This RSS news feed maintained by uwnews.org, the University of Washington Office of News and Information, includes the last 20 UW news releases about Biology. http://uwnews.org/apps/uwnews/public/rss.aspx?q=uwnByAuthorId&departmentID=76&numToShow=20 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 19:54:27 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ UW research devises formula to examine just what types of change occur over time among complex and integrated structures. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55191 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=55191 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:00:00 GMT Biologists for the first time have documented a second breeding season during the annual cycle of five songbird species that spend summers in temperate North America and winters in tropical Central and South America. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53093 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=53093 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:53:49 GMT It may take a village to raise a child, and apparently it takes at least two adult birds to teach a young song sparrow how and what to sing. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52899 Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=52899 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:42:18 GMT Like clockwork, brain regions in many songbird species expand and shrink seasonally in response to hormones. Now, for the first time, neurobiologists have interrupted this natural "annual remodeling" of the brain and have shown that there is a direct link between the death of old neurons and their http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51429 Health and Medicine Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=51429 Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:25:04 GMT New research shows that, at least for some insects, wings that flex and deform, something like what happens to a heavy beach towel when you snap it to get rid of the sand, are the best for staying aloft. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50656 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=50656 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:07:00 GMT In a new book, University of Washington paleontologist Peter Ward suggests that Earth is ultimately inhospitable to life, and that life itself might be the primary reason. Rather than the nurturing idea of the Gaia hypothesis, he invokes the darker Medea from Greek mythology. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49831 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=49831 Wed, 20 May 2009 16:41:36 GMT New research shows the sleep disruption associated with jet lag and shift work occurs in two separate but linked groups of neurons below the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48866 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=48866 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:00:00 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. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47732 Science Environment Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47732 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:01:08 GMT Magellanic penguins, like most other species of the flightless birds, are having their survival challenged by wide variability in conditions and food availability, a University of Washington biologist has found. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47314 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=47314 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT DNA evidence shows conclusively that males from a North American warbler species interbred with females from a related species and took over a large part of the other species' range. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=44978 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=44978 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:52:05 GMT Paleontologists have found a previously unknown amphibious predator that probably made the Antarctica of 240 million years ago something less than a hospitable place. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43565 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43565 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:01:00 GMT Rose Ann Cattolico is convinced algae can be a major source of environmentally friendly fuels for everything from lawn mowers to jet airplanes. Now an investment company that works with universities to commercialize early-stage technology invested in the University of Washington biology professor's work, forming a startup company called AXI. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43454 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43454 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:29:09 GMT New UW research shows that bugs -- both the crawling kind and ones you can only see with a microscope -- are responsible for the heat in chili peppers. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43214 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43214 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT Brown tree snakes have come to embody the bad things that can happen when invasive species show up where they have few predators. But new research suggests that indirect impacts might be even farther reaching, possibly changing tree distributions and altering already damaged ecosystems. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43191 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43191 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:00:00 GMT African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an international ban on the ivory trade took effect in 1989, but a University of Washington conservation biologist believes there is little outcry because the public seems to be unaware of the giant mammals' plight. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43057 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=43057 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:26:18 GMT Neurons in brains of one songbird species equipped with a built-in suicide program that kicks in at the end of the breeding season have been kept alive for seven days in live birds. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42744 Science Health and Medicine Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42744 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:00:22 GMT Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, penguins are sounding the alarm for potentially catastrophic changes in the world's oceans, and the culprit isn't only climate change, says a UW conservation biologist. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42685 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42685 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT For the first time paleontologists have found fossilized burrows of tetrapods -- any land vertebrates with four legs or leglike appendages -- in Antarctica dating from the Early Triassic epoch, about 245 million years ago. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42393 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42393 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:01:00 GMT Biofuels based on renewable sources are increasingly popular as a way to reduce fossil fuel dependence and limit greenhouse gas emissions, but new research shows that some of the most popular current biofuel stocks might have exactly the opposite impacts than intended. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42067 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=42067 Tue, 27 May 2008 17:39:42 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. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41551 Science Environment Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=41551 Mon, 05 May 2008 22:00:00 GMT Biologists find that sand dollar larvae created clones of themselves within 24 hours of being exposed to fish mucous, a cue that predators are near. The cloning process resulted in small new larvae and original larvae that were substantially smaller. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40466 Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=40466 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:07:34 GMT New research shows birds that inhabit urban areas can adapt to a much larger range of conditions than their rural cousins. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=36770 Science Environment Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=36770 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:54:52 GMT A remarkable change takes place in the brains of tiny songbirds every year, and some day the mechanism controlling that change may help researchers develop treatments for age-related degenerative diseases of the brain such as Parkinson's and dementia. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=36605 Health and Medicine Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=36605 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:01:00 GMT While some claim that 60 is the new 40, new research shows that 60-year-olds cannot keep up with 40-year-olds on Mount Everest, and suffer a sharply higher chance of dying if they do reach the summit. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=36048 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=36048 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:03:07 GMT UW scientists plan to attach satellite tracking devices to the backs of six penguins then trace their movements using satellites and the Internet. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=35703 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=35703 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:25:42 GMT Neuroscientists are attempting to understand if structural changes in the brain are related to sensory experience or the performance of learned behavior, and now University of Washington researchers have found evidence that one species of songbird apparently has something in common with a few baseball sluggers. Both rely on steroids, birds to increase the size of song production areas of their brain and some players, apparently, to knock a fastball out of the park. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=35452 Science Health and Medicine Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=35452 Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:01:48 GMT Penguins have been spotted periodically in the wild in the Northern Hemisphere during the last 50 years. Two biologists now conclude they probably got so far from home aboard fishing boats, not by swimming. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=34021 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=34021 Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:50:59 GMT Long before the National Security Agency began eavesdropping on the phone calls of Americans, young song sparrows were listening to and learning the tunes sung by their neighbors. The discovery that the sparrows acquire a many of their songs by eavesdropping also may have implications on how human infants learn language http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=33845 Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=33845 Tue, 29 May 2007 20:10:35 GMT UW students will show off their research at the 10th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on May 18 http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=32838 Campus Catherine O'Donnell (cath2@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=32838 Wed, 09 May 2007 19:26:30 GMT A UW biology graduate student has found the first example of an animal making sophisticated decisions about the danger posed by a predator from the information in the alarm calls of another species. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=31386 Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=31386 Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:37:32 GMT Scientists puzzling over why organisms evolved aging as a strategy have found that allowing one individual to carry all the cellular damage inflicted over time, rather than dividing it between two organisms during reproduction, increases the chances that the individual's line will reproduce for many generations to come. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=31267 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=31267 Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:57:15 GMT New research shows African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a rate unprecedented since an international convention banning ivory trade took effect in 1989. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=30951 Science Law and Policy Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=30951 Mon, 26 Feb 2007 19:20:04 GMT New research shows that in hawk moths, a four-winged insect active at low-light times of the day, an organ near the base of the antennae assists in flight control. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=30426 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=30426 Thu, 08 Feb 2007 18:19:51 GMT Researchers have discovered two genes that guide land plants to develop microscopic pores that they can open and close as if each pore was a tiny mouth. Plants wouldn't have been able to move from water to land 400 million years ago if they hadn't evolved this ability, which protects them from losing too much moisture. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=28978 Science Environment Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=28978 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:00:00 GMT New University of Washington research suggests insects' ability to adapt to warmer temperatures carries an unexpected consequence -- more insects. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=27760 Science Environment Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=27760 Mon, 30 Oct 2006 08:00:00 GMT New research suggests a gap of millions of years in the colonization of Earth's land by marine creatures might have been caused by a sharp drop in atmospheric oxygen. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=27608 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=27608 Mon, 23 Oct 2006 08:00:00 GMT Fast-warming climate appears to be triggering genetic changes in a species of fruit fly that is native to Europe and was introduced into North and South America about 25 years ago. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=26486 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=26486 Thu, 31 Aug 2006 08:00:00 GMT Based on current trends for both air and water temperatures, by 2100 the body temperatures of California mussels found along thousands of miles of coast in the northeast Pacific Ocean could increase between about 2 degrees F and 6.5 F depending on where they live. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=24863 Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=24863 Tue, 06 Jun 2006 08:00:00 GMT New research shows that in the caterpillar of the tobacco hawkmoth, tissues called imaginal discs, which give rise to structures such as the legs and eyes, form and grow despite severe starvation unless a substance called juvenile hormone is present. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=24811 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=24811 Thu, 01 Jun 2006 08:00:00 GMT New University of Washington research shows that a gene needed for development of insects that undergo complete metamorphosis also is key for the maturation of insects that have incomplete metamorphosis. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=23970 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=23970 Wed, 26 Apr 2006 08:00:00 GMT Like an armada of small rototillers, female salmon can industriously churn up entire stream beds from end to end, sometimes more than once, using just their tails. A University of Washington researcher writes in this month's BioScience journal that the silt, minerals and nutrients that are unleashed cause changes in rivers and lakes far from the nests. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=23076 Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=23076 Thu, 09 Mar 2006 08:00:00 GMT Chronic oil pollution, a long-standing problem along a 4,200-mile stretch of coast from southern Brazil to northern Argentina, is taking a toll on Magellanic penguins and other seabirds. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=22254 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=22254 Tue, 31 Jan 2006 08:00:00 GMT In a new book, a University of Washington paleontologist puts forth an expanded "tree of life," or biological classification system, to account for a variety of life forms that would not fit in the current system. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=13187 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=13187 Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:00:00 GMT UW biologists studying the physiology of the common fruit fly have discovered an organ that assesses the size of the juvenile and signals when it has reached a critical weight to begin metamorphosis into an adult. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=13019 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=13019 Mon, 24 Oct 2005 08:00:00 GMT Newly hatched magellanic penguin chicks in breeding grounds with a large number of human visitors show a significant spike in levels of a stress-related hormone compared to chicks hatched in areas not visited by humans. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=12331 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=12331 Mon, 26 Sep 2005 08:00:00 GMT Contrary to popular belief, the most serious impact of climate change in the next century likely will be in the tropics, says a group of researchers headed by a University of Washington ecologist. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=11632 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=11632 Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:00:00 GMT A signaling pathway required for plants to grow to their normal size appears to have an unexpected dual purpose of keeping the plants from wallpapering themselves with too many densely clustered stomata. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=11074 Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=11074 Thu, 07 Jul 2005 08:00:00 GMT UW researchers have devised a method that combines DNA sampling and mathematical modeling to find out how accurately patterns of methylation, a process that can control how genes are expressed, are copied during DNA replication. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=9667 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=9667 Tue, 19 Apr 2005 08:00:00 GMT It's time for researchers who study songbirds as models for understanding the human brain and how humans acquire language to begin singing a different tune and study a wider variety of species, say a pair of leading scientists. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=9153 Social Science Joel Schwarz (joels@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=9153 Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:00:00 GMT It has long been thought that cells that regenerate tissue do so by regressing to a developmentally younger state. Now two University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that cells can regenerate without becoming "younger." http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=8506 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=8506 Mon, 28 Feb 2005 08:00:00 GMT For the last three years evidence has been building that the impact of a comet or asteroid triggered the biggest mass extinction in Earth history, but new research from a team headed by a University of Washington scientist disputes that notion. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=7601 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=7601 Thu, 20 Jan 2005 08:00:00 GMT The loss of seemingly inconsequential animal species in the top 6 inches or so of mud and sediment on the floors of the world's oceans is giving scientists a look ahead at the consequences of the steady decline of the Earth's biodiversity, according to assistant professor of biology Jennifer Ruesink. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=6509 Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=6509 Tue, 16 Nov 2004 08:00:00 GMT James R. Karr, who helped define the characteristics of healthy waterways and developed a system for documenting aquatic well being, has received the top fishery conservation award from the American Fisheries Society, the nation's oldest and largest professional organization representing fisheries scientists. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=6454 Science Sandra Hines (shines@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=6454 Mon, 15 Nov 2004 08:00:00 GMT Substantially more men than women favor routine paternity testing when a baby is born, but researchers are surprised the percentage of men favoring such testing wasn't higher. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5645 Science Health and Medicine Social Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5645 Tue, 28 Sep 2004 08:00:00 GMT Despite a long-standing international ban on ivory trade, African elephants continue to be killed in large numbers. Now a team headed by a University of Washington biologist has devised a new means of determining the geographic origin of ivory that could help slow elephant poaching. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5636 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5636 Mon, 27 Sep 2004 08:00:00 GMT A songbird species known as the Townsend's warbler has been steadily displacing its more timid sister species, the hermit warbler, from Western forests for thousands of years. New research suggests substantially higher androgen levels is the reason. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5364 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5364 Tue, 24 Aug 2004 08:00:00 GMT Hospital patients increasingly face tenacious bacterial infections because microbes acquire resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics. A new study shows a recent strategy designed to slow antibiotic resistance -- alternating the most commonly used antibiotics in hospitals -- probably won't work. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5268 Science Health and Medicine Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=5268 Mon, 09 Aug 2004 08:00:00 GMT New research led by a University of Washington biologist shows there are at least two circadian clocks in the mammal brain, one that sticks strictly to an internal schedule and another that can be altered by external influences such as light and dark. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=4312 Science Health and Medicine Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=4312 Wed, 12 May 2004 08:00:00 GMT New UW research shows Magellanic penguin eggs come with extra-thick shells to withstand being laid on hard surfaces and survive being kicked around during penguin fights. http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=4281 Science Vince Stricherz (vinces@u.washington.edu) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleid=4281 Mon, 10 May 2004 08:00:00 GMT