Natural Sciences Division

Newly discovered fossils from 10 million years after the mass extinction reveal a lineage of animals thought to have led to dinosaurs taking hold in Tanzania and Zambia in the mid-Triassic period, many millions of years before dinosaur relatives were seen in the fossil record elsewhere on Earth.

UW astronomer Sarah Ballard is using Earth's interstellar neighbors to learn the nature of certain stars too far away to be directly measured or observed, and the planets they may host.

A team of astronomers announced that they've identified two earth-like planets orbiting a star not too unlike our own. Eric Agol, associate professor of astronomy, is one of the paper's authors.

Super-slow motion footage of a moth in flight has revealed how the insects use their bodies to hover. The UW researchers who carried out this study are examining insect flight in order to "distill the biological principles of flight control."

A University of Washington astronomer has discovered perhaps the most Earth-like planet yet found outside the solar system by the Kepler Space Telescope.

A substance implicated in several mass extinctions could greatly enhance plant growth, with implications for global food supplies and biofuels, new UW research shows.

Professors Tom Daniel (Biology) and Yomi Braester (Comparative Literature) are among a prestigious group of 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship recipients.

A UW physicist has used new satellite data to update his decade-old recreation of the sound of the Big Bang at the birth of the universe.

Michael Gelb, professor of chemistry, talks with KUOW about the costs and benefits of early detection of lysosomal diseases.

Estella Leopold, biology professor emeritus, is co-author of a recently released book "Saved in Time: The Fight to Establish Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado." The book chronicles one of the nation's first explicitly environmental legal cases in which Leopold was a key player.

Early newborn screening techniques developed by two UW chemistry professors are drawing interest from companies that could use them in tests distributed nationally and around the world.

Lillian C. McDermott has dedicated her career to improving physics education using scientific research methods. The American Association of Physics Teachers is honoring her for her contributions to the field.

Through a national program, ten high school students spent a recent Saturday as physicists, analyzing real data from the world's largest particle accelerator and discussing their findings with scientists at a national lab.

At high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide--levels in line with expected concentrations over the next century--a blue mussel's byssal threads become weaker, less able to stretch and less able to attach to rocks, found scientists Emily Carrington, Michael O'Donnell and Matthew George of the University of Washington.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora added 343 species of plants and animals to its endangered species lists at a recent conference. Samuel Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology, is quoted.