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Life on Earth could not exist without carbon. But carbon itself could not exist without stars. Nearly all'elements except hydrogen and helium - including carbon, oxygen and iron - only exist because they were forged in stellar furnaces and later flung into the cosmos when their stars died. In an ultimate act of galactic recycling, planets like ours are formed by incorporating these star-built atoms into their makeup, be it the iron in Earth's core, the oxygen in its atmosphere or the carbon in the bodies of Earthlings.

Hummingbird bills - their long, thin beaks - look a little like drinking straws. The frenetic speed at which they get nectar out of flowers and backyard feeders may give the impression that the bills act as straws, too. But new research shows just how little water, or nectar, that comparison holds. In a paper published online Nov.

A routine inspection of the University of Washington's animal care and use program conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Oct. 8 identified issues that the UW had self-reported and corrected before the inspection took place.

Since its launch in late 2021, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has raised the possibility that we could detect signs of life on exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. Top candidates in this search are rocky, rather than gaseous, planets orbiting low-mass stars called M-dwarfs - easily the most common stars in the universe.

Eight cities in the United States have implemented taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages , which contribute to health issues including obesity and Type 2 diabetes. New research from the University of Washington investigated responses to sweetened beverage taxes using the purchasing behavior of approximately 400 households in Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Philadelphia - all'of which recently introduced beverage taxes.

Picture walking outside on a dark, cloudless evening. You look up to admire the stars - maybe even a planet, if you're lucky - and a sense of wonder washes of you. New research from the University of Washington shows this might be more than a memorable experience: It could ultimately spark scientific curiosity and influence life choices.

Flaps perform essential jobs. From pumping hearts to revving engines, flaps help fluid flow in one direction. Without them, keeping liquids going in the right direction is challenging to do. Researchers from the University of Washington have discovered a new way to help liquid flow in only one direction - but without flaps.

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has uncovered key information about what resident killer whale populations are eating. Researchers had long known that resident killer whales - also known as resident orcas - prefer to hunt fish, particularly salmon.

The Salish Sea - the inland coastal waters of Washington and British Columbia - is home to two unique populations of fish-eating orcas, the northern resident and the southern resident orcas. Human activity over much of the 20th century, including reducing salmon runs and capturing orcas for entertainment purposes, decimated their numbers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world implemented restrictive measures - such as stay-at-home orders and school closures - to mitigate the spread of the respiratory illness. It's been well-documented that this disruption of daily routines and social activities had a negative impact on the mental health of adolescents.

A high-pitched buzzing sound in your ear is an unmistakable sign that a female mosquito is out on the hunt - for they, not males, drink blood. Hearing that tone might make you turn to try to swat the pest. But for a male mosquito, that tone means it's time to mate. An international team led by researchers at the University of Washington has uncovered surprising details about mosquito mating, which could lead to improved malaria control techniques and even help develop precision drone flight.

The universe is a dynamic place where galaxies are dancing, merging and shifting appearance. Unfortunately, because these changes take millions or billions of years, telescopes can only provide snapshots, squeezed into a human lifetime. Luckily, galaxies leave behind clues to their histories and origins.

An external study of Twitter in 2022 estimated that between a third and two thirds of accounts on the social media site were bots. And many of these automatons flooding social media are dispatched to sow political polarization, hate, misinformation, propaganda and scams. The ability to sift them out of the online crowds is vital for a safer, more humane (or at least more human) internet.

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, according to a collaborative study by scientists at the University of Michigan, the University of Washington and University College London.

The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water in seven U.S. states and Mexico. Much of this water comes from the snowpack that builds up over the winter and then melts each spring. Every year in early April, water managers use the snowpack to predict how much water will be available for the upcoming year.

For decades, scientists have known that some galaxies reside in dense environments with lots of other galaxies nearby. Others drift through the cosmos essentially alone, with few or no other galaxies in their corner of the universe. A new study has found a major difference between galaxies in these divergent settings: Galaxies with more neighbors tend to be larger than their counterparts, which have a similar shape and mass, but reside in less dense environments.

Elon Musk recently declared on X that Blindsight, a cortical implant to restore vision, would have low resolution at first "but may ultimately exceed normal human vision." That pronouncement is unrealistic at best, according to new research from the University of Washington. Ione Fine , lead author and UW professor of psychology, said Musk's projection for the latest Neuralink project rests on the flawed premise that implanting millions of tiny electrodes into the visual cortex, the region of the brain that processes information received from the eye, will result in high-resolution vision.

Humans drove wolves to extinction in Washington state around the 1930s. Thanks to conservation efforts, by about 80 years later, wolves had returned - crossing first from the Canadian border into Washington around 2008 and later entering the state from Idaho. Since then, wolf numbers in Washington have been steadily growing, raising questions about what the return of this large predator species means for ecosystems and people alike.

Imagine your first day at a new job. You' probably feel nervous, wondering how you'll fit in with the team. It's natural to worry if your co-workers will be supportive, or if they'll take your contributions seriously. This experience is amplified for women in technology companies, who often face underrepresentation and negative stereotypes about their abilities to contribute.

Speech and music are the dominant elements of an infant's auditory environment. While past research has shown that speech plays a critical role in children's language development, less is known about the music that infants hear. A new University of Washington study, published May 21 in Developmental Science , is the first to compare the amount of music and speech that children hear in infancy.