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UW announces 2024 Awards of Excellence recipients
The UW is delighted to announce the recipients of the 54th annual University of Washington Awards of Excellence! The awards honor outstanding alumni, faculty, staff, students and retirees who contribute to the richness and diversity of our University community.
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2024 Husky 100
The College of Arts & Sciences celebrates undergraduate and graduate students from across all four divisions, who are recognized for making the most of their time at the UW.
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The Impact of Anatomy Lessons
Anatomy for Change, a program for students underrepresented in healthcare careers, provides opportunities to spend time in an anatomy lab.
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5 reasons we’ll never encounter octopus-like space aliens
Often vilified by Hollywood as potential competitors and even threats to humans, both sea dwelling and fictional off world octopuses have made many a filmgoer squirm in horror. Aside from their piercing eyes, their brains and morphologies are as different from humans as any species could be. Peter Ward, professor of Earth and space sciences and of biology at the UW, is quoted. -
Angry birds: Hummingbirds are cute, but they’re primed to fight
Hummingbirds, I realized, are not just adorable. They're also jerks. Yes, jerks. But don't take my word for it. Alyssa Sargent, doctoral student of biology at the UW, is quoted. -
UW graduate and professional disciplines have strong showing on US Newsâ Best Graduate Schools rankings
The University of Washingtonâs graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Reportâs 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings released late Monday. -
Linda Buck, Dale Chihuly and Theodore Roethke among visionaries honored by The Academy of Achievement
The organization that honors Rosa Parks, Elie Wiesel, and Jane Goodall has also celebrated three members of the UW community. Honorees include: neurobiologist Linda B. Buck, ’75; Theodore Roethke, English professor at the UW, 1947-1963; and master glass artist Dale Chihuly, ’65.
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Hear it again: Documenting local hummingbirds
Alejandro Rico-Guevara, assistant professor of biology at the UW and curator of ornithology at the UW Burke Museum, remembers when he first realized he was a hummingbird guy — not like an "I fill my hummingbird feeder every week" guy but an “I want to know everything about these birds” guy. -
How air pollution can make it harder for pollinators to find flowers
Certain chemicals break down a primrose’s key fragrance molecules, blunting its scent. The UW's Jeff Riffell, professor of biology, and Joel Thornton, professor of atmospheric sciences, are quoted. -
Scientists CT-scanned thousands of natural history specimens, which you can access for free
Natural history museums have entered a new stage of discovery and accessibility â one where scientists around the globe and curious folks at home can access valuable museum specimens to study, learn or just be amazed. This new era follows the completion of openVertebrate, or oVert, a five-year collaborative project among 18 institutions to create 3D reconstructions of vertebrate specimens and make them freely available online. The team behind this endeavor, which includes scientists at the University of Washington and its Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture, published a summary of the project March 6 in the journal BioScience, offering a glimpse of how the data can be used to ask new questions and spur the development of innovative technology. -
How humans lost their tails
A newly discovered genetic mechanism helped eliminate the tails of human ancestors. David Kimelman, professor emeritus of biochemistry at the UW, is quoted. -
Seattle scientist, conservation activist Estella Leopold dies at 97
Seattle scientist and conservationist Estella Leopold has died at the age of 97. Leopold spent most of her career at the University of Washington, teaching and learning about the distant past through pollen deposits. P. Dee Boersma, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted. -
Pollution causing problems for nighttime pollinators
You might not know it, but some moths can smell just as well as dogs. The nighttime insects use their antennae to sniff out flowers heavy with pollen up to a mile away. New research from the UW shows pollution in car exhaust can blunt the flowers’ scent – making it hard for pollinators to find the blossoms. The UW's Jeff Riffell, professor of biology, and Joel Thornton, professor of atmospheric sciences, are quoted. -
Pollution is problematic for pollinators — and perhaps your produce
Air pollution is making it hard for some Washington state flowers to get pollinated, according to a new study in the journal Science. Jeff Riffell, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted. -
Video: Bringing stars back to the sea
Scientists at this University of Washington facility in the San Juan Islands are working to help sunflower stars — a type of sea star — grow and thrive once again after their populations along the West Coast were devastated by a mysterious disease. Jason Hodin, research scientist in the UW Department of Biology, is quoted.