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Cell phones become handheld tools for global development

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:57:42 GMT

Computer scientists at the UW are using Android, the open-source mobile operating system championed by Google, to transform a cell phone into a flexible data-collection tool. Their free suite of tools, named Open Data Kit, is already used by organizations around the world that need inexpensive ways to gather information in areas with little infrastructure.

UW oceanographer is a lead scientist in largest airborne survey of polar ice

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:42 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.

Planet's nitrogen cycle overturned by 'tiny ammonia eater of the seas'

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Tiny organisms known as archaea play a central role in the planet's nitrogen cycle, according to new research. Experiments suggest archaea play a key ecological role in upper- and deep-ocean ecosystems. This could affect global climate model calculations.

Seaglider sets new underwater endurance and range records

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:32:53 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.

Fact sheet: UW receives largest-ever federal award to construct ocean observatory off the Pacific Northwest

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:50:00 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.

Washington forests may be solution to state's green-energy quest

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:03:34 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.

Scientists compile most comprehensive look at fish stocks

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:25:31 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.

Western Washington appears poised for another extremely dry summer

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:00:00 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

Earth's most prominent rainfall feature creeping northward

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:19:19 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.

Any way you slice it, warming climate is affecting Cascades snowpack

Tue, 12 May 2009 17:55:37 GMT

There has been recent disagreement about the snowpack decline in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but new research leaves little doubt that a warmer climate has a significant effect on the snowpack, even if other factors keep year-to-year measurements close to normal for a period of years.

Seaglider monitors waters from Arctic during record-breaking journey under ice

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:00:49 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.

Ice-free Arctic Ocean possible in 30 years, not 90 as previously estimated

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:00:45 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.

Humans may be losers if technological nature replaces the real thing

Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:53:54 GMT

Modern technology increasingly is encroaching into human connections with the natural world and University of Washington psychologists believe this intrusion may emerge as one of the central psychological problems of our times.

State may have brief window to slow loss of working forests to development

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:00:28 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.

DEIMOS joins MARS and its satellite of instruments on seafloor

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:00:17 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.

Tropical lizards can't take the heat of climate warming

Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:01:08 GMT

Lizards living in tropical forests could be in serious peril from rising temperatures associated with climate change. In fact, those forest lizards appear to tolerate a much narrower range of survivable temperatures than do their relatives at higher latitudes and are actually less tolerant of high temperatures.

New state climate report indicates coming decades will be challenging

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:43:00 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.

Bus left you waiting in the cold? Use your cell phone to track it down

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:35:00 GMT

Two UW graduate students have created a free tool, OneBusAway, that lets Seattle bus-riders use a cell phone, iPhone or computer to see if their bus is running late.

Some of Earth's climate troubles should face burial at sea, scientists say

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:30:00 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.

Tree death rate in Pacific Northwest doubled in 17 years

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:09:54 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.

New data show much of Antarctica is warming more than previously thought

Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

New research shows that, contrary popular belief, much of Antarctica has been warming like the rest of the world for the last 50 years.

Half of world's population could face climate-induced food crisis by 2100

Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:00:00 GMT

New research shows that rapidly warming climate is likely to seriously alter crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century and, without adaptation, will leave half the world's population facing serious food shortages.

Compostable Coca-Cola cup launched at University of Washington

Robert Roseth (roseth@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:58:42 GMT

The University of Washington is the pilot site for the first compostable paper cup designed specifically for soft drinks.

Spicing up your holidays is recipe for spicing up Puget Sound as well

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:56:24 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.

Track your fitness, environmental impact with new cell phone applications

Rachel Tompa (rtompa@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:04:00 GMT

Researchers at the University of Washington and Intel have created two new cell phone applications, dubbed UbiFit and UbiGreen, to automatically track workouts and green transportation.

New book will tell much you didn't know about Northwest weather

Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:22:47 GMT

UW atmospheric sciences professor's book explains many phenomena of Northwest weather.

Cataloguing invisible life: Microbe genome emerges from lake sediment

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:00:00 GMT

A UW-led team has taken a sample of Lake Washington mud and successfully sequenced a complete genome for an unknown microorganism. The finding suggests a way to discover microscopic life in complex communities.

New robot scouts best locations for components of undersea lab

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:07:01 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.

Scientists break record by finding northernmost hydrothermal vent field

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:50:46 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.

Toxic chemicals found in common scented laundry products, air fresheners

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

A study of top-selling laundry products and air fresheners found they emitted dozens of different chemicals, some of which are toxic or hazardous. None of the chemicals was listed on the product labels.

iRobot secures licensing agreement for UW's Seagliders

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:28:27 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.

When it comes to nitrogen, the 'fix' is in

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:00:00 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.

New college to meet growing complexity, scale of environmental threats

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:42:48 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.

Trouble in paradise: Warming a greater danger to tropical species

Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:00:00 GMT

The Arctic has become a poster child for climate change, but new UW research shows that species living in the tropics likely face the greatest peril in a warmer world.

Chalk one up for coccolithophores

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:51:22 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.

While stability far from assured, Greenland perhaps not headed down too slippery a slope

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:22:43 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.

Popcorn-ball design doubles efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:31:00 GMT

By using a popcorn-ball design - tiny kernels clumped into much larger porous spheres - engineers can more than double the efficiency of a type of solar cell at converting the sun's rays to electricity.

Engineers Without Borders-USA international conference this week in Seattle

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:11:10 GMT

More than 600 members of Engineers Without Borders-USA will gather for an annual conference Thursday through Sunday on the University of Washington's Seattle campus.

UW undergraduates scrutinize Glacier Bay, share exploits by blog

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:10:56 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 http://courses.washington.edu/ocean444/2008/

Water planners call for fundamental shift to deal with changing climate

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:28:20 GMT

The past is no longer a reliable base on which to plan the future of water management. So says a Science article written by a prominent group of hydrologists and climatologists that calls for fundamental changes to the science behind water planning and policy.

Graduate students and Native American tribes will tap forests, farms for biofuels

Hannah Hickey (hickeyh@u.washington.edu) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:24:00 GMT

A new grant funds doctoral students to work with Washington state tribes developing local sources of plant-based fuels. Possibilities range from forestry debris to paper-mill residue to waste associated with the state's wheat and apple crops.

UW launches sustainability program with national leaders in architecture

Catherine O'Donnell (cath2@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:45:33 GMT

Pending approval by the Board of Regents, Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake will hold a UW professorship in sustainability, one of the first such professorships in the U.S.

UW, 1,500 colleges and groups across nation to brainstorm climate change solutions next week

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:21:15 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

Ecologists, material scientists pursue genetics of diatom's elegant, etched casing

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:15:11 GMT

Scientists have discovered of whole subsets of genes and proteins that govern how one species of diatom builds its shell. For oceanographers, the work might one day help them understand how thousands of different kinds of diatoms - and their ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - might be affected by something like global climate change.

Washington state sea levels could rise considerably by end of century

Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:15:49 GMT

Melting glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, combined with other effects of global climate change, are likely to raise sea levels in parts of Western Washington by the end of this century.

Without its insulating ice cap, Arctic surface waters warm to as much as 5 C above average

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:30:18 GMT

Record-breaking amounts of ice-free water have deprived the Arctic of more of its natural "sunscreen" than ever in recent summers. The effect is so pronounced that sea surface temperatures rose to 5 C above average in one place this year, a high never before observed, says the Applied Physics Laboratory oceanographer who has compiled the first-ever look at average sea surface temperatures for the region.

Contrarian approach could mean more fish: Maximizing fishery profits could be new strategy for conservation

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:10:26 GMT

A new way of looking at maximizing fishery profits, published this week in Science, could lead fishers to buy into the idea of catching fewer fish than they are allowed under commonly used management guidelines. It could be a win-win for groups wanting to see depleted fish stocks rebuilt and fishers wanting to stay in business because, it turns out, conservation promotes both large fish stocks and higher profits.

UW launches cutting-edge DNA 'fin-printing' project for salmon

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:53:37 GMT

The ability of salmon to migrate extraordinary distances makes it hard at a management level to know whose fish are whose and at a biological level to unravel the mystery of their ocean migration. A $4.1 million effort just launched by the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences aims to help by gathering genetic information for thousands upon thousands of Pacific Rim salmon populations and creating open-access databases for managers, treaty-makers and scientists.

Like it or not, uncertainty and climate change go hand in hand

Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:28:10 GMT

Despite decades of more-exacting science projecting Earth's warming climate, there remains large uncertainty about just how much warming will actually occur.

Scientists ramp up ability of poplar plants to disarm toxic pollutants

Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:49:59 GMT

The most common contaminant at Superfund sites is the industrial solvent trichloroethylene. Experimental poplar plants, several inches tall and growing in a solution laced with trichloroethylene, were able break down, or metabolize, the pollutant into harmless byproducts at rates 100 times that of the control plants.