It鈥檚 a dizzyingly busy time for scientists searching for life on distant planets. To date, astronomers have and are searching the atmospheres of the most promising worlds for chemicals that might be byproducts of life. are particularly interested in atmospheres like Earth鈥檚 that trap enough heat to support liquid water on the planet鈥檚 surface, which scientists consider the key factor in determining whether a planet can support life as we know it. 

But scientists also want to distinguish between habitable and inhabited worlds. To do that, they need to know what sorts of atmospheric conditions on a planet can be explained without life, so that they can identify planets with atmospheres that can only be explained by life鈥檚 influence.

To provide that planetary baseline, 糖心原创 researchers built a complex virtual Earth with one crucial tweak: no life.

in The Planetary Science Journal, the researchers simulated the Earth鈥檚 geochemical systems for 5 billion years 鈥� from its formation 4.5 billion years ago through roughly 500 million years in the future. The simulation modeled the exchange of chemicals between the core, mantle, crust, surface and atmosphere over time. It accurately predicted 19 planetary properties like heat flow through the mantle, but left out the influence of life on those systems. The simulation can be generalized to predict how an atmosphere might evolve on any rocky planet, and can help pinpoint evidence of life in atmospheres that don鈥檛 fit the model.

鈥淭his model can help us see how habitable but non-living planets might mimic living planets,鈥� said lead author , who completed this research as a UW doctoral student of astronomy and is now a postdoctoral fellow at UC Riverside. 鈥淲hen we interpret observations of an exoplanet’s atmosphere, this tool will help us determine the probability that what we observe indicates life on the surface.鈥�

Gilbert-Janizek鈥檚 work builds on a model developed in the lab of senior author , a UW associate professor of astronomy. Earlier versions of the model simulated the core, mantle, crust and stellar radiation, but did not include the surface or atmosphere. 

A planet鈥檚 atmosphere is shaped by many nonbiological factors, including heat and gases from the interior and from the planet鈥檚 star. But the atmosphere of a distant planet is also where astronomers hope to spot explicit evidence of life.

There are many ways that life might change an atmosphere: On Earth, plants and animals pump steady streams of oxygen and methane into the sky. Those two elements destroy each other when they mingle. Thus, an alien astronomer studying our planet might suspect that something alive is replenishing the supply of both gases.

That logic led human astronomer Gilbert-Janizek to add surface and atmosphere modeling to the existing Earth simulation, completing the picture of how chemicals move through all of the Earth鈥檚 systems. 

The result is a model that can be tuned to study any rocky exoplanet that astrobiologists find interesting. Researchers can plug in basic details about that planet and run the simulation to see whether the model can reproduce the observed atmosphere without the influence of life. If they can鈥檛 get a match, the planet in question gets even more interesting.

鈥淒r. Gilbert-Janizek’s work represents an exciting step toward understanding where life can exist in the universe,鈥� Barnes said. 鈥淎fter more than a decade of work by many scientists, Dr. Gilbert-Janizek has finally completed a model of the Earth that simultaneously reproduces properties of Earth’s core, mantle, surface and atmosphere. That calibration gives us confidence that future simulations of exoplanets will be accurate.鈥�  

Gilbert-Janizek says the new and improved model can also help inform the design of future telescopes built to study distant planets, like the proposed . 

鈥淩ealizing the ambitious goals of a telescope like the Habitable Worlds Observatory requires decades of work across many generations of scientists,鈥� Gilbert-Janizek said. 鈥淚鈥檓 so grateful to join this lineage and one day pass the torch to the next generation so that we can continue chipping away at this question of whether or not we are alone in the universe.鈥�

Other UW co-authors include former astronomy doctoral students , now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma and , now a high school teacher in the Seattle area.

A complete list of co-authors is .

This research was funded by NASA.

For more information, contact Gilbert-Janizek at sgilbert@ucr.edu or Barnes at rory@astro.washington.edu.

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It all started with Halley’s Comet.

was a toddler in 1986, the last time the was visible to the naked eye. One night, her family kept her up late to try and spot it above their home in East Taunton, Massachusetts.

鈥淚 was fussy and tired until they pointed up,鈥� Levesque recalled, 鈥渁nd then all of a sudden I just went, 鈥榃丑辞补鈥�.鈥�

Levesque鈥檚 career interests followed a trend after that.

鈥淧eople would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I would say, 鈥榃ell, I’m going to be a ballerina or an astronomer,鈥� or 鈥業’m going to be a firefighter or an astronomer,鈥� or 鈥榓 violinist or an astronomer鈥�,鈥� she said.

Levesque鈥檚 childhood infatuation stuck. Today she is a professor of astronomy at the 糖心原创 who studies 鈥渂ig and weird stars.鈥� She鈥檚 authored two textbooks on and , as well as general-interest on astronomy. And in 2027, she will become the next editor-in-chief of the American Astronomical Society鈥檚 portfolio of academic journals, making her the first woman to serve at the helm of six of astronomy鈥檚 busiest and most prestigious research outlets.

鈥淚 published my very first research paper in The Astrophysical Journal more than 20 years ago as an undergrad,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淭he AAS Journals have played such an enormous role in the history of astronomy and in so many of our careers, and my predecessors have established an incredibly high standard of care and commitment in how the journals are run. I鈥檓 excited and honored to become the next steward of that legacy.鈥�

Levesque became interested in stars as a child, and she carried her enthusiasm through to a degree in physics from MIT. Her first research project there brought her to the in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she studied 鈥� a star so large that one would engulf Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter if it were placed where our sun is.

鈥淚 got really interested in these huge, unstable stars 鈥� they die explosive, spectacular deaths as supernovae, and leave behind mysterious things like black holes,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淲e tend to think of stars as just big round balls of gas. But when you look closer, they turn into these brain-bending objects that stretch our ability to comprehend the universe.鈥�

From MIT, Levesque hopscotched to a doctoral program at the University of Hawaii, a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado, Boulder and then, in 2015, an appointment at the UW. Along the way, her taste in stars has only gotten stranger: At the UW she studies hypothesized oddities called (TZOs), which are red supergiants with for cores. While in Colorado, Levesque and collaborators . Today, much of her work at the UW is dedicated to finding more possible TZOs and understanding how they might form 鈥� though their existence still isn鈥檛 a sure thing.

鈥淲e could absolutely be wrong,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淥ther researchers have published papers since our initial discovery arguing that TZOs couldn鈥檛 possibly be stable, or that the star we found wasn鈥檛 actually a TZO. Still others have published papers saying, 鈥榃e looked closer at your candidate and we think it really is a TZO.鈥� So it’s a subject of debate, which I think is great. If we made a mistake, I desperately want someone to find it.鈥�

Levesque has been involved with the American Astronomical Society Journals for 10 years. She鈥檚 currently serving as a science editor, which entails running the journals鈥� peer review process, matching submissions with reviewers and shepherding drafts through to publication.

鈥淕etting involved with the journals has been a great way to support the astronomy community on a large scale,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淭he AAS Journals are such a great resource in our field, so working with them is really impactful. Plus, it helps me keep tabs on the latest science.鈥�

The editor-in-chief role, though, is a much larger proposition.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big job,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淚t is essentially a full-time position. But I like the idea of getting to devote so much of my time and attention to this.鈥�

When she officially steps into the role next fall, Levesque will navigate a critical and chaotic moment for academic research and publishing. She sees twin challenges ahead for the journals: remaining solvent in the dicey landscape of federal funding, and managing a firehose of paper submissions unleashed with the help of artificial intelligence.

鈥淲e鈥檙e certainly seeing lots of papers that are auto-generated junk,鈥� Levesque said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 also a huge uptick in people simply being able to do research faster or to write down their research faster. We鈥檙e figuring out how to manage the influx of papers and deciding what constitutes appropriate use of AI.鈥�

Levesque betrays no intimidation about juggling her faculty position with the new leadership role at the journal. She鈥檚 letting friends and family be overwhelmed on her behalf.

鈥淲hen I tell people that I’m moving into this role, there’s sort of this look of like, 鈥極h my gosh, you鈥檙e going to be dealing with funding disasters and AI is going to upend everything, isn鈥檛 this terrifying?鈥欌�� Levesque laughed. 鈥淚n this landscape, the AAS Journals are more important than ever. It鈥檚 never been easier to generate and share information, but it’s also never been harder to trust information. Publishing is a crucial part of how our field shares trustworthy science, so for me it鈥檚 worth the effort.鈥�

For more information, contact Levesque at emsque@uw.edu.

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Last month, a group of 175 researchers, including eight from the 糖心原创, co-authored published in Earth鈥檚 Future and the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

The paper provides a roadmap for future climate assessments in the U.S. by synthesizing the science and identifying research priorities based on existing gaps. 鈥淯.S. Climate Collection: Informing Assessment of Risks and Solutions鈥� is the first article to appear in a launched by the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society.

Many of the scientists who co-authored this commentary were invited to contribute to the sixth National Climate Assessment (NCA), slated for early 2028, but were then dismissed in April 2025 after the Trump Administration for the assessment. The fifth NCA was published in 2023.聽

The federal government is legally required to produce a National Climate Assessment chronicling climate change every four years per the . These assessments track new and evolving risks related to climate change, as well as options for mitigation and adaptation. The national scope is key to ensuring that funding and policies represent a broad range of experiences and concerns. 

鈥淚nternational assessments are valuable, but they are not always tailored to the specific regions and issues that are important in the United States. National assessments fill that gap,鈥� said , Washington state climatologist and a research scientist in the UW Climate Impacts Group.

The special collection is not intended to replace the NCA but rather compile research for other scientists, policymakers and members of the public to aid in decision making. The commentary kicks off the collection by identifying where research has advanced, and how risks have changed, in the years since the last assessment. 

鈥淥ur understanding of climate change and its impacts continues to evolve,鈥� said , professor of global health, of environmental and occupational health sciences, and of emergency medicine in the UW School of Medicine. 鈥淐onducting regular climate assessments allows us to systematically evaluate that new evidence, incorporate it into our understanding of current circumstances, present it to stakeholders, and apply it to near-term decisions in our respective sectors.鈥� 

UW News asked each of the UW contributors to elaborate on their role in authoring the commentary and how it connects to their research.

, research scientist, UW Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies: 鈥淚鈥檓 an oceanographer with intimate experience in federal research funding mechanisms and with a broad familiarity with ocean warming and CO2 uptake with associated acidification and feedback on marine ecosystems and fisheries. Initially I was appointed to coordinate among federal agencies, academics and policymakers, but that changed dramatically when the Trump administration eliminated NCA6. In the scramble I became more of an author, and an editor of the Ocean section. 

鈥淪ome of my research at the UW involves ocean model development in collaboration with NOAA. It was a natural fit to contribute to the discussions on 鈥楽imulations of ocean conditions鈥� and on 鈥業nnovations in ocean observation and data science.鈥欌��

, professor of urban and environmental planning 鈥淚 led the urban team and the section on urban regions. Urban regions are central to climate assessments. They concentrate populations and human activities, contribute substantially to climate change, and shape how impacts propagate across neighborhoods, metropolitan systems, national supply chains, and global markets. They are also critical places to examine where mitigation and adaptation reinforce one another, where they create trade-offs, and how benefits, costs, and risks are distributed across communities. 

鈥淥ur section argues that future assessments must represent cities as complex dynamic systems. We call for comparative, long-term evaluation of urban mitigation and adaptation strategies. For nature-based solutions, that means testing performance under future climate conditions and assessing multiple functions, life-cycle costs, social and ecological outcomes, and trade-offs rather than simply measuring short-term, project-level benefits.鈥�

Mauger: 鈥淚 contributed to the Northwest section of the paper, based on my expertise in regional climate impacts and adaptation science, specifically around water and flooding. Our synthesis reflects many of the emerging issues I see in my work helping communities, tribes, agencies and others to understand and prepare for the effects of climate change. For example, we highlight new research on the effectiveness of resilience actions 鈥� as more communities take action on climate, I am seeing a greater need for research of this kind.鈥�

, principal scientist, UW Climate Impacts Group: 鈥淚 also contributed to the Northwest section of the paper. My work at UW aims to provide the science, tools and guidance needed by governments and communities as they respond to climate impacts and prepare for those to come. Most of this work is focused on the Northwest, with a heavy emphasis on ecosystems and natural resources. The Northwest section of the paper highlights many of the climate risks and adaptation advances and challenges my partners on the ground face every day.鈥�

Hess: 鈥�The takeaways from the health section, which I helped draft, are that we need more information on health impacts from extreme weather and compound events, as well as information on the costs of these impacts. We also need more strategies for advancing adaptation in public health and health care systems; we need health care interventions to protect patients at particular risk; we need more information on nature-based solutions; and we need more information to help convey the health benefits of a clean energy transition. 

鈥淭he recommendations related to interventions and adaptation in the health sector are particularly relevant to my work at the UW, which is focused on climate change health impacts and opportunities for increasing resilience of the public health and health care systems. I research these issues and also provide leadership related to sustainability and climate resilience for UW Medicine.鈥�

, professor of global health and of environmental and occupational health sciences: 鈥淚 was an author on the Air Quality chapter that focused on how climate change could alter exposures to poor quality, from pollen to wildfire smoke to indoor and outdoor air quality. One of my areas of research at UW is quantifying the extent to which reducing greenhouse gas emissions could reduce morbidity and mortality from outdoor air pollution. The evidence is robust that the economic value of the health benefits from reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be of the same order of magnitude 鈥� if not larger 鈥� than the costs of reducing emissions. In other words, reducing greenhouse gas emissions would benefit Americans by decreasing hospitalizations and deaths.鈥�

Other UW co-authors include , research scientist of environmental and forest sciences and Deputy Director of the Western Fire and Forest Resilience Collaborative and , affiliate professor of environmental and forest sciences. 

For more information, contact Alberti at malberti@uw.edu.

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Irrigation canals form a sort of circulatory system for global agriculture. Across the world, millions of kilometers of human-made canals carry water from lakes, rivers and reservoirs downhill to farmland. Canals are vitally important to human food production, yet many agricultural areas lack the means to monitor the ebb and flow of water through these waterways. This forces farmers and water managers to rely on scattered gauges, inspections and local reports to make decisions about water use.

A new study from the 糖心原创 suggests, however, that the tools needed for more comprehensive monitoring may already exist. In the study, researchers analyzed data from a NASA satellite built to track over time the water level of oceans, lakes, rivers and other large bodies of water. That project was never designed to track smaller bodies like canals. Yet, when the researchers looked at roughly 800,000 kilometers of canals in Asia, they found that the satellite could measure water levels with moderate to high confidence at more than 85% of locations.

The discovery could give farmers around the world a powerful new tool to manage precious water resources, prepare for droughts and improve food security in their communities.

鈥淲hat we are seeing is not simply a new satellite capability,鈥� said co-author , a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering. 鈥淚t may represent a fundamentally new way of managing the water conveyance systems that sustain modern agriculture.鈥�

Sept. 30 in Geophysical Research Letters.

The satellite at the center of the study, , is a joint effort of NASA and international partners. In orbit since December 2022, the satellite monitors the Earth鈥檚 surface water at least once every three weeks using a tool called , which compares multiple radar scans over time to detect elevation changes.

Oceans, lakes and other large bodies of water are relatively straightforward to track in this manner. Irrigation canals, on the other hand, are frequently narrower than 20 meters, which puts them at the extreme low end of the satellite鈥檚 observation power. The project鈥檚 architects assumed that fluctuations within small canals would be invisible to the satellite.

Hossain wasn鈥檛 so sure. In 2025, he and collaborators published the (GRAIN), a global dataset that used and machine learning to chart 3.8 million kilometers of canal networks. Lead author , a UW graduate research assistant in civil and environmental engineering, then overlaid SWOT鈥檚 radar data on top of the canal map to see whether he could find meaningful elevation changes where there were canals.

鈥淚t was quite the accidental and pleasant discovery to see that SWOT is able to track flow direction and water levels in most of the canals skillfully,鈥� Sharma said. 鈥淕RAIN mapped where canals are. SWOT revealed what was happening inside them. They complemented each other beautifully.鈥�

As a proof of concept, the team focused on canals in 22 countries across Asia 鈥� a region where irrigation plays a critical role in feeding roughly 3 billion people. Researchers looked at the satellite鈥檚 data along 800,000 kilometers of canals within that region. They then assigned a confidence score to each kilometer based on how closely the satellite鈥檚 view of the canal water matched the known contours of the land and how strong the signal was compared to the noise in the data. As an additional check, they compared the satellite鈥檚 data to real canal measurements in the United States and found that their confidence levels matched the system鈥檚 actual abilities.

Of all the kilometers studied, the team designated 37.5% as highly observable, 46.9% as moderately observable and 15.6% as poorly observable. The highest-confidence areas corresponded to well-organized, wider canals, smooth slopes and open surroundings. Dense vegetation around canals proved the satellite鈥檚 biggest obstacle. The satellite鈥檚 performance is expected to improve over time as Hossain and other scientists working with SWOT data build better algorithms and analysis methods.

The next step for researchers is to build practical tools that leverage SWOT data. Hossain and collaborators at the UW are already building such systems to monitor and improve water delivery in South Asia and to aid in canal management in the western United States.

In time, farmers around the world could use SWOT-powered tools to monitor which canals are carrying sufficient water; see where water levels drop unexpectedly or where canal flow might be stagnant; and understand the evolution of water delivery across an entire growing season. For example, a farmer preparing to plant rice might see through SWOT that there won鈥檛 be enough water arriving to their field to support the growth of the crop, and switch instead to a less water-intensive crop like corn or wheat.

Altogether, this new view of agriculture鈥檚 circulatory system could improve drought preparedness, strengthen food security and help researchers map humanity鈥檚 change to the global freshwater cycle.

鈥淪ome of the most important scientific discoveries happen when a tool designed for one purpose unexpectedly reveals something else,鈥� Hossain said. 鈥淪WOT may be offering a similar surprise.

鈥淎 mission built to study oceans and rivers has begun revealing the hidden dynamics of the canals that sustain agricultural production around the globe. What was once invisible is becoming measurable.鈥�

Co-authors include and , UW graduate research assistants in civil and environmental engineering; , a postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Tech who completed this research as a UW doctoral student of civil and environmental engineering; and at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

This research was funded by NASA.

For more information, contact Hossain at fhossain@uw.edu.

Source

Capybaras like their habitats wet. These large rodents thrive in low-elevation wetlands, migrating along creeks and rivers to nibble on foliage and flowers. That’s why researchers were surprised to find an 8.8 million-year-old fossilized capybara tooth in northern Chile’s , one of the driest regions on Earth. In a paper in Scientific Reports, researchers postulate that the Atacama Desert must have had a wetter climate during the , based on this discovery. This is the first time a capybara species has ever been seen in the Atacama region of Chile 鈥� today these creatures reside in the marshy lowlands across Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay. Researchers had at one time assumed that the Andean mountain chain on the eastern side of Chile would have prevented these short-legged rodents from ever entering the Atacama region. With this discovery, the authors propose that capybaras were able to follow a wetland trail along the northern part of South America, trekking from Bolivia to Peru into northern Chile. In addition to capybaras, the ancient Atacama region also likely had palms and other flowering plants, according to plant fossils analyzed by a UW scientist for the study. These findings challenge the idea that the Atacama was just always a desert, and can help researchers better understand how shifts in climate can drastically affect the environment.

For more information, contact co-author , UW professor of biology, at caestrom@uw.edu.听听听听听听

A full list of co-authors and funding is . Adapted from a release .

Multitasking gives marine microbes an edge when nutrients are scarce

The world鈥檚 oceans teem with tiny organisms that are difficult to study yet critical to account for. The organisms that make up this microscopic community, many of which are protists, have evolved over time to help keep marine ecosystems balanced. A UW study in the ISME Journal, found that organisms that can both photosynthesize and eat to generate energy do better in nutrient-limited environments, which includes warmer water. This flexibility may help them cope with changing conditions and could help researchers gauge how marine ecosystems will respond to future warming. Gathering more data from the bottom of the food web is important for understanding the ecosystem-wide impacts of environmental change. The study also debuted a new genetic method for studying energy production versus consumption that may make it easier to study protists. Samples in this study were collected from the North Pacific, near Hawaii and about 1,000 miles north, but the researchers hope to continue expanding the radius to improve global ocean models.

For more information, contact , UW research scientist and engineer of biological oceanography at coesel@uw.edu.

The UW co-authors are Shiri Graff van Creveld, and . A full list of co-authors and funding is .

UW engineers capture behavior of ‘edge waves’ on beaches, putting popular wave models to the test

Coastal engineers and oceanographers often think of the motion of water on beaches as “one dimensional”: waves propagating directly onto the beach from offshore. These simplified wave models are used widely from designing shoreline infrastructure to forecasting coastal flooding. However, some waves propagate along the coast rather than crashing into it, and may push an additional meter of water depth onto the beach. For decades, these “edge waves” have not been accounted for in the one-dimensional models commonly used to understand wave behavior. To find out how edge waves might be impacting model accuracy, researchers at the UW and UC San Diego deployed an array of pressure and velocity sensors along a beach in Southern California for 60 days. In a paper in JGR Oceans, the researchers describe a model they built to tease out the influence of edge waves in the larger system. While edge waves contributed a significant amount of energy, the team found that ultimately the one-dimensional models that exclude edge waves remain accurate enough for predicting total water levels at the shoreline.

For more information, contact , a postdoctoral scholar of civil and environmental engineering, at cshender@uw.edu.

A full list of co-authors and funding is .

How Colombian environmentalists use law and democracy to redefine mountain landscapes

In 2013 and 2017, Colombian voters in two towns backed a legal effort to stop a large-scale gold mining project. In doing so, they are making the mountainous areas where they live more visible and politically relevant. The decision allowed environmental advocates to organize around a larger area defined by elevation, massive volume, and subterranean and arboreal features. , UW assistant professor of anthropology, a research article in the journal Anthropological Forum that examines how the effort used legal tools for citizen participation to not only voice their opinions on extractive projects, but also reconfigure space in unprecedented ways. The case shows that democratic participation can have far-reaching consequences for how landscapes are defined and lived. The article appears in a special issue, called “Ethnographies of Vertical and Volumetric Worlds,” which was co-edited by Ardila and Steven Schwartz of the University of Rochester.

For more information, contact Castillo at acastil@uw.edu.

Funding information is .

Researchers develop new way to measure how blood clots form

A wound stops bleeding because tiny blood cell fragments called platelets clump together to form a clot. Researchers know that platelets generate forces that help compact and strengthen clots. However, they鈥檝e struggled to understand how blood clots form in real time. To better understand this system, UW mechanical engineers created a device that measures how platelet forces and stiffness evolve together during the first minutes of clot formation. in Advanced Healthcare Materials, the research team used the device to apply magnetic forces to clumps of platelets, causing them to strengthen and stiffen through a process called 鈥渕echanotransduction鈥� in which cells convert mechanical forces into biological responses. These findings could be used to study how new drugs affect clot formation, how platelets respond to signals when disease is present, and how blood clotting biomechanics contribute to cardiovascular disorders.

For more information, contact , a UW professor of mechanical engineering, at nsniadec@uw.edu.

The UW co-authors are , , Yoeur-Man Mach and . A full list of co-authors and funding is . Adapted from a story by .

UW researchers probe superconducting materials that defy expectations

Most materials resist the flow of electricity to some degree, but unusual materials known as superconductors can carry an electric current with no resistance at all. Superconductors offer a unique window into the physics of materials at tiny scales, and they could one day revolutionize electronics. In recent years, researchers have discovered new forms of superconductivity in stacks of atomically thin materials such as . Resistance typically drops to zero as these materials are cooled, but in some cases it mysteriously levels off at a small finite value, which contradicts expectations of superconductor behavior. In a paper in Nature, UW materials scientists tested this behavior with a device consisting of several layers of graphene stacked in a staircase-like pattern. By adjusting voltages applied to the device, the researchers could control whether the graphene exhibited true superconductivity or the more peculiar 鈥渇ailed鈥� form, providing clear evidence that failed superconductivity is real. The team is now working to uncover the origin of this mysterious behavior.

For more information, contact , a UW associate professor of both physics and materials science and engineering, at myank@uw.edu..

The UW co-authors are , , and . A full list of co-authors and funding is .

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As our skies increasingly crowd with buzzing, hovering, flitting drones, spare a thought for the humble hopping robot.

Hopping, a popular form of locomotion in the insect and amphibian worlds, is nearly two orders of magnitude more energy-efficient than flying. Unlike a mosquito that must constantly expend energy to stay aloft, a flea only works out when it jumps. Those cost savings could also pay off in the world of robotics: A group of small, simple hopping robots could explore a location much more cheaply than flying drones. These robots could find gas leaks in an oil refinery, monitor water and fertilizer usage on a farm, or even explore other planets.

鈥淚n my mind, the three hardest challenges for hopping robots are the ability to vary jump length, self-right and reload for multiple hops,鈥� said senior author , a UW associate professor of mechanical engineering. 鈥淒irectHop clears all three of those hurdles with a totally new design, and we鈥檙e well on our way to tackling other challenges like onboard power, steering and navigation.鈥�

Fuller and his team will present DirectHop on Sept 30th at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. .

Most hopping robots are modeled after insects like fleas that are literally spring-loaded. Fleas compress and then release parts of their exoskeletons to . Robots that utilize springs and latches 脿 la fleas can also travel impressive distances, but they have no easy way to calibrate jump distance 鈥� discharging a spring is an 鈥渁ll or nothing鈥� action, said Fuller. What鈥檚 more, springs and latches are complex bits of machinery that are difficult to build and operate at small scales. 

DirectHop鈥檚 solution to those problems is ditching the spring entirely.

鈥淲e found that a very small electric motor can accelerate fast enough to power a jump directly, the way a frog鈥檚 leg muscles directly power its hop,鈥� said lead author , a UW graduate research assistant in mechanical engineering. 鈥淲e also discovered that by adjusting the current going to the motor, we could make the robot jump specific distances.鈥�

The robot itself consists of a tiny electric motor attached to a tower by a length of fishing line. When the motor accelerates, it spools the line quickly and hoists itself up the tower, pulling the rest of the robot into the air. As the motor rises, three hinged legs extend to keep the motor aligned with the robot鈥檚 foot.

Since the robot tends to tumble in the air, the researchers included a roll cage to support it when it lands on its side. From there, the team was able to right it 90% of the time by sending the motor back down the tower, which shifts the robot鈥檚 center of gravity and causes it to roll back onto its foot, readying it for another jump.

The design was inspired by box turtles, which can roll themselves upright using a similarly-shaped shell.

The current prototype has some notable limitations. Power is supplied via wires, and it has no way to steer or orient itself beyond random twitching. Wang and Fuller, however, are working on solutions: onboard solar cells and a battery for power, a vibration motor to spin the robot in place, tiny retractable feet to adjust hop angle, and an onboard camera and electronics to navigate. 

鈥淥ne of our goals is fully autonomous stair climbing,鈥� Fuller said. 鈥淎 camera looks at the stair, the processor figures out how high the robot has to jump, it steers itself into position, jumps, self-rights, steers again and repeats. It uses a combination of simple sensors and actions to perform a complex task.鈥�

Wang thinks it鈥檚 reasonable to imagine producing a fully featured DirectHop bot for about $10 since the individual components are so small and cheap. At that price, the bots could be extremely useful as a semidisposable complement to larger, more capable, more expensive robots.

鈥淲e could dispatch 100 or even 1,000 of these robots into the field,鈥� Wang said. 鈥淚f some are lost or disabled, it鈥檚 not really a failure. The team of them can complete the task.鈥�

Yash Talwekar, a UW research assistant in mechanical engineering, is a co-author.

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation. 

For more information, contact Fuller at minster@uw.edu or Wang at hw328@uw.edu.

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Motion-triggered cameras showcase the prevalence of ‘nectar robbing’ in Hawaiian flowers

Some long curved bills are the perfect implement for drawing sweet nectar from deep within a lobelioid flower. As birds reach into flowers to access the nectar stored near the base, their bills can brush against the ‘ pollen-bearing structures, making hungry honeycreepers important pollinators. But some of these specialized honeycreepers have gone extinct. Shorter-billed species can now 鈥渞ob鈥� nectar 鈥� without contacting the flower’s pollen-bearing structures 鈥� from the endangered flowers. A UW-led team used motion cameras to gauge how often nectar robbing occurs. The results, in Ecology and Evolution, reveal both nectar robbing and pollination visits, showcasing a broader pattern that the team previously identified . Nectar robbing can damage flowers and leave less nectar for other potential pollinators. The researchers 3D printed a bird bill to simulate nectar robbing and track changes in nectar availability and the plants’ ability to reproduce. Damaged flowers often struggled to replenish their nectar stores, but were still able to produce fruit and viable seeds. These studies are part of a that aims to catalog Hawaiian bird-plant interactions through time, specifically tracking how these interactions are reshaped by extinction.

For more information, contact lead author , a UW research scientist in the biology department, at sam.case24@gmail.com.

The other UW co-authors are , Christopher Steinbronn and . A full list of co-authors and funding is .

People with anxious attachment styles are more likely get emotionally involved with ChatGPT

rose to popularity in the late 20th Century as a way to categorize how people bond with others. Someone with an anxious attachment style, for instance, fears abandonment and rejection, whereas someone with an avoidant attachment style is independent at the cost of personal closeness. In , UW researchers explored how peoples鈥� attachment styles affect their interactions with ChatGPT. The team analyzed the chat histories of 105 young adults, each of whom completed an attachment-style survey. Researchers found that they could automatically detect peoples鈥� attachment styles based on their interactions with the chatbot. People with an anxious attachment style were more likely to be emotionally involved with the AI system, writing things like 鈥淐an you please love me?鈥� and 鈥淚 miss my ex and I can鈥檛 sleep because of it.鈥� Anxious users were also more prone to trust ChatGPT and to follow its recommendations. The team argues that this highlights the need for policies that prohibit companies from psychologically profiling users without their consent, since it leaves them vulnerable to manipulation.

For more information, contact senior author , a UW associate professor in the Information School, at alexisr@uw.edu or lead author , a doctoral student in the Information School, at marxwang@uw.edu.

The other UW co-authors are , , and .

Nursing is a major energy suck, but it鈥檚 difficult to estimate the toll for many marine mammals

Marine mammals lactate like any other mammal, but the energetic demands are difficult to measure in wild animals and thus not well understood.聽 Researchers are concerned that some marine mammals may not be getting enough food, which can lead to failure to reproduce and . To understand the link between nutritional status and reproduction, researchers need to know what marine mammals require to rear offspring. A published in PLOS One modeled the daily costs of lactation using data from semi-aquatic and terrestrial mammals to explore whether results could be generalized to other species, like whales and dolphins. Modeling could approximate lactation costs of certain understudied marine mammals, including seals and sea lions, but appeared unable to produce accurate estimates for whales and dolphins. Lactation costs increase over time for most animals, but seem to be higher early in lactation for marine mammals, possibly due to their fully aquatic lifestyle. The study highlights a need for other methods to fill the remaining data gap to better understand the impacts of environmental change on marine mammals.

For more information, contact lead author , a research scientist in the UW Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, & Ecosystem Studies, at emchuron@uw.edu. Funding information is .

Simulations suggest that lasers could ‘calm’ persnickety plasma

could supply humanity with 鈥� provided that scientists and engineers can work out how to create sustained fusion reactions safely, efficiently and affordably. The trick is in the taming of , a superhot state of matter made of free-floating electrons and atomic nuclei. When compressed to outlandish pressures and temperatures in a reactor, the nuclei fuse with one another, releasing energy. In that extreme environment, plasma forms instabilities that can derail a fusion reaction; much fusion research is focused on 鈥渃alming鈥� volatile plasma. published in Physics of Plasmas, UW researchers and other collaborators simulated a novel strategy to control instabilities using two opposing laser beams. By tuning the lasers鈥� properties 鈥� such as their frequency and polarity 鈥� the researchers prevented instabilities from growing and cascading. Surprisingly, the lasers also delayed other instabilities within the plasma, even though they were not directly targeted by the laser fields. By taking advantage of interactions within the plasma, the researchers found a way to calm instabilities indirectly. The results could help experts develop algorithms that stabilize plasma in real time, sustaining fusion conditions long enough to produce useful energy.

For more information, contact , UW professor of aeronautics and astronautics at shumlak@uw.edu.

A full list of co-authors and funding is .

When exposed to air, new nanomaterial becomes magnetic at high temperatures

While fridge magnets are great for saving favorite recipes, modern magnetic materials are useful for improving fiber optics or quantum information sciences technology. If you zoomed in on most fridge magnets, you’d see the atoms arranged in a repeated lattice structure called a “spinel.” These structures are made up of three types of atoms, generically referred to as atoms “A,” “B” and “X.” In a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, UW researchers describe two new spinels made of silver, chromium and selenium ions. These are among the first spinels to include a silver ion in the “A” slot, the slot that determines the “vibe” of the spinel, or how it will react to various stimuli, such as light, heat or air. When exposed to air, the original spinel loses silver ions and transforms into the second spinel. The second spinel maintains its magnetic properties up to 400 Kelvin, or 260 degrees Fahrenheit; the original loses its magnetism at 152 K, or -185 F. This is the largest change ever documented in what is known as the Curie temperature, or the highest temperature at which a material is still magnetic. The researchers plan to continue to explore these two materials and what they can teach us about the fundamentals of magnetism.

For more information, contact lead author , UW doctoral student in chemistry, at ekbacong@uw.edu.听听听听听

The other UW co-authors are Charlize Agag, , , , Yinuo Xu, , , and . A full list of co-authors and funding is .

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Most of the stars in sit neatly on a flat plane. But the space around our galaxy is much more chaotic. Rogue bands of stars called 鈥溾�� orbit the Milky Way much like planets in our solar system orbit the sun.

Astronomers have long been fascinated by the possibility that stellar streams could indirectly reveal the presence of , that mysterious theorized substance that doesn鈥檛 interact with light or normal matter 鈥� except via gravity. However, a new 糖心原创 study casts doubt on a leading theory linking dark matter and stellar streams, and raises new questions about both galactic phenomena.

鈥淒ark matter makes up most of the mass in the universe and forms the scaffolding that galaxies grow on, but we still don’t know what it is,鈥� said co-author , a UW assistant professor of astronomy. 鈥淭he Milky Way is one of the best laboratories we have for figuring that out, and stellar streams are one of the sharpest tools inside it.鈥�

in The Astrophysical Journal.

A stellar stream forms when a group of stars crashes into a galaxy and becomes ensnared by its gravity. As the stars orbit the galaxy, its gravity stretches the cluster into a . Most galaxies host stellar streams, though the Milky Way鈥檚 are the most visible to astronomers. 

In our galaxy, most stellar streams we can see are irregular 鈥� gaps and kinks interrupt an otherwise uniform smear of stars. Many astronomers believe that those irregularities could signal the gravitational tug from small clumps of dark matter, called subhalos. If there are indeed subhalos sprinkled throughout the galaxy, studying the aberrations in stellar streams could teach us about the composition of dark matter.

The new study was an effort to understand the role that the host galaxy 鈥� rather than the dark matter clumps within it 鈥� plays in shaping stellar streams. Astronomers simulated four Milky Way-sized galaxies without any dark matter clumps, then peppered them with roughly 15,000 stellar streams. After five billion simulated years, the team observed irregularities in nearly every stellar stream.

鈥淚n our simulations, the host galaxies alone caused the same kinds of irregularities that we observe in real stellar streams,鈥� said lead author , a UW postdoctoral scholar in astronomy. 鈥淣ow that we can predict what the host galaxy does on its own, we can start isolating the part that dark matter is responsible for.鈥�

The cause of the irregularities was the structure of the galaxies themselves. In each simulated galaxy, stars were spread somewhat unevenly across the disc, creating areas of greater and lesser density to mimic the composition of a real galaxy like ours. As the simulated streams of stars passed through denser regions of space, they were bent and torn by the irregular gravitational landscape.

Arora expected the host galaxies to impart some irregularities on the streams, but the sheer number caught him off guard.

鈥淲e found that almost all of the streams had some sort of structural variation,鈥� Arora said. 鈥淪o this idea that streams are naturally thin and smooth wasn’t really necessarily true.鈥�

The simulation generated wiggles, kinks, spurs, branches, gaps and clumps; some streams were totally torn apart by the gravitational froth of their host galaxies. Streams orbiting closer to the galactic core were thrown into dense clumpy regions of space more often, where they acquired more irregularities. Out of the 15,000 streams spread across the four host galaxies, only 70 remained perfectly smooth after five billion years. 

The results might seem disheartening, but the UW team believes they chart a clear and exciting course for the future of dark matter research. Arora wants to include dark matter clumps in the next simulation to see whether they produce stellar stream irregularities that are distinct from those caused by the host galaxy alone. 

There may also be opportunities to check simulations against new observations: the is , which will help astronomers build a taxonomy of stream features and 鈥� hopefully 鈥� discover fingerprints of dark matter.

鈥淪adly there’s no magic wand to reveal the structure of dark matter,鈥� said , a research assistant professor of astronomy at the UW. 鈥淪treams are complex systems, but they’re still the most interesting way to study the dark matter close to home.鈥� 

Co-authors from the UW astronomy department include , a postdoctoral fellow; , an undergraduate student; and and , graduate students.

A complete list of co-authors is .

This research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

For more information, contact Arora at arora125@uw.edu.

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Today鈥檚 wireless technologies harness chunks of the for myriad uses 鈥� radio waves broadcast TV and radio; microwaves transmit cellphone signals and cook our food; X-rays image our bodies; gamma rays kill cancerous cells.

, however, is interested in more neglected slices of the spectrum. Naghavi, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the 糖心原创, studies the 鈥渢erahertz band,鈥� a region of the spectrum . Terahertz frequencies are notoriously difficult to work with, but they hold enormous potential in the fields of sensing, imaging and communications 鈥� future sensors, for example, could help firefighters 鈥渟ee鈥� through smoke during rescue operations.

Naghavi recently joined a cohort of researchers from across the country who were awarded grants by the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 , an initiative to apply artificial intelligence across a wide range of research areas; other UW researchers are part of a Genesis-funded project to advance AI-driven cosmology. With the grant, Naghavi plans to develop compact, efficient sensors that could enable wearable gadgets to image their environment in new ways.

UW News caught up with Naghavi to learn about his new project and how it extends his work on terahertz frequencies.

What is the terahertz band and why are you studying it?

Hossen Naghavi: The terahertz band is a segment of the electromagnetic spectrum that lies between 100 gigahertz and 10 terahertz 鈥� the microwave band sits below it, and the optical band sits above it. That position gives terahertz waves a unique combination of microwave and optical properties. Microwaves can see through opaque materials like clothing, smoke or fire, but their long wavelengths limit the resolution of microwave imaging. Optical waves have the opposite problem. Their wavelengths are short, so they produce high-resolution images, but most materials block visible light completely, which makes it impossible to see inside or behind an object.

Terahertz waves are a sort of 鈥渉appy medium.鈥� Their wavelengths are short enough to give useful resolution but long enough to see through many materials. That combination allows us to build new sensors and cameras that can detect concealed objects or image scenes through smoke, dust and other conditions that defeat conventional optics.

What are some applications you envision for terahertz frequencies?

HN: is expected to become a defining mode of human-computer interaction, but realizing its full potential requires machines that can perceive and understand their surroundings far beyond what the human eye can see. Consider a high-stakes setting such as firefighting, where an augmented reality headset powered by terahertz waves could help firefighters locate victims or identify hazardous materials through smoke, fog and debris.聽

Beyond firefighting and emergency response, terahertz technologies could also aid in autonomous navigation, security screening, industrial inspection, biomedical sensing, molecular spectroscopy, agricultural applications, and 5G and 6G communication networks.聽

Sounds exciting! What鈥檚 the catch?

HN: Sensors that use terahertz waves, like the ones in our firefighting headset example, have been demonstrated in the lab. However, low-cost, low-power electronics that would be practical in a wearable device have not yet been developed.

Terahertz sensors produce high-resolution image streams, and processing them conventionally means moving enormous amounts of data to a central processor for analysis by an artificial intelligence system. That consumes too much power and adds too much delay to be practical in a lightweight device meant to be worn all day.

Tell us about your new project. How will it address some of the hurdles facing terahertz technologies?

HN: The usual way to build a terahertz imager is to split the job in two. The radar sensor collects raw signals, and a separate processor turns the signals into a picture. That division sounds sensible, but it is the source of most of the trouble. The raw signals arriving at each of the sensor’s antennas are slightly out of step with one another, and the processor has to line them all up before an image can form. That alignment requires a lot of continuous computation, which drains batteries quickly and introduces lag.

The natural comparison is the human eye. Your retina does not ship every photon to your brain for interpretation. It processes what it sees on the spot and passes along something much more compact, which is part of why vision costs your body so little energy. We are trying to give a terahertz sensor the same quality, which is why we describe the design as 鈥渘euromorphic,鈥� meaning 鈥渂rain-inspired.鈥�

Who are you working with on this technology, and what鈥檚 next?

HN: My group at the UW and ‘s group at Texas A&M University are designing and building the sensor hardware. at the University of Utah and at ChipNexus are developing and implementing the AI system. This is a highly collaborative project.

Our next big milestone is to demonstrate a terahertz neuromorphic imager as a proof of concept in Phase I of our Genesis Mission project. Moving forward, we hope to expand the project into Phase II to add even more capabilities and make this technology accessible for public usage as early as possible.

For more information, contact Naghavi at naghavi@uw.edu.

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New design process accelerates the discovery of advanced materials

Flexible materials that combine mechanical flexibility with high thermal or electrical conductivity are essential for wearables, stretchable electronics and soft robotic systems. To identify new composite materials with those properties, researchers typically create and test many different material formulations, a process that can be time-consuming, expensive and lead to waste. , UW researchers developed a new 鈥渋nverse design framework鈥� that reverses the standard design process to speed up the discovery of multifunctional materials. The framework starts with the desired material properties for a specific application 鈥� such as wearable electronics 鈥� and works backward to determine the optimal material composition using physics-based modeling and machine learning. Experiments showed that a material identified by the framework achieved about 60% higher thermal conductivity while reducing material cost by about 10%, compared to materials that were previously used.聽

For more information, contact senior author , UW assistant professor of mechanical engineering.聽

The other co-authors are Lijun Zhou, Yunsik Ohm, Ren-Mian Chin, Olivia Kerr and Krithika Manohar.

Climate models get a vote of confidence in a new UW study mapping tropical ocean temperature over time

Climate models help researchers understand how conditions are changing over time to forecast what is likely to happen in the future. Predicting extreme heat, drought or flooding years in advance can give people time to prepare, but the accuracy of these predictions varies. Scientists test models by asking them to recreate past climate and comparing those predictions with observational data. Although modern climate models get a lot of things right, they often fail to replicate recent temperature change in the tropical Pacific Ocean, a key region for global weather. This has concerned scientists, but a UW study offers a glimmer of hope. The researchers found that climate models could successfully replicate temperature trends in the equatorial Pacific when they expanded the window of observation by 20 years. Including more data allowed the models to better account for climate variability, which can create long-lasting fluctuations in temperature and precipitation that aren鈥檛 always indicative of a general trend.聽

For more information, contact senior author Matt Luongo, UW postdoctoral fellow in the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, & Ecosystem Studies and School of Oceanography at mluongo@uw.edu.

The other UW co-author is . A full list of co-authors is .

Paternal body odor increases brain-to-brain synchrony with infants

Infant brains recognize their fathers as unique social partners, showing stronger brain-to-brain synchrony with their fathers compared to unfamiliar males during social interactions. A new study also shows that when infants interact with unfamiliar males while exposed to their fathers鈥� body odor, their brain synchrony increases to levels similar to those seen with their own fathers. Further, exposure to paternal body odor increased infants’ positive arousal. These findings suggest that infants use their fathers鈥� scent as an important social cue, even when the father is not physically present. Researchers also found that father-infant synchrony involved a different neural rhythm than previously observed in mother-infant interactions, suggesting that mothers and fathers may support development through complementary neural pathways. Combined, these findings reveal a previously unknown role of paternal body odor as a sensory signal that contributes to early social and brain development.

For more information, contact , co-author and a research scientist in the UW Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.聽

The other co-authors are Linoy Schwartz and Ruth Feldman.

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