Earth and Space Sciences’ Tyler Valentine honored by Goldwater Foundation

Earth and Space Sciences' Tyler Valentine

Three University of Washington undergraduates—including Tyler Valentine, a junior in the College of the Environment’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences—are among 211 students nationwide named as 2018 Goldwater Scholars. One UW student received honorable mention. Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships are awarded to students who have “outstanding potential” and plan to pursue research careers in mathematics, natural sciences or engineering. The awards cover tuition, room and board, fees and books up to $7,500 annually for one or two years. 

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Earth’s stable temperature past suggests other planets could also sustain life

New research from the University of Washington suggests a milder youth for our planet than what has often been cited. An analysis of temperature through early Earth’s history, published the week of April 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports more moderate average temperatures throughout the billions of years when life slowly emerged on Earth. “Ideas about the early Earth’s environment are all over the place, from a very hot world, to one locked in a permanent ice age, from a world with acidic oceans to one with seawater so alkaline it would sting your eyes,” said David Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences. 

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Partnering with indigenous communities to anticipate and adapt to ocean change

Crab fishing gear sits in port at La Push after a delayed opening season.

The productive ocean off Washington state’s Olympic Coast supports an abundant web of life including kelp forests, fish, shellfish, seabirds and marine mammals. The harvest and use of these treaty-protected marine resources have been central to the local tribes’ livelihoods, food security and cultural practices for thousands of years. But ocean acidification is changing the chemistry of these waters, putting many coastal species — and the human communities that depend upon them — under threat. 

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First-ever observations of a living anglerfish, a female with her tiny mate, coupled for life

A female anglerfish known as the Fanfin Seadevil is seen alive in this video screengrab taken at about 800 meters (2,660 feet) deep in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Down deep off the south slope of São Jorge Island in the Azores, west of Portugal in the North Atlantic Ocean, a fearsome-looking fish and her parasitically attached mate drift almost helplessly, salvaging precious energy in their dark, food-scarce environment. The pair, a species never before seen alive by humans, was recorded recently on camera by researchers Kirsten and Joachim Jakobsen aboard the LULA1000, a submersible operated by the marine science-focused Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation. 

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The Seeley family follows its passion for science by giving to UW Environment

The Seeley family is building bridges between a pristine, remote atoll in French Polynesia and the University of Washington. James and Marsha Seeley, parents of UW alumni Laine, ’85, David, ’86, and Elizabeth, ’90, and grandparents to a growing number of Huskies, have led their family in supporting UW marine research at a field station on Tetiaroa. There, scientists and students from the College of the Environment can study delicate, healthy marine ecosystems and develop an understanding of conservation’s future in the face of climate change. 

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