The phrase, ‘Eat your vitamins,’ applies to marine animals just like humans. Many vitamins are elusive in the ocean environment. University of Washington researchers used new tools to measure and track B-12 vitamins in the ocean. Once believed to be manufactured only by marine bacteria, the new results show that a whole different class of organism, archaea, can supply this essential vitamin.
Read more »UW helps protect $30 million to $40 million in U.S. wood exports to Japan
By showing the economic benefit to Japanese saw mills, a University of Washington researcher has helped protect U.S. exports of Douglas-fir logs and lumber worth $30 million to $40 million a year. A recently introduced homebuilding subsidy program in Japan put logs and lumber imported from the U.S. and other countries at a competitive disadvantage, according to Ivan Eastin, UW professor of environmental and forest sciences.
Read more »Embarking on geoengineering, then stopping, would speed up global warming
Spraying reflective particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and then stopping it could exacerbate the problem of climate change, according to new research by atmospheric scientists at the University of Washington. Carrying out geoengineering for several decades and then stopping would cause warming at a rate that will greatly exceed that expected due to global warming, according to a study published February 18 in Environmental Research Letters.
Read more »Secretary of the Interior visits the College of the Environment
The College of the Environment hosted Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell as she toured through Washington State to discuss climate change. On the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union address, where he spoke of the need to address a changing climate, the Secretary and Dean Lisa Graumlich teamed up to convene a roundtable of scientists, policy makers, natural resource managers and communicators engaged in climate issues.
Read more »UW seismologists expand stadium monitoring for NFC championship game
The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network installed a third seismograph at CenturyLink Field this week in the wake of the Seattle Seahawks win over the New Orleans Saints last weekend that provided a trial by fire of the network’s website and new monitoring tools. Before last weekend’s game, network scientists set up two near real-time seismic monitors at CenturyLink to augment data from a third seismograph about a block away.
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