11 news posts from June 2019

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Looking for life: UW researchers, presentations abound at 2019 astrobiology conference in Bellevue

Night sky with stars

What are ocean worlds like? Is life possible inside a planet? What might a faraway technological civilization look like from here? Which planets warrant closer study, and why? And above all: Are we alone? Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe and of the terrestrial environments and planetary and stellar processes that support it. To study astrobiology is to ask questions that cut across multiple disciplines and could take lifetimes to answer. 

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Deep submersible dives shed light on rarely explored coral reefs

Mesophotic corals

Just beyond where conventional scuba divers can go is an area of the ocean that still is largely unexplored. In waters this deep — about 100 to at least 500 feet below the surface — little to no light breaks through. Researchers must rely on submersible watercraft or sophisticated diving equipment to be able to study ocean life at these depths, known as the mesophotic zone. 

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First book published on fishes of the Salish Sea

The Rosethorn Rockfish (Sebastes helvomaculatus)

The first book documenting all of the known species of fishes that live in the Salish Sea is now available. “Fishes of the Salish Sea” is a three-volume book and is the culmination of more than 40 years of research by authors Theodore W. Pietsch, curator emeritus of fishes of the Burke Museum and University of Washington professor emeritus of aquatic and fishery sciences, and James W. 

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