Natural Sciences Division

A discovery like this could change how we think about life in this solar system by providing clues into how it operates in others. Peers question whether the evidence is sufficiently extraordinary to prove this extraordinary claim. Don Brownlee, professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Frustrated to see misleading information published as fact, professors Carl Bergstrom (Biology) and Jevin West (Information School) created a wildly popular UW course and book, "Calling Bullshit." 

High school teachers spent four weeks at the UW Summer Institute in Physics and Physical Science to improve their understanding and teaching of physics. 

Atlantic puffins had their second consecutive rebound year for fledging chicks after suffering a catastrophic 2021, said scientists who monitor the birds. The news flies in the face of environmental trends. P. Dee Boersma, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

A particle physics experiment decades in the making — the Muon g-2 experiment — looks increasingly like it might set up a showdown over whether there are fundamental particles or forces in the universe that are unaccounted for in the current Standard Model. On Aug. 10, the international team of scientists behind Muon g-2 — pronounced “g minus 2” — released the world’s most precise measurement yet of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Calculating the muon’s magnetic moment at a high precision will indicate whether it is interacting solely with the particles and forces known today, or if unknown particles or forces are out there.

As marine heat waves continued to simmer along the East Coast and beyond, a mass of warm water twice the size of Alaska quietly arrived on the Pacific Northwest's coastal shores. The UW's Julia Parrish, professor of biology and of aquatic and fishery sciences is quoted.

A special algorithm designed to spot dangerous near-Earth asteroids appears to be so good it has spotted its very first one during an initial test. The UW's Mario Jurić, professor of astronomy, and Ari Heinze, research scientist in astronomy, are quoted.

A skyscraper-size asteroid was revealed in year-old telescope data thanks to a new algorithm that could change the way near-Earth objects are discovered. Mario Juric, professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

A new technique for finding potentially hazardous asteroids before they find us has chalked up its first success. Ari Heinze, research scientist in astronomy at the UW, is quoted.

Big feet and short beaks have evolved in some hummingbirds that allow the birds to mooch nectar without helping the plant by transporting pollen. Alejandro Rico-Guevara, assistant professor of biology at the UW and curator of birds at the UW Burke Museum, is quoted.

An asteroid discovery algorithm — designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky — has identified its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth’s vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on. The roughly 600-foot-long asteroid, designated 2022 SF289, was discovered during a test drive of the algorithm with the ATLAS survey in Hawaii. Finding 2022 SF289, which poses no risk to Earth for the foreseeable future, confirms that the next-generation algorithm, known as HelioLinc3D, can identify near-Earth asteroids with fewer and more dispersed observations than required by today’s methods. That is important because, though scientists know of more than 2,000 near-Earth asteroids, they estimate that another 3,000 await discovery!

A new type of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system invented by Mo Li, professor of physics and of electrical and computer engineering at the UW, and his team is poised to shake up what's possible within the LiDAR realm. The team built a laser beam-steering device with no moving parts and put it on a chip, which makes it 1000 times smaller than other LiDAR devices currently available. Putting it on a chip also makes the device compact and sturdy, as well as relatively easy and inexpensive to fabricate.

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington reports that it is possible to imbue graphite — the bulk, 3D material found in No. 2 pencils – with physical properties similar to graphite’s 2D counterpart, graphene. Not only was this breakthrough unexpected, the team also believes its approach could be used to test whether similar types of bulk materials can also take on 2D-like properties. If so, 2D sheets won’t be the only source for scientists to fuel technological revolutions. Bulk, 3D materials could be just as useful.

A new study from the UW found that persistent heat waves in the marine environment linked to climate change are leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of seabirds several months later. Julia Parrish, UW professor of biology and of aquatic and fishery sciences and director of COASST and lead author of the study, is inteviewed.

New electronic devices? New data storage methods? UW Physics & Materials Sciences Professor Xiaodong Xu studies the properties of single atomic layer semiconductors. He looks for new materials and new ways to control electrical conductivity.