When a massive wildfire tears through a landscape, what happens to the animals? While many animals have adapted to live with wildfires of the past — which were smaller, more frequent and kept ecosystems in balance across the West — it’s unclear to scientists how animals are coping with today’s unprecedented megafires. More than a century of fire suppression coupled with climate change has produced wildfires that are now bigger and more severe than before.
Read more at UW News »ShakeAlert helps students learn to Drop, Cover and Hold On
On October 21, thousands of students, teachers and staff in the Stanwood Camano School District and beyond “Dropped, Covered and Held On” at exactly 10:21 a.m., emulating the synchronicity of a well-rehearsed dive team. The Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill, held around the globe annually and supported locally by the University of Washington’s Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), is a coordinated effort to practice what to do in the event of an actual earthquake.
Read more »Glowing fish teeth answer questions about tooth replacement rates
One of the facts of life for humans is the replacement of baby teeth with permanent adult teeth. Whether pulled out prematurely, wiggled loose by eager hands or naturally falling out unexpectedly, this occasion marks an important milestone in the maturation process that is shared amongst all vertebrates in some form. Imagine, though, losing and replacing a tooth every single day.
Read more »2021 Doug Walker Lecture with Paulette Jordan and Sally Jewell
Human wellbeing and the health of our environment are inseparable. Indigenous Peoples have long recognized that nature has inherent and inalienable rights and have actively integrated that philosophy into their stewardship. Understanding our symbiotic relationship with the environment can help inform inclusive, actionable steps towards health and healing. Brought to you by the University of Washington’s College of the Environment, this live discussion featured: Paulette Jordan, founder and chairwoman of Save the American Salmon and proud member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Sally Jewell, former Secretary of the Interior Watch the recording of the 2021 Doug Walker lecture below.
Read more »NSF project aims to bridge the gap between observational and modeling seismology
Answering the biggest questions about the Earth’s seismic activity requires two branches of seismology to connect their data in a new way: the observational community’s use of cloud computing for big data analytics and processing of measurements from earthquakes; and the modeling community’s use of High-Performance Computing (HPC) to predict, or model, the seismic waves produced by strong shaking and its impact.
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