Nov 7, 2018

‘Ocean memory’ the focus of cross-disciplinary effort by UW’s Jody Deming

The vast oceans of our planet still hold many unsolved questions. Uncovering some of their mysteries has been a decades-long focus for University of Washington oceanography professor Jody Deming. This fall, Deming embarks on a very different type of ocean exploration. A $500,000 grant from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative, or NAKFI, will allow her and a group representing a wide variety of disciplines in the sciences and the arts to look at the oceans in new ways.

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Nov 2, 2018

Racial, ethnic minorities face greater vulnerability to wildfires

Firefighters respond to the Taylor Creek and Klondike fires in Oregon’s Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest in summer 2018.

Environmental disasters in the U.S. often hit minority groups the hardest. When Hurricane Katrina slammed New Orleans in 2005, the city’s black residents were disproportionately affected. Their neighborhoods were located in the low-lying, less-protected areas of the city, and many people lacked the resources to evacuate safely. Similar patterns have played out during hurricanes and tropical storms ever since. Massive wildfires, which may be getting more intense due to climate change and a long history of fire-suppression policies, also have strikingly unequal effects on minority communities, a new study shows.

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Oct 24, 2018

2018 Doug Walker Lecture with Richard Louv

Join University of Washington’s EarthLab and the College of the Environment for an evening with our 2018 Doug Walker Lecturer, Richard Louv. A journalist and the author of nine books, including “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,” The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Nature in a Virtual World” and “Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life,” Louv will discuss the central role nature plays in human health and well-being at every age and stage of life.

A dose of nature: New UW initiative to spearhead research on health benefits of time outside

Time spent in nature can reduce anxiety and help you sleep better at night, experts have found. It also offers promising benefits for a range of health issues, including cardiovascular disease, depression and obesity. But there are still many questions about how time in nature can help with these health conditions, and others. A new University of Washington initiative announced this week seeks to advance research on these questions, connecting academic researchers with pediatricians, childcare providers, mental health practitioners and others who work with various populations on critical health issues.

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Oct 23, 2018

Sockeye carcasses tossed on shore over two decades spur tree growth

UW researchers walk along Hansen Creek in 2015.

For 20 years, dozens of University of Washington researchers have walked Hansen Creek — home to one of the densest sockeye salmon runs in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region — every day during spawning season, counting live salmon and recording information about the fish that died. After counting a dead fish — an inevitability here, either after spawning or in the paws of a brown bear — researchers throw it on shore to remove the carcass and not double-count it the next day.

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