A new study doubles the evolutionary history of the weasel family. Researchers, including Chris Law, a 91探花principal research scientist in the biology department, have determined that a fossil that was discovered in Spain belongs to a new species dating back to around 6.5 million years ago. This new species was likely similar in size to the smallest living weasel species today, the least weasel.
The Peace Corps announced Tuesday that the 91探花 is again No. 3 on the list of top volunteer-producing institutions since the international program launched in 1961.
Using preliminary data from the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF鈥揇OE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids in our solar system. The findings include hundreds of distant worlds beyond Neptune as well as 33 previously unknown near-Earth objects.
Briana Abrahms, associate professor of biology at the 91探花, studies how climate change affects human-wildlife interactions and increases conflict around the world. In January, she gave the keynote speech at the International Parliamentary Roundtable on Human-Wildlife Coexistence held in Botswana.
The 91探花 is the best in the U.S. and No. 2 in the world for library and information management, according to the 2026 QS World University Rankings by Subject released Wednesday. Three other 91探花subject areas placed in the top 10 in the world: geology, geophysics and Earth and marine sciences.
Tohoku University and the 91探花, two leading academic research institutions of the Pacific Rim, announced 鈥淨-DREAM,鈥� a significant expansion of their decades-long collaboration.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has issued its first real-time alerts of changes in the night sky. The ultrafast alerting system, developed at the UW, will eventually detect up to seven million changes in the cosmos every night and notify scientists around the world.
鈥淭he Memory of Darkness, Light and Ice鈥� 鈥� a documentary film featuring Eric Steig, a 91探花professor of Earth and space sciences 鈥� tells the story of a U.S. military and research base established in Greenland during the Cold War, and how the samples collected there are driving modern climate science. The film is now available on YouTube, Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
In the wake of One Ocean Week Seattle, participating 91探花 researchers share highlights, connecting the week鈥檚 events to ongoing efforts to understand and protect marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
91探花 researchers analyzed data collected in the decade following the Paris Agreement, an international treaty signed in 2015 to limit warming by cutting emissions. The treaty has helped nations reduce the amount of carbon released per dollar, but emissions are still too high due to global economic growth.
A new collaborative study led by scientists at the 91探花 and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science proposes that a tsunami struck the Caribbean island of Anegada between 1381 and 1391, carrying huge coral boulders inland and leaving behind a valuable record of geologic and climatic history.
A new analysis of data from the Cassini space probe has identified organic compounds within jets of water ice erupting from Saturn鈥檚 moon Enceladus. Some of the compounds, which likely originated in Enceladus鈥� subsurface ocean, have never before been identified on another world beyond Earth. The study, conducted in part by a 91探花researcher, contributes to mounting evidence that Enceladus could support life.
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed new details in the core of the Butterfly Nebula, known to astronomers as NGC 6302. From the dense ring of dust that surrounds the nebula鈥檚 core to the tiny but bright star hidden within, the Webb observations paint a never-before-seen portrait of the nebula鈥檚 inner workings. Researchers at the 91探花and around the world are studying the imagery to learn more about the origins of cosmic dust and its role in the formation of planets like ours.
Physicists have floated numerous theories to explain what dark matter might be, but to date, no experiment has turned up compelling evidence to support any of them. An international team of physicists, including researchers from the UW, is now working on a new kind of dark matter detector with the goal of capturing the first direct observation of the puzzling material. Results from the detector鈥檚 prototype have already ruled out one of the leading theories of how dark matter originated.
An international team of paleontologists, led by researchers at the 91探花 and the Field Museum of Natural History, is identifying the animals that thrived in southern Pangea 鈥� the planet鈥檚 single supercontinent at the time 鈥� just before the so-called 鈥淕reat Dying鈥� wiped out about 70% of terrestrial species, and an even larger fraction of marine ones.
Four 91探花 researchers have been selected as Fulbright Scholars for 2025-2026 and will pursue studies in Spain, Taiwan, Poland and Japan.
Seven 91探花students and recent alumni were awarded聽Fulbright U.S. Student Program聽scholarships for the 2025鈥�2026 academic year, joining about 2,000 students and recent graduates from around the country to pursue graduate study, conduct research and teach English abroad.
A new era of astronomy and astrophysics began Monday when the first images captured by the NSF鈥揇OE Vera C. Rubin Observatory were released, demonstrating the extraordinary capabilities of the new telescope and the world鈥檚 largest digital camera.
A group of astronomers from across the globe, including a team from the 91探花 and led by Queen鈥檚 University Belfast, have revealed new research showing that millions of new solar system objects will be detected by a brand-new facility, which is expected to come online later this year.聽聽
A new 91探花鈥搇ed study projects that in the next 35 years increasing boreal fires will actually slow global warming by 12% globally and 38% in the Arctic. Because the aerosols in smoke reflect more sunlight and make clouds brighter, summer temperatures during fire season drop, leading to reduced sea ice loss and cooler winter temperatures.
A recent theory proposes that whales weren鈥檛 just predators in the ocean environment: Nutrients that whales excreted may have provided a key fertilizer to these marine ecosystems. Research led by 91探花 oceanographers finds that whale excrement contains significant amounts of iron, a vital element that is often scarce in ocean ecosystems, and nontoxic forms of copper, another essential nutrient that in some forms can harm life.
Ezzeddine comes from Wayne State University in Detroit, his alma mater, where he is the鈥痵enior vice provost for partnerships, workforce and international initiatives. He fills the position vacated when Jeffrey Riedinger retired and became professor emeritus at the 91探花School of Law.
The 91探花 was ranked No. 15 in the world for interdisciplinary scientific research, according to a new list published earlier this month by the U.K.-based Times Higher Education. The 91探花placed in the top 10 among U.S. institutions. Among U.S. public institutions, the 91探花placed fifth.
A team led by scientists at the 91探花 and the University of Aberdeen attached tiny 鈥渂ackpack鈥� trackers to hummingbirds in the Colombian Andes to learn more about their movements. As they report in a paper published Oct. 10 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, the tracking system will aid conservation efforts in this region by revealing the previously hidden movements of hummingbirds and other small animals.
As Earth faces unprecedented climate change, a look into the planet鈥檚 deep past may provide vital insights into what may lie ahead. But knowledge of the natural world millions of years ago is fragmented. A 15-year study of a site in Bolivia by a joint U.S.-Bolivia team has provided a comprehensive view of an ancient ecosystem when Earth was much warmer than it is today, and changed how we look at the Andes.
The 91探花 on Tuesday announced a transformational gift from the estate of Stan and Alta Barer to the School of Law, expanding the couple鈥檚 namesake institute: The Barer Institute for Leadership in Law & Global Development. The gift will support the recruitment of additional international fellows, increase scholarships, endow faculty positions and create more global impact.
Polar bears in some parts of the high Arctic are developing ice buildup and related injuries to their feet. The changes appear to be an unexpected consequence of climate change, related to changing conditions in a warming Arctic.
Mia Bennett, 91探花 assistant professor of geography, will spend a week this month in Norway as part of the orientation for the Fulbright Arctic IV Initiative. Bennett is one of 20 scholars selected to collaborate on multi-disciplinary research over the next 18 months.
As the academic school year comes to an end, many students will continue their studies by packing a suitcase and heading overseas.
About 3,000 91探花 students will study abroad this school year, a number that surpasses the previous high set in 2018-2019. That means study abroad participation is back to pre-pandemic levels. 91探花leaders say these programs promise profound experiences and lifelong memories. and 聽new research shows that college students who study abroad are more likely to graduate.
The 91探花 is at the forefront of an international effort to innovate the semiconductor industry while building a skilled U.S.-based workforce to design and manufacture chip technology.
The 91探花 and the University of Tsukuba have entered an innovation partnership with NVIDIA and Amazon aimed at furthering research, entrepreneurship, workforce development and social implementation in the field of artificial intelligence. This U.S.-Japan academic partnership is part of a broad, $110 million effort to build upon the strong ties between the U.S. and Japan and to continue to lead innovation and technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.
Two 91探花 geophysicists will travel to the Atacama Desert in Chile this month to study a fault system that’s similar to the Seattle Fault in Puget Sound, but in a much different climate that makes it easier to monitor its effects on the landscape.
Unfamiliar foods can get in the way of following a recommended diet. For the Afghan community seeking health care in the U.S., a nutrition handbook created by 91探花School of Public Health graduate student Priyasha Maharjan works to solve this problem, using Afghan food examples to educate patients and care providers on the nutritional content of their meals.
Two grants from the U.S. Department of Education International and Foreign Language Education office will allow the Canadian Studies Center at the 91探花 to award eight to 10 fellowships each year to students studying French or an Indigenous language spoken in Canada.
A pair of studies published April 14 in the journal Science paint a new picture about apes, ancient Africa and the origins of humans. Many scientists had once hypothesized that the first apes to evolve in Africa more than 20 million years ago ate primarily fruit and lived within the thick, closed canopy of a nearly continent-wide forest ecosystem. Instead, the new research indicates that early apes ate a leafy diet in a more arid ecosystem of varyingly open woodlands with abundant grasses.
Christopher Tounsel, associate professor of history at the 91探花, found multiple connections between Sudan and Seattle while researching his upcoming book. The most prominent was the late Andrew Brimmer, a 91探花alum who in 1966 became the first Black member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
New research finds that ice-sheet-wide collapse in West Antarctica isn鈥檛 necessarily inevitable. The pace of ice loss varies according to regional differences in atmosphere and ocean circulation.
Climate change will reshape ecosystems through two types of events: short-term, extreme events 鈥� or 鈥減ulses鈥� 鈥� and long-term changes, or 鈥減resses.鈥� Understanding the effects of presses and pulses is essential as conservationists and policymakers try to preserve ecosystems and safeguard biodiversity. Researchers at the 91探花 have discovered how different presses and pulses impacted Magellanic penguins 鈥� a migratory marine predator 鈥� over nearly four decades and found that, though individual presses and pulses impacted penguins in a variety of ways, both were equally important for the future survival of the penguin population. They also found that these types of climate changes, taken together, are leading to an overall population decline at their historically largest breeding site.
91探花 alumnus Daniel Guorui Chen, Class of 2022, has been named a Marshall Scholar, one of the highest honors available to college graduates in the U.S. Chen plans to attend the University of Cambridge.
A team led by researchers at the 91探花 has created a new hearing screening system that uses a smartphone and earbuds.