Weasels are small carnivores with a long body and short legs. They also have a stout skull and sharp teeth. These creatures, along with ferrets and minks, make up the Mustelinae subfamily.

Until now, researchers believed that the oldest fossils from this family were from Poland and Germany, dating back to about 3.5 million years ago in the . But a fossil discovered in Teruel, Spain, has doubled that estimate, dating back to the late , around 6.5 million years ago.

The research team, including , a 91探花 principal research scientist in the biology department, has identified this fossil as belonging to a new species, named Galanthis baskini. The researchers estimate that this creature was about 5 ounces, comparable in size to the smallest living carnivoran today, the or Mustela nivalis. Much like the modern weasel, G. baskini was also likely a carnivore, based on its teeth.

The team in Palaeontology.

“This study begins to uncover the evolutionary history of modern weasels, specifically, why do they have unique small, elongated bodies compared to all other mammals?” said Law, who is also an affiliate curator at the 91探花Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. “We had hypothesized that events during the mid- to late-Miocene 鈥� both the expansion of open habitats, such as grasslands, and the diversification of rodents 鈥� would have allowed weasels to evolve bodies that were small and flexible enough to chase rodent prey in small crevices underground. G. baskini is exciting because it confirms that weasels were present in the Late Miocene. And it’s pretty cool that G. baskini was the size of the least weasel 鈥� that means small weasels were already around more than 6 million years ago.”

To compare this fossil to other weasel family members, the researchers used a combination of classical comparative anatomy with advanced analytical techniques, such as micro-computed tomography, or micro-CT. Micro-CT allowed the team to three-dimensionally reconstruct the internal structure of teeth and jaws as well as observe anatomical features that were not externally visible.

“The new genus, Galanthis, is named after a figure from Greek mythology who was transformed into a weasel, symbolizing the fossil鈥檚 significance as representing the origin of the weasel family and the lineage leading to modern species,” said senior author , assistant professor of paleontology at Complutense University of Madrid.

The fossils come from excavations carried out in the 1990s in the Teruel area of Arag贸n, Spain.

“This research is a clear example of the remarkable richness of Arag贸n鈥檚 fossil record of mammals, recognized worldwide,” said co-author , professor at the University of Zaragoza. “Our team has been contributing for decades to excavations and the study of fossil mammals.”

The study also revises the classification of another fossil of a similar age discovered in China. This fossil has now been assigned to the genus Zdanskyictis.

The next step, the researchers said, will be to find new fossils that help reconstruct in greater detail the early evolution of weasels and their relatives.

“Ideally, we will find an entire skeleton of a fossil weasel,” Law said. “That way we can actually quantify just how elongate these ancient weasels were and when body elongation actually evolved.”

A full list of co-authors and funding .

For more information, contact Law at cjlaw@uw.edu.听

Adapted from a release from Complutense University of Madrid.

The Peace Corps announced Tuesday that the 91探花 is again since the international program launched in 1961.

For 2025, the 91探花placed No. 7 among universities with 15,000 or more enrolled undergraduates in total number of Peace Corps volunteers, according to the Peace Corps. In total, more than 3,175 91探花graduates have gone on to service opportunities abroad as volunteers.

The 91探花is proud to prepare students to engage meaningfully with the world, said Ahmad Ezzeddine, 91探花vice provost for global affairs.听

鈥淭he Peace Corps remains one of our nation’s most effective avenues for citizen diplomacy, and we are grateful for its long history of strengthening communities around the globe,鈥� Ezzeddine said.

Volunteers in the Peace Corps work side by side with communities to help to address real needs through agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health and youth in development projects, Peace Corps acting Director Richard E. Swarttz said.听

鈥淪ixty-five years after our founding, the Peace Corps is still going strong,鈥� he said.

According to the Peace Corps, 38 91探花alumni served in 26 countries around the world during the past fiscal year, including Albania, Montenegro, Armenia, Cameroon, Colombia, countries in the Eastern Caribbean, Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Vanuatu and Zambia.

To better reflect the combined contributions of volunteers who serve traditional 27-month assignments and Peace Corps Response volunteers who serve for 6-12 months, the Peace Corps counted alumni volunteers who served at any point during the 2025 fiscal year for the 2026 rankings. Previously, colleges and universities were ranked on a one-day annual headcount of volunteers on Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year.听

More than 250,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps around the world since President John F. Kennedy initiated the program in 1961.

Learn more about .

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 were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union鈥檚 Minor Planet Center (), and include hundreds of distant worlds beyond Neptune as well as 33 previously unknown near-Earth objects.

The discoveries 鈥� Rubin Observatory鈥檚 largest asteroid haul yet 鈥� were made using data from the observatory鈥檚 early optimization surveys and processed with software developed at the 91探花鈥檚 . The new findings are a powerful preview of the observatory鈥檚 transformative impact on solar system science.

鈥淭his first large submission after is just the tip of the iceberg and shows that the observatory is ready,鈥� said , a 91探花professor of astronomy and leader of Rubin鈥檚 solar system team, which is located at the UW. 鈥淲hat used to take years or decades to discover, Rubin will unearth in months. We are beginning to deliver on Rubin鈥檚 promise to fundamentally reshape our inventory of the solar system and open the door to discoveries we haven鈥檛 yet imagined.鈥�

The submission to MPC comprises approximately 1 million observations, taken over the span of a month and a half, of over 11,000 new asteroids and more than 80,000 already known asteroids, including some that had previously been observed but were later 鈥渓ost鈥� because their orbits were too uncertain to predict their future locations. The new batch adds to roughly 1,500 asteroids previously discovered by Rubin as part of its First Look project.

The newly discovered near-Earth objects, or NEOs, are small asteroids and comets whose closest approach to the sun is less than 1.3 times the distance between Earth and the sun. None of the new NEOs pose a threat to Earth. Once in full operation, Rubin is expected to reveal an additional nearly 90,000 new NEOs, some of which may be potentially hazardous. By enabling early detection and continuous monitoring of these objects, Rubin will be a powerful tool for planetary defense.

The dataset also contains roughly 380 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) 鈥� icy bodies orbiting beyond Neptune. Two of the newly discovered TNOs 鈥� provisionally named and 鈥� have been found to be on extremely large and elongated orbits. At their most distant points, these two objects reach roughly 1,000 times farther away from the sun than the Earth is, placing them among the 30 most distant known asteroids.

A total of 12,700 asteroids discovered with Rubin are shown here during the 1.6 years of observation. The discoveries come in three bursts: 73 were discovered during the first early test observations using Rubin鈥檚 Commissioning Camera in late 2024; 1,514 were discovered during First Look observations in April and May 2025; and the recent 11,000 asteroids were discovered in Rubin鈥檚 early optimization surveys in Summer 2025.

The discoveries were enabled by Rubin Observatory鈥檚 unique combination of a large mirror, the world鈥檚 most powerful astronomical digital camera, and highly sophisticated, software-driven pipelines developed at the 91探花that can detect faint, fast-moving objects against a crowded sky. These capabilities will allow Rubin to build the most detailed census of our solar system ever, and the resulting discoveries will help scientists work out the story of the solar system鈥檚 history.

鈥淩ubin鈥檚 unique observing cadence required a whole new software architecture for asteroid discovery,鈥� said , a 91探花research scientist of astronomy who, together with 91探花astronomy graduate student , built the software that detected them. 鈥淲e built it, and it works. It seems pretty clear this observatory will revolutionize our knowledge of the asteroid belt.鈥�

Particularly striking is the rapid growth of the TNO population. The 380 candidates discovered by Rubin in less than two months adds to the 5,000 discovered over the past three decades. As with less distant asteroids, finding the TNOs depended critically on developing new sophisticated algorithms.

鈥淪earching for a TNO is like searching for a needle in a field of haystacks 鈥� out of millions of flickering sources in the sky, teaching a computer to sift through billions of combinations and identify those that are likely to be distant worlds in our solar system required novel algorithmic approaches,鈥� said , a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and former director of the Minor Planet Center, who spearheaded the work on the TNO discovery pipeline.

鈥淥bjects like these offer a tantalizing probe of the solar system鈥檚 outermost reaches, from telling us how the planets moved early on in the solar system鈥檚 history, to whether a hitherto undiscovered ninth large planet may still be out there,鈥� said , a research scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who, with Holman, developed the algorithms to detect distant solar system objects with Rubin data.

The verification of this large group of discoveries enables the entire global community to access the data, refine orbits and begin analysis immediately. And these 11,000-some asteroids are just the start. Once the decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time () begins later this year, scientists expect Rubin to discover this many asteroids every two to three nights during the early years of the survey. This will ultimately triple the number of known asteroids and increase the number of known TNOs by nearly an order of magnitude.

Rubin Observatory is jointly operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC.

For more information, contact Juri膰 at mjuric@uw.edu.听

This story was adapted from a .

Operations of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Office of Science.

Other team members include , a former DiRAC postdoctoral fellow at the UW, now at the Institute for Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of S茫o Paulo; , a 91探花research software engineer and B612 Asteroid Institute team member who earned his doctorate in astronomy at the UW; , a former 91探花postdoctoral researcher in astronomy, now at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne; and at Princeton University.

once believed the focuses of her doctoral and postdoctoral work were completely different.听

She completed her doctorate in Botswana, studying how humans were changing large carnivore behavior. After earning her degree, she researched whale migration at the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But while Abrahms was with NOAA, a historic heat wave off the West Coast was associated with an unprecedented rise in whales getting tangled in fishing gear. The event reminded her of studying in Botswana, when an extreme drought led to predators killing more livestock.听

鈥淚t struck me as important that you have two really different systems, yet in both cases an extreme climate event led to a change in human-wildlife interactions,鈥� said Abrahms, an associate professor of biology at the 91探花.

Those experiences led Abrahms to study how climate change is affecting human-wildlife interactions and increasing conflict around the world 鈥� from polar bear attacks on people to elephant destruction of agricultural areas. Her areas of expertise made her the ideal choice for keynote speaker at the held in Botswana in January.

Abrahms offered a global perspective on how climate change is impacting human-wildlife conflict while also providing specific insight on southern Africa, since she has worked in Botswana since 2011. The roundtable was hosted by the National Assembly of Botswana in partnership with through its program.

鈥淚t was really gratifying,鈥� Abrahms said. 鈥淎s a scientist, we鈥檙e often putting papers out and not knowing what reach they will have. You never really know where they鈥檙e going to go, if they鈥檙e going to go anywhere. To be featured so prominently in this intergovernmental parliamentary workshop was a career highlight.鈥�

The roundtable brought together parliamentarians from Botswana, other African nations, the European Union, and beyond, alongside government officials, civil society leaders, local community representatives, conservation experts and international partners. Attendees focused on identifying solutions to human-wildlife conflicts while ensuring that the interests of citizens, local communities, ecotourism operators and wildlife advocates are reflected in policy.

Abrahms鈥� speech addressed the global impacts of climate change on human-wildlife coexistence.

She discussed increasing news reports of human-animal conflict, like kangaroos mobbing areas in Australia during droughts, and increased alligator attacks due to hurricanes in South Carolina. Previous research from Abrahms and her team revealed that the warming world is increasing human-wildlife conflicts. Another of her studies found that the overlap between humans and animals will increase substantially across much of the planet in less than 50 years due to human population growth and climate change.听

鈥淭hese issues are definitely getting more attention and when I gave this talk, it resonated,鈥� Abrhams said. 鈥淎fterward, there was a panel featuring different parliament members and every single one of them had their own stories of climate increasing conflict in their countries, whether it was from a hurricane or a drought or a heat wave.鈥�

Despite the wide variety of animal species and climate events 鈥� floods and hurricanes in Sri Lanka, droughts in Botswana and more 鈥� Abrahms was struck by how frequently climate change exacerbated these problems. She was heartened, though, by how many people from around the world came together to share experiences, success stories and challenges.

Some national-level policy recommendations that came out of the roundtable included predictable compensation and insurance mechanisms for when human-wildlife conflicts occur. Experts also suggested land-use planning that recognizes wildlife corridors as well as human needs. Among the other ideas: Investment in community resilience and climate-smart livelihoods, parliamentary oversight and a wildlife coexistence fund.听

Public outreach is also an important piece, Abrahms said.

鈥淭hat would help people prepare and hopefully prevent some of these conflicts from occurring,鈥� Abrahms said. 鈥淕overnmental fiscal planning also could help by anticipating that there will be increased strain on a system and extra money could be put into a fund for use during extreme climate events.鈥�

Abrahms left the roundtable impressed with how much the attendees genuinely cared about the environment, as well as their interest in learning from each other and about her work.

鈥淚t was a very grounding experience,鈥� Abrahms said, 鈥渁nd it was nice to be part of a policy-oriented audience. There is a huge amount of money and resources and personnel and expertise aimed at alleviating these problems. In that respect, it was uplifting.鈥�

For more information, contact Abrahms at abrahms@uw.edu.

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 released Wednesday. Three other 91探花subject areas placed in the top 10 in the world: geology, geophysics and Earth and marine sciences.

This ranking tracks an analysis of reputation and research output, conducted by . The consultancy looks at more than 18,300 individual university programs at more than 1,700 universities in 100 locations around the world. The ranking spans 55 academic disciplines across five broad faculty areas including arts and humanities; engineering and technology; life sciences and medicine; natural sciences; and social sciences and management.

The 91探花has 29 programs in the top 100, 14 in the top 50, and four in the top 10, including:

• Library and information management 鈥� No. 2
• Geology 鈥� No. 8
• Geophysics 鈥� No. 9
• Earth and marine sciences 鈥� No. 10

Visit the rankings site for .

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 agreement, signed by university leaders in Tokyo on Friday, provides a broader, future-oriented framework that represents areas of the highest potential synergy. The two universities will engage in joint research, education and innovation in quantum information science & engineering, disaster resilience, engineering and advanced manufacturing, and medicine 鈥� summarized with the acronym Q-DREAM.

The Q-DREAM agreement will accelerate joint research and global impact, increase student and faculty exchange programs, enhance international visibility and funding opportunities, and foster innovation ecosystems connecting academia, industry and government. The first part of this new initiative will focus on quantum materials and is set to begin immediately. The remaining focus areas are expected to roll out over the next few years.

The UW-Tohoku collaboration has grown and deepened since it began in 1996. Rooted in aerospace research, the relationship has broadened to include clean energy technology related to transportation, materials for industrial applications and seismic engineering. Since 2017, Academic Open Space (AOS), has provided a strong foundation facilitating research matching across diverse fields and fostering vibrant faculty and student exchanges. And Q-DREAM allows for even more trans-Pacific interaction.

Q-DREAM鈥檚 work will include the following focus areas:

• Quantum: Builds on both institutions鈥� internationally recognized leadership in quantum materials, information science and technologies to accelerate the translation of discoveries into real-world applications with impact across science, industry and national security.
• Disaster resilience: Addresses natural hazards and climate-driven risks, including earthquakes, tsunamis and extreme weather events, with the goal of strengthening community preparedness and infrastructure resilience.
• Engineering & advanced manufacturing: Advances AI-driven engineering, sustainable and resilient manufacturing, and next-generation robotics.
• Medicine: Collaborates at the intersection of engineering and medicine to drive translational research and health innovation, with the goal of accelerating the path from discovery to clinical and societal impact.

鈥淎ddressing today鈥檚 complex challenges requires bold, collaborative solutions,鈥� said 91探花President Robert J. Jones. 鈥淲hen leading research universities align around a shared vision, we amplify our ability to advance discovery, drive innovation and serve the public good. We look forward to deepening this partnership with Tohoku University and advancing our shared work in the years ahead.鈥�

Tohoku University President Teiji Tominaga echoed those sentiments.

鈥淥ur shared strengths in engineering, science and medicine position us to deliver even greater global impact,鈥� said Tominaga. 鈥淭hrough this collaboration, we are committed to building resilience, advancing scientific discovery and improving lives.鈥�

The Q-DREAM agreement was signed by the leaders of both institutions on the eve of 91探花Converge Tokyo, the UW鈥檚 annual gathering for its global community of alumni and friends.

On Feb. 24, astronomers鈥� computers around the world lit up with a deluge of cosmic notifications 鈥� 800,000 alerts about new asteroids in our solar system, exploding stars across the galaxy and other noteworthy changes in the night sky. The discoveries were made by the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the in Chile and distributed globally within about two minutes.

That flurry of notifications marked the commencement of the observatory鈥檚 Alert Production Pipeline, a sophisticated software system developed at the 91探花 that is eventually expected to produce up to seven million alerts per night.

鈥淩ubin’s alert system was designed to allow anyone to identify interesting astronomical events with enough notice to rapidly obtain time-critical follow-up observations,” said , a research associate professor of astronomy at the 91探花who leads the Alert Production Pipeline Group for the Rubin Observatory. 鈥淩ubin will survey the sky at an unprecedented scale and allow us to find the most rare and unusual objects in the universe. We can鈥檛 wait to see the exciting science that comes from these data.鈥�

The beginning of scientific alerts is one of the last major milestones before Rubin Observatory launches its (LSST) later this year. During the LSST, Rubin will scan the Southern Hemisphere sky nightly for 10 years to precisely capture every visible change using . These alerts will chronicle the treasure trove of scientific discoveries that Rubin will make through its time-lapse record of the universe. In the first year of the LSST, Rubin is expected to capture images of more objects than all other optical observatories combined in human history.

The 91探花played a central role in the software that enabled this month鈥檚 milestone. The alert pipeline was developed by a team of about two dozen researchers and software developers in the astronomy department鈥檚 . The team has spent the past decade working with other data management teams around the country to figure out how to process the staggering 10 terabytes of images that Rubin produces every night, and will continue to develop and operate the alert system throughout the 10-year LSST survey.

鈥淓nabling real-time discovery on such a massive data stream has required years of technical innovation in image processing algorithms, databases and data orchestration. We’re thrilled to continue the UW’s legacy of excellence in data-driven science.鈥� Bellm said.

While the night sky seems calm and unchanging to the casual viewer, it鈥檚 actually alive with motion and transformation. Each alert signals something that has changed in the sky since Rubin last looked 鈥� a new source of light, a star that brightened or dimmed, or an object that moved. With Rubin’s alerts, scientists will have a greater ability to catch supernovae in their earliest moments, discover and track asteroids to assess potential threats to Earth and spot rare interstellar objects as they race through the solar system.

Scientists can use these data to better understand the nature of dark matter, dark energy and other unknown aspects of the universe.

鈥淭he discoveries reported in these alerts reflect the power of NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory as a tool for astrophysics and the importance of sustained federal support,鈥� said Kathy Turner, program manager in the High Energy Physics program in the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 . 鈥淩ubin Observatory鈥檚 groundbreaking capabilities are revealing untold astrophysical treasures and expanding scientists鈥� access to the ever-changing cosmos.鈥�

Every 40 seconds during nighttime observations, Rubin captures a new region of the sky. It then sends the data on a seconds-long journey from Chile to the U.S. Data Facility (USDF) at the in California for initial processing. Rubin鈥檚 data management system automatically compares it to a template made from previous images of the same region. This comparison allows it to detect the slightest variations. With every change, such as the appearance of a new point of light, an object鈥檚 movement or a change in brightness, the system generates a public alert within two minutes.

鈥淭he scale and speed of the alerts are unprecedented,鈥� says Hsin-Fang Chiang, a SLAC software developer leading operations for data processing at the USDF. 鈥淎fter generating hundreds of thousands of test alerts in the last few months, we are now able to say, within minutes, with each image, 鈥楬ere is everything. Go.鈥欌��

Rubin鈥檚 alerts are public, meaning anyone 鈥� from professional researchers to students and citizen scientists 鈥� can access and explore them. The speed of the alerts allows scientists using other ground- and space-based telescopes around the world to coordinate follow-up observations. This collaboration will enable fast and detailed studies of unfolding phenomena.听

Additionally, through collaborations with platforms like , Rubin will empower the global community to help classify cosmic events and contribute directly to discovery.

Rubin Observatory is jointly operated by NSF and SLAC.

For more information, contact Bellm at ecbellm@uw.edu.

This story was adapted from a press release by and .

Operations of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Office of Science.

Approximately 400,000 years ago, some areas of Greenland that are now covered by a thick layer of ice were exposed to fresh air and sunlight. Today, the covers most of the land mass, but the southwestern coastline is ice-free. Back then, the northwest was too.

come from sediment and ice samples collected in the 1960s. They were all but forgotten until 2019, when an international team of scientists embarked on a collaborative effort to understand modern climate change by tracking climate over longer periods of time.

The process is captured in 鈥�,鈥� a documentary film that debuted on streaming services such as YouTube, Apple TV and Amazon Prime this fall. Director , a former evolutionary biologist, travelled to labs around the world 鈥� including at the 91探花 鈥� to interview and film scientists as they deciphered clues about the past from old ice and sediment samples.

These samples were collected during the Cold War at a U.S. military base in Greenland. 鈥� established in 1959, about 150 miles inland and just below the surface of the ice 鈥� was used by the U.S. to conduct military operations in secret, and do science on the side. Before Camp Century was abandoned in 1967, the team drilled more than 1,000 meters through the entire ice sheet and into the sediment below.

, a 91探花professor of Earth and space sciences, is among those featured in Kasic鈥檚 film. Steig spoke with 91探花News about the backstory.

How did the project begin? What was your role?

Eric Steig: I was working with a team of researchers led by at the University of Vermont to develop a plan for analyzing these old sediment and ice samples. We were gathering an international consortium of experts when I ran into Kathy at a scientific meeting and invited her to join us. I had seen her previous work about Antarctica and thought it was fantastic.. Because Kathy was involved early on, she was able to go to all these different labs and see the science unfold in real time.

What did your lab contribute to the research effort?

ES: My lab studies isotopes, which are the different versions of elements. We measure the concentration of heavy and light oxygen and hydrogen in little pockets of water preserved in the sediment. The ratios of those water-isotope concentrations tell us how temperatures have changed. We also analyzed isotopes of carbon and nitrogen, which reflect shifting ecological conditions in the ancient soil.

At the same time, our European colleagues were measuring the ice just above the soil, and we were working together to understand what happened at this transition point. We鈥檙e using this combination of ecology, chemistry, water and plants to disentangle what the climate was like in more detail. A lot of the work has been published, but some is still underway.

What has the project accomplished thus far?

ES: It gives us this beautiful window into history that we can use to learn about ice-free conditions. For example, we know there was an extended warm period around 400,000 years ago, from modeling, but now we can also see that reflected in the sediments. It might not have been that much warmer than it is today, but it was warm for a very long time.

There鈥檚 plenty of evidence now that the Greenland ice sheet is melting and at some point it will be gone. Our research advances our understanding of the ice sheet and it will help us refine the ice-sheet models used to predict sea level rise.

Why did the researchers collect these samples in 1960? Why can’t we get more?

ES: At the time, scientists understood the value of water isotopes and their relevance to climate. They observed this clear relationship between temperature and isotope composition that could capture climate though time, but they weren鈥檛 thinking about global warming.

Fast forward a few decades and these historic samples have immense value in climate science, especially with the advent of modern analytical tools. Those of us who study Greenland would love to put holes in a lot of places to map out exactly how the ice evolved, but drilling is expensive and time consuming. Ice cores are one thing, but sediment and bedrock present new challenges. There have only been a small handful of successful attempts to drill through the ice and sample what is beneath it.

What do you think this film helps to convey?

ES: As a scientific community, we spent decades studying what Earth was like with more ice. I grew up in this era where the questions were about the ice ages. That鈥檚 no longer the most pressing question. We need to be asking what the Earth was like when there was less ice, because that is where we are heading. The film captures this shift from studying cold periods to studying warm ones.

For more information, contact Steig at steig@uw.edu.

The historic Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl set sail for San Francisco from the Port of Seattle on Monday, marking the end of and another stop on the to support a sustainable future at sea.

The ship, built in 1914, boasts three towering masts and hails from Bergen, Norway. During the inaugural One Ocean Week Seattle, organized by , it docked at Pier 66 to welcome attendees and members of the public aboard to explore and learn.

The drew hundreds of people to Seattle to discuss marine ecosystems, the seafood industry, shipping and renewable energy, and more. 91探花 scientists joined policymakers, educators and industry leaders to define and address priorities in stewardship and ocean science.

, a 91探花affiliate professor and research scientist at the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, served as a panelist on the 鈥淐oast to Coast Collaboration in Research鈥� aboard Statsraad Lehmkuhl on Friday morning.

Moore contributed her expertise as a marine mammal ecologist to help launch the in the Pacific Arctic in 2010, leading to an international effort to establish a network of observatories in the Arctic to track ecosystem health amidst physical changes to the region.

The panel, part of a series hosted by , offered a chance to discuss shared goals as melting ice opens the Arctic up to more traffic.

鈥淚t was an important opportunity for international collaboration and public engagement regarding rapid ecosystem changes in Arctic, and local, waters,鈥� Moore said.

, a 91探花professor of mechanical engineering, helped lead a 鈥渂ehind the scenes鈥� lab tour hosted by the , which joins researchers at UW, Oregon State University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

During the tour, researchers showcased marine energy monitoring projects at the , including videos and sonar documenting interactions between marine life and tidal energy turbines, sensors to detect underwater collisions, and systems to monitor how much noise is produced by the devices that help harness energy from waves and currents.

鈥淭hese tools help us identify and minimize environmental effects associated with harnessing energy from waves, tides and rivers,鈥� Polagye said.

, a 91探花principal research scientist of aquatic and fishery sciences participated in a panel discussion, where he shared his work on habitat in , which borders downtown Seattle. Toft鈥檚 lab studies how shoreline development impacts habitat value for young salmon.

鈥淎lthough the shorelines of Elliott Bay have been heavily modified, restoration efforts have had positive results,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he panel gave us a chance to discuss the importance of maintaining a healthy shoreline along a major urban working waterfront.鈥�

Despite the density of human activity along the shores of Elliott Bay, these waters are home to key species, including kelp, orcas and salmon. Maintaining functionality without losing habitat is a challenge, requiring input from various stakeholders, and creativity.

, a coastal hazards specialist at , provided an update on observed and projected sea level rise during a Friday workshop bringing together coastal managers and tribes around the Puget Sound region.

鈥淭he opportunity to meet in person with that many people who all came for the workshop was invaluable,鈥� he said.

To connect with a 91探花expert in ocean or environmental science, contact Gillian Dohrn in 91探花News at gdohrn@uw.edu.

Ten years ago, , an international treaty听designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and curtail global warming. Under the treaty, most nations made a 15-year promise to reduce emissions. Now, armed with a decade of data, a new 91探花-led study shows global progress, but not enough to compensate for the environmental cost of economic growth.

With its adoption in 2015, the Paris Agreement kicked off a concerted effort to reduce emissions by prioritizing renewable energy, reducing waste and tracking impact. The treaty aimed to keep the planet from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2100, with a target of 1.5 C. A new statistical analysis of the data shows that the agreement has helped some nations cut emissions, but the net impact is still too high to curb warming.

鈥淭he efforts made in response to the Paris Agreement did change the course of things, but the effects were knocked out by an increase in gross domestic product,鈥� said , a 91探花professor emeritus of statistics and sociology who led the study.

The results were .

This study is the third in a series of papers by Raftery and colleagues. The first, published in 2017, provided a probability-based assessment of what would happen if every country satisfied its , as defined by the Paris Agreement. The researchers’ predictions were based on three components: total world population, GDP and carbon intensity, a measure of carbon emissions per dollar.

鈥淥ne of the key findings from that work was that basically, it鈥檚 not going to be enough,鈥� Raftery said. 鈥淓ven if every country met their goal, there was just a 5% chance that we would stay below the 2-degree mark.鈥�

Meeting the collective goal would require everyone to do more, but just how much more was unclear.

Four years later, in 2021, the authors came back to say that emissions goals needed to be about 80% more ambitious to keep warming below 2 C. If each country increased its emissions reduction goal by 1.8% annually, and continued doing so after the Paris Agreement lapses in 2030, temperatures might stay just under the threshold.

This new study updates the statistical methods developed in 2021 and applies them to data collected in the past decade. It reveals that carbon intensity is trending downward by 3.1% each year, compared to 1.1% before the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.

鈥淚t’s an improvement,鈥� Raftery said, but the net result is not positive because world economies grew faster than expected. Even though less carbon was released to produce each economic unit, global GDP increased enough to drive total emissions up.

鈥淩educing economic growth is unpopular,鈥� Raftery said, and the world population is growing. 鈥淪o realistically, carbon intensity is the only factor under some kind of policy control.鈥�

Still, the data does contain promising trends. The chance of 鈥渢he most catastrophic climate change,鈥� where temperature increases by 3 or more degrees, has gone down since 2015, from 26% to 9%. The likelihood of keeping warming below 2 degrees has also increased from 5% in 2015 to 17%.

All countries can and should continue looking for ways to contribute but some have more power than others, according to Raftery. The bigger the economy, the greater its impact on carbon intensity.

China, which is responsible for nearly one-third of total global carbon emissions, saw dramatic economic growth over the past decade. Although the country managed to reduce its carbon intensity 36% by 2024, its emissions shot up as GDP rose.

Both India and Russia followed similar trends, with observed emissions climbing far above their projected goals.

鈥淐hina and the U.S. have the biggest economies and are among the most wasteful countries,鈥� Raftery said. The carbon intensity for China was three times that for Germany, which is the largest economy in the European Union. Carbon intensity for the U.S. was 50% higher than that for Germany.

When President Donald Trump took office earlier this year, from the Paris Agreement for a second time. After he withdrew during his first term, former President Joe Biden rejoined and pledged that the U.S. would reduce its emissions 60% from peak levels by 2035. To evaluate how the climate will change if the U.S. makes no contribution, the researchers ran the numbers again without it.

If all the other participating countries meet their goals, the projected temperature increase goes up by 0.1 C and the chance of staying below 2 C decreases from 34% to 27%. The researchers note that this is an optimistic projection. It assumes that the U.S. will stop making cuts, but does not account for the possibility that it will reverse the trend by increasing carbon intensity.

鈥淭he fact that the Paris Agreement did work in reducing at least carbon intensity is good news,鈥� Raftery said. 鈥淭here need to be bigger efforts made to offset economic growth, but there is reason for hope.鈥�

Coauthors include and , both former 91探花graduate students of statistics. This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

For more information, contact Raftery at raftery@uw.edu.