Piranha fish swap old teeth for new simultaneously

Piranha fish have a powerful bite. Their teeth help them shred through the flesh of their prey or even scrape plants off rocks to supplement their diet. Years ago, scientists discovered that piranhas lose all of the teeth on one side of their mouth at once and regrow them, presumably to replace dulled teeth with brand new sharp spears for gnawing on prey.

Fishing for the triple bottom line: profit, planet — and people

Fisheries managers typically strive to strike a delicate balance between two, often competing, types of needs: the needs for fishermen’s profits and the needs for the planet. But in 1994, entrepreneur John Elkington posited that true sustainability requires consideration of a third “P” — the needs of the people. In making this argument, he coined the term “the triple bottom line.”

A new Blob (aka marine heat wave) along our coast? See what Nick Bond has to say about it

In the fall of 2014, Nick Bond—research scientist at JISAO and Washington State’s Climatologist—dubbed a patch of unusually warm water off the North American coast ‘The Blob’. The warmer temperatures went on to wreak havoc in marine environments over the following year. Now, another slug of warm water has appeared, this time stretching all the way to Hawaii. We sat down with Bond to talk about this new Blob—which is an anomaly in the ocean more commonly referred to as a marine heat wave—and what we might expect.

Maria Blancas wins $100,000 Bullitt prize

The Bullitt Foundation announced School of Environmental and Forest Sciences PhD student Maria Blancas as the winner of the 13th annual Bullitt Environmental Prize, which recognizes young people from varied backgrounds who have overcome adversity and demonstrated the ability to become powerful environmental leaders. The goal of the program is to help broaden and diversify the leadership of the global environmental movement.

Inspired by Northern clingfish, researchers make a better suction cup

The finger-sized Northern clingfish employs one of the best suction cups in the world. A small disk on its belly can attach to wet, slimy, even rough surfaces and hold up to 230 times its own body weight. A University of Washington team inspired by the clingfish’s suction power set out to develop an artificial suction cup that borrows from nature’s design.