Nov 4, 2015

Natural Hazards and Resilient Communities: Q&A with UW’s John Vidale

The UW’s John Vidale is a man of many titles—professor of Earth and Space Sciences, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, and Washington state seismologist. More recently, Vidale helped launch the university’s M9 Project, a cross-disciplinary effort whose goal is to reduce the catastrophic potential effects of a Cascadia megathrust earthquake. Earlier this year, an article in the New Yorker stirred up panic nationwide over the looming possibility of megaquake along the Cascadia Fault.

2015 UW Doris Duke Scholars Share Their Conservation Stories

Undergrads from across the country reflected on nature, conservation, social justice, and their own backgrounds at a recent Doris Duke Conservation Scholars event, bringing together a range of experiences with a singular focus: the need for inclusive conversations around the future of our planet.

Natural Hazards and Resilient Communities Lecture Recap: UW's Kate Starbird

More than ever before, people—emergency responders, media, and the public—are turning to social media to communicate important information during times of crises, both natural and manmade. Whether to articulate their own whereabouts to friends and family after a disaster has occurred or to offer up help to others in need, connected crowds are wading through noise and rumors that persist online to assist in the aftermath of tragedy.

UW's First Environmental Law Symposium takes on ocean acidification

The UW School of Law will bring together many of the world’s leading experts on ocean acidification in its first-annual Environmental Law Symposium Nov. 6. The day-long event will be held in the William H. Gates Hall on the UW campus and will include panels detailing the latest findings from scientists, current ocean acidification lawsuits and legislation, and updates on cooperative partnerships tackling this issue.

Alaskan trout choose early retirement over risky ocean-going career

Dolly Varden with mature spawning coloration in Alaska’s Newhalen River.

After making an exhausting migration from river to ocean and back to river—often multiple years in a row—one species of Alaskan trout decides to call it quits and retire from migrating once they are big enough to survive off their fat reserves. This is the first time such a “retirement” pattern has been seen in fish that make this river-to-ocean migration, according to University of Washington-led research published in July in the journal Ecology.