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Q&A: Harry Stern discusses historical maps, the Northwest Passage and the future of Arctic Ocean shipping

Harry Stern, a polar scientist at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory, has been studying the Arctic Ocean for decades, and sailed part of the Northwest Passage in 2009. Stern’s latest work uses the earliest explorers’ experiences to better understand a maritime environment that still contains many unknowns. A paper published in November in Polar Geography uses Captain James Cook’s records of sea-ice edge, more than two centuries ago, as a way to understand the changes we’re seeing now. UW Today asked him a few questions about the project. (more…)

Rewriting the story

Culture, Education, Entertainment

Whether playing the trombone at home alone or with an entire symphony, music speaks to Paul Rivera like nothing else. He feels music on a visceral level, within his very being. (more…)

Spiel mit dem Feuer: wie Eiszeitjäger das Landschaftsbild Europas prägten

Science

Bereits vor 20.000 Jahren haben Jäger und Sammler möglicherweise gezielt Feuer eingesetzt und damit zur Entstehung des lichten Charakters der eiszeitlichen europäischen Landschaft beigetragen. Das legt eine kürzlich im Fachjournal “PLOS ONE” veröffentlichte Studie nahe, zu deren Autoren auch eine Senckenberg-Wissenschaftlerin gehört. Es wäre einer der frühesten Hinweise auf einen großflächigen Eingriff des Menschen in die natürliche Vegetation seiner Umgebung. Der Befund erklärt, warum Analysen von Sedimenten belegen, dass in der Eiszeit in Europa eine offene Steppenlandschaft vorherrschte, während Vegetationsmodelle ergeben, dass Teile Europas damals dichter bewaldet gewesen sein müssten. (more…)

Chilling climate revelations from the last ice age

Environment

Study shows major changes in ice and temperatures could cause abrupt effects farther away

About 14,000 years ago, the southwest United States was lush and green, home to saber-toothed cats and mammoths. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest was mostly grassland. (more…)

IBM: Your Computer Can Help Scientists Search for New Childhood Cancer Treatments

Health, Technology

Researchers in Japan, Hong Kong and U.S. launch crowdsourced research effort using IBM’s World Community Grid

TOKYO, Japan; HONG KONG, China & HARTFORD, United States – 31 Jan 2017: Medical researchers and IBM (NYSE: IBM) are asking for the public’s help in finding prospective treatments for childhood cancers. (more…)

Findings Show How AIDS Spread Across North America

Health

A new technique that allowed researchers to analyze genetic material from serum samples of HIV patients taken before AIDS was known provides a glimpse into the beginnings of the epidemic.

Researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Cambridge in the U.K. have reconstructed the origins of the AIDS pandemic in unprecedented detail. (more…)

Soja für den Rest der Welt

Science

Argentinien ist einer der größten Sojaproduzenten der Welt, ein großer Teil wird im Nordwesten des Landes angebaut. Die Umwelt in der Provinz Salta wurde dadurch massiv verändert, Proteste gibt es dennoch nicht. Die Bevölkerung nimmt das weitgehend hin – warum, hat der Geograph Robert Hafner erforscht. (more…)

Fighting World Hunger: Researchers Use Nuclear Methods to Study Pest Resistance in Corn Plants

Science

Expertise, resources found at Mizzou allow researchers to study pest-resistance in corn that could help sustain projected 9 billion global population

COLUMBIA, Mo. – According to estimates, the current global population is more than 7.4 billion people and is growing at a rate of 88 million people per year. Developing corn varieties that are resistant to pests is vital to sustain the estimated 9 billion global population by 2050. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri, using advanced nuclear methods, have determined the mechanisms corn plants use to combat the western corn rootworm, a major pest threatening the growth of the vital food source. Scientists believe that using the knowledge gained from these cutting-edge studies could help crop breeders in developing new resistant lines of corn and make significant strides toward solving global food shortages. (more…)