With California in its fifth year of severe drought and many western states experiencing another year of unusually dry conditions, plants are stressed. Agricultural crops, grasses and garden plants alike can get sick and die when factors such as drought and excess sun force them to work harder to survive. Now, plants can better tolerate drought and other stressors with the help of natural microbes, University of Washington research has found.
Read more at UW Today »
UW suffered a tremendous loss this month with the passing of Professor Sarah Reichard. To other faculty members, Sarah embodied what we work so hard to become. She was a scholar who relentlessly pursued scientific understanding and – as importantly – shared what she discovered with communities so they could use new knowledge to improve our world.
Read more »
Every living thing leaves a genetic trail in its wake. As animals, plants and microbes shed cells and produce waste, they drop traces of their DNA everywhere — in the air, soil and water. Researchers are now able to capture the cells of animals, sequence their DNA and identify which species were present at a point in time. Think of it as genetic fingerprints that leave a trace of past activity.
Read more at UW Today »
It’s no secret that Arctic sea ice is melting. Polar bears, the poster child for climate change, are among the animals most affected by the seasonal and year-to-year changes in Arctic sea ice, because they rely on this surface for essential activities such as hunting, traveling and breeding. A new University of Washington study, with funding and satellite data from NASA, finds a trend toward earlier sea ice melt in the spring and later ice growth in the fall across all 19 polar bear populations, which can negatively impact the feeding and breeding capabilities of the bears.
Read more at UW Today »
The gusting westerly winds that dominate the climate in central Asia, setting the pattern of dryness and location of central Asian deserts, have blown mostly unchanged for 42 million years. A University of Washington geologist led a team that has discovered a surprising resilience to one of the world’s dominant weather systems. The finding could help long-term climate forecasts, since it suggests these winds are likely to persist through radical climate shifts.
Read more at UW Today »
