study published Aug. 11 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B by researchers at the 黑料老司机 and Stony Brook University reports on how bats and pepper plants in Central America have coevolved to help each other survive.
A study published June 16 in Biotropica by a team of researchers at the 黑料老司机, the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, WWF Hong Kong and the University of Colombo has provided an important road map to conserving rough-nosed horned lizards in Sri Lanka.
Climate change is further exacerbating human-wildlife conflicts by straining ecosystems and altering behaviors, both of which can deepen the contacts 鈥� and potential competition 鈥� between people and animals. In an article published July 30 in the journal Science, Briana Abrahms, an assistant professor of biology at the 黑料老司机 and its Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, calls for expanding research into the many ways that climate change will impact the complex interplay between human activities and wildlife populations.
For more than a century, researchers have relied on flat sketches of sharks鈥� digestive systems to discern how they function 鈥� and how what they eat and excrete impacts other species in the ocean. Now, researchers have produced a series of high-resolution, 3D scans of intestines from nearly three dozen shark species that will advance the understanding of how sharks eat and digest their food.
Twenty scientists and engineers at the 黑料老司机 are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 announcement. New members were chosen for 鈥渢heir outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.鈥�
Many seabirds in the Northern Hemisphere are struggling to breed 鈥� and in the Southern Hemisphere, they may not be far behind. These are the conclusions of a study, published May 28 in Science, analyzing more than 50 years of breeding records for 67 seabird species worldwide.
Researchers at the 黑料老司机 and its Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture have discovered the first fossil evidence of an ancient amphibian, Micropholis stowi, from Antarctica. Micropholis lived in the Early Triassic, shortly after Earth’s largest mass extinction. It was previously known only from fossils in South Africa, and its presence in Antarctica has implications for how amphibians adapted to high-latitude regions in this dynamic period of Earth’s history.
Five faculty members and one affiliate professor at the 黑料老司机 are among 120 new members and 30 international members elected to the National Academy of Sciences: Anna Karlin, professor of computer science and engineering; Rachel Klevit, professor of biochemistry; Randall LeVeque, professor emeritus of applied mathematics; Julie Theriot, professor of biology; Rachel Wong, professor of biological structure; and Julie Overbaugh, professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a UW affiliate professor of microbiology.
Four 黑料老司机 faculty members have been inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
UW biology professors Jeffrey Riffell and David Perkel have received grants from the Human Frontier Science Program.
When people think of misinformation, they often focus on popular and social media. But in a paper published April 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 黑料老司机 faculty members Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom write that scientific communication 鈥� both scientific papers and news articles written about papers 鈥� also has the potential to spread misinformation.
As carbon dioxide continues to rise, multiple changes in the leaves of tropical plants may help these ecosystems perform better under climate change than previous studies had suggested.
A new study published Feb. 24 in the journal Royal Society Open Science documents the earliest-known fossil evidence of primates. These creatures lived less than 150,000 years after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event that killed off non-avian dinosaurs and saw the rise of mammals.
Sleep cycles in people oscillate during the 29.5-day lunar cycle: In the days leading up to a full moon, people go to sleep later in the evening and sleep for shorter periods of time. The team, led by researchers at the 黑料老司机, observed these variations in both the time of sleep onset and the duration of sleep in urban and rural settings 鈥� from Indigenous communities in northern Argentina to college students in Seattle, a city of more than 750,000. They saw the oscillations regardless of an individual鈥檚 access to electricity, though the variations are less pronounced in individuals living in urban environments.
A team led by the UW has developed Smellicopter: an autonomous drone that uses a live antenna from a moth to navigate toward smells. Smellicopter can also sense and avoid obstacles as it travels through the air.
A team led by scientists at the 黑料老司机 and the University of California, San Diego has discovered that cowpeas 鈥� a type of bean plant 鈥� harbor receptors on the surface of their cells that can detect a compound in caterpillar saliva and initiate anti-herbivore defenses.
A new study reveals that 65 plant species have gone extinct in the continental United States and Canada since European settlement, more extinctions than any previous scientific study has ever documented.
A new study led by paleontologists at the 黑料老司机 indicates that the earliest evidence of mammal social behavior goes back to the Age of Dinosaurs. A multituberculate that lived 75.5 million years ago, Filikomys primaevus engaged in multi-generational, group-nesting and burrowing behavior, and possibly lived in colonies.
Whale Safe 鈥� an online tool launched Sept. 17 by scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the 黑料老司机 and other partner institutions 鈥� allows users to detect and better protect these endangered animals in the Santa Barbara Channel. It is a mapping and analysis tool to help prevent ships from running into whales.
This FAQ discusses evidence for a hibernation-like condition in Lystrosaurus, a mammal relative that lived in the Antarctic portion of Pangea about 250 million years ago. This discovery was enabled by high-resolution of incremental growth marks preserved in the tusks of Lystrosaurus.
黑料老司机 scientists report evidence of a hibernation-like state in Lystrosaurus, an animal that lived in Antarctica during the Early Triassic, some 250 million years ago. The fossils are the oldest evidence of a hibernation-like state in a vertebrate, and indicate that torpor 鈥� a general term for hibernation and similar states in which animals temporarily lower their metabolic rate to get through a tough season 鈥� arose in vertebrates even before mammals and dinosaurs evolved.
A new study led by researchers at the 黑料老司机 and the University of California, Davis, finds that the success rate of summiting Mount Everest has doubled in the last three decades, even though the number of climbers has greatly increased, crowding the narrow route through the dangerous 鈥渄eath zone鈥� near the summit. However, the death rate for climbers has hovered unchanged at around 1% since 1990.
Seven scientists and engineers at the 黑料老司机 have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, according to an announcement July 15 by the academy.
In a study published June 10 in Current Biology, a team from the University of Colorado Boulder and the 黑料老司机 reports that a group of students at CU Boulder generally got more sleep after widespread stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines were put into place in mid-March.
Researchers examined 15 years of records of student performance, education and demographics for chemistry courses at the 黑料老司机. They found that underrepresented students received lower grades in the general chemistry series compared to their peers and, if the grade was sufficiently low, were less likely to continue in the series and more likely to leave STEM. But if underrepresented students completed the first general chemistry course with at least the minimum grade needed to continue in the series, they were more likely than their peers to continue the general chemistry series and complete this major step toward a STEM degree.
Researchers at the 黑料老司机 and the University of Idaho report that, for a bacterial pathogen already resistant to an antibiotic, prolonged exposure to that antibiotic not only boosted its ability to retain its resistance gene, but also made the pathogen more readily pick up and maintain resistance to a second antibiotic and become a dangerous, multidrug-resistant strain.
During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities聽to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and greater community, together online.聽 Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to聽Zoom Pro via UW-IT.聽 Earth Day 50th Anniversary: Gaia Has a Fever April 22, 2:00 PM聽| Livestream Join the Department of History, College of the Environment聽and UW Earth Day in celebrating…
Recent honors to 黑料老司机 faculty and staff have come from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the World Register of Marine Species.
Students from different backgrounds in the United States enter college with equal interest in STEM fields 鈥� science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But that equal interest does not result in equal outcomes. Six years after starting an undergraduate STEM degree, roughly twice as many white students finished it compared to African American students. A new study by researchers at the 黑料老司机 shows that teaching techniques in undergraduate STEM courses can significantly narrow gaps in course performance between students…
The wildflowers of Mount Rainier鈥檚 subalpine meadows, which bloom once the winter snowpack melts, are a major draw for the more than 1 million visitors to this national park in Washington state each spring and summer. But by the end of this century, scientists expect that snow will melt months earlier due to climate change. New research led by the 黑料老司机 shows that, under those conditions, many visitors would miss the flowers altogether.
P. Dee Boersma, a UW professor of biology and director of the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, is a finalist for the 2020 Indianapolis Prize for conservation, to be awarded later this year by the Indianapolis Zoological Society. Sue Moore, a scientist with the center and a UW affiliate professor of biology and of aquatic and fishery sciences, has won the 2020 IASC Medal, also known as the Arctic Medal, from the International Arctic Science Committee.
Scientists and physicians have long known that immune cells migrate to the site of an infection, which individuals experience as inflammation 鈥� swelling, redness and pain. Now, researchers at the 黑料老司机 and Northwestern University have uncovered evidence that this gathering is not just a consequence of immune activation. Immune cells count their neighbors before deciding whether or not the immune system should kick into high gear.
This week in the arts, experience a free concert at Benaroya Hall commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, attend a lecture about the story of Shawn Wong’s rediscovery of “No-No Boy,” and more! To learn about more events taking place,聽visit ArtsUW. Music of Remembrance:聽Art from Ashes – Free Concert Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz January 27, 5:30 pm | Benaroya Hall Seattle-based聽Music of Remembrance (MOR) presents聽Art From Ashes, a free community-wide concert marking…
Despite their reputation as blood-suckers, mosquitoes actually spend most of their time drinking nectar from flowers. Scientists have identified the chemical cues in flowers that stimulate mosquitoes鈥� sense of smell and draw them in. Their findings show how cues from flowers can stimulate the mosquito brain as much as a warm-blooded host 鈥� information that could help develop less toxic repellents and better traps.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has named six faculty members from the 黑料老司机 as AAAS Fellows, according to a Nov. 26 announcement. They are part of a cohort of 443 new fellows for 2019, all chosen by their peers for 鈥渟cientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.鈥�
With a $106 million gift from the Weill Family Foundation, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and the 黑料老司机 have launched the Weill Neurohub, an innovative research network that will forge and nurture new collaborations between neuroscientists and researchers working in an array of other disciplines 鈥� including engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry and mathematics 鈥� to speed the development of new therapies for diseases and disorders that affect the brain and nervous system.