This RSS news feed maintained by uwnews.org, the University of Washington Office of News and Information, includes the last 40 by Sandra Hines(shines@u.washington.edu). http://uwnews.org/apps/uwnews/public/rss.aspx?q=uwnByAuthorId&authorID=78&numToShow=40 http://uwnews.org/images/uwnewslogo_small.jpg http://uwnews.org/ uwnews.org, the University of Washington Office of News and Information (c)2010 University of Washington News and Information | http://uwnews.org | uwnews@u.washington.edu | 206-543-2580 Bob Roseth | roseth@u.washington.edu Ken Fine | kenfine@u.washington.edu Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:26:20 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ On the marine microbial stage, there appears to be a vast, varied group of understudies only too ready to step in when "star" microbes falter. Work led by the University of Washington provides the first evidence that microorganisms can be rare for long periods before completely turning the tables to become dominant when ecosystems change. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54801 Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54801 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:47:28 GMT When scientists confirmed in October that they had detected the first rocky planet outside our solar system, it advanced the longtime quest to find an Earth-like planet hospitable to life. The rocky planet CoRoT-7 b is, however, a forbidding place. If its orbit is not almost perfectly circular, then the planet might be undergoing continuous, fierce volcanic eruptions, according to information presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54644 Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54644 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:15:12 GMT For the first time scientists have seen molten lava flowing from a deep-ocean seafloor volcano, exploding into 35-foot-long streams of red and gold and rising as bubbles as much as 3 feet across. Volcanic rocks, especially pillow basalts, are one of the most common rock forms on Earth, and yet no one has ever seen them forming in the deep ocean before. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54413 Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54413 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:45:49 GMT A Web tool that generates color maps of projected temperature and precipitation changes using 16 of the world's most prominent climate-change models is being demonstrated in Copenhagen, Denmark, in conjunction with the climate summit underway there. It also is the subject of a presentation Tuesday, Dec. 15, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54383 Environment Technology Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54383 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:17:03 GMT Someone apparently wanting a free Christmas tree cut down one of the rarest conifers in the Washington Park Arboretum, a part of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. It's estimated that the tree, a keteleeria, was worth more than $10,000. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54276 Campus Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=54276 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:11:00 GMT The new Husky Advantage will allow some students to complete certain bachelor's degree programs in just three years. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53215 Community Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53215 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:50:26 GMT During the next six years Operation Ice Bridge will use aircraft to conduct what NASA says is the largest airborne survey ever made of ice at the Earth's polar regions. Flights over Antarctica, with University of Washington oceanographer Seelye Martin as chief scientist, start Oct. 15. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52616 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52616 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:00:42 GMT A University of Washington Seaglider operated for 9 months and 5 days in the Pacific Ocean, an endurance record more than double what any other autonomous underwater vehicle has accomplished on a single mission. During that time it propelled itself a distance equivalent to crossing the Atlantic Ocean from New England to Europe, without periods of drifting with currents and while continually diving to collect data. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51901 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51901 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:32:53 GMT The University of Washington is slated to receive approximately $126 million -- of which $35 million is stimulus money -- to begin installing nearly 500 miles of fiber-optic and power cable and seven science nodes on the seafloor off the Pacific Northwest. The cabled observatory will give scientists new ways to study the processes that influence global climate, store human-generated fossil fuel carbon, cause ocean acidification, support major fish stocks and threaten coastlines with storms and tsunamis. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51819 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51819 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:50:00 GMT Wood is a popular fuel for heating homes in the Northwest but few people might see it as an important source of liquid fuels for motor vehicles. However, a new University of Washington report commissioned by the Washington Legislature suggests that woody biomass could represent the state's greatest opportunity to develop biofuels and reduce both green house gas emissions and dependency upon imported oil. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51640 Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51640 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:03:34 GMT Twenty one fisheries management researchers and marine ecologists - many of whom have been at odds with each other in the past over the state of the world's fisheries - have collaborated on a groundbreaking paper that puts forth a common way to look at fish abundance and exploitation. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51229 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51229 Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:25:31 GMT If you feel as if Western Washington has had an unusually dry start to the summer this year, you're not mistaken. The extended dry spell from May 20 to July 4 this year in most of Western Washington means the region has already been drier than the period May 20 to July 4 of what turned out to be the driest summer on record http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50829 Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50829 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:00:00 GMT The rain band near the equator that determines the supply of freshwater to nearly a billion people throughout the tropics and subtropics has been creeping north for more than 300 years. If the band continues to migrate at just less than a mile a year, which is the average for all the years it has been moving north, then some Pacific islands near the equator may be starved of freshwater by midcentury or sooner. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50686 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50686 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:19:19 GMT The University of Washington has surpassed its 2-year-old world record for operating a glider under the ice, this time by successfully operating one of its seagliders for six months as it made round trips hundreds of miles in length under the ice at Davis Strait. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49154 Science Environment Technology Dena Headlee (703-292-7739) and Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) and Peter West (703-292-7761) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49154 Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:00:49 GMT A nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summer may happen three times sooner than scientists have estimated. New research says the Artic might lose most of its ice cover in summer in as few as 30 years instead of the end of the century. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48419 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48419 Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:00:45 GMT Today's slumping economy and housing market may reduce, temporarily, the insistent economic forces on Washington's private forestland owners to give up the cycle of harvesting and replanting trees in favor of converting the land to other uses, such as lots for houses. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48146 Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48146 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:00:28 GMT The planet Mars has a moon named Deimos, so it seems only appropriate that the ocean observatory MARS in Monterey Bay have its own DEIMOS. This DEIMOS, however, is an underwater acoustic package designed to monitor movements of fish and zooplankton. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48087 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48087 Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:00:17 GMT "Psychedelica" seems the perfect name for a fish that is a wild swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes and behaves in ways contrary to its brethren, including bouncing like a ball along the seafloor instead of swimming. The fish, which has rare forward-facing eyes like humans, also has a secretive nature. That could be the reason they weren't spotted by divers until just last year nor described in the scientific literature until now. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47496 Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47496 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:00:30 GMT The most detailed report ever on how climate change could affect Washington paints a stark picture, but it should help the state avoid being surprised by climate-related changes coming down the road. The assessment is being released today, Feb. 11, to the state's Department of Ecology and the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47174 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47174 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:43:00 GMT Making bales with 30 percent of global crop residues - the stalks and such left after harvesting - and then sinking the bales into the deep ocean could reduce the build up of global carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by up to 15 percent a year, according to just published calculations. That is a significant amount of carbon, the process can be accomplished with existing technology and it can be done year after year, according to a University of Washington researcher. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=46723 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=46723 Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:30:00 GMT Trees are dying twice as fast as they did three decades ago in older forests of the western United States and scientists suspect warming temperatures are a contributing factor. In the Pacific Northwest and southern British Columbia, the rate of tree death in older coniferous forests doubled in 17 years. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=46597 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=46597 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:09:54 GMT One of the moons in our solar system that scientists think has the potential to harbor life may have a far more dynamic ocean than previously thought. If the moon Europa is tilted on its axis even slightly as it orbits the giant planet Jupiter, then Jupiter's gravitational pull could be creating powerful waves in Europa's ocean, according to an oceanographer with the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=45923 Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=45923 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:12:07 GMT 'Tis the season and the waters of Puget Sound are "flush" with holiday spices and flavorings. Individuals and water managers are concerned about the antibiotics, painkillers, hormones and other substances that are swallowed, pass through us and become part of the treated sewage water that flows into Puget Sound. Measuring flavorings is a benign way of learning how substances may circulate, concentrate or dissipate in the Sound. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=45632 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=45632 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:56:24 GMT Undergraduate students returned to the University of Washington this fall in numbers well above what was expected, resulting in the Seattle campus having about 1,100 students more than predicted and authorized under the state budget for the UW. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=45346 Campus Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=45346 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:12:51 GMT A report on the log truck industry just delivered to the state legislature indicates that the number of traffic accidents involving log trucks declined 11 percent while collisions for all commercial trucks increased by 15 percent in Washington between 2004 and 2006. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43951 Business Kathy Barnard ((509) 335-2806) and Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43951 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:48:42 GMT Like a deep-sea bloodhound, Sentry - the newest in an elite group of unmanned submersibles able to operate on their own in demanding and rugged environments - has helped scientists pinpoint optimal locations for two observation sites of a pioneering seafloor laboratory being planned off Washington and Oregon. Successful selection of the two sites is a crucial step in developing an extensive sensor network above and below the seafloor on the Juan de Fuca Plate. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43224 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43224 Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:07:01 GMT In time for the start of the Olympics, a kind of academic Olympics has been conducted by one of China's largest universities and the results show University of Washington ranked 16th among 500 universities around the world. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43199 Campus Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43199 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:44:46 GMT Inside the Arctic Circle, scientists have found black smoker vents farther north than anyone has ever seen before. Dissolved sulfide minerals that solidify when vent water hits the icy cold of the deep sea have, over the years, accumulated around the vents in what is one of the most massive hydrothermal sulfide deposits ever found on the seafloor. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42993 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42993 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:50:46 GMT A veteran executive of Seattle's high-tech community has been named to lead UW TechTransfer, the unit that commercializes the results of University of Washington research. Linden Rhoads, who has held senior management positions in Seattle-area companies for 20 years, becomes UW's vice provost for technology transfer Aug. 14. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42517 Campus Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42517 Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:34:42 GMT The University of Washington Board of Regents yesterday approved the creation of a College of the Environment, a unit with the potential to be one of the nation's largest programs focused on environmental science, policy and management. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42460 Campus Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42460 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:45:19 GMT University of Washington record-holding, ocean-observing robots that operate at sea for months at a time -- traveling thousands of miles at the behest of operators on land directing activities via a satellite phone network -- will be commercially produced by iRobot under a licensing agreement announced this week. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42437 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42437 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:28:27 GMT The discovery in the last decade of new suites of microorganisms capable of using various forms of nitrogen -- discoveries that have involved a number of University of Washington researchers -- is one reason to rethink what we know about the nitrogen cycle. So says University of Washington's Claire Horner-Devine, assistant professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, in a recent Science magazine opinion piece. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42407 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42407 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT The University of Washington Board of Regents today received a preliminary blueprint for a new college that will position the UW to be the leader in environmental research and education, and to better resolve complex regional, national and international environmental challenges, according to Provost Phyllis Wise. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41779 Campus Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41779 Thu, 15 May 2008 23:42:48 GMT Scientists have feared that gradual acidification of the world's oceans would wreak havoc with organisms that build protective outer shells. But a new finding shows at least three species of coccolithophores - single-celled algae that are major players in the ocean's cycling of carbon - are responding to ocean acidification by building thicker cell walls and plates of chalk, contrary to what some recent lab experiments have shown. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41364 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41364 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:51:22 GMT In a pair of companion papers in Science Express this week, scientists investigate the role of surface meltwater on accelerating the flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet and outlet glaciers and conclude that, while surface melt plays a substantial role in ice sheet dynamics, it may not produce large instabilities. For one thing, it turns out that this meltwater has a much more subdued influence than had been thought on the fast-moving outlet glaciers that rapidly discharge ice to the ocean. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41159 Science Environment Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41159 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:22:43 GMT A fish that would rather crawl into crevices than swim, and that may be able to see in the same way that humans do, could represent an entirely unknown family of fishes, says a University of Washington fish expert. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40737 Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40737 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:43:45 GMT Quincy Jones, a distinguished musician, composer, producer, arranger and conductor for more than six decades, will be the University of Washington commencement speaker June 14 in Husky Stadium. Jones, who was raised in Seattle, also will receive an honorary doctorate from the UW. The awarding of this degree was approved today by the board of regents. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40565 Campus Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40565 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:55:04 GMT Twenty-one University of Washington seniors and their professors will sail from Seattle Saturday on the UW's research vessel the Thomas G. Thompson to Glacier Bay. Once there they will embark on an intense four-day research cruise in the bay. Students, teachers and members of the general public are invited to follow the expedition online at <a href=http://courses.washington.edu/ocean444/2008/>http://courses.washington.edu/ocean444/2008/</a> http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40468 Environment Science Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40468 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 23:10:56 GMT Hydrocarbons -- molecules critical to life -- are being generated by the simple interaction of seawater with the rocks under the Lost City hydrothermal vent field in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. Being able to produce building blocks of life makes Lost City-like vents even stronger contenders as places where life might have originated on Earth. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=39478 Science Michael Carlowicz (508-289-3771) and Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=39478 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:33:38 GMT Focus the Nation, a national teach-in next week on global warming solutions for America, involves the University of Washington and more than 1,500 other institutions across the nation - mainly colleges and universities. UW events Jan. 31 include a day-long program and a community/campus town hall meeting, for which more than 450 persons have already signed up http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=39296 Environment Education Campus Sandra Hines (206-543-2580) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=39296 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:21:15 GMT