Protection for elephants, rhinos, sharks and trees was extended by states party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.  Read more in Scientific American, where UW’s Sam Wasser is quoted. 

The Washington state Senate on Wednesday advanced a measure championed by Gov. Jay Inslee to study the best practices for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Under the measure, an outside consultant would review both Washington state’s ongoing efforts to cut carbon emissions and similar endeavors elsewhere. It would then report back to the governor and legislative leaders.  Read the full article from The News Tribune here. 

Successful sustainability research initiatives are grounded in long-standing relationships among scientists, local communities and decision-makers, and widely accessible research data and results, shared CoEnv Dean Lisa Graumlich at last month’s AAAS meeting. She spoke as part of a panel of deans, directors, and department heads who are all interested in bringing science to bear to meet societal issues around sustainability. Read the full article from UW News here. 

Climate models that don’t portray enough clouds in the Southern Ocean have led to a persistent bias elsewhere on the planet: greater rainfall in the tropics. ATMO’s Yen-Ting Hwang and Dargan Frierson discovered this connection; read the full story from UW News here. 

A University of Washington research team has captured color photographs of what could be a previously undocumented species of chambered nautilus, a cephalopod mollusk often classified as a “living fossil,” in the waters off American Samoa in the South Pacific. Peter Ward/UW A Samoan nautilus about 2 miles offshore is seen in this photo from February 2013. At this location, the water was about 1,200 feet deep and the nautilus was at a depth of about 75 feet.