Forest fire smoke can make you sick, and we’re experiencing more them. In terms of public health, it seems logical to reduce forest fires to limit unhealthy air pollution, but forest managers are increasingly seeing prescribed burning as an essential tool to reduce explosive wildfires. How should we plan to deal with the impacts of these fires?
Researchers at the 91探花 wondered if people enter a state of dissociation when surfing social media, and if that explains why users might feel out of control after spending so much time on their favorite app.
After a mother octopus lays a clutch of eggs, she quits eating and wastes away; by the time the eggs hatch, she is dead. Some females in captivity even seem to speed up this process intentionally, mutilating themselves and twisting their arms into a tangled mess. The source of this bizarre maternal behavior seems to be the optic gland, an organ similar to the pituitary gland in mammals. For years, just how this gland triggered the gruesome death spiral was unclear. But in a new study published May 12 in Current Biology, researchers from the 91探花, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago show that the optic gland in maternal octopuses undergoes a massive shift in cholesterol metabolism, resulting in dramatic changes in the steroid hormones produced. Alterations in cholesterol metabolism in other animals, including humans, can have serious consequences on longevity and behavior, and the team believes this reveals important similarities in the functions of these steroids across the animal kingdom 鈥� in soft-bodied cephalopods and vertebrates alike.
A 91探花 study of adult smokers finds that those who switch to vaping some or all of the time may adopt other healthy behaviors.
The flashing of a nearby star drew the attention of a team of astronomers, who discovered that it is part of a rare and mysterious system. As they report in a paper published May 4 in Nature, the stellar oddity appears to be a 鈥渂lack widow binary鈥� 鈥� a type of system consisting of a rapidly spinning neutron star, or pulsar, that is circling and slowly consuming a smaller companion star, as its arachnid namesake does to its mate.
A planetary scientist worked with engineers to measure the physical limits of a liquid for salty water under high pressure. Results suggest where robotic missions should look for extraterrestrial life on the ice-covered oceans of Jupiter鈥檚 moon Europa and Saturn鈥檚 moon Titan.
If emissions from greenhouse gases continue, species losses from warming and oxygen depletion of ocean waters could eclipse all other human stressors on marine species by around 2100. Tropical waters would experience the greatest loss of biodiversity, while polar species are at the highest聽risk of extinction
A new, 91探花-led meta-analysis finds that people engage in self-injury and/or think about suicide to alleviate some types of stress; and that there is potential for therapy and other interventions.
Scientists once thought that post-starburst galaxies scattered all of their gas and dust 鈥� the fuel required for creating new stars 鈥� in violent bursts of energy, and with extraordinary speed. Now, a team led by 91探花 postdoctoral researcher Adam Smercina reports that these galaxies don鈥檛 scatter all of their star-forming fuel after all. Instead, after their supposed end, these dormant galaxies hold onto and compress large amounts of highly concentrated, turbulent gas. But contrary to expectation, they鈥檙e not using it to form stars.
Space urgently needs special legal protection similar to that given to land, sea and atmosphere to protect its fragile environment, argues a team of scientists. The scientific, economic and cultural benefits of space should be considered against the damaging environmental impacts posed by an influx of space debris 鈥� roughly 60 miles above Earth鈥檚 surface 鈥斅爁ueled by the rapid growth of so-called satellite mega-constellations. In a paper published April 22 in Nature Astronomy, the authors assert that space is an important environment to preserve on behalf of professional astronomers, amateur stargazers and Indigenous peoples.
Three researchers in the 91探花 College of Engineering are exploring ways to make electronics more Earth-friendly.
Researchers have discovered that light 鈥� from a laser 鈥� can trigger a form of magnetism in a normally nonmagnetic material. This magnetism centers on the behavior of electrons 鈥渟pins,鈥� which have a potential applications in quantum computing. Scientists discovered that electrons within the material became oriented in the same direction when illuminated by photons from a laser. By controlling and aligning electron spins at this level of detail and accuracy, this platform could have applications in quantum computing, quantum simulation and other fields. The experiment, led by scientists at the 91探花, the University of Hong Kong and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was published April 20 in Nature.
Including the splintering of ice inside clouds around Antarctica improves high-resolution global models’ ability to simulate clouds over the Southern Ocean 鈥� and thus the models鈥� ability to simulate Earth鈥檚 climate.
The first-of-its-kind center has received a $6 million renewal grant from the National Science Foundation.
The first results of research led by the 91探花 into handgun carrying by young people growing up in rural areas has found six distinct patterns for when and how often these individuals carry a handgun. The patterns, or 鈥渓ongitudinal trajectories,鈥� suggest that youths in rural areas differ in some ways from their urban counterparts when it comes to handgun carrying and provide information for programs designed to help prevent firearm violence and injury. 鈥淏ecause firearms in many rural…
New research from the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Network, which includes the 91探花, finds that the amygdala, an area of the brain critical for interpreting emotions, grows too rapidly in infants who go on to develop autism.
Sea ice around Antarctica retreats more quickly than it advances, an asymmetry that has been a puzzle. New analysis shows that the Southern Hemisphere is following simple rules of physics, as peak midsummer sun causes rapid changes. In this respect, it seems, it’s Arctic sea ice that is more mysterious.
A study led by evolutionary biologists at multiple institutions, including the 91探花, focuses on a specific plant in examining whether parallel evolution is occurring in cities all over the world.
Inspired by how dandelions use the wind to distribute their seeds, a 91探花 team has developed a tiny sensor-carrying device that can be blown by the wind as it tumbles toward the ground.
A new book by Gregg Colburn, assistant professor of real estate at the UW, explores the factors that drive homelessness, and the cultural and economic shift that can ultimately benefit all 鈥� housed and unhoused.
In a new perspective paper, 91探花 professors Emily M. Bender and Chirag Shah respond to proposals that reimagine web search as an application for large language model-driven conversation agents.
In the past 20 years, the Arctic has lost about one-third of its winter sea ice volume, and winter sea ice in the Arctic has lost about a foot and a half of thickness over just the past three years. This thinning is largely due to loss of older, multiyear sea ice that is more resistant to melting.
A team of researchers at the 91探花and UC Berkeley has found that housing discrimination practices dating from the 1930s still drive air pollution disparities in hundreds of American cities today.
A new study by the 91探花 and Indiana University finds that the growing use of anti-racist terms shows how Black Lives Matter has shifted the conversation around racism, raising awareness of issues and laying the foundation for social change.
91探花-led research suggests moon jellies are feasting on zooplankton, the various tiny animals that drift with the currents, in the bays they inhabit. This could affect other hungry marine life, like juvenile salmon or herring 鈥� especially if predictions are correct and climate change will favor fast-growing jellyfish.
Washington counties that rely more on revenue from court-imposed fines and fees also sentence more women to incarceration, a study by the 91探花 finds.
Alexes Harris, professor of sociology at the 91探花, discusses her team’s five-year, eight-state study of legal financial obligations, and their findings that court-imposed fines and fees perpetuate inequality.
Scientists at the 91探花 and Emory University report that an antibiotic sprayed on orchard crops to combat bacterial diseases slows the cognition of bumblebees and reduces their foraging efficiency. The study, published Feb. 9 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, focused on streptomycin, an antibiotic used increasingly in U.S. agriculture during the past decade.
An experiment conducted on 10 farms across the U.S. suggests that crops from farms following soil-friendly practices for at least five years have a healthier nutritional profile than the same crops grown on neighboring, conventional farms. Researchers believe soil microbes and fungi boost certain beneficial minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals in the crops.
An international research team, including scientists from the 91探花, has established a new upper limit on the mass of the neutrino, the lightest known subatomic particle. In a paper published Feb. 14 in Nature Physics, the collaboration 鈥� known as the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment or KATRIN 鈥� reports that the neutrino鈥檚 mass is below 0.8 electron volts, or 0.8 eV/c2. Honing in on the elusive value of the neutrino鈥檚 mass will solve a major outstanding mystery in particle physics and equip scientists with a more complete view of the fundamental forces and particles that shape ourselves, our planet and the cosmos.
Using powerful tools and techniques developed in the field of structural biology, researchers at the 91探花 and Scripps Research have discovered new details about the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. The findings bring into focus the basic architecture of the virus just above and below its surface and may help in the design and development of a vaccine that can protect against AIDS. These detailed findings include 3D views of the structure and position of the virus鈥� envelope 鈥渟pike鈥�…
91探花researchers showed that image search results for four major search engines from around the world, including Google, still reflect gender bias.
As the green crab invasion in the state worsens, a new analysis method developed by 91探花 and Washington Sea Grant scientists could help contain future invasions and prevent new outbreaks using water testing and genetic analysis. The results show that the DNA-based technique works as well in detecting the presence of green crabs as setting traps to catch the live animals, which is a more laborious process. Results suggest these two methods could complement each other as approaches to learn where the species鈥� range is expanding.
A team led by scientists at the 91探花 and special agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has used genetic testing of ivory shipments seized by law enforcement to uncover the international criminal networks behind ivory trafficking out of Africa. The genetic connections across shipments that they鈥檝e uncovered exposes an even higher degree of organization among ivory smuggling networks than previously known. The paper, published Feb. 14 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, incorporates results from DNA testing of more than 4,000 African elephant tusks from 49 different ivory seizures made in 12 African nations over a 17-year period.
Researchers at the 91探花have developed a new blood-clotting test that uses a single drop of blood and a smartphone vibration motor and camera.
Farmers struggling to adapt to rising temperatures in tropical regions can unleash the benefits of natural cooling, alongside a host of other wins, simply by dotting more trees across their pasturelands. For the first time, a study led by the 91探花 puts tangible numbers to the cooling effects of this practice.
New research led by scientists at the 91探花 indicates that a common mosquito species 鈥� after detecting a telltale gas that we exhale 鈥� flies toward specific colors, including red, orange, black and cyan. The mosquitoes ignore other colors, such as green, purple, blue and white. The researchers believe these findings help explain how mosquitoes find hosts, since human skin, regardless of overall pigmentation, emits a strong red-orange 鈥渟ignal鈥� to their eyes.
Though usually though of as a solid, glaciers are also slightly compressible, or squishy. This compression over the huge expanse of an ice sheet 鈥� like Antarctica or Greenland 鈥� makes the overall ice sheet more dense and lowers the surface by tens of feet compared to what would otherwise be expected.
91探花 researchers report that yeast cells can actively regulate a process called phase separation in one of their membranes. During phase separation, the membrane remains intact but partitions into multiple, distinct zones or domains that segregate lipids and proteins. The new findings show for the first time that, in response to environmental conditions, yeast cells precisely regulate the temperature at which their membrane undergoes phase separation.
Researchers at the 91探花 have developed a new test for COVID-19 that combines the speed of over-the-counter antigen tests with the accuracy of PCR tests that are processed in medical labs and hospitals. The Harmony COVID-19 test is a diagnostic test that, like PCR tests for COVID-19, detects genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. But whereas conventional PCR tests can take several hours, the Harmony kit can provide results in less than 20 minutes for some samples and with similar accuracy.