May 30, 2018

Broccoli in space: How probiotics could help grow veggies in microgravity

A new experiment will test whether microbes can help broccoli grow better in challenging conditions in space.

Astronauts at the International Space Station are spending more time away from Earth, but they still need their daily serving of vegetables. In the quest to find a viable way for crew to grow their own veggies while orbiting, student researchers are sending broccoli seeds coated with a healthy dose of probiotics to space. Six broccoli seeds are aboard the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft that launched last week from Wallops Island, Virginia, as part of a space station cargo resupply mission.

A closer look at shorelines

Friday Harbor Labs director Billie Swalla (center) spoke with class at San Juan Island's False Bay.

For some people, shorelines are places to sit and admire a sunset. For others, they are fascinating ecological or geological zones. For Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and July Hazard, shorelines are all of this and more. During the spring, Woelfle-Erskine and Hazard oversee a course that teaches undergraduate and graduate students in field writing, involving visits to tribal communities and explorations of shoreline histories and ecologies.

Read more at UW College of Arts and Sciences »

May 16, 2018

Forest loss in one part of US can harm trees on the opposite coast

This August 2016 aerial photo of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in central California shows widespread tree loss. The new study shows changes here can affect plant growth across the country.

Large swaths of U.S. forests are vulnerable to drought, forest fires and disease. Many local impacts of forest loss are well known: drier soils, stronger winds, increased erosion, and loss of shade and habitat. But if a whole forest disappears, new research shows, this has ricocheting effects in the atmosphere that can affect vegetation on the other side of the country.

Expanding field-based learning opportunities

A group of about 30 students in hiking gear pose with their professor in the snow at the top of a Cascade mountain peak

The generous support of donors like Tom Hinckley, Environmental and Forest Sciences professor emeritus, makes immersive learning in the field accessible for more UW undergraduates.

Aquatic and Fishery Sciences' Chelsea Wood receives 2018 Distinguished Teaching Award

Congratulations to UW Environment’s Chelsea Wood! The assistant professor at UW’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences was recently selected to receive the 2018 Distinguished Teaching Award. She will be honored at the UW’s Awards of Excellence ceremony on June 7, 2018, at 3:30 p.m. in Meany Hall. The UW community and general public are invited to attend. Distinguished Teaching Award recipients are chosen based on a variety of criteria, including mastery of the subject matter, enthusiasm and innovation in teaching and learning process, ability to engage students both within and outside the classroom, ability to inspire independent and original thinking in students and to stimulate students to do creative work, and innovations in course and curriculum design.